With its Starlink broadband network now exceeding 1,200 satellites, SpaceX formalized an agreement with NASA to operate its megaconstellation on a noninterference basis with the International Space Station and other agency spacecraft in low Earth orbit.

The FAA has renewed two launch operator licenses for Northrop Grumman for its aircraft-launched Pegasus rocket system from Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, and Cape Canaveral, the agency said March 17.

SpaceX continues to expand the operational envelope of its Falcon 9 fleet, with a successful ninth launch and landing of a first-stage booster, setting the stage to meet its goal of 10 launches per rocket with minimal refurbishment between flights.

Responding to U.S. advances in in-space manufacturing, Airbus has been selected to study an orbital factory and potential demonstrator mission to establish a European capability to manufacture and assemble satellites in orbit.

NASA has contracted with Axiom Space to acquire a seat aboard Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 for a NASA astronaut to launch to the orbiting science lab on April 9.

Nine hours after a SpaceX team in Texas landed a full-scale Starship prototype for the first time, colleagues in Florida launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 60 more satellites for the company’s high-speed internet service system. 

SpaceX’s March 3 high-altitude test of a full-scale Starship prototype managed a soft landing—unlike two previous test vehicles—but then exploded 3 min. after touching down at the company’s facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas.

Thales Alenia Space (TAS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed the expected contract for six satellites in the second generation of the EU’s Galileo navigation constellation, after the Court of Justice of the European Union lifted a suspension.