Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken praised the NASA/SpaceX team behind their test flight and expressed hope the public/private partnership continues to thrive.

As it incorporates lessons learned from the abbreviated debut flight of its LauncherOne small satellite rocket, Virgin Orbit said Aug. 3 it is planning for a second demonstration mission before year’s end, with NASA agreeing to use the launch to put 11 experimental cubesats into orbit.

Small satellite launcher ABL Space Systems has disclosed around $90 million in new defense contracts plus investments from Lockheed Martin and venture capitalists, powering the startup through a three-launch demonstration of the RS1 launch vehicle and GS0 deployable launch system early next year, the company said Aug. 3.

Liftoff was scrubbed due to an out-of-limit sensor indication associated with the Ariane 5's first-stage liquid hydrogen propellant tank.

Rocket Lab has determined the cause of the July 4 failure of an Electron rocket—a faulty electrical connection which triggered a premature shutdown of the booster’s second stage, the company said on July 31. 

Two NASA Demo-2 astronauts continued preparing on July 31 for a weekend return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) and a splashdown off the Florida coast as Tropical Storm Isaias was upgraded to a category 1 hurricane.

The U.S. Space Force’s 30th Space Wing, the state of California and other involved parties have entered into an agreement to develop a commercial spaceport facility at Vandenberg AFB, California, the federal government’s Western launch range.

New Zealand-based startup Dawn Aerospace has rolled out its Mk-II Aurora reusable suborbital spaceplane.