Virgin Galactic’s founding CEO George Whitesides is relinquishing daily management of the fledgling space tourism company to focus on future programs, including point-to-point hypersonic and orbital space transportation, the company said on July 15. 

The first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is about halfway through an eight-part Green Run test program at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, with a full-duration static firing of the booster’s four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines expected in October, Boeing Vice President and SLS Program Manager John Shannon said on July 15. 

Northrop Grumman’s Minotaur IV rocket ended a nearly three-year hiatus with a July 15 launch from Wallops Island, Virginia, to put a quartet of classified satellites into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). 

Passur Aerospace will integrate satellite-based aircraft tracking data from Aireon into its airline and airport operations management platform, the companies announced on July 14.

The British government and Bharti Global’s joint offer for the OneWeb satellite constellation has been given the nod by U.S. judges.

The KZ-11 solid-propellant space launcher of Chinese state company Expace failed on its first flight on July 10.

Why things happen the right way when nothing is left to chance.

Satellite communications provider Viasat said July 8 that it has removed internet speed limits for business aviation subscribers to its Ka-band service plans.