Two days before he was to chair the Flight Readiness Review for the SpaceX Demo-2 mission, marking the return of U.S. human orbital flight capability, NASA Associate Administrator Douglas Loverro is leaving the agency. 

Citing concerns about Tropical Storm Arthur, which was passing off the coast of North Carolina on May 18, SpaceX is standing down from its planned May 19 launch of a Falcon 9 rocket to build out its Starlink network, putting the long-awaited flight test of a crewed Dragon spacecraft next on the launch schedule. 

Virgin Orbit completed a second dress rehearsal of its LauncherOne small satellite launch system on May 15, but plans to conduct some additional testing ahead of the vehicle’s orbital test flight, targeted for later this month.

The satellite operator Intelsat announced May 13 that it has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a financial restructuring to free up liquidity and continue operations while it awaits repayment from the government from an auction of C-band spectrum. 

Listen to your experts, listen to your vehicle, and expect the unexpected. That’s the advice a panel of human spaceflight veterans has for SpaceX as the company prepares for its landmark Demo-2 flight to the International Space Station (ISS) later this month, which will restore the U.S. human orbital spaceflight capability lost after the 2011 retirement of the space shuttle.

Space situational awareness startup LeoLabs has launched the first automated collision-avoidance service for satellites.

A future NASA Orion crew might find its way to an aging but still productive Hubble Space Telescope to conduct upgrades and repairs, says John Grunsfeld, who journeyed to the orbital observatory as a spacewalking mechanic on three shuttle missions. 

The FAA has authorized a 12th commercial space launch site and continues to evaluate another site that was nearing a decision by the agency late last year.