Rocket Report: Nova moves into trial run; SpaceX IPO launches on Friday

See you next summer? … NASA chose an informational, all-male team with a military background. The announcement was made inside a darkened Teague Auditorium where hundreds of friends, family, and NASA employees cheered: NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, chief of staff; ESA pilot Luca Parmitano, pilot; NASA astronaut Andre Douglas, mission specialist; and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, mission specialist. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Artemis III could be launched as early as summer 2027, but a lot of work still needs to be done.

But New Glenn will be ready? The Artemis III mission involves many moving parts, the most important of which is that Blue Origin’s demonstrations are being launched on the New Glenn rocket. Ars spoke with the Artemis program managerJeremy Parsons, for more information about this part of the mission. The most common plan is to launch a simulator (essentially part of the Blue Moon Mk2 team) on New Glenn.

Two ways forward … But of course, two weeks ago, the New Glenn rocket exploded at its launch site in Florida, causing significant damage to infrastructure there. Parsons said NASA will work with Blue Origin to launch New Glenn. “It’s going to be a two-way street,” Parsons said. “They’re going in and removing SLC-36 right now, and most of the critical equipment is in very good condition.” That being said, we will be holding hands with them every day, and we are trying to cope. Vulcan and Falcon Heavy are options.

Amazon takes time to return. The Federal Communications Commission has waived an order requiring Amazon to deploy half of its satellite broadband constellation by the end of July, a necessary setback that buys technology time to get more of its planes into orbit. Ars reports. It has long been clear that Amazon will not be able to meet the FCC’s demands to install half of its satellites.— 1,616 spaceships—at the end of next month. Amazon filed a petition in January asking the FCC to extend the deadline to July 2028 or cancel it altogether. The agency chose the latter option, removing the time limit of more than 50 percent, but keeping the July 2029 deadline for the entire constellation to be eligible.

Quest: A path to space … Building satellites is not a big problem for Amazon Leo; and start them. The company has several satellites-each over half a ton in mass-waiting to ride into space on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan launch vehicle. Both rockets have been stabilized after recent problems. Amazon has reserved launches for other rockets, but none have the capacity to lift as many satellites as Vulcan and New Glenn, each of which can bring more than 40 Amazon Leo platforms into orbit at once. United Launch Alliance’s recently retired Atlas V rocket has powered Amazon Leo so far, but only one Atlas V is available for Amazon. It will be launched in the coming weeks from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with 29 satellites.

The next three races

June 12:h3 | H3-30 flight test | Tanegashima Space Center, Japan | 00:53 UTC

June 13: Falcon 9 | Starlink 10-54 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 12:27 UTC

June 15: Kinetics 1 | Undisclosed Fees | Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China | 03:40 UTC