 | Top Stories
The FAA has temporarily halted Falcon 9 launches to investigate a failed booster landing Wednesday. The agency said it was requiring an investigation into the incident early Wednesday, when a Falcon 9 booster erupted in flames and tipped over upon landing on a droneship in the Atlantic. It is uncertain how long launches will be on hold, although the FAA could make a "public safety determination" to allow launches to resume even while the investigation is in process. One SpaceX executive posted on social media that the company was working to address the problem as soon as possible that that it was "purely a recovery issue" that did not affect public safety. [SpaceNews]
A top Space Force general says the service is actively pursuing expanded partnerships with allied nations to bolster space defense capabilities. Speaking at a conference Wednesday, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein said the Space Force "no longer can go it alone" in space and must work with other countries. The Space Force will pursue joint development of technologies to protect satellites and respond to attacks on space networks, he said. The Space Force is working on a strategy for international partnerships similar to one released earlier this year on commercial collaborations. [SpaceNews]
NASA's inspector general warns that costs for a Space Launch System mobile launch tower will continue to grow. A report this week noted that NASA has set a formal cost commitment of $1.8 billion for the Mobile Launcher 2 (ML-2), which will be used by the larger Block 1B version of SLS. However, the inspector general's report estimated those costs could increase to up to $2.7 billion, including $2.5 billion for a contract with Bechtel that originally was valued at less than $400 million. NASA officials rejected that estimate, saying that cost overruns will decline as ML-2 moves from design to construction, but the inspector general said it is too early to reach that conclusion. [SpaceNews]
Lockheed Martin is testing inflatable airlock modules. The company put a model of an airlock unit through pressurization and depressurization tests earlier this month to test the performance of the Vectran material it is made of. Lockheed Martin is engaged in inflatable structure work as part of NASA's Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program, investigating its use for a range of structures. [SpaceNews]
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| Other News
Chinese company Galactic Energy placed six satellites into orbit on a sea launch. The company's Ceres-1 rocket lifted off from a ship off the coast of Haiyang, Shandong province, at 1:22 a.m. Eastern Thursday. Three of the satellites were Yunyao-1 spacecraft with radio occultation and infrared imaging payloads for meteorological observations, along with three other satellites with hyperspectral and optical imaging payloads. The launch was the 15th flight of the Ceres-1 solid rocket and the third sea launch. [SpaceNews]
The head of Boeing's smallsat subsidiary, Millennium Space Systems, has left the company. Jason Kim left Millennium Space recently after nearly four years for reasons neither he nor the company disclosed. The company said it will name a new CEO in the near future. Boeing acquired Millennium Space Systems in 2018. [TechCrunch]
NASA has assigned an astronaut to a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station next year. NASA said Wednesday that Jonny Kim will launch to the station next March on the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts for an eight-month stay, two months longer than the typical crew rotation. This will be the first flight for Kim, who has been training as the backup for Don Pettit, launching to the station next month on another Soyuz. [NASA]
ESA astronaut John McFall participated in the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games Wednesday in Paris. McFall carried the Paralympic flag into the opening ceremonies with French sailor and Paralympic champion Damien Seguin. McFall, who lost part of one leg in a motorcycle accident, won a bronze medal in the 100 meters at the 2008 Paralympic Games. ESA selected McFall as a reserve astronaut in 2022 and a recently concluded study found no obstacles for him going to space. [Space.com]
| |  | The Upside of a Flight Delay
"I know them really well, and in a way, I think they were a little disappointed to fly in space with such a short amount of time. They both also have done long duration missions on the space station before… and they both loved it."
– Former NASA astronaut Michael Fossum, talking about Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, whose eight-day stay on the ISS on the Starliner Crew Flight Test mission has been extended to eight months. [New Scientist]
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