Top Stories of the Week From SpaceNews
01/17/2025 | Welcome to our roundup of top SpaceNews stories, delivered every Friday! This week, New Glenn reached orbit on its maiden launch, SpaceX lost its Starship upper stage during a test launch, China's lunar far side rover Yutu-2 is likely immobile, and more. | Our Top Story | | |
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|  | By Jeff Foust, Jan. 16, 2025 | Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket achieved orbit on its long-awaited first launch Jan. 16, although the company failed in its attempt to recover the first stage.
New Glenn lifted off at 2:03 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The massive rocket, powered by seven BE-4 engines in its first stage, slowly ascended.
Stage separation took place a little more than three minutes after liftoff. The upper stage ignited its two BE-3U engines and continued its ascent to orbit while the first stage headed towards a landing on Jacklyn, a Blue Origin ship that serves as a landing platform in the Atlantic Ocean. Read More |  | Other News From the Week | LAUNCH | Starship upper stage lost on seventh test flight
SpaceX's seventh Starship/Super Heavy test flight ended prematurely Jan. 16 when the Starship upper stage was apparently lost while ascending into space. While booster successfully landed, the upper stage was lost and was later spotted breaking up on reentry. Read More
Stoke Space raises $260 million
Stoke Space has raised $260 million to advance development of a fully reusable medium-lift launch vehicle and its Cape Canaveral launch site. Stoke announced Jan. 15 that it raised a Series C round from a group and new and returning investors. The company declined to disclose the valuation of the round, stating only that it has raised $480 million to date, including a $100 million Series B in October 2023. Read More
Falcon 9 launches American and Japanese commercial lunar landers
The Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A at 1:11 a.m. Eastern. After two burns of the rocket's upper stage, the Blue Ghost 1 lander by Firefly Aerospace separated more than 65 minutes after launch. The upper stage later performed a brief third burn before deploying the HAKUTO-R M2 Resilience lander for ispace nearly 93 minutes after liftoff. Both landers were placed into transfer orbits around the Earth. Read More | CIVIL | Yutu-2 rover likely immobile on the moon after historic lunar far side mission
China's Yutu-2 rover, part of the first ever mission to land on the far side of the moon, may have made its final tracks, NASA lunar orbiter images reveal. The latest Chinese media report on the progress of Yutu-2, in September 2024, stated that the six-wheeled, solar powered rover had driven a total of 1,613 meters. However, imagery from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) reveals that Yutu-2 appears to have been stationary since March 2024. Read More
Hubble budget cuts could impact science and mission operations
At a town hall session during the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society Jan. 14, representatives of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which handles science operations of Hubble, said cuts in the telescope's budget proposed by NASA could reduce the effectiveness of the nearly 35-year-old observatory. Read More | MILITARY | Space Force procurement official removed amid investigation
The Department of the Air Force has removed Derek Tournear from his position as director of the U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency (SDA), SpaceNews has learned. A department spokesperson said Tournear was placed on administrative leave as of Jan. 16 pending the results of an investigation but did not elaborate on the circumstances and declined to provide additional details about the investigation. Read More
Trump taps space and intelligence veteran Troy Meink as Air Force secretary
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Troy Meink, a senior intelligence official with extensive space and defense experience, to serve as secretary of the Air Force, signaling a strong emphasis on space capabilities for his incoming administration. The nomination, announced Jan. 16, would place a veteran of both military operations and intelligence acquisitions at the helm of a department that oversees not only the Air Force but also the newest military branch, the Space Force. Read More |
|  | | | OPINION |
|  | By Chris Carberry, Jan. 15, 2025
| Since the recent presidential election, there's been a flurry of speculation about the future of NASA's Moon to Mars plans during the second Trump administration. Will we accelerate plans to return to the moon and Mars? Will NASA be restructured? And, how will these plans align with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)?
The speculation has been particularly intense regarding the future of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew vehicle. Some pundits have called for the outright cancellation of SLS and Orion, citing the cost of these vehicles and delays in their development. However, the immediate cancellation of these vehicles may be premature. Read More
The Trump administration should leverage private space stations to counter China
By Kam Ghaffarian
Space to grow: American leadership in space commerce
By Don Graves
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