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Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink warned that China's growing space capabilities could create a second "Sputnik moment." Speaking at the Air & Space Forces Association's annual conference Monday, Meink said he is increasingly worried about the pace of innovation in the Air Force and Space Force. He compared that to China's expanding investments and called for a renewed commitment to preserve U.S. superiority. One area of particular focus for the U.S. Space Force, Meink said, is "space control," the ability to ensure that U.S. satellites can operate without interference while denying adversaries the same freedom. [SpaceNews]

The next batch of Space Development Agency (SDA) satellites is scheduled to launch next month. Gurpartap "GP" Sandhoo, acting director of SDA, confirmed Monday that 21 satellites built by Lockheed Martin are on track to launch in October from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. These Transport Layer Tranche 1 satellites would follow the first set of 21, built by York Space Systems, launched earlier this month. Lockheed has a contract to produce 42 such satellites, using buses from subsidiary Terran Orbital. [SpaceNews]

Firefly Aerospace expects to resume Alpha launches in the near future. The company said in an earnings call Monday that the next Alpha launch will take place in the "coming weeks" with Lockheed Martin as the customer. The FAA allowed Firefly to resume Alpha launches last month after a failure during an April launch. Firefly said it anticipated conducting two Alpha launches the remainder of this year. The earnings call was the first for Firefly since going public last month, with the company reporting $15.5 million in revenue in the second quarter and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $47.9 million. [SpaceNews]

NASA announced its newest class of astronauts Monday, including one person who has already been to space. The 10 members of the Group 24 class, announced Monday at the Johnson Space Center, include six women, the first time a NASA astronaut class has had more women and men. Among the 10 is Anna Menon, a SpaceX engineer who flew to space a year ago on the Polaris Dawn private astronaut mission on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. She is the first American to have already flown in orbit before being selected as a NASA astronaut. The 10 will now go through two years of training before being eligible for flight assignments. Agency officials and lawmakers used the event to stress their belief that NASA will return astronauts to the moon before China lands there despite continued concerns about the development of SpaceX's Starship lander. [SpaceNews]

Other News

SpaceX launched more satellites for a National Reconnaissance Office constellation Monday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 1:38 p.m. Eastern on the NROL-48 mission. The flight marked the 11th launch in the NRO's growing "proliferated architecture" and the fifth such deployment of 2025. While details of the payload were not disclosed, the satellites are widely believed to be based on a government-specific variant of SpaceX's Starlink design. SpaceX builds the spacecraft in partnership with Northrop Grumman, adapting commercial Starshield buses with military-grade payloads for national security use. The NRO now has more than 200 operational spacecraft in orbit. [SpaceNews]

The launch of a trio of space science satellites has slipped a day. NASA said Tuesday that the launch of its IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) and Carruthers Geocorona Observatory spacecraft, along with NOAA's Space Weather Follow On Lagrange 1 spacecraft, had been rescheduled from Tuesday to Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. Eastern. The agency said that SpaceX recovery assets used for supporting the landing of the booster needed additional time to reach the designated location downrange from the Kennedy Space Center. [NASA]

Some European officials say the proposed IRIS² constellation is too small. At last week's Space Defense and Security Summit, a European Commission official acknowledged criticism of the 290-satellite constellation, intended to provide secure broadband connectivity, as being "too late and too small." That constellation should be considered the "minimum viable product" that could be scaled up over time, the official said, perhaps by companies investing to add satellites to provide more services. [SpaceNews]

The Aerospace Corporation is getting a new leader. The organization announced last week that Tanya Pemberton will take over as president and CEO on Oct. 18. She joined Aerospace in 2019 as a senior vice president and has been executive vice president the last two years. She succeeds Steve Isakowitz, who announced earlier this year his intent to retire after nine years leading the organization. [The Aerospace Corporation]

Overemployed

"Thank you for your hard work. You're secretary of transportation. You're the acting administrator of NASA. I think you're trying to compete with Marco Rubio to see who can have the most jobs."

– Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to Sean Duffy at an event Monday to announce the new astronaut class.

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