Plus: What went wrong with Starliner
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: the FCC prepares to vote on streamlined space licensing, the final Atlas 5 launch for Amazon Leo, what went wrong with Starliner and more.
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Top Stories
The FCC will vote later this month on plans to streamline its space licensing process. The Space Modernization Order, scheduled for a vote by commissioners July 22, would replace the FCC's long-standing Part 25 space and Earth station regulations with a new Part 100, revising rules around processing rounds, license terms, surety bond requirements and other application filing procedures. It would aim to cut red tape and expand the types of minor license modifications operators can make without needing prior FCC authorization, while shrinking the public notice window for typical license requests to 15 days from 30 days, except when longer is required by statute. Pending applications for massive constellations of orbital data center satellites would not be subject to the revised timelines and procedures. The FCC is also due to vote July 22 on rules that would enable the regulator to auction off 160 megahertz of upper C-band spectrum next year in the 3.98-4.14 gigahertz band, mainly used by SES to distribute TV services in the United States. [SpaceNews]
Overconfidence and unrealistic schedules played major factors in the ongoing problems with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle. A report released this week by NASA's inspector general found that NASA was overconfident in Boeing's design for the spacecraft based on its use of heritage hardware, and that overconfidence led to unrealistic timelines that created schedule pressure. The report concluded it was unlikely Starliner will be certified for crewed missions to the International Space Station until at least 2027, limiting its use for crew rotation flights before the station is retired in 2030. In a recent interview, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said he was confident Starliner would overcome its problems and enter service. [SpaceNews]
An Atlas 5 lifted off overnight on the last mission for that rocket carrying a satellite payload. An Atlas 5 551 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 12:30 a.m. Eastern, deploying 29 Amazon Leo satellites into low Earth orbit. The launch was the last of nine Atlas 5 launches Amazon bought in 2021 to begin deployment of its constellation. It was also the last Atlas 5 launch that will deploy satellites; the remaining six Atlas 5 vehicles are reserved for Starliner missions. ULA will continue launching Amazon Leo satellites on its Vulcan rocket, but has not announced when those launches will begin. [SpaceNews]
A technical issue delayed the latest attempt to launch a mission to raise the orbit of a NASA astrophysics spacecraft. NASA said an issue with the Pegasus XL launch vehicle prevented the rocket from being deployed from its L-1011 aircraft during a launch attempt Thursday, after weather called off launches the last two days. NASA did not disclose when the next launch attempt will take place. The rocket is carrying Link, a spacecraft built by Katalyst Space that is designed to attach to NASA's Swift gamma-ray observatory and raise its orbit before Swift reenters in several months. This is the first Pegasus launch in five years and the last flight of the vehicle under contract. [NASA]
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Other News
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Wednesday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:57 p.m. Eastern, placing 24 satellites into orbit. The satellites joined more than 1,600 launched in the first half of the year. [Spaceflight Now]
China launched a marine science satellite. A Long March 4B lifted off at 7:46 p.m. Eastern Wednesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It placed into orbit Haiyang-2E, the latest satellite in a program to study ocean conditions. [Xinhua]
Defense technology company Anduril suffered an explosion at a plant that produces solid rocket motors. The explosion took place last Friday on a test stand at an Anduril factory in Mississippi. There were no injuries, but the extent of the damage was not clear. The company is developing motors there for use in testing prototype motors. The company had planned to start full-scale motor production there a year ago, but sources said that has yet to get underway. [Wired]
ESA has decommissioned a radar-imaging satellite. Sentinel-1A ended operations on Monday, more than 12 years after launch. Controllers will now work to deorbit the satellite. Sentinel-1A, part of the Copernicus Earth observation program, has been replaced by two newer satellites, Sentinel-1C and -1D. [ESA]
If you're looking to really get away from it all, NASA has just the thing. The agency is seeking volunteers for a year-long analog astronaut mission called the Moon and Mars Exploration Analog, in which people will spend a year in simulated habitats at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The agency has done similar tests before, including an ongoing year-long mission in a simulated Mars habitat. The upcoming test will combine the Mars habitat with another habitat that will simulate a spaceship. The simulated mission is scheduled to begin no earlier than August 2027. [NASA]
Note: FIRST UP will not publish Friday in observance of Independence Day. We will be back on Monday.
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Good Luck Redeeming Them
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"Wow, Administrator Isaacman, I'm sorry, but when I look at this tiny, well-traveled piece of fabric, the first thing that pops to my mind is, frequent flyer miles."
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– Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of Wilbur and Orville Wright, after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman presented to her a piece of fabric from the Wright Flyer that flew on the Artemis 2 mission. She spoke at a ceremony Wednesday rededicating the National Air and Space Museum on its 50th anniversary.
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