Another four months, another Progress resupply to the International Space Station.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-07-03 19:32 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-07-04, 00:32 (AQTT) | | Docking scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-07-05 21:27 | | Mission | Progress MS-31 | | Launch site | Site 31/6, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan | | Launch vehicle | Soyuz 2.1a | | Spacecraft | Progress | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and docking to the ISS |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Roscosmos | (launch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYuhu4a1bNg | | Roscosmos | (docking) https://www.youtube.com/@tvroscosmos/streams | | NASA | (launch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dmcRo4wp6E | | NASA+ | (launch) https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/progress-92-cargo-ship-launch/ | | NASA+ | (docking) https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-video/progress-92-cargo-ship-docking/ | | The Launch Pad | (launch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_tx1VoR7c | | The Launch Pad | (docking) https://www.youtube.com/@TheLaunchPad/streams | | Space Affairs | (launch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JR6vHMPqi0 | | Space Affairs | (docking) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aXu1_YA00Y | | Space Devs | (launch) https://www.youtube.com/@thespacedevs/videos | | Space Devs | (docking) |

Mission Details

• NASA
• NextSpaceflight

This follows a previous launch attempt on June 21st.

| Scheduled for UTC | 2025-06-29 13:30 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-06-29 08:30 (CDT) | | Launch provider | Blue Origin | | Launch site | Launch Site One, West Texas, Texas, USA | | Landing site | North Landing Pad | | Launch vehicle | New Shepard | | Booster | NS5-4 | | Capsule | RSS Kármán Line | | Passengers | Allie Kuehner, Carl Kuehner, Leland Larson, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Owolabi Salis, James (Jim) Sitkin. | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and safe landing of booster and capsule | | Target Orbit | No |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Blue Origin | https://youtube.com/@blueorigin/streams | | Space Affairs | https://youtube.com/watch?v=4SC5GDMvFT4 | | The Launch Pad | https://youtube.com/watch?v=J5Ad19qxuv4 |

Stats

• 5th New Shepard launch of 2025, 33rd overall
• 6th Blue Origin launch of 2025, 34th overall

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7879

This mission is the 13th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 33rd in its history. The crew includes: Allie Kuehner and her husband, Carl Kuehner, Leland Larson, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Owolabi Salis, and James (Jim) Sitkin.

Previous mission (NS-32) | Next mission (NS-34)

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We welcome feedback from the community!

Final launch of an H-IIA rocket.

| Scheduled for (UTC) | 2025-06-28 16:33:03 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-06-29 01:33:03 (JST) | | Launch site | LA-Y1, Tanegashima Space Center, Japan | | Launch vehicle | H-IIA 202 | | Launch provider | Mitsubushi Heavy Industries / JAXA | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and deployment of GOSAT-GW into Sun-Synchronous Orbit |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | JAXA | https://youtube.com/watch?v=5tRdzj_7OwQ | | The Launch Pad | https://youtube.com/watch?v=_icWwadCMIM |

Stats

☑️ 1st launch from LA-Y1 this year

☑️ 1st H-IIA launch this year, 50th and final overall

Payload info (NextSpaceflight)

GOSAT-GW (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite Greenhouse gases and Water cycle), formerly known as GOSAT 3, is JAXA's next-generation satellite to monitor the greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere. It is the follow on to the GOSAT 2 (Ibuki 2) and GCOM-W (Shizuku) missions.

GOSAT-GW will have 2 instruments:

• Total Anthropogenic and Natural emissions mapping SpectrOmeter-3 (TANSO-3), for observing concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, over a wide area and with high precision for improved estimation accuracy of greenhouse gas emissions

• Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 3 (AMSR-3), which will estimate the geophysical quantity of Earth's water on land, sea-surface, and in the atmosphere.

| Scheduled for UTC | 2025-06-21 13:14 | |

|

| | Scheduled for (local) | 2025-06-21 08:14 (CDT) | | Launch provider | Blue Origin | | Launch site | Launch Site One, West Texas, Texas, USA | | Landing site | North Landing Pad | | Launch vehicle | New Shepard | | Booster | Unknown | | Capsule | Unknown | | Passengers | Allie Kuehner, Carl Kuehner, Leland Larson, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Owolabi Salis, James (Jim) Sitkin. | | Mission success criteria | Successful launch and safe landing of booster and capsule | | Target Orbit | No |

Livestreams

| Stream | Link | |

|

| | Blue Origin | https://youtube.com/watch?v=cptQGqX0pC4 | | Space Affairs | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE2DnAK68Jg | | The Launch Pad | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1f8EIMvBOQ |

Stats

• 5th New Shepard launch of 2025, 33rd overall
• 6th Blue Origin launch of 2025, 34th overall

https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7879

This mission is the 13th human flight for the New Shepard program and the 33rd in its history. The crew includes: Allie Kuehner and her husband, Carl Kuehner, Leland Larson, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Owolabi Salis, and James (Jim) Sitkin.

Previous mission (NS-32) | Next mission (NS-34)

Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here! Also feel free to leave feedback or suggestions for the mod team. We welcome feedback from the community!

Portal Space Systems will create a second factory to scale up production of high-performance in-space vehicles as it gears up for initial test flights in 2026.

The company announced at the Paris Air Show June 17 that it will establish a second factory, five kilometers from its current facilities in Bothell, Washington, for its Supernova vehicle. The new factory, spanning more than 4,600 square meters, is scheduled to open in late 2026.

The second facility will allow Portal to produce one Supernova spacecraft a month starting in 2027. Supernova is the spacecraft the company is developing that uses solar thermal propulsion to provide both high thrust and high delta V, or change in velocity.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31650505

An experimental reusable rocket developed by the research and development arm of Honda Motor Company flew to an altitude of nearly 900 feet Tuesday, then landed with pinpoint precision at the carmaker's test facility in northern Japan.

The accomplishment may not sound like much, but it's important to put it into perspective. Honda's hopper is the first prototype rocket outside of the United States and China to complete a flight of this kind, demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing technology that could underpin the development of a reusable launch vehicle.

While Tuesday's announcement by Honda was unexpected, the company has talked about rockets before. In 2021, Honda officials revealed they had been working on a rocket engine for at least two years. At the time, officials said a small satellite launch vehicle was part of Honda's roadmap.

The rocket Honda talked about in 2021 could put a payload of up to 1 metric ton into low-Earth orbit. It's unclear whether Honda is still targeting this sector of the launch market. Company officials then committed to supporting internal development work until about 2025 or 2026, when it would make a "go" or "no go" decision on whether to finish the project and field an operational rocket.

Developed in-house by Honda R&D Company, the rocket climbed vertically from a pedestal at the company's test site in southeastern Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's main islands. The vehicle reached an altitude of about 890 feet (271 meters). The vehicle descended to a nearby landing target and settled on its four landing legs just 15 inches (37 centimeters) from its aim point, according to Honda.

What's more, the rocket stood on its four landing legs for liftoff, then retracted the landing gear as it climbed into the sky. At its highest point, the vehicle extended aerodynamic fins akin to those used on SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 and Super Heavy boosters. Moments before reaching the ground, the rocket folded the fins against its fuselage and deployed its four landing legs for touchdown. The flight lasted approximately 57 seconds.

The test rocket is small in stature, measuring less than 21 feet (6.3 meters) tall and about 2.8 feet (85 centimeters) in diameter. Fully fueled, the rocket weighed about 2,892 pounds (1,312 kilograms). Honda has been reticent about the rocket's engines, but the company's video of the test flight suggests the liquid-fueled engines consume cryogenic propellants, possibly a mixture of methane and liquid oxygen.

China carried out a successful pad abort test early Tuesday for its next-generation crew spacecraft for moon and low Earth orbit missions.

China conducted the zero-altitude, or pad abort, test June 17 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. An ignition command was issued at 12:30 a.m. Eastern (0430 UTC; 12:30 p.m. Beijing time), triggering the Mengzhou spacecraft’s launch escape system solid propellant engines, China’s human spaceflight agency, CMSEO, said in a statement.

Footage of the test shows the escape system rapidly boosting the spacecraft away from the ground. Around 20 seconds later, the vehicle reached a predetermined altitude. The return capsule separated from the escape tower and its parachutes deployed successfully.

The return capsule safely landed in the designated test zone using an airbag cushioning system at 12:32 a.m., marking the test a complete success, CMSEO stated.

The test was designed to verify systems needed to get astronauts in the crew module away from its rocket in an emergency situation. The test marks a milestone for the country’s plans to put astronauts on the moon by 2030.

The text of a budget reconciliation bill released by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) last week calls for the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, known as AST, to begin charging licensing fees to space companies next year. The fees would phase in over eight years, after which the FAA would adjust them to keep pace with inflation. The money would go into a trust fund to help pay for the operating costs of the FAA's commercial space office.

While the FAA's commercial space office receives more federal funding today, the budget hasn't grown to keep up with the cadence of commercial spaceflight. SpaceX officials urged the FAA to double its licensing staff in 2023 after the company experienced delays in securing launch licenses.

Cruz's section of the Senate reconciliation bill calls for the FAA to charge commercial space companies per pound of payload mass, beginning with 25 cents per pound in 2026 and increasing to $1.50 per pound in 2033. Subsequent fee rates would change based on inflation. The overall fee per launch or entry would be capped at $30,000 in 2026, increasing to $200,000 in 2033, and then adjusted to keep pace with inflation.