NASA plans to roll back the Artemis I mission Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew capsule to its Kennedy Space Center launchpad on June 6 for a second run at a Wet Dress Rehearsal.

Space Systems Command on May 26 ordered eight launches from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX under the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 procurement program.

The Space Development Agency has awarded a $325 million contract to General Dynamics Missions Systems to establish the ground operations and integration segment for Tranche 1 of the National Defense Space Architecture.

Though pleased with the outcome of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner’s uncrewed roundtrip test flight to the International Space Station, NASA and its commercial crew partner have much to assess—and perhaps a few items that must be altered—before a crewed version will be able to lift off.

LeoLabs argues that government space situational awareness capabilities cannot keep track of the growing number of objects in space.

Boeing’s uncrewed CST-100 Starliner successfully completed a six-day roundtrip test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) May 25, with an undocking, re-entry and parachute descent at White Sands Space Harbor on the grounds of the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

SpaceX continued its weekly launch pace with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket on May 25 carrying 59 small satellites and hosted payloads, marking the company’s fifth rideshare mission.  Following launch at 2:35 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the rocket’s first stage returned to the launch site while the upper stage fired to place the Transporter-5 payloads into a preliminary polar orbit.

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded its largest-ever commercial imagery contract effort—up to billions over the next decade—to BlackSky, Maxar and Planet at a critical time for the industry.