Air Force officials described the broad outlines of the Rocket Cargo Vanguard program during a media roundtable on June 4 at the Pentagon, but contract solicitation documents released on the same day provide deeper insights into the Air Force’s plans for the potentially $250 million demonstration program. 

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said he will be aboard for the first crewed flight of the company’s New Shepard suborbital space transportation system, along with his brother Mark, the winner of an ongoing auction and possibly up to three additional passengers.

SpaceX conducted its 18th Falcon 9 launch of the year on June 6, pausing the deployment of its own Starlink communications network to deliver a 7,500-lb. satellite into orbit for SiriusXM’s digital radio service.

Launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on June 3 at 1:29 p.m. EDT, the commercial freighter with 7,300 lb. of cargo docked to the space-facing port of the station's Harmony module at 5:09 a.m. EDT, for a monthlong stay.

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has selected the Rocket Cargo project—determining the viability of using large commercial rockets for military logistics—as the fourth vanguard program and believes SpaceX is not the sole provider of the new technology.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) is standing down from its planned June 23 launch of an Atlas V rocket with the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program-3 (STP-3) spacecraft to review a potential issue.

United Launch Alliance is standing down from its planned June 23 launch of an Atlas V rocket with the Air Force Test Payload-3 to review a potential issue with oscillations of the booster’s upper stage engine nozzle, the company said on June 4.

A joint effort underway by Vandenberg Space Force Base with state and central California government and educational agencies to add commercial launch capabilities forecasts a favorable economic impact as the challenges the partnership has identified with an unfolding master plan are met.