Building, Testing, Flying - Weekly Spaceflight News [7:29]

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Chapter 1: Introduction In this week's Avid Space Industry Update, Blue Origin makes major strides in bringing LC36 back online while ULA prepares to launch its first batch of Amazon LEO satellites. And Rocket Lab continues its push to bring Neutron into service. So, let's take a look at how they and others in the industry are doing as their new launchers and new spacecraft are prepped for flight.

Chapter 2: SpaceX launch operations

Starting off with SpaceX's venerable Falcon 9. There were two launches this week with both flights launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base's Space Launch Complex 4 East in California. For Starlink Group 15-16, booster 1082 lifted off on October 27th for its 26th flight, sending 27 satellites on their way to orbit before landing downrange on, of course, I still love you. Falcon 9 booster 1093 made its 18th flight on October 30th to carry another batch of 27 Starlink satellites on the Group 15-18 mission. Like the previous mission, this group was flown into a high orbital inclination. These are the only remaining orbital shells that SpaceX plans to fill with a V2 mini satellites.

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Chapter 3: Blue Origin development

Moving on to Blue Origin, the company had a busy week at launch complex 36 and reached another milestone in their efforts to rebuild the complex. The ninth module of the launch tower was restacked at the launch site, which marked completion of repair and reassembly work on the tower. Back on the ground, several transporters carefully maneuvered the 4 million pound launch bridge back into place over the flame trench and placed it back on its bearings. While repairs continue at the new Glenn launch site, vehicles are still being built and tested. A new Glenn second stage was also transported by barge to NASA’s Stenis Space Center and installed at the B2 test stand for hotfiring. Blue Origin’s second New Glenn launchpad, LC36B, is also taking shape. A massive concrete pour was done on the 25th, placing 4,500 cubic yards for the pile caps with 15,000 yards planned overall. 450 concrete trucks and multiple pump trucks were also used for the pour.

Chapter 4: Rocket Lab progress

Taking a look at Rocket Lab, the first Neutron rocket’s first stage thrust structure was rolled out of their Middle River facility near Baltimore and was taken to the docks to be loaded onto the Northstar Challenger. From there, the barge and its cargo would head to Wallops Island where Neutron will be assembled, tested, and launched. The Neutron thrust structures main job is to carry the flight’s loads of the first stages nine Archimedes rocket engines. Archimedes is a staged combustion engine burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen to produce a combined 1,450,000 lbs of thrust at liftoff. The thrust structure was also joined by a neutron second stage for the trip. And 2 days later, the second stage and thrust module arrived in Virginia, joining the other hardware already on site. The thrust module will be put through an integrated fluids and mounting interface checkout on the launchpad while stage 2 will go through some checkouts ahead of cryoproofing and wet dress rehearsals. On the 30th, Rocket Lab posted a video update on Neutron. Construction has already begun on the next thrust structure and second stage and the last of the flight one vehicle structures are nearing completion. If the integrated structures pass cryoproofing and wet dress rehearsal, engines will be installed and the stages will be put through their first fully integrated static fire tests. Rocket Lab also celebrated the production of their 100th Electron rocket this week. Congratulations, Rocket Lab. Rounding out the news for Rocket Lab, a new robotic arm has been developed as part of their space services business. This standalone arm is designed to crawl across satellites and spacecraft to use tools and perform repairs in orbit.

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Chapter 5: NASA news and Artemis

This week at NASA, the space launch system core stage for Artemis 3 was brought into the vehicle assembly building for integration with the solid rocket boosters. After being brought into the VAB, the overhead cranes raised the core upright and carried it over the hump that separates the assembly bays from the hall and placing it on the mobile launch platform to be mated to the solid rocket boosters. Looking to NASA’s astronaut core, NASA astronaut Anil Manan and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Cutri installed the seventh rollout solar array or Rosa panel to increase the power available to the International Space Station. The spacew walk was performed on October 28th and lasted for 7 hours. Another spacew walk is planned for November 5th to install the eighth and final ROSA panel on the station. Artemis 2 commander Reed Wisman has been named deputy director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech, where he’ll be helping steward the agency as it approaches its 90th birthday and maintain JPL’s strategic leadership and the continuous effort to improve the lab. He’ll also be the main point of contact for the AY’s national security programs. Looking upward to space missions, NASA has issued a request for information for a potential Hubble servicing mission. The purpose of this RFI, which runs through November 30th, will inform NASA of what capabilities the commercial sector has available. The requested information covers a variety of potential mission profiles, including instrument upgrades, reboosts, and de-orbit and disposal. NASA’s Pegasus barge, which carries the space launch system and other Artemis hardware to and from the space coast, was seen departing the Cape and heading out to sea on the 29th.

Chapter 6: Industry updates

Over at United Launch Alliance, preparations are almost complete for the company’s first Amazon LEO mission, which is currently scheduled to lift off on November 13th. The mission payload of 40 satellites has been placed inside the 70 ft tall fairing and integrated with the Vulcan rocket. 38 launches have been ordered from ULA, each flying on the Vulcan in its six SRB configuration. Impulse Space has completed another liquid oxygen tank for its Hilos vehicle. Hilos is a kick stage designed for 5 meter class fairings and offers extended payload lift capabilities to deep space missions and geostationary launches. The FAA has granted a re-entry license to Sierra Space for its Dreamchaser cargo vehicle which has been under development for commercial resupply services to the ISS.

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Chapter 7: Global space developments

The French space agency CNES has begun Kalisto ground qualification and handling tests with a boilerplate testing article. Kalisto, which is being developed in partnership with the German aerospace center and JAXA, is an upcoming demonstrator vehicle to learn how to do propulsive liftoffs and landings similar to SpaceX’s Grasshopper during Falcon 9 re-entry and landing development. Vast Space has completed assembly of Hole 3, a qualification primary flight structure for their upcoming space station. With the completion of hole three, they’ll continue to refine their processes with the production of hole four. PLLD Space successfully completed qualification testing of their Mirror 5 rocket flight termination system at their test range in Utah. With the flight termination system qualified, they can now move forward to the next regulatory steps for launch. Closing things out this week with the Indian Space Research Organization.

Chapter 8: ISRO mission and conclusion

Their geocynchronous satellite launch vehicle made its 20th flight on October 30th, carrying the NVS03 mission into space. The NVS03 is the third member of the organization’s next generation Indian regional navigation satellite system. Well, that’s going to do it for this week’s Avid Space Flight Industry update, but make sure you keep an eye out for our next Starship and Starbase update coming out in a few days. Thanks for watching and we’ll see you next week.

NASA is working to send astronauts back to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. That mission, dubbed Artemis 4, is currently scheduled for late 2028. However, there is a big, outstanding question for the mission: which commercial lander will the agency use to bring its astronauts down to the lunar surface and back up again?

Both Blue Origin and SpaceX are working on accelerated plans to get their respective landers to the Moon, but both still have tall tasks ahead. Spaceflight Now Reporter Will Robinson-Smith traveled to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to learn more about the work ahead for the upcoming flights of the Blue Moon and Starship programs and how NASA is thinking about their two lander suppliers needed to return America and its international partners to the Moon.

Video shot, written, and edited by Will Robinson-Smith, Spaceflight Now
Blue Origin, SpaceX race to become
1st to carry NASA astronauts to the Moon | 23:07
Spaceflight Now | 490K subscribers | 510 views | November 5, 2026

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
02:36 HLS since Artemis 2
03:33 Blue Origin's Artemis 3 role
08:04 SpaceX's Artemis 3 role
11:33 Starship's road to Artemis 4
15:51 Blue Moon Mk2's road to Artemis 4
19:55 What NASA's watching

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