Space obsession, queen confessions.
At a Beijing space conference on Saturday, China’s lunar program chief laid out how three astronauts will fly to the Moon and two will walk on it. Here’s how the “two launches, lunar orbit rendezvous” plan works, what’s already been tested, and why I’m watching closely.
Relativity Space launched the world’s first mostly 3D-printed rocket in March 2023, then moved on to a bigger, conventional-looking reusable rocket. Here is how that pivot happened, who now runs the company, and what it taught the space industry.
Relativity Space’s Terran R is a 284-foot reusable rocket with 13 Aeon R engines on its first stage. Here is what the company says about it, what the hardware has done lately, and why outside observers doubt the “late 2026” launch date.
A rocket doesn’t push against the ground or the air. It throws hot gas one way so it can go the other. Here’s the simple physics behind every launch, from Falcon 9 to Starship.
Virgin Galactic’s first Delta-class spaceship has a name, Apeiron, and a home. On October 28 it flew tucked beneath the carrier aircraft Eve from Arizona to Spaceport America in New Mexico. Here’s what happened, what comes next, and which dates are still just targets.
SpaceX’s workhorse just flew for the 700th time, on a spooky-season Starlink run from California. Here’s what that number really means, the booster that made it happen, and why Falcon 9’s story is starting its final chapters as Starship takes the stage.
There’s talk of a “super heavy” from Stoke Space. Here is what the company has actually announced (a bigger, medium-lift Nova Block 2), what it hasn’t, and why full reusability is such a hard problem.
Two October drive-bys at the Gigabay: on October 11 the walls looked closed in to the top but the north openings were still empty, and by October 29 we have doors on the north side! I compare both with my August report, check the very tall openings (maybe a door starting on the south side, too?) and spot a big orange crane by the north wall.
On Oct. 29, NASA’s Anil Menon and Canada’s Joshua Kutryk spent 7 hours and 11 minutes outside the ISS installing the seventh of eight new roll-out solar arrays. One more spacewalk on Nov. 5 finishes the job.
Stoke Space wants both stages of its Nova rocket to come back and fly again. Here is what Nova Pathfinder is, what is built, what is still unproven, and what to watch before its first launch in 2027.