2006 Opel Meriva

The Long March 5 is probably going to support public and dark flagship payloads launches for the Chinese for a very long time...

SpaceLens getting the best of the launch photos, as usual in China: m.weibo.cn/detail/5308661…

At 15:30 Beijing Time on June 11, 2026, China successfully launched a Long March-5 with the 25th Communication Technology Test Satellite as its payload. The satellite is mainly intended for verification of multi-band, high-rate satellite communication technologies.

Wallops Island launch update — June 11, 2026. Curveball is looking frosty. Propellant loading is underway on Rocket Lab HASTE Mission Curveball. That cryogenic condensation cloud venting off the vehicle and lit up by the pad lights means we are getting close. 8-second exposure on this one — caught the full sweep of the LOX venting plume in the dark. Hoping for a launch soon. @NASASpaceflight

NASA Wallops launch update: Rocket HASTE mission Curveball, Propellant is now loading. The rocket is getting frosty. @NASASpaceflight

It really is dark out here. They have all the bright lights off and the red lights on. They do it for the turtles.

Wallops Island launch update — June 11, 2026. About an hour and fifteen out. On site at Wallops for the Rocket Lab HASTE Curveball launch attempt. The rocket is vertical on the pad and barely lit up in the dark. Window opens at 12:00 AM EDT, runs to 5:15 AM EDT. No propellant loading visible yet. Watching closely. @NASASpaceflight

Behold: new and previously unseen imagery from our Artemis II mission! These images were captured on April 6, 2026, when the four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft conducted the lunar flyby portion of their ten-day journey.

Details on The Exploration Company's Storm: - Liquid Oxygen/Liquid Bio-methane - 1,765kN / 180tf thrust (about 72% Raptor 3) - Full-flow staged combustion cycle - Reusable "[...] Storm represents a concrete step toward a new generation of European rocket propulsion." The Exploration Company had already been working on this engine for some time, but I guess today is the "official" unveiling or something. So far they've worked on turbomachinery, main combustion chamber hardware, regeneratively cooled nozzle extensions, as well as oxidizer-rich and fuel-rich preburners. P.S. the original name, Typhoon, was so much better than "Storm" 😭 📷 The Exploration Company

LINK, Katalyst Space’s robotic servicing spacecraft, has been integrated into a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket at @NASAWallops. Later this month, it'll launch from Kwajalein Atoll and rendezvous with our Swift telescope to attempt an orbital boost. go.nasa.gov/4eDXoU3

Next stop: orbit. #LaunchingAmbitions #Ariane6 #VA269 @Amazonleo @ArianeGroup @esa @CNES @EuropeSpacePort

🛰️ Encapsulation complete. The 36 Amazon Leo satellites are now secured inside Ariane 6's fairing ahead of launch.

📸 Behind the scenes as 36 Leo satellites are encapsulated inside Ariane 6's 20-meter long fairing ahead of Leo Europe 3 (LE-03). Every additional satellite adds capacity and coverage to our network and moves us one step closer to delivering service to customers, and LE-03 will be our largest @Arianespace payload to date—made possible by new P160C solid rocket boosters that increase performance and allow us to deploy four additional satellites per launch. LE-03 launch window opens Wednesday, June 17 at 11:53 a.m. UTC. Read more: spr.ly/6015B8NR2N

Starting with some energy, and my inability to write brief updates, I am just extremely proud of the NASA crew, our industry, and our international partners. We are getting into a rhythm here at NASA. Earlier this year, setbacks put the Artemis II rocket back in the VAB for repairs, and we determined it was necessary to add another mission, Artemis III in 2027. Since then, we have unveiled the Ignition plans to build a Moon Base and nuclear-powered spaceships, launched a highly successful mission around the Moon, brought the crew home safely, and now watched the torch pass to Artemis III. There will be no shortage of major milestones to celebrate in the months ahead as we build the Moon Base and launch the Nancy Grace Roman telescope. I am beyond proud of the team and all the momentum and excitement around the space program. I do want to take this moment to address two of the questions I have been seeing since the crew announcement. Why are there no women assigned to Artemis III? I have seen reactions ranging from disappointment to outrage. I have personally been to space twice with 50% female crews. My closest advisors and some of the smartest engineers I know are women. In our latest NASA leadership organization, nearly 50% of the Center Directors and Mission Directorate leadership are women. The last astronaut candidate class selected under this Administration was majority female because they were the best of the best, including one astronaut I previously went to space with. In a world with so much controversy, I hope this can be a moment where we celebrate the astronauts selected, respect the integrity of the process, and recognize the extraordinary depth of talent across the entire corps. The crew selection does not involve any political appointees. The Astronaut Office assigns the crew that gives the mission the best chance of meeting its objectives, taking into account many factors, including the background and expertise of the astronauts, such as test pilot experience, development work on specific programs, and availability. For example, those raising this concern may not be aware of the pipeline of crews already preparing to launch to the Space Station, or those who have been undergoing lunar-specific training that would be a better fit for a future surface mission. The Artemis III astronauts are experienced, qualified, and deserve to be celebrated for the mission they have been assigned, just as the crews that follow will be celebrated when their time comes. We have an extraordinary astronaut corps, and every mission and every crew is part of a larger campaign to get America back to the Moon and to build the future we all dreamed about as children. What are the objectives for Artemis III if both landers will not be fully ready? Coming off a highly successful lunar mission like Artemis II, it is not surprising that the bar is set high for Artemis III. I think it is important to understand how difficult and dangerous it is to land astronauts on the Moon. We have not done it in a very long time, and we want to draw from a past playbook for success. That means getting into a cadence of launching, learning, and rolling improvements into the next mission. First and foremost, it is imperative for SLS to be flying with some frequency for operational currency and, honestly, safety. Earlier this year, it was very clear across NASA leadership that an additional mission was necessary in 2027. It is also imperative to gain interoperability data from rendezvous and docking with landers in Earth orbit. We do not need those landers that are still in development to be fully capable and certified for landing on the Moon on Artemis III, but we do need to test certain systems and controllability. Not to mention, we are moving quickly into a future where we do not require a single rocket to bring everything necessary for a mission to space, and as such, gaining experience with multi-launch campaigns and on-orbit assembly is directionally correct. The Blue Origin test lander for Artemis III will incorporate many of the most important systems and subsystems that have not previously been operated by the provider, including ECLSS in a crew cabin, and other avionics. With SpaceX, they have demonstrated many of those capabilities continuously on Crew Dragon, but other controllability tests are important based on the negative-X axis acceleration that will be necessary when Starship undertakes the TLI burn to the Moon with a docked Orion. After Artemis III, we will learn a lot and roll in further improvements, be that hardware, software, or procedural updates, as both providers undertake end-to-end uncrewed demonstrations to the surface in 2028, in advance of Artemis IV, where NASA astronauts will finally complete the grand return to the Moon. As I said in my remarks yesterday, when Gene Cernan left the lunar surface on Apollo 17, he said, “We leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.” We are returning, and we are doing so with the fire carried forward from Apollo, the lessons learned from Artemis II, the crew of Artemis III, and all those who will follow. NASA will send the very best crews for the right missions. If the composition of our astronaut corps and our latest class of candidates says anything, it is that we have exactly the talent required to get the job done. Godspeed Artemis III, and all those who will follow.

Fresh rockets rolling off the line. Factory is busier than ever. Our 100th Electron rocket is in this lineup.

Captured by Anduril's network of 400 telescopes deployed around the globe: The second stage of the Falcon Heavy launch of ViaSat 3-F3 performing a routine thrust event. This produced a spiraled-shaped plume effect, a nominal part of operations for a successful launch of Viasat's latest satellite.

Introducing Artemis III. Four astronauts. Three launches. Two dockings. One splashdown. In 2027, the Artemis III mission will practice docking the Orion spacecraft with two lunar landers in low Earth orbit — the capability we need to return humanity to the Moon’s surface.

Artemis III crew: MS Andre Douglas MS Frank Rubio Pilot Luca Parmitano (European Space Agency) Commander Randy Bresnik

LIVE: Meet the crew of our next Artemis mission. We're sharing the latest updates on Artemis III: twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Introducing your Artemis III crew: NASA astronauts @AstroKomrade, @Astro_AndreD, and Frank Rubio and @ESA astronaut @Astro_Luca.