It has been a big week for Blue Origin, first with the second launch of New Glenn, the successful landing of the first stage. As they were moving the first stage of last week’s New Glenn flight, the company casually made three major announcements today in one press release: a new, supersized New Glenn for megapayloads, ramping up the power output of its BE-4 and BE-3U engine used on the second stage of the current New Glenn, as well as the 9X4. It might be a while for the megarocket to be on the launch pad, but the engine advancements start arriving on the next New Glenn flight, NG-3.
Rocket Lab's latest HASTE mission lifted off from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 8AM on Tuesday, November 18th. The mission, initially known only as "VAN", was later announced as "Prometheus Run." Electron transits the sun.…
Blue Origin recovered its New Glenn booster for the first time ever today following a launch from Cape Canaveral. The recovery makes the company only the second in history to develop a reusable booster. Photo: Blue Origin
Blue Origin notched a major success this afternoon as its towering New Glenn rocket roared away from Launch Complex 36, completing the company’s second orbital flight and sending a pair of NASA spacecraft on a long journey toward Mars. The launch, designated NG-2, lifted off at 3:55 p.m. Eastern after a week marked by weather delays, solar activity concerns, and heightened anticipation along Florida’s Space Coast.
It was a sight few Floridians ever expect to see. Late Tuesday night and into the early hours of Wednesday, streaks of soft red and violet light rippled faintly across the northern horizon, visible from as far south as Central Florida. The northern lights — usually reserved for those in Alaska, Canada, or northern Europe — paid a rare visit to the Sunshine State.
Blue Origin’s second New Glenn rocket underwent a hotfire test earlier this week. Photo: Blue Origin
All eyes will be on Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday November 9, 2025. Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy lift rocket will attempt to successfully launch NASA’s ESCAPADE mission (NG-2) to an orbit around Mars.
Launches like Blue Origin’s NG-2 are not subject to the new FAA order, since it is a NASA mission. Photo: Blue Origin
The Federal Aviation Administration announced a big change on November 6, 2025, that will dramatically alter the way commercial rocket launches are conducted in the United States…at least for now. Effective November 10, all commercial launches and reentries will be restricted to nighttime hours between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time. The emergency order, described by officials as a necessary response to ongoing staffing shortages, immediately sent ripples through the nation’s growing commercial space industry, particularly across Florida’s Space Coast, where many of the country’s launches take place.
Remote cameras set up, the press and spectators await t-0 and liftoff from Boca Chica for Starship Flight 11.
Photo: Chris Leymarie, Florida Media Now
Flight 11 was the final launch of the Block 2 variant of Starship. That mission was promising, and both the Booster and Starship survived and splashed down successfully to their respective targets.
Following this mission, SpaceX won’t be launching Starship for a hot minute, taking some time to make some significant changes to both their facilities at Starbase and the launch vehicles.
Artist’s representation of a Voyager in deep space. Credit: JPL
For scientific survey probes and landers that head into deep space, power generation is a critical problem: think of exploring space like backpacking across a continent a place like Antarctica: no stores, no roads, and months and months of cold temperatures. Solar power is handy, light and handy, but useless at night or in a blizzard. NASA’s nuclear technology could offer a solution in such scenarios.
No Falcon Heavy Launches From The Cape In 2025 Is Part of the Fallout
Astrobotic has announced that its Griffin-1 lunar mission is now targeting July 2026, a shift that gives engineers time to complete propulsion integration and qualify the lander’s engines. Their update, published today, also outlines steady progress on systems from tanks to software as the company prepares to deliver multiple payloads to the Moon’s south-polar Nobile region.
With this news, any chance of a Falcon Heavy launch from Kennedy Space Center in 2025 is now kaput.
Starship Flight 11 lifts off from Boca Chica, Texas this eveningPhoto: Chris Leymarie, Florida Media Now SpaceX launched its eleventh integrated flight of the Starship and Super Heavy booster system on Monday evening from Boca Chica…
SpaceX is set to launch Starship Flight 11 today from its Boca Chica, Texas, facility, on a test flight that potentially carries major implications for Florida’s Space Coast. As the company eyes future Starship operations from…
Low Earth orbit has become a crowded neighborhood. Once home to a handful of satellites and orbital research stations, it’s now filled with tens of thousands of objects—many no longer serving any purpose. From working satellites to broken pieces of metal, dead rocket stages, and microscopic paint flecks, space debris hurtles around Earth at 17,000 miles per hour.
