Tag: Spaceflight

Axiom Space, one of the leading contenders to take over low-Earth orbit space station operations for the United States once the International Space Station (ISS) ends its career, has been encountering frustrations as it tries to get its fourth crew to the ISS.

Axiom Mission 4 (Ax‑4), comprising a four-person crew, had originally been scheduled to lift-off on a 2-3 week mission to the ISS in early spring, using the Crew Dragon Endurance. That launch target was pushed back when SpaceX admitted they would not have their newest Crew Dragon ready for the planned launch of the Crew 10/Expedition 72  mission to the ISS – the so-called “rescue” mission (which it wasn’t) for astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams.

Because of this, result Endurance had to be swapped into the Crew 10 mission to avoid the latter slipping (ironic, given the SpaceX CEO was at the time screaming that President Biden was responsible for no “rescue” having been launched). With the two Crew Dragon vehicles swapped, May was targeted for Ax-4, utilising the new Crew Dragon vehicle. That date was pushed back to June 8th, when it was realised final check-outs of the new vehicle weren’t going to be completed on time – only for the weather to intervene, it being too poor over the recovery area on the 8th to enable a safe recovery of the capsule in the event of an ascent abort.

June 11th was finally targeted as the launch date, only for NASA to cancel it after it came to light that SpaceX had been playing down a propellant leak identified during a June 8th static fire test of the booster’s Merlin engines (such pre-launch tests are standard feature of Falcon 9 launches). After revealing the leak after the test, SpaceX insisted it would not impede any launch – only to then state on June 10th that they needed a launch delay in order to correct the issue.

The leak – within the booster’s liquid oxygen feeds – had been noted during the booster’s previous flight in April 2025, but had not been properly resolved during the rocket’s refurbishment following that flight. As a result, Ax-4’s launch was pushed back to June 12th.

Then, if all the above weren’t enough, a long-running issue of pressure leaks within the Russian modules of the space station reared its head once more, initially causing NASA to inform Axiom that it was postponing any launch clearance for the mission “indefinitely”.

As I’ve previously noted numerous times in these pages, all of the major elements of the Russian portion of the ISS are “out of warranty”; that is: they are now exceeding their planned operational life span. Even the Nauka (“Science”) module, which arrived at the ISS in 2021, was originally laid down in the early 1990, and 70% complete by the end of that decade – meaning much of it is now exceeding its 30-year life span.

Nauka is mated with the Zvezda module, the core segment of the Russian portion of the ISS, and this has a history going back to the 1980s. At one end of Zvezda is a small transfer tunnel, or “vestibule”, which connects directly to the module’s aft docking port. This port is generally used by Russian Progress resupply vehicles when delivering materiel to the ISS, and so sees a lot of use. Since 2019, the vestibule – referred to as PrK in Russian parlance – has suffered ongoing pressure leaks. By April 2024 the leaks had in NASA’s eyes reached a critical threshold: 1.7 kg per day of atmospheric loss. Whilst Roscosmos disagreed with NASA’s assessment that the leaks pointed to a potential catastrophic failure with PrK, it was agreed to keep the inner (Zvezda-side) hatch on the tunnel shut at all times other than when in active use.

Although this reduced the overall amount of daily pressure loss, the leaks within PrK have remained a concern. This was heightened recently when the pressure loss started to rise again, suggesting the seals on the hatch between Zvezda proper and PrK might be failing, and this is what caused NASA to place the AX-4 mission on “indefinite” hold while Roscosmos acted to fix the issue.

On June 13th, Roscosmos indicated the further micro-cracks within PrK’s inner walls had been sealed, and the cosmonauts on the station would be carrying out regular pressure checks. They made no mention of NASA’s concerns over the state of the seals on the hatch itself. After two days of monitoring, NASA agreed the leaks had once again been stabilised, and on that basis provisionally cleared the AX-4 mission for a potential launch as soon as June 19th, providing the leaks in the PrK did not resume.

When it does eventually launch, Ax-4 is set to spend up to three weeks at the ISS, with the crew carrying out a range of science experiments and research. The crew is commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, one of the most experienced people to have flown is space, clocking up a total of 675 days in orbit and an impressive 60 hours and 21 minutes of EVA time. She also served as NASA’s Chief of the Astronaut Office for three years between active duty stints as an astronaut. In 2018 she retired from NASA to join Axiom as Director of Human Spaceflight.

Joining Whitson are Shubhanshu Shukla of the Indian Space Research organisation, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, an ESA astronaut hailing from Poland and Tibor Kapu of the Hungarian Space Organisation, all of whom are making their first trips to orbit. The international mix of the crew is intended to underscore Axiom’s (and NASA’s) desire to maintain the levels of international co-operation in orbital activities beyond the ISS.

In this, Shukla’s presence is seen as particularly important: an Indian Air Force test pilot, he was selected in 2024 as one of the first four astronauts to fly the first crewed mission aboard India’s Gaganyaan crew-capable spacecraft. This flight is currently targeting a 2027 launch (allowing for three uncrewed test flights in 2025/2026). Flying AX-4 as mission Pilot will give Shukla invaluable experience ahead of the Gaganyaan-4 mission.

It is not currently clear if his back-up, Prasanth Nair – who has already been named the Commander of Gaganyaan-4 – will have a similar opportunity to experience spaceflight ahead of that flight; The Ax-5 mission is due to fly to the ISS in May/June 2026, but the crew for that mission has yet to be announced as appears to be subject to some degree of competition between nations.

China Prepares for On-Orbit Satellite Replenishment

If it hasn’t already happened, China could be about to undertake its first automated satellite refuelling test in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), roughly 35,786 km above the surface of Earth. The mission is part of a broader programme as China develops capabilities to dispose of defunct satellites and refuel / service others to extend their lifespan.

The project was initiated in 2016, with the launch of Shijian-17 (SJ-17). “Shijian” is a name China uses to describe various satellites intended to test capabilities and technologies that may be used in future space activities; as such it can be translated as “practice”. Since the 1970s, Shijian vehicles have been used to test systems and capabilities related to Earth observation, signals intelligence, communications, space environment monitoring, space-based agriculture, optical imaging, ICBM launch monitoring, etc.

At the time of its launch, SJ-17 caused concern in some quarters as it carried a robotic arm, which some in the west suggested could be used to grapple satellites belonging to other nations and drag them off-orbit – or worse, be used as a kinetic force to physically damage them. China’s eventual statement that the vehicle was intended for “space debris remediation” at geostationary orbit altitudes did little to quell the rumours; nor did SJ-17 behaviour following launch. Over multiple months, the vehicle moved between widely varying orbits, often coming to with 55 km of other satellites – not all of them Chinese – and spending multiple days “shadowing” them. Eventually it settled into a parking orbit, where it remains, still operational.

In October 2021, China followed-up SJ-17 with Shijian-21. This again caused concerns in the West as its launch was far more secretive than most, and about a month after it entered orbit, a secondary vehicle appeared to separate from it, and the two proceeded to orbit in very close proximity to one another, with China saying nothing, other than SJ-21 was designed to remove defunct satellites from orbit. They demonstrated this in 2022, when SJ-21 left its unidentified companion to rendezvous and dock with the expended Beidou G2 (Compass G2) navigation satellite, before hauling it to a much higher “graveyard” orbit, leaving room for another satellite to take its place. After depositing Beidou G2, SJ-21 returned a geostationary orbit where it has remained up until earlier this year.

In January 2025, China launched SJ-25, defined as a satellite refuelling and life extension vehicle. After SJ-25 entered its own geosync orbit, it was noticed that SJ-21 had apparently woken up and had commenced manoeuvring. Over several months, SJ-21 altered its trajectory and track to bring it into a more-or-less similar orbit to SJ-25.

At the start of June 2025, SJ-25 commenced refining its position, slowly closing on SJ-21. By June 9th, the vehicles were in absolute lockstep, SJ-25 trailing SJ-21 by some 1,500 km, and closing its orbit by some 1.5° per day. Given SJ-25’s slightly faster velocity, it was anticipated that the two could be in a position to rendezvous and dock any time after June 12^th, allowing time for SJ-25 to slow itself sufficiently and gently to achieve such a goal.

As of writing this piece, there have been no reports to confirm any such rendezvous. However, if they do, and the intent is to transfer propellants from SJ-25 to SJ-21, it would be a major achievement for China in developing the ability to extended the lifespan of many of their more expensive and complex satellites.

Just how beneficial this could be has already been demonstrated by the American-built Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1), which coincidentally saw the end of its first mission in April 2025.

Initiated as a start-up private venture in 2010, the Mission Extension Vehicle programme is now owned and managed by Northrop Grumman, with MEV-1 the programme’s first demonstrator / operational vehicle, launched in 2019 (MEV-2 was launched in August 2020). Following its arrival in geostationary orbit, MEV-1 gradually adjusted its orbital track and altitude to rendezvous with communications satellite Intelsat 901 (or IS-901).

Originally launched in 2001, with a planned operational life of 13 years, IS-901 was still fully functional in 2019. However, its orbital slot was required by the newer and more capable Intelsat 37e satellite. To this end, and some 5 years over its planned lifespan, IS-901 had been commanded to move itself out of its slot and into a higher “graveyard” orbit. However, rather than being decommissioned, it was placed in hibernation.

This allowed MEV-1 to reach it in February 2020 and make a successful docking. Mev-1 was then used to carry out remote checks on the communications satellite to ensure it was still functional despite its hibernating status. With a confirmation IS-901 could be fully revived, MEV-1 towed it to a new geostationary orbit, where it remained mated to the satellite to provide orbital correctional capabilities and additional power. This allowed Intelsat to bring IS-901 fully back on-line and operate it for an agreed further five years from April 2020 to April 2025.

In April, IS-901 was moved back to its “graveyard” orbit where it was decommissioned. Separating from it MEV-1 commence manoeuvring to rendezvous with its next target, the Australian GEO communications satellite Optus D3, launched in 2009. Once mated, MEV-1 is expected to allow Optus D3 to remain operational for a further 5-7 years.

Japan’s ispace Inc., made its second attempt to place an automated lander on the surface of the Moon in the early hours (UTC) of June 6th, but unfortunately, things did not go well.

The Hakuto-R Mission 2, for which the lander was given the name Resilience, was a follow-up to the company’s first attempt to become the first Japanese private company to place a lander on the Moon in April 2023. That mission came to an abrupt end when the on-board flight computer disagreed with the vehicle’s radar altimeter and kept the vehicle in a hover some 5 km above the lunar surface until propellants were exhausted, and the vehicle made a final uncontrolled descent and impact.

Working with US partners, ipsace has been developing the Hakuto-R programme as a payload delivery service for customers involved in the lunar exploration industry, and also NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) designed to allow commercial organisations engage with the US space agency primarily in support of Project Artemis. In this respect, both the Mission-1 vehicle lost in 2023 together with this latest lander, were regarded as technology demonstrators, although both carried meaningful payloads.

Resilience was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 15th, 2025, and followed a similar low-energy 5-month passage to the Moon as it forbear, gradually increasing its orbit around Earth before translating over to a lunar trajectory and entering orbit around the Moon on May 6th. On May 28th, the lander performed a final orbital control manoeuvre to enter a 100 km circular orbit above the Moon, targeting its intended landing site in the middle of Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold), in the far north of the Moon, selected as it provides direct line-of-sight communications with Earth.

The aim of the mission was to successfully land and carry out several studies, including an in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) demonstration. It was also hoped the lander would deploy TENACIOUS, a European-built, small-scale rover weighing just 5 kg onto the surface of the Moon, which in turn carried a tiny model of a “Moonhouse”, a piece of art by Swedish artist Mikeal Genberg, as the culmination of a 25-year inspirational art project.

The initial descent of the 2.3m by 2.3m lander from lunar orbit appeared to go well. However, telemetry from the lander stopped one minute and 45 seconds before the scheduled touchdown, apparently due to an equipment malfunction.

A preliminary review of the flight data received on Earth suggests that the lander’s laser rangefinder experienced delays IN measuring the probe’s distance to the lunar surface. As a result, the lander’s descent motor failed to operate in sufficient time to decelerate to the required velocity for a safe landing, and the craft impacted the lunar surface in what ipsace refers to as a “hard landing”, meaning it is unlikely to have survived the event in any condition to proceed with its planned mission.

The loss of the vehicle is a double disappointment for ispace. Not only is it their second failure to land on the Moon, Resilience shared its launch ride with US-based Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1. That craft took a similar but faster route to the Moon, allowing it to make a successful landing on March 2nd, 2025, becoming the first commercial lunar lander to do so and commence operations (see: Space Sunday: A landing, a topple, a return and another failure).

ispace are scheduled to deliver a much larger lander vehicle to the Moon in 2027, the APEX 1.0 lander, massing some 2 tonnes. This, with a follow-on mission the same year, is intended to establish ispace’s ability lander as a cost-effective, high lunch frequency craft capable of delivering multiple payloads to the Moon.

Blue Origin Reveals More on Lunar Landers and Transporter

In late May, Blue Origin provided an update on its hardware plans for supporting a human presence on the Moon, going into more detail about its Mark 1 and Mark 2 landers, and its all-important Transporter.

Contracted to develop and supply a crew-capable lunar lander as a part of NASA’s Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) contract within Project Artemis, Blue Origin is already well advanced with that vehicle (when compare to that of the SpaceX Starship-derived lander vehicle, which is supposed to be ready to fly next year), which is due to be used in the Artemis 5 mission, currently slated for 2030. Standing 16.3 metres tall and with a diameter of 3.8 metres with the ability to support up to 4 astronauts on the Moon for up to 30 days, that vehicle is called Blue Moon Mk 2, and much of its nature is already a matter of public record.

What is new to the mix, as revealed by John Couluris, Senior VP of Lunar Permanence at Blue Origin, speaking at a lunar symposium, is the confirmation that the company is going ahead with a cargo version of the Mk 2 lander.

This vehicle, which will replace the crew habitat facilities with payload space, is to have the ability to deliver up to 22 tonnes to the lunar surface if reused, or 30 tonnes if flown one-way – enough to deliver habitat modules to the Moon. It will join the company’s Blue Moon Mk 1 cargo vehicle to offer a flexible approach to delivering payloads to the Moon, the 8 metre tall Mk 1 having a payload capability of 3 tonnes.

The Mk 1 lander has also been in development for some time, and the first vehicle is currently due to fly to the Moon before the end of 2025. If successful, it will become the largest vehicle to land on the Moon to date with a mass of 21 tonnes, and the first lander to do so using cryogenic propulsion. A second Mk 1 lander is also under construction.

Transporter is now the name formally given to the Cislunar Transporter Blue Origin originally indicated they would be developing with Lockheed Martin. This would have been a two-stage vehicle, comprising a propulsion unit and a cryogenic fuel storage tank, each launched separately into low-Earth orbit (LEO) by Blue Origin’s New Glenn launcher, prior to them mating and the tank being filled with cryogenics delivered by further New Glenn Launches. The propulsion unit would then deliver the tank to cislunar space, allowing it to refuel landers operating between there and the lunar surface.

Under the new design, Blue Origin will be progressing Transporter on their own, and the vehicle will now be a combined propulsion unit and cryogenic propellant store capable of being launched atop a single New Glenn rocket. Once in orbit, the tanks would again be filled by propellants delivered by the upper stages of other New Glenn rockets. Just how many additional launches to do this will be required has not been made clear, but the intent is to have Transporter capable of delivering 100 tonnes of cryogenic propellants to cislunar space – and 30 tonnes to Mars.

However, one of the complications in using cryogenic propellants in lunar (and Mars) missions is that that of boil-off. Propellants like liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen and liquid methane need to be kept extremely cold to avoid them turning to gas, thus increasing their volume and necessitating them being vented to avoid over-pressurising their containers. This is bad enough on Earth where the ambient temperatures aren’t that high; in space and direct sunlight, the problem is dramatically multiplied. One way of slowing the process is to slowly rotate the vehicle so that the same side is not always towards the Sun – a so-called barbeque roll – but it is limited in effect. Another is to add masses of insulation, but at the cost of payload capabilities.

Blue Origin is attempting to solve the issue by working with NASA to develop “zero-boiloff” technology capable of keeping both liquid hydrogen and liquid hydrogen – their preferred propellants – below their boiling points (−250.2 °C and −183 °C respectively). The company is currently testing this hardware within a thermal vacuum chamber, and Couluris indicated the company plan to start flight-testing the capability towards the end of 2025. If it works, and can maintain the required temperatures within large volumes of cryogenic propellants, it could be a major step in lunar operations.

Cruz to the Rescue?

On Friday, June 5th, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, on Friday (June 5) unveiled the Committee’s legislative directives for Senate Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill, with the aim of bolstering NASA’s budget in the face of massive cuts by the White House.

Well, at least the human spaceflight programme. The science programme gets barely a nod.

Geared as “beating China to the Moon and Mars” and ensuring “America dominates space”, the Committee calls for almost US $10 billion in supplemental funding for NASA, which would target:

• Continued funding of the Space Launch System (SLS) through to Artemis 5, without impacting the “on-ramping” of commercial crew launch alternatives (US $4.1 billion).
• Continued support for the development of Moon-orbiting Gateway station (US $2.6 billion).
• US $700 million for the procurement of a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter to take over primary Earth-Mars communications.
• US $20 million to complete the fourth of the planned Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicles (MPCV)
• US $1.25 billion over five years to fully and properly fund International Space Station (ISS) operations through until its decommissioning.
• Procurement of an ISS De-orbit Vehicle from SpaceX (US $325 million).
• US $1 billion for infrastructure improvements at the following NASA facilities: Johnson Space Centre – $300 million; Kennedy Space Centre – $250 million; Stennis Space Centre – $120 million; Marshall Space Flight Centre – $100 million; Michoud Assembly Facility – $30 million; $100 million for “infrastructure needed to beat China to Mars and the Moon”

The US $1 billion in infrastructure spending is around one-fifth of the estimated cost of clearing the backlog of improvements required at all of NASA’s centres, and (again) completely ignores the Earth and Space Science centres. Further, all of the above would be phased-in over a 3-year period, commencing in 2026 and running through 2029.

EscaPADE Mission Gets Launch Opportunity

NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission, a pair of smallsats destined for Mars should have been launched in October 2024 as part of the payload for the maiden flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn booster. However, NASA opted to remove the mission from that launch in September 2024, when it became apparent the New Glenn wouldn’t be ready to launch within the window required for the mission to reach Mars.

Since then, the mission has been awaiting a launch opportunity, with NASA looking at options for in 2025 and 2026 using complex trajectories that would enable the smallsats to reach Mars in 2027. One such potential launch opportunity is summer 2025, the period Blue Origin are looking towards for the next New Glenn launch.

These plans were stated as being aspirational at the start of May 2025, but a line NASA fiscal Year 2026 budget released by the White House on May 30th, provided the first confirmation that NASA is very much looking at an opportunity to launch this year.

Due to delays in the development schedule of the Blue Origin New Glenn launch vehicle, NASA is in the process of establishing an updated schedule and cost profile to enable this mission to ride on the second launch of New Glenn. The ESCAPADE launch readiness date is expected in Q4 FY 2025

– NASA Budget document, May 30th, 2025

Thus far, beyond saying it is hope to make the second flight with New Glenn in summer and are open to payload options (or flying a payload simulator), Blue Origin has said nothing about the overall status for the vehicle to be used in the flight.  However, documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission requesting the use of certain ground frequencies from July 1st, indicate that the company intend to commence ground testing of the booster that month.

China is continuing to expand its space endeavours on both the public and private fronts – drawing some flak from SpaceX fans in the process.

On Wednesday, May 28th, a Long March 3B rocket lifted-off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, southwest China at 17:31 UTC, carrying aloft the Tianwen-2 explorer, bound for 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO₃), an Apollo class, near-Earth object (NEO) and quasi-satellite of this planet.

A sample-return mission, Tianwen-2 is due to rendezvous with the 40-100 metre diameter asteroid in July 2026. It will spend some 7 months examining it and attempt to collect samples from its surface and sub-surface, using both touch-and-go (dropping briefly onto the asteroid in an attempt to gather samples before being pushed away using spring tension in the sample arm), and anchor-and-attach (literally hooking itself onto the asteroid). Departing the asteroid in April 2027, Tianwen-2 will then swing by Earth, dropping off gathered samples in a re-entry capsule in November of that year. In all, it is hoped that around 100 grams of material will be gathered from the surface and sub-surface environments of the asteroid. An interesting aspect of the mission is that Tianwen-2 will attempt to deploy a nano-rover onto the surface of 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, and place a nano-satellite in orbit around it.

The aim of the mission is to gain insight into 469219 Kamoʻoalewa, and either answer questions as to whether or not it is actually a chunk of the Moon blasted clear following an asteroid impact or, if not, it is hoped the mission will provide insight into the nature and characteristics of NEOs (particularly whether they also contain organic molecules), and allow comparative studies between the samples returns and those from Hayabush2 and OSIRIS-REx, furthering our understanding of asteroids and the role in the early solar system.

Returning the samples to earth will not be the end of Tianwen-2’s mission. Using Earth’s gravity after releasing the sample return capsule the vehicle to push itself onto a rendezvous 311P /PANSTARRS (aka P/2013 P5), which it will reach in 2031. This is an unusual object called an active asteroid – an object with an asteroid-like orbit, but exhibiting comet-like visual characteristics (such as having a tail). Estimated to be 240 metres across and with a sidereal period of 3.24 years, it was first located in 2013, and attracted attention due to its fuzzy, smudged appearance in initial images. Later that year, the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that the fuzziness was due to it having around 6 individual tails. These are thought to be the result of the asteroid is either spinning so fast, lose surface material is being thrown off of it, or that a series of “impulsive dust-ejection events” of unknown origin gave rise to a cloud of debris around the asteroid, which were then formed into the tails by solar radiation pressure.

Rather than just making a fly-by of 311P /PANSTARRS, the plan is for Tianwen-2 to use its solar-eclectic propulsion system to decelerate as it approaches the asteroid so that it can enter orbit and study it at length.

Also on May 28th, the private-venture launch company, Space Epoch, became the first Chinese company to make a sea-based vertical launch of a reusable rocket element and successfully recover it in a controlled splash-down.

The Yuanxingzhe-1 (YXZ-1 – also referred to a “Hiker 1”) is designed to be a reusable booster some 64 metres tall and capable for delivering 6.5 tonnes to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). For the May 28th, flight, a test article standing 26.8 metres tall and using a single Longyun methane-liquid oxygen (methlox) motor and massing 57 tonnes, lifted-off from the sea-based Haiyang spaceport, Shandong province, at 20:40 UTC, climbing to an altitude of 2.5 km. The motor brought the vehicle to a hover before shutting down, allowing the vehicle to fall back towards the sea using four grid fins to maintain its vertical orientation. After a free descent, the motor then re-lit, slowing the vehicle and bringing it to a safe hover just a metre or so above the water. It then shut down, allowing the vehicle to gently enter the water and topple onto its side and await recovery. In all, the 125-second flight verified the broad operational parameters of the full-size Hiker-1, which will also splash-down at the end of its flights, rather than trying to land or be caught out of the air.

The flight, defined by Space Epoch as “100% successful”, immediately came under attack by SpaceX fans. The latter claimed China was merely “copying” SpaceX rather than innovating, particularly through the use of stainless steel in vehicle construction and methlox propellants, together the the use of four grid fins on the rocket for steerage / stability – as if SpaceX had any sole claim to these capabilities (they have not even patented the use of grid fins for rocket attitude control in an atmosphere).

A similar “they’re just copying!” came on May 29th, when another Chinese start-up, Astronstone, announced it has received sufficient initial funding to push ahead with its design for a reusable launch vehicle. Called the AS-1, this is intended to deliver up to 10 tonnes to low-Earth orbit (LEO) when being reused and up to 15.7 tonnes in fully expendable mode. It is to utilise methlox propulsion, stainless steel construction, grid fins for descent control and is to be designed to boost-back to its launch facilities and captured by “chopsticks” mounted on the launch tower.

In this, Astronstone is not shy about taking a leaf from the SpaceX book; the only difference is that of scale: AS-1 will be a modest 70 metres tall with a 4.2 metres main diameter (roughly the height of SpaceX Super Heavy, with half the diameter), while its 10-tonne reusable payload lift capacity is well in keeping with most modern commercial launch requirements. If successful, the company plan on offering the AS-2, capable of around two or three times the payload capacity of AS-1.

NASA: Budget Fears Confirmed; Administrator Nominee Removed

Earlier in May 2025, I covered the threats to NASA’s budget under cuts being considered by the Trump administration (see: Space Sunday: of budgets and proposed cuts and Space Sunday: more NASA budgets threats). At the time, the concerns were based on a so-called “skinny” budget document released by the administration, which outlined where the cuts would fall.

On May 31st, 2025, the administration quietly published a more detailed version of its federal budget proposal. This solidifies many of the threats to NASA’s mission. It confirms the intent to slash NASA’s budget by 24%, with the majority of the cuts coming within NASA’s space science, Earth sciences, aeronautic and education areas. In real terms, and adjusted for inflation, it sees the agency’s budget reduced to levels not seen since 1961, with the potential for 5,500 job losses and possible centre closures.

The science budget zeros-out 41 in-development or in-progress science missions. These Include:

• Many NASA Earth science programmes and missions, current and future, including the decadal survey Earth System Observatory missions; cancellation of most venture-class Earth science missions; and potentially impacts to the “cyclone watching” CGNSS network currently in operation.
• The in-development DAVINCI and VERITAS missions to Venus, and the Mars Sample Return Mission (MSR – not helped by NASA repeatedly shooting itself in the foot where this is concerned).
• The operational Mars Odyssey and MAVEN Mars orbiters (ending two valuable missions and limiting relay communications with other Mars missions); the New Horizons mission; OSIRIS-APEX – a mission extension to the highly-successful OSIRIS-REx, and intended to provide information on the Earth orbit crossing asteroid (and potential future impactor) 99942 Apophis.
• Multiple astrophysics programmes and missions, including the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, and multiple, low-cost but highly effective Explorer-class missions.

The budget additional calls for an effective crippling of NASA’s biological and physical sciences,  reducing its budget to just US $25 million from US $87 million, and ending cooperation with the European Space Agency on Venus and Mars missions. While the flagship Nancy Grace Roman Telescope survives cancellation, it receives just half its requested budget – US $156.6million – potentially impacting its ability to be launched in 2026.

In terms of human spaceflight, the Trump administration is apparently initiating a “bold mission of planting the American flag on Mars”, which sees some 6.38% of NASA’s total budget being steered into Mars-centric initiatives:

• US $864 million for a “Commercial Moon to Mars (M2M) Infrastructure and Transportation Program” (which as side-note, will replace SLS / Orion after Artemis 3 – assuming any such system is actually flying by then).
• A total of US $400 million to be put into a “near-term entry, descent, and landing demonstration for a human-class Mars lander”, and commercial payload deliveries to Mars.

Some of this will be offset by the cancellation of the Lunar Gateway boondoggle; however, it is hard not to see hints of the influence of the SpaceX CEO in these matters. He has been vocal in his opposition to anything other than his “grand vision” of colonising Mars, and these budget allocations, particularly the US $400 million appear to be directly tailored to SpaceX’s benefit, the company apparently prioritising landing a “human-class lander” as soon as possible, and then moving directly to cargo deliveries.

Isaacman Out

The budget details came alongside the shock announcement that the White House has withdrawn entrepreneur Jared Isaacman at its nominee to lead NASA.

Isaacman’s nomination caused mixed reactions when first announced. Whilst the majority were positive, there were also concerns over his ties to the SpaceX CEO, and the latter’s views on NASA’s future direction. During his Senate confirmation hearings, Isaacman handled the latter concerns directly, and indicated his own opposition to some of the proposals in the Trump NASA 2026 budget. As such, it was widely anticipated the Senate would confirm his appointment on June 3rd, 2025.

No reason has been given by the White House for withdrawing his nomination. Some have speculated it is as a result of the recent rift between the President and the SpaceX CEO, with whom Isaacman has a strong association. Also, Isaacman’s confirmation hearing also revealed he has been a past financial supporter of the Democratic Party – something hardly likely to endear him to the White House incumbent. In a statement on the withdrawal, White House assistant press secretary Liz Houston would only say:

The Administrator of NASA will help lead humanity into space and execute President Trump’s bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars. It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s America First agenda and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon.

Again, the emphasis on Mars here is loud enough to be almost deafening – and in line with the goals of the SpaceX CEO. This is not to say the the latter will now be the likely pick to head-up NASA; it is highly unlikely he would survive Senate hearings even if nominated. However, it does perhaps indicate his push for having NASA effectively abandon the International Space Station and the Artemis programme in favour of Mars have been taken to heart by a President who is all about being “first” in everything.

Thus far, all of the Trump administration proposals for NASA’s budget have been met with widespread condemnation from the aerospace, science and educations sectors in the US. Many are hoping that Congress will stop this tear-down of NASA dead in its tracks when the budget comes before the Capitol later in the year. As to Isaacman being removed as nominee, this has been received with dismay and upset within the US space industry, and leaves NASA in a continuing state of limbo.

Starship IFT9: Up and Bang Again¹

On Tuesday May 27th, 2025, SpaceX once again attempted to carry out their 9th integrated flight test (IFT-9) of their Starship / Super Heavy combination in the hope of getting the former into sub-orbital space to carry out a series of tests, and use the latter as a test article during its descent back to the Gulf of Mexico. As such, the flight had a number of distinct goals for both the booster and the starship vehicle.

• Booster (√ = success; Χ = failure):
  • Re-fly a Super Heavy for the first time – the unit used in the January 2025 test article flight (with just 4 of its 33 Raptor 2 motors replaced)  (√).
  • Attempt a new “rollover” manoeuvre after starship separation (√).
  • Test a new high angle of attack re-entry into the lower atmosphere in an attempt to use atmospheric drag to reduce velocity and reduce the need to carry propellants for propulsive braking (Χ).
  • Carry out an updated engine braking burn (Χ).
  • Splash-down in the Gulf of Mexico (Χ).
• Starship (√ = success; Χ = failure):
  • Reach a sub-orbital trajectory (√).
  • Deploy a set of 8 Starlink satellite simulators, testing the payload bay slot in the process (Χ).
  • Carry out the re-start of a sea-level Raptor engine to test de-orbit burn capabilities (Χ).
  • Make a successful re-entry into the atmosphere and test updates made to the thermal protection system and to hopefully reduce burn-through on the fore-and-aft aerodynamic flaps (Χ).
  • Splash-down in the Indian Ocean (Χ).

Lift-off was at 23:37 UTC, from the SpaceX Starbase City facilities in Texas, and proceeded to a successful staging. The booster then performed its intended roll-over and carried out a good boost-back burn. It was lost 6 minutes 20 seconds after launch, as 13 of the engines were due to fire at the start of their braking burn.

The starship vehicle continued on to its sub-orbital trajectory and successfully shut-down its motors. The deployment of the payload simulators was due at 18 minutes into the flight, but was abandoned when the deployment slot door again failed. By 30 minutes into the flight the vehicle was pitching / rolling wildly, and SpaceX confirmed they had lost all attitude control, likely the result of a propellant system leak. The vehicle subsequently made an uncontrolled re-entry over the Indian Ocean 46 minutes after launch and largely burned-up.

Whilst subject to confirmation, the propellant leak potentially hints at a vulnerability in the starship design. Most space vehicles utilise hypergolic thrusters for attitude control and fine manoeuvring. Independent of the main propulsion system, these avoid the need for complicated propellant bumps, etc.. However, the propellants are high toxic, and such systems do add mass to a vehicle. By contrast, SpaceX effectively pumps boil-off gases from the main propellant tanks around the vehicle to so-called “cold thrusters” and their own small tanks. Doing so removes the need for the majority of the mass (and engineering space) used by hypergolic thruster systems and avoids the complications of handling toxic materials during vehicle refurbishment between flights. However, the plumbing used to deliver the gases around Starship and Super Heavy is all interconnected; thus – and possibly as demonstrated with IFT-9 – there is a risk of a single leak impacting multiple attitude control thrusters.

Both the booster and the starship came down within their designated hazard zones; however, the flight will be subject to an FAA-required mishap investigation.

1. With apologies to the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and Bilbo Baggins, Esq., formerly of The Shire