Northrop Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle is scheduled to launch with SpaceX on Tuesday, July 21, at 5:15 pm ET.

MRV-1 will launch with three Mission Extension Pods.

Northrop Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle is described as the United States’ first multi-mission robotic servicer in space.

Northrop Grumman built the Mission Robotic Vehicle in partnership with DARPA and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

Reflect Orbital plans to launch a constellation of 50,000 additional mirrors.

Reflect Orbital received an FCC license to fly its first in-space demo satellite, Eärendil-1.

Reflect Orbital’s debut flight is scheduled to fly this year.

Reflect Orbital’s core technology for Eärendil-1 is an 18-meter film reflector designed to beam sunlight down to Earth.

The FCC limited Reflect Orbital’s license to a single mission and declined to weigh in on environmental and astronomy concerns tied to the larger constellation.

Italy made a second request in four months for an extension of the deadline to operate its Sicral 3A and Sicral 3B military satellites.

Regulators rebuffed Italy’s request for an extension of the deadline to operate the Sicral 3A and Sicral 3B military satellites.

SpaceX says it has spent about $15 billion developing Starship.

Reaction Engines entered administration in October 2024.

Some Falcon 9 boosters have flown more than 30 times each.

Dawn Aerospace’s upcoming Mark II is designed to reach 100 kilometers of altitude with a 15-kilogram payload.

HOTOL used an engine that started as an air-breathing engine and later switched to a rocket engine.

The X-37B, China’s Shenlong, and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser are spaceplanes that launch atop conventional rockets.

Reaction Engines received £6 million in funding in 2009.

Interim HOTOL used the Antonov An-225 as an air-launch platform.

Reaction Engines received £60 million from the UK government in 2013.

Alan Bond, John Scott Scott, and Richard Varvill founded Reaction Engines Ltd. in 1989.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and its successor SpaceShip are suborbital spaceplanes that air-launch.

Dawn Aerospace has developed Aurora in New Zealand.

China made its first booster recovery with the Long March 10B rocket last week.

Parker estimated that developing a spaceplane could cost up to 30 billion euros.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn has followed Falcon 9 in booster recovery and reuse.

Skylon used the SABRE, or Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine, concept.

Tim Hayter estimated that Skylon would cost £10 billion and the SABRE engine £3 billion.

HOTOL required a pre-cooler to cool and densify incoming air before combustion.

BAE Systems took a 20% stake in Reaction Engines for £20.6 million in 2015.

David Parker previously worked in industry, at the UK Space Agency, and at ESA.

The British government did not fund further HOTOL development by 1988.

SABRE was designed to avoid infringing Rolls-Royce’s patent on the RB.545 engine.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster has now performed 600 launches with reused boosters.

Reaction Engines raised £40 million in early 2023 in a round led by the UAE’s Tawazun Council.

Rocket Lab is finalizing component integration for its prime contract to deliver 18 space vehicles for the U.S. Space Development Agency’s Tranche 2 Transport Layer Beta program.

Space42 and Viasat back the Equatys constellation as a neutral-host infrastructure platform for sharing low-Earth orbit assets among multiple mobile network operators.

The Rocket Lab acquisition of Iridium Communications includes an active network of 80 cross-linked low-Earth orbit satellites and globally harmonized L-band radio frequency spectrum.

Rocket Lab finalized an agreement on June 29, 2026 to acquire Iridium Communications in an $8 billion transaction.

The Iridium acquisition expands Rocket Lab’s addressable commercial footprint by adding 2.55 million active subscribers.

Rocket Lab’s Neutron launch vehicle qualification schedule remains on track for late 2026.

Rocket Lab is a primary candidate to manufacture satellite bus hardware for the planned 2,800-satellite Equatys constellation.

Deployments for Rocket Lab’s 18 space vehicles for the U.S. Space Development Agency’s Tranche 2 Transport Layer Beta program are scheduled to begin in mid-2027.

Pyotr Dubrov is flying his second orbital mission on Soyuz MS-29.

The Soyuz MS-29 mission is expected to last about eight months.

Anil Menon is making his first spaceflight on Soyuz MS-29.

NASA assigned Anil Menon a research program on Soyuz MS-29 that is intended to validate technologies for future human space exploration.

NASA uses the International Space Station as a technology maturation platform for future Artemis missions.

Soyuz MS-29 includes demonstrations of combined augmented reality and artificial intelligence for ultrasound imaging.

The Soyuz MS-29 crew will join Expedition 74 after docking.