NASA plans to start sharing details of a high-level approach with the White House, including the Office of Management and Budget, 2019-04-08 to finalize a revised budget request expected to seek several billion dollars more in fiscal year 2020.

European Space Agency member states are working to win approval for ESA’s role in the exploration program at a ministerial meeting in November in Spain.

Goldfein supports moving forward with the Pentagon’s Space Force proposal as an 80% solution while allowing Congress to provide oversight and refinements.

Gen. David Goldfein plans to work with the U.S. intelligence community to make it easier for allies to access data.

Air Force Space Command is expanding the Combined Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Virgin Orbit plans to air-launch small satellites from a Boeing 747.

Stratolaunch currently plans to launch Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL from the aircraft.

The Stratolaunch aircraft took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California at 9:58 a.m. Eastern on its first flight.

Arianespace plans to phase out Soyuz in the coming years as Europe’s Ariane 6 and Vega C launchers debut in 2020.

Khrunichev plans a minimum of six Proton launches 2019, with the majority being Russian government missions.

ILS has one mission planned 2019: a Proton dual launch carrying the Eutelsat 5 West B communications satellite and Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle 1.

Lockheed Martin developed an approach intended to achieve a crewed landing on the lunar south pole by 2024.

Vice President Mike Pence established a 2024 deadline for a crewed lunar south pole landing in a National Space Council speech on 2019-03-26.

The lander descent stage would be developed from concepts NASA solicited earlier through the NextSTEP program.

Exploration Mission-1 will be an uncrewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft launched by the Space Launch System in 2020.

Industry sources at the Space Symposium estimated NASA would need approximately $3–5 billion more per year to achieve a lunar landing by 2024.

NASA is working on an amendment to its fiscal year 2020 budget proposal that will involve coordination with the Office of Management and Budget and the National Space Council staff before delivering a proposal to Congress.

Lockheed Martin's plan requires work on lander hardware to begin next year, including tooling and material procurement, to meet a 2024 landing timeline.

The two lunar lander stages would launch separately on commercial launch vehicles to the Gateway by early 2024 and be mated there, with an alternative option to launch them together on a single SLS.

Lockheed Martin proposes launching a Phase 1 Gateway in 2022 consisting of the Power and Propulsion Element and a small habitation module with docking ports.

SAIC completed its $2,500,000,000 acquisition of Engility in January.

Israel Aerospace Industries has an agreement with German company OHB from January 2019 to study the use of Beresheet-based landers for future European Space Agency missions.

Thomas Zurbuchen planned to visit Israel later in 2019 to discuss potential future cooperation with SpaceIL.

Meir Nissim Nir, director of advanced space systems at IAI, estimated that Beresheet-derived landers could be ready for missions as soon as late 2020 if contracts were signed soon and the work was done in Israel.

A task force was scheduled to meet on 2019-04-14 to start planning the Beresheet 2 mission.

SpaceIL planned comprehensive tests the week following 2019-04-12 to better understand the events that led to the failed landing.

Israel Aerospace Industries is speaking with several groups about teaming up to build landers from the United States to meet CLPS program requirements.

Morris Kahn contributed more than $40,000,000 towards the development of Beresheet and is planning a follow-on mission referred to as 'Beresheet 2'.

An Air Force 90-day Space Strategy Study completed by the Air Force and the intelligence community concluded that LEO-based systems would be vulnerable during military conflicts and that the Department of Defense should not be taking that risk.

Arabsat announced plans to launch with SpaceX in spring 2015 but had not decided between Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy at that time.

The first LM2100 satellite, SaudiGeoSat-1/Hellas Sat-4, launched in February on a European Ariane 5 from Arianespace.

SpaceX advertises Falcon Heavy launches as costing $90,000,000.

Arabsat selected Falcon Heavy in September for a mission initially anticipated in late 2017 or 2018.

Arabsat chose Falcon Heavy to extend Arabsat-6A’s lifespan beyond the typical 15 years for a geostationary communications satellite.

Arabsat-6A will perform 16 to 17 days of orbit raising using its chemical propulsion system to reach geostationary orbit at 36,0 m above Earth.

The Department of Defense established the Space Development Agency one month before the 2019-04-11 hearing to leverage commercial innovation without requiring congressional authorization.

Gen. John Hyten testified that adversaries are building significant capabilities that can challenge the United States in space and that a commander focused on space operations is required.

The Department of Defense requested $72,000,000 in fiscal year 2020 to establish a Space Force headquarters of about 200 people.

The Trump administration sought enactment of the Space Force in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act by 2019-10-01.

A Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Space Force proposal took place on 2019-04-11.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan participated in seven meetings with Senate Armed Services Committee members in the weeks leading up to the 2019-04-11 hearing.

The Department of Defense projected the cost to build the Space Force over the next five years would be $2,000,000,000.

The Department of Defense rolled out its Space Force proposal on 2019-03-01.

Exolaunch signed a memorandum of understanding with Virgin Orbit on 2019-04-11 to send satellites into space as early as 2020 on LauncherOne dedicated and rideshare missions.

Virgin Orbit performed its first LauncherOne captive carry flight in November 2018.

Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne is designed to send payloads of up to 500 kg into orbit from rockets air-launched from a 747 carrier aircraft.

Virgin Orbit planned to send satellites into orbit in early 2019.

Arabsat announced plans to launch with SpaceX in spring 2015 while still deciding between the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.

Arabsat selected the Falcon Heavy in September 2015 for a mission that was anticipated in late 2017 or 2018.

Arabsat chose the Falcon Heavy for Arabsat-6A to extend the satellite’s operational life beyond the typical 15 years for a geostationary communications satellite.