The China Astronautic Scientific Research and Training Center conducted surveys to find suitable caves for taikonaut training.

In June 2016, Ye Guangfu participated in a caving course in Italy, where he trained with colleagues from the United States, Spain, Japan, and Russia.

At the end of the cave training, the groups conducted a brief jungle survival exercise, including tasks to signal for rescue.

As of mid-2024, a total of forty-four individuals are prepared for space missions within China's taikonaut corps.

Wu Bin from the China Astronautic Scientific Research and Training Center outlined the rationale for the cave training as improving capabilities for manned space missions.

China is developing hardware such as the Lanyue lunar lander, Mengzhou crew capsule, Wangyu lunar spacesuit, and Tansuo rover.

Taikonauts wore insulating clothing and had to carry their own equipment and supplies while navigating the cave.

During the cave training, the taikonauts had to map their route, gather data on the environment, and collect samples.

The group commanders for the training were Wang Yaping, Liu Yang, Cai Xuzhe, and Tang Hongbo, with equal representation of men and women.

In December 2025, twenty-eight taikonauts participated in cave training exercises in Wulong, Chongqing, ahead of lunar exploration missions.

Veteran taikonauts Ye Guangfu and Zhai Zhigang monitored the safety and condition of their colleagues during the training.

Regular inspections and maintenance of the space treadmill and life support equipment were completed by the crew.

In January 2026, the crew of Shenzhou-21 engaged in various missions, including space medicine experiments and routine emergency drills.

Zhang Lu is the Commander and Pilot of the Shenzhou-21 mission and is a veteran of the Shenzhou-15 mission.

In case of emergencies, communication lines and a video surveillance system were installed in the cave for monitoring progress.

Zhang Hongzhang is the Payload Expert for the Shenzhou-21 mission, marking his first spaceflight.

Taikonauts involved in the Shenzhou-21 mission collected kinematic data on their movements using specialized equipment during their in-orbit activities.

As a result of the cave training, many of China’s spacefarers are now partially trained for crewed lunar missions.

The average temperature in the cave during the training was eight degrees Celsius with humidity at about ninety-nine percent.

The crew conducted psychological and behavioral research using testing software to assess emergency decision-making abilities.

Rocket Factory Augsburg worked to return to the launch pad after losing its first flight article in a pad fire.

MaiaSpace secured its first commercial launch contract with Exotrail for missions starting in 2027.

HyImpulse secured €45 million in funding in 2025, raising its total capital to approximately €74 million.

Avio secured €181 million in funding from the Italian government for its Space Transportation System programme.

Skyrora received a licence from the UK Civil Aviation Authority to conduct flights of its Skylark L suborbital rocket.

Latitude announced that it received French government funding to construct a new rocket factory in Reims, expected to open in 2026.

Toni Tolker-Nielsen stated that the launch rate for Ariane 6 is expected to double in 2026 with eight flights planned.

HyPrSpace secured €21 million in funding to support its development of hybrid propulsion-based launch systems.

Ariane 6 completed four successful flights in 2025, carrying payloads for CNES, EUMETSAT, and the European Space Agency.

Arianespace completed its last veGA C flight in 2025, with Avio taking full responsibility for future launches.

Avio plans to introduce its Vega Next rocket in the 2030s, aiming to develop reusable launch technologies.

Orbex secured a £20 million investment from the UK government and a launch services agreement with D-Orbit.

The European Space Agency committed a total of €902.16 million to support five companies in the European Launcher Challenge.

Themis reusable rocket booster was shipped to Esrange Space Centre in Sweden for low-altitude hop tests.

Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket failed to reach orbit, exploding in a fireball less than a minute after launch.

PLD Space is progressing towards the inaugural flight of its Miura 5 rocket, expected in 2026 from the Guiana Space Centre.

ArianeGroup completed the inaugural flight of its SyLEx suborbital vehicle in 2025 under a contract with France's Directorate General of Armaments.

ArianeGroup entered 2025 having completed just a single flight of its Ariane 6 rocket following an anomaly during its inaugural flight.

The Blue Moon MK1 offers a significantly reduced risk profile for early-stage lunar infrastructure compared to the human-rated Starship, which requires upwards of a dozen refueling launches to reach the Moon.

Blue Origin is expected to conduct a full-duration hot-fire test of the BE-7 engine integrated with the MK1 flight tanks in Q2 2026 at its test facility in Huntsville, Alabama.

Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) lander is designed to deliver up to 3 metric tons of payload to any location on the lunar surface.

The MK1 is a major contender for future Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task orders due to its large payload bay that can carry significant international scientific instruments and commercial mining equipment.

The Blue Moon MK1 is a single-launch cargo lander optimized for use with the New Glenn launch vehicle.

The Blue Moon MK1 could serve as a critical bridge for NASA to build out a lunar basecamp by autonomously landing heavy cargo like habitats, rovers, and power systems if crewed landings are delayed past 2028.

The cargo-first strategy of the MK1 mirrors China's Chang’e program, which has landed multiple robotic missions to gain operational experience before crewed landings.

The upgrades are designed to replace aging, fragmented systems with a scalable architecture that provides reliable connectivity for both classified and unclassified data.

CACI International Inc has been awarded a five-year task order valued at up to $212 million to modernize the network infrastructure of the U.S. Space Force.

$212 million investment indicates that resilient digital infrastructure is critical to space superiority.

CACI will implement software-defined networking to unify fragmented legacy systems across 14 Space Force installations.

CACI’s contract represents approximately 2.4% of the company’s annual revenue.