An engine being designed for Japan’s Epsilon S space rocket exploded during testing, in the latest mishap for the nation’s space program. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), has been making efforts to launch advanced rockets, to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. JAXA had previously aborted the inaugural launch of its Mitsubishi-built, next-generation H3 liquid fuel…

Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to get additional funding from its backers. The Long Beach, California-based satellite launch company, founded and owned by Richard Branson, failed to secure long-term funding it needed to recover from a January rocket failure in the United Kingdom. Branson had long had an ambition to become…

SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea conducted its first successful satellite launch using a domestically developed rocket on Tuesday, officials said, boosting its growing aerospace ambitions and demonstrating it has key technologies needed to launch spy satellites and build larger missiles amid tensions with rival North Korea. The three-stage Nuri rocket placed a functioning “performance verification” satellite…

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk anticipated cheaper flights to space with his Starship rockets in a presentation at the company’s facility in southern Texas, while highlighting the necessity of human beings colonizing multiple planets and moons. In just two to three years, Starships will be able to reach orbit at just $10 million per flight, Musk…

GOHEUNG, South Korea—South Korea’s first domestically built space rocket blasted off on Thursday, but failed to fully place a dummy satellite into orbit, delivering mixed results for a test launch that represents a major leap for the country’s ambitious space plans. The three-stage KSLV-II Nuri rocket, emblazoned with the national flag, rose on a column…