Welcome to Edition 8.06 of the Rocket Report! After years of disappointing results from SPACs and space companies, it is a good sign to see Firefly's more traditional initial public offering doing so well. The company has had such a long and challenging road over more than a decade; the prospect of their success should be heartening to the commercial space industry.
As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Virgin Galactic delays resumption of spaceflights. The Richard Branson-founded company plans to resume private space tourism trips in the autumn of 2026 after its Delta spacecraft’s first commercial flight, a research mission that was delayed from summer 2026 to also occur in the fall, Bloomberg reports. Virgin Galactic announced an updated timeline on Wednesday, when it reported quarterly financial results that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Revenue was about $410,000 for the second quarter.
Waiting on Delta ... The company paused commercial operations in June 2024 to focus on developing the upgraded Delta vehicle, which is being optimized for reusability and faster turnaround time between flights. Virgin Galactic had been selling seats on the Delta spacecraft for about $600,000 and said that it plans to raise prices when ticket sales resume in the first quarter of 2026. The company also recently adjusted the size of its in-house engineering team and reduced the overall headcount by 7 percent to control costs.
Firefly is a big hit with investors. Shares in the Cedar Park, Texas-based space company began trading at $70 on the Nasdaq stock exchange midday Thursday under the symbol FLY, jumping from their initial public offering price of $45, The Wall Street Journal reports. The company sold more than 19 million shares in the listing, raising $868 million. Bankers and traders are closely tracking the stock’s performance as a sign of both the US IPO market strength and investor interest in space companies. The offering will allow the company to accelerate production and its launch cadence, Firefly CEO Jason Kim said in an interview.
Time to build and fly ... "We have to execute," said Kim, who led a Boeing satellite business before taking the top role at Firefly last year. "We’ve got a really strong backlog." Firefly’s listing comes five months after it successfully guided its Blue Ghost lander to the lunar surface, carrying scientific gear to research moondust and ground temperatures. The NASA-funded mission marked the first fully successful private moon landing, following misfires on three other flights handled by competitors. The company’s next challenge is to prove that its other vehicles can work as well, including the Alpha rocket.
The Ars Technica Rocket Report
The easiest way to keep up with Eric Berger's and Stephen Clark's reporting on all things space is to sign up for our newsletter. We'll collect their stories and deliver them straight to your inbox. Sign Me Up!iRocket says it has signed a huge deal. A largely unknown small launch startup, iRocket, says it has signed a multi-year agreement with SpaceBelt KSA valued at up to $640 million. iRocket will support up to 30 satellite launches, providing mission planning, propulsion systems, and integration services to help establish a secure, autonomous space communications network across Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region.
Yes, but ... iRocket says the agreement represents a significant commercial milestone. However, since its founding in 2018, New York-based iRocket hasn't released much information on any technical progress toward a first flight of the Shockwave launch vehicle. It is difficult to know how much (if any) money changed hands with this agreement.
Indian space startup builds 3D-printed engine. The Chennai-based startup Agnikul Cosmos has announced the successful development of the world’s largest single-piece 3D-printed Inconel rocket engine, Business Today reports. The engine, printed in one go without any welds, joints, or fasteners, represents a leap in additive manufacturing for aerospace, the company said.
Earned a patent ... Agnikul also said it has been granted a US patent for the design and manufacturing process of single-piece rocket engines. “Means something to have a completely Indian-origin design patented in the US—a nation that has built some of the most complex engines in this industry,” the company said. Agnikul is developing a small-lift booster that can put about 100 kg to low-Earth orbit.
Skyrora wins first UK launch license. Skyrora became the first British commercial rocket manufacturer to secure a launch license from the UK Civil Aviation Authority, paving the way for its Skylark L suborbital rocket to lift off from the SaxaVord spaceport in the Shetland Islands, Payload reports. Derek Harris, Skyrora’s business development lead, said this test flight could take place as early as May 2026.
Waiting on launch pads ... Skyrora said it could launch sooner if it opted to fly from an international launch pad. That’s the route it took in 2022, when it launched a rocket from Iceland’s mobile Langanes launch site. "Unfortunately, we are still technically locked out of SaxaVord," Harris said. "What is still open to us is Oman, and Australia, or even going back to Iceland…[but] it would be a sad indictment of what’s going on with the government funding if we have to go elsewhere to launch it."
The Philippines condemns China’s rocket launch. A top Philippine security official on Tuesday condemned China’s latest rocket launch, which caused suspected debris to fall near a western Philippine province, the AP reports. Authorities said the incident sparked alarm and posed a danger to people, ships, and aircraft. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the suspected Chinese rocket debris that fell near Palawan province Monday night, following a launch of the medium-lift Long March 12.
No NOTAMs it seems ... China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that the Long March-12 rocket that lifted off Monday night from a commercial spacecraft launch site on the southern island province of Hainan successfully carried a group of internet satellites into pre-set orbit. It was not immediately clear whether Chinese authorities had notified nearby countries, such as the Philippines, of possible debris from its latest rocket launch. Philippine aircraft and vessels were deployed on Tuesday to search for the rocket debris.
Crew-11 mission launches from Florida. The next four-person team to live and work aboard the International Space Station departed from NASA's Kennedy Space Center last Friday, taking aim at the massive orbiting research complex for a planned stay of six to eight months, Ars reports. Spacecraft commander Zena Cardman leads the mission, designated Crew-11, with three others aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule: veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui of Japan, and Oleg Platonov of Russia.
Au revoir to an old friend ... The Falcon 9's reusable first stage booster detached and returned to a propulsive touchdown at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a few miles south of the launch site. This was the 53rd and final rocket landing at LZ-1 since SpaceX aced the first intact recovery of a Falcon 9 booster there on December 21, 2015. SpaceX will move onshore rocket landings to new landing zones to be constructed next to the two Falcon 9 launch pads at the Florida spaceport. Landing Zone 2, located adjacent to Landing Zone 1, will also be decommissioned and handed back over to the Space Force once SpaceX activates the new landing sites.
NASA says it will move a space shuttle. The head of NASA has decided to move one of the agency's retired space shuttles to Houston, but which one remains unclear, Ars reports. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), who earlier this year introduced and championed an effort to relocate the space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Space Center Houston, issued a statement on Tuesday evening applauding the decision. The senator did not state which of NASA's winged orbiters would be making the move.
Playing coy for no clear reason ... The legislation that required Duffy to choose a "space vehicle" that had "flown in space" and "carried people" did not specify an orbiter by name, but the language in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" that President Donald Trump signed into law last month was inspired by Cornyn and fellow Texas Senator Ted Cruz's bill to relocate Discovery. It is unclear why the choice of orbiters is being kept a secret. According to the bill, the decision was to be made "with the concurrence of an entity designated" by the NASA administrator to display the shuttle. Cornyn's release only confirmed that Duffy had identified the location to be "a non-profit near the Johnson Space Center."
SpaceX begins offering Starship services to Mars. On Thursday, Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, announced that the company has begun selling rides to Mars. "Get on board! We are going to Mars! SpaceX is now offering Starship services to the red planet," Shotwell said on X. As part of the announcement, Shotwell said SpaceX has signed a "first of its kind" agreement with the Italian Space Agency.
Racing the Giro d'Mars ... The president of the Italian Space Agency, Teodoro Valente, confirmed the news saying the first Starship flights to Mars (which will, of course, be uncrewed) will carry Italian experiments. "The payloads will gather scientific data during the missions. Italy continues to lead in space exploration!" Valente wrote on X. Left unsaid, of course, is when such flights will take place. It is difficult to see Starship now being ready for a late 2026 window, but early 2029 seems plausible.
ULA will eventually test reuse technology. On Thursday, ahead of the first Vulcan launch of a national security payload next week, United Launch Alliance chief executive Tory Bruno spoke with reporters about various topics, NASA Spaceflight reports. A highlight was ULA’s progress on SMART Reuse, a system aimed at recovering and reusing booster components to reduce costs. Bruno announced that the critical design review for key components is complete, paving the way for building flight-like hardware for certification.
Testing remains a ways away ... As development progresses, ULA plans to relocate more components to the aft section of the booster for recovery. "By the time that path is finished, pretty much the only thing being discarded from the booster will be the fuel tanks," he said. Experimental flights incorporating SMART Reuse could begin as early as 2026, or at least by 2027, but only when aligned with customer needs. One wonders when actual engine recovery and reuse might begin.
Next three launches
August 8: Falcon 9 | Project Kuiper KF-02 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 13:40 UTC
August 8: Jielong 3 | Undeclared payload | Offshore site, Chinese coastal waters | 16:30 UTC
August 10: Falcon 9 | Starlink 17-4 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 03:43 UTC
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