Rocket Report: SpaceX focused on Starship reentry; Firefly may be for sale

Welcome to Edition 6.45 of the Rocket Report! The most interesting news in launch this week, to me, is that Firefly is potentially up for sale. That makes two of the handful of US companies with operational rockets, Firefly and United Launch Alliance, actively on offer. I'll be fascinated to see what the valuations of each end up being if/when sales go through.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and 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.

Firefly may be up for sale. Firefly Aerospace investors are considering a sale that could value the closely held rocket and Moon lander maker at about $1.5 billion, Bloomberg reports. The rocket company's primary owner, AE Industrial Partners, is working with an adviser on "strategic options" for Firefly. Neither AE nor Firefly commented to Bloomberg about the potential sale. AE invested $75 million into Texas-based Firefly as part of a series B financing round in 2022. The firm made a subsequent investment in its Series C round in November 2023.

Launches and landers ... Now more than a decade old and with a history of financial struggles, Firefly has emerged as one of the apparent winners in the small launch race in the United States. The company's Alpha rocket has now launched four times since its unsuccessful debut in September 2021, and it is due to fly a Venture Class Launch Services 2 mission for NASA in the coming weeks. Firefly also aims to launch its Blue Ghost spacecraft to the moon later this year and is working on an orbital transfer vehicle.

Blue Origin makes successful return to flight. With retired Air Force captain and test pilot Ed Dwight as the headline passenger, Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft returned to flight on Sunday morning. An African American, Dwight was one of 26 pilots the Air Force recommended to NASA for the third class of astronauts in 1963, but the agency didn't select him. It took another 20 years for America's first Black astronaut, Guion Bluford, to fly in space in 1983. At the age of 90, Dwight finally entered the record books Sunday, becoming the oldest person to reach space. “I thought I didn’t need it in my life," Dwight said after Sunday's fight. "But I lied!"

One chute down ... This was the seventh time Blue Origin, the space company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, has flown people to suborbital space, and the 25th flight overall of the company's fleet of New Shepard rockets. It was the first time Blue Origin had launched people in nearly two years, resuming suborbital service after a rocket failure on an uncrewed research flight in September 2022. In December, Blue Origin launched another uncrewed suborbital research mission to set the stage for the resumption of human missions Sunday. There was one issue with the flight, as only two of the capsule's three parachutes deployed. It's unclear how long it will take to address this problem.

RFA tests first stage of its rocket. German launch startup Rocket Factory Augsburg announced Sunday that it had begun the hot-fire campaign for the first stage of its RFA One rocket. "We hot-fired a total of four Helix engines, igniting one by one at four-second intervals," the company said on the social media site X. "All engines ran simultaneously for 8 seconds with a total hot-fire duration of 20 seconds. The test ran flawlessly through start-up, steady-state, and shutdown." It's a great step forward for the launch company.

Targeting a test flight this year, but ... The test occurred at the SaxaVord Spaceport in the United Kingdom. The RFA One vehicle is powered by nine Helix engines and will have a payload capacity of 1.6 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. The company is targeting a debut launch later this year, but I'm fairly skeptical of that. By way of comparison, SpaceX began test firing its Falcon 9 first stage in 2008, with a full-duration test firing of all nine engines in November of that year. But the rocket did not make its debut flight until June 2010.

China expanding commercial spaceport. China is planning new phases of expansion for its new commercial spaceport to support an expected surge in launch and commercial space activity, Space News reports. Construction of the second of two launch pads at Hainan Commercial Launch Site could be completed by the end of May. The first, completed in December and dedicated to the Long March 8 rocket, could host its first launch before the end of June.

Fulfilling a mega-need ... However this appears to be just the beginning, as the spaceport could have a total of 10 pads serving both liquid and solid rockets. The reason for the dramatic expansion appears to be increasing access to space and allowing China to achieve a launch rate needed to build a pair of low-Earth orbit megaconstellations, each over 10,000 satellites strong. It is also a further sign of China’s commitment to establishing a thriving commercial space sector. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

A spaceport in the Dominican Republic? The Dominican Republic has kicked off a study into the feasibility of setting up a commercial spaceport near the equator, Space News reports. Florida-based Launch on Demand, a launch licensing and technical services specialist, announced a contract May 22 to lead the six-month study with the country's National Intelligence Directorate. The study will focus on the Oviedo area to the south of the island nation.

Go south, young man ... The study will examine vertical lift capacity for orbital and suborbital missions, which could enable the country to improve critical satellite monitoring and surveillance capabilities to address illegal migration, drug trafficking, and environmental damage. The Caribbean nation is located at a latitude between 17 and 20 degrees, significantly to the south of Cape Canaveral, at 28.4 degrees.

Starliner launch delayed until early June. On Wednesday evening, NASA said the earliest Starliner launch opportunity will be Saturday, June 1, with additional launch opportunities June 2, June 5, and June 6. But there's still work to do before NASA gives the green light for the Starliner launch, which has been struggling with a stubborn leak of helium from the capsule's propulsion system, Ars reports. The mission will be the first crewed flight by Starliner and is due to launch on an Atlas V rocket.

It's always the valves ... "Work continues to assess Starliner performance and redundancy following the discovery of a small helium leak in the spacecraft’s service module," NASA said late Wednesday. "As part of this work, and unrelated to the current leak, which remains stable, teams are in the process of completing a follow-on propulsion system assessment to understand potential helium system impacts on some Starliner return scenarios." A separate problem with a pressure regulation valve on the spacecraft's United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket prompted officials to scrub a launch attempt on May 6. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Ariane 6 debut timeline set. The Ariane 6 Launcher Task Force published a new update this week that provided some key status updates on the vehicle's path toward launch, European Spaceflight reports. The most recent milestone on the road to the Ariane 6 debut was reached on May 16, when the flight’s various payloads arrived at the Guiana Space Centre, ready for integration. The rocket’s completed upper composite, consisting of the launcher adapter, the payloads, and the fairing, will be completed and ready for transportation to the launch pad for stacking in June.

Flying high in July? ... On June 18, the Ariane 6 rocket's wet dress rehearsal will be conducted. This process involves filling and draining both the core and upper stage propellant tanks and is the last major milestone before the rocket’s first launch attempt. According to this week's update, the date for the debut flight has been narrowed down to sometime in the first two weeks of July. A tentative date for the first launch attempt will be announced at the ILA airshow in Berlin during the week of June 5. (submitted by EllPeaTea and Ken the Bin)

Falcon 9 launches next-gen spysats. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday launched an undisclosed number of small spacecraft into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office, Space News reports. The classified mission, designated NROL-146, was SpaceX’s 52nd launch of the year and the Falcon 9’s fifth launch for the NRO. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

Sorry, no details ... NROL-146 is the agency’s first deployment of a new imaging satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. The NRO has not disclosed how many satellites were launched on this mission or the projected size of the new constellation. Agency officials previously said six launches are planned in 2024 for the NRO’s proliferated architecture of small satellites. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Fourth test flight focused on Starship reentry. After three test flights, SpaceX has shown that the world's most powerful rocket can reach space. Now, engineers must demonstrate the company's next-generation Starship vehicle can get back home. This will be the central objective for the fourth Starship test flight, which could happen as soon as early June, Ars reports. Based on some of the latest road closure requests, it's possible SpaceX may attempt to launch Starship on June 1.

Some like it hot ... For this upcoming flight, SpaceX officials would like to see the Super Heavy booster for the next test flight, named Booster 11, make a controlled pinpoint splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico just offshore from Starbase. Halfway around the world, the Starship upper stage, known as Ship 29, will try to survive the blistering reentry back into Earth's atmosphere. Starship is dressed in about 18,000 hexagonal heat-absorbing ceramic tiles to protect its stainless-steel structure during reentry, when temperatures peak at about 2,600° Fahrenheit (1,430° Celsius). SpaceX is eager to collect data on how these tiles will perform and what condition they will be in for re-flights.

SpaceX Florida plans for Starship become clearer. Recently, both the US Federal Aviation Administration and the US Space Force have initiated "Environmental Impact Statement" projects for launch pads in Florida, LC-39A and SLC-37, for potential use as Starship launch facilities. On the one hand, these environmental reviews often take a while and could cloud Elon Musk's goal of having Starship launch sites in Florida ready for service by the end of 2025, Ars reports. "A couple of years would not be a surprise," said George Nield, an aerospace industry consultant and former head of the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

Much work to do ... Another way to look at the recent FAA and Space Force announcements of pending environmental reviews is that SpaceX finally appears to be cementing its plans to launch Starship from Florida. These plans have changed quite a bit in the last five years. The result of these reviews will help SpaceX finalize its plans to launch Starship vehicles from both its existing facility in South Texas and one or more launch pads in Florida. In a long feature, Ars explores the work SpaceX has yet to do to deliver on its Starship project—and the role Florida will play in that.

Next three launches

May 24: Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-63 | Kennedy Space Center, Florida | 02:13 UTC

May 25: Electron | Ready, Aim, PREFIRE | Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand | 07:15 UTC

May 27: Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-60 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 11:30 UTC