Vast has signed an agreement with NASA to test its Haven-1 space station at an agency facility ahead of its launch next year.

Vast announced April 3 that it signed an agreement with NASA to conduct environmental testing of Haven-1 at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio. That center, formerly known as Plum Brook Station, features facilities for thermal vacuum, acoustics, vibration and other tests.

The tests at Armstrong are scheduled to begin in early 2026, verifying the spacecraft can handle launch and in-space environments. Haven-1 is scheduled to launch no earlier than May 2026.

The company announced April 3 that it signed a contract worth 122.5 million euros ($136 million) with smallsat manufacturer Kongsberg NanoAvionics to produce 280 satellites for a constellation called Meridian Space.

SpinLaunch has publicly been working for several years on a launch system that would use a centrifuge to accelerate vehicles to hypersonic speeds, effectively replacing the first stage of a conventional launch vehicle. However, at the same time it was also thinking about the satellites that could be launched by such a system.

Hmm, a bold move for a company which has not achieved orbit yet.

SpinLaunch is now moving ahead with Meridian Space separate from its launch system, seeking a share of the strong demand for broadband satellite services.

Ah, there we go.

SpinLaunch will turn to others to launch the initial Meridian Space constellation. “We’re currently engaged with a multitude of launch providers, and there’s certainly a number of available launch systems,” Wrenn said.

The company is not abandoning plans for its own unconventional launch system. SpinLaunch separately announced April 3 that it signed a lease agreement with The Aleut Corporation, an Alaska Native regional corporation, for land on Adak Island, located in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands at nearly 180 degrees longitude.

Wrenn said the agreement marked an “exploratory phase” for development of its Orbital Launch System, which would feature a centrifuge 100 meters in diameter. “We looked everywhere in the U.S., and thinking internationally, and Adak has a unique combination of features that make it a very attractive prospective launch site,” he said, including infrastructure from a former military base and commercial airline service.

I hope they do eventually build this. I want to see an upper stage yeeted to orbital velocity by a giant centrifuge.

The committee announced late April 2 that it will hold a confirmation hearing for Isaacman on April 9 at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Source

Here’s another cool shot. 2 Vulcan mobile launch platforms in VIF-A at the same time.

“The final mishap report identified the proximate cause of the mishap as an inability of New Glenn’s first stage to restart the engines, preventing a reentry burn from occurring, and resulting in the loss of the stage,” the FAA said in its statement. It noted that Blue Origin identified seven corrective actions, but did not enumerate them.

“Our ambitious attempt to land the booster, ‘So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance,’ was unsuccessful due to our three BE-4 engines not re-igniting properly,” the company said in a social media post published the same time as the FAA statement. “The report identified seven corrective actions, focusing on propellant management and engine bleed control improvements, which we’re already addressing.”

The company said its next flight was planned for late spring, which will include another booster landing attempt.

The FAA also announced March 31 that it accepted the findings of a separate investigation into the loss of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle on its seventh test flight, which took place the same day as the first New Glenn launch.

NASASpaceflight to provide livestream coverage.

Currently scheduled for Mar 29th.

Launch thread with more details here.