China Ramps Up Commercial Space Race with Lijian-2 “Super Factory”
China has finished construction of a massive Lijian-2 liquid‑propellant rocket "super factory" in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, marking a pivotal step in its commercial space agenda. The facility is designed to mass‑produce the Lijian‑2 family, with the Y1 carrier rocket already launched on March 30, 2026. By automating assembly and streamlining supply chains, the plant aims to boost launch cadence and lower costs. The move signals Beijing’s intent to challenge established Western launch providers in the burgeoning commercial market.
Joby Conducts First Electric Air Taxi Flight From JFK Airport
Joby Aviation performed its first electric air‑taxi flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, using a production‑prototype eVTOL. The aircraft completed a vertical takeoff, cruise segment and landing after a series of weekend test runs. This marks the inaugural departure...
ULA Launches 29 Amazon LEO Satellites on Atlas V From Cape Canaveral
United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully lifted off 29 Amazon Kuiper low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) satellites aboard an Atlas V from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The launch marked ULA's second Atlas V mission this month and set a new turnaround...
AIAA Public Review
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has issued draft S‑159, a standard for power and data interfaces between servicing spacecraft and client space objects, and opened it for public review until 30 June 2026. The document outlines functional requirements, best‑practice...
Building the STEM Pipeline
The United States’ burgeoning commercial space sector faces a growing talent shortage, prompting Blue Origin and its Club for the Future program to accelerate STEM outreach. At the AIAA SciTech Forum 2026, astronaut‑teacher Amy Medina Jorge highlighted how her sub‑orbital flight and...
SpaceX Plans Falcon Heavy Return Featuring Side Booster Landings
SpaceX is set to launch its first Falcon Heavy mission in over 18 months, targeting a Viasat‑3 communications satellite. The lift‑off will occur from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39, with the two side boosters programmed to return and land...
Modified Boeing 777 Set to Replace DC-8 as NASA’s Premier Research Aircraft
NASA has received a heavily modified Boeing 777-200ER, previously operated by Japan Air Lines, to serve as its new flagship airborne science laboratory. The aircraft arrived at Langley Research Center after a check flight from Waco, Texas, where L3Harris completed...
NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Identifies Rare and Unprecedented Planetary System
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) teamed with the Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets (ASTEP) to uncover a planetary system unlike any seen before. The system hosts multiple planets ranging from Earth‑size to Neptune‑class, some on ultra‑short orbital periods under...
25 Years of the International Space Station: Legacy, Science, and the Road Ahead
The International Space Station celebrated 25 years of uninterrupted crewed operations, highlighting its unprecedented engineering feats and multinational partnership among 15 governments. Experts at the AIAA SciTech Forum emphasized the station’s role as a microgravity test kitchen that has accelerated...
Rocket Lab Launches Eight Japanese Satellites, Including Origami-Inspired Payload
Rocket Lab successfully launched the “Kakuchin Rising” mission from its New Zealand site on April 22‑23, placing eight Japanese satellites into low‑Earth orbit. The payloads rode aboard an Electron rocket that lifted off at 11:09 p.m. EDT. One of the satellites featured an...
AIAA AVIATION Forum 2026 to Showcase Next Generation Flight Technologies
The AIAA Aviation Forum 2026 will run June 8‑12 in San Diego, spotlighting next‑generation flight technologies under the theme “From Velocity to Altitude – Accelerating Toward Tomorrow.” The program features more than 1,000 presentations across 20 research areas, with a focus on...
SGx 2026 Registration Is Open
The Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) has opened registration for SGx 2026, a two‑day conference in Washington, D.C., on May 17‑18. Co‑hosted with ASCEND and the Future Space Leaders Foundation, the event gathers students, early‑career professionals, and senior industry and...
New Glenn Grounded as BE-3U Thrust Issue Comes Into Focus
Blue Origin has grounded its New Glenn heavy‑lift vehicle after data indicated that one of the two BE‑3U upper‑stage engines failed to produce enough thrust during the second burn. The shortfall prevented the AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 7 satellite from reaching its planned...
New Glenn Mission Falls Short, Raising Questions for NASA’s Artemis Plans
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifted off flawlessly on Sunday and its first‑stage booster touched down on a recovery barge in the Atlantic. However, the mission failed to place its commercial communications satellite into the intended orbit, marking a significant performance...
MQ-9B Passes Key Icing Tests, Boosting Operational Flexibility
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) completed a series of flight tests that certify its MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft for Flight Into Known Icing (FIKI). The tests, conducted at the company’s Flight Test & Training Center in North Dakota, concluded in...
Today Is the Last Day to Save on ASCEND 2026 Registration
ASCEND 2026, the flagship gathering of the global space community, is closing its early‑registration discount today. The conference will host more than 2,000 leaders from industry, government and academia across 130 sessions and 190 technical papers. Backed by the AIAA,...
AIR Lifts Off With First Flight of Heavy-Lift Cargo Drone
Air has completed the maiden flight of its Production AIR Cargo-Heavy Lift UAS, a vertical‑take‑off and landing (VTOL) drone capable of carrying roughly 550 pounds in a 70‑cubic‑foot cargo bay. The aircraft demonstrated stable hover, transition, and forward flight, confirming...
AIAA Announces 2026 Design/Build/Fly (DBF) Competition Winners
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announced the winners of its 30th Design/Build/Fly competition in Wichita, Kansas. University of Ljubljana took first place, followed by the University of Washington‑Seattle and UCLA. The fly‑off featured 1,179 students from 89...
New Glenn Booster Completes Hot Fire as Blue Origin Eyes Sunday Launch
Blue Origin successfully performed a hot‑fire test of New Glenn’s first stage on Thursday, igniting all seven BE‑4 engines for roughly 20 seconds. The test used a previously flown booster, marking the first such demonstration for the vehicle. Data review...
Air Combat Command Tests Anduril’s YFQ-44A CCA Prototype
The Air Force’s Experimental Operations Unit at Nellis Air Force Base conducted a flight test of Anduril Industries’ YFQ-44A Fury prototype Collaborative Combat Aircraft. The unmanned system took off from Anduril’s Southern California site, flew to Edwards Air Force Base,...
New AIAA Position Paper on ITAR Reforms to Promote and Support a Robust Academic Pipeline
The AIAA Board of Trustees approved a new position paper urging ITAR reforms to modernize export controls for academic aerospace activities. It argues that outdated USML categories IV and XV unnecessarily entangle student rocketry, CubeSat projects, and mentorship in export...
Vertical Hits Major eVTOL Milestone With Two-Way Flight
Vertical Aerospace announced that its VX4 prototype achieved the first piloted two‑way transition flight outside the United States. On 14 April 2026 at Cotswold Airport, chief test pilot Simon Davies switched the eVTOL from helicopter mode to fixed‑wing flight and back again....
SpaceX Launches Two Starlink Missions 19 Hours Apart
SpaceX conducted two Starlink missions on April 14, launching Falcon 9 rockets from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg within a 19‑hour window. Both flights were successful, deploying dozens of broadband satellites into low‑Earth orbit. The back‑to‑back launches underscore SpaceX’s ability to...
Boeing Delivers 143 Aircraft in Q1 2026, Led by 737 Output
Boeing delivered 143 commercial aircraft in the first quarter of 2026, with 114 of those being 737 models. The remaining deliveries included six 767s, eight 777s, and 15 787s. Output remained steady after the recovery that began in 2025, though...
Defense Firms Target Next Phase of Space Warfare With Agile Satellite Designs
U.S. defense giants BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin are ramping up internal investments in maneuverable satellite designs. At the Space Symposium each company outlined plans to fund and launch demonstration spacecraft that can maneuver on‑orbit, shadow other assets, and operate...
AIAA AVIATION Forum 2026 to Showcase Next Generation Flight Technologies
The AIAA Aviation Forum 2026 will convene June 8‑12 in San Diego, featuring more than 1,000 technical presentations across 20+ research tracks. The agenda spotlights next‑generation flight technologies such as AI‑enabled cockpits, electric and hydrogen propulsion, and hypersonic systems. High‑profile...
Final Manuscripts for the 28th Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference Due 4 May
The 28th Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference will take place June 1‑5, 2026, with technical paper sessions in London and an advanced materials seminar in Farnborough and Tiverton. presenters are required to submit their final manuscripts by May 4, 2026. The...
FAA Clears Hermeus Quarterhorse for Supersonic Flight Testing
Hermeus announced that the Federal Aviation Administration granted a Special Airworthiness Certificate in the Experimental Category for its unmanned Quarterhorse Mk 2.1 aircraft. The certification follows a detailed FAA inspection and clears the path for a dedicated supersonic flight‑test campaign....
AIAA CEO Mowry to Speak at Space Workforce Forum
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announced that its chief executive officer, Michael Mowry, will speak at the upcoming Space Workforce Forum. The forum, organized by the Office of Space Commerce’s Policy, Advocacy & International Division, will take...
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL Reaches ISS Carrying Tons of Supplies
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft completed its second flight to the International Space Station, docking on April 13. The vehicle was captured by the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm at 1:20 p.m. EDT. The mission delivered several tons of scientific equipment,...
Airbus Delivers 500th A220 as March Output Signals Production Ramp-Up
Airbus announced the delivery of its 500th A220 jet on April 10, 2026, marking a milestone for the narrow‑body program. The company reported 60 commercial aircraft deliveries in March, up from a combined 54 in January and February, signaling a...
Watch: SpaceX Launches Cygnus XL Cargo Ship to Resupply ISS Crew
SpaceX's Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:41 a.m. EDT on Saturday, carrying Northrop Grumman's Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft. The Cygnus XL is bound for the International Space Station to deliver scientific experiments, food, and equipment for the crew....
NATO Ally Taps Red Cat’s Black Widow Drones for Next-Gen Defense
Red Cat Holdings’ Black Widow small unmanned aircraft system has won a contract from an unnamed NATO ally after a competitive tender. The sUAS will be deployed in 2026 to augment the ally’s short‑range air‑defence and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance...
AIAA Announces 2026 Award Recipients
On April 10, 2026, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announced its 2026 award recipients, highlighting achievements across aeroacoustics, aerodynamics, V/STOL, fluid dynamics, hypersonics, aerospace medicine, and space systems. Notable honorees include NASA Langley’s Stephen A. Rizzi for...
Artemis II Reentry Streams Tonight
NASA’s Artemis II crew is slated to reenter Earth’s atmosphere tonight, April 10, 2026, concluding the first crewed deep‑space flight since the Apollo era. The Orion spacecraft, carrying Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, Pilot Victor Glover, and Commander Reid Wiseman, will perform a Pacific Ocean...
DoD Seeks Expanded Investment in Counter-UAS Capabilities
The Pentagon’s Counter‑Drone Task Force is asking Congress for more than $580 million in FY 2027 research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) to accelerate counter‑UAS systems. The request targets rapid fielding of technologies that detect, track and neutralize small commercial drones that...
Orion Heat Shield Faces Critical Test as Artemis II Nears Reentry
NASA’s Orion crew capsule is set to splash down tomorrow, marking the final re‑entry phase of the Artemis II mission. Engineers have been monitoring the vehicle’s ablative heat shield since pre‑launch, when experts warned that the shield’s performance could be a...
From Kitty Hawk to Space, America Showcases Milestones in Aviation Innovation
The Wall Street Journal feature chronicles America’s aviation journey from the Wright brothers’ 1903 Kitty Hawk flight to today’s cutting‑edge platforms such as the F‑35 Lightning II and NASA’s robotic Mars explorers. It highlights how early experimentation evolved into a robust...
GA-ASI YFQ-42A CCA Prototype Crashes During California Test Flight
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA‑ASI) reported that its YFQ‑42A Collaborative Combat Aircraft prototype crashed shortly after takeoff on April 6, 2026, at a company‑owned airport in the California desert. The incident marks the first known flight mishap for the U.S....
Artemis II Sets New Human Distance Record During Lunar Flyby
NASA’s Artemis II mission completed a historic lunar flyby, sending four astronauts farther from Earth than any humans before them. The crew reached roughly 260,000 miles (about 418,000 km) from the planet, eclipsing the Apollo 13 record set in 1970. The flight marked the...
Ohio Symposium Celebrates Over Half a Century and Looks Toward the Future of Aerospace
The AIAA Dayton‑Cincinnati Section hosted its 51st annual aerospace symposium in Dayton, Ohio, featuring over 130 technical presentations from industry, academia, and students. The event’s theme, “LI,” cleverly combined the Roman numeral for 51 with the chemical symbol for lithium...
Autonomous Air Taxi Certification Emerges as New Regulatory Frontier
The FAA is tightening certification requirements for vertical‑takeoff‑and‑landing (VTOL) air‑taxi platforms, demanding a rigorous testing regime for developers such as Archer, Joby and Beta. Boeing‑spun Wisk Aero is pushing the envelope with its Generation 6 aircraft, which is designed to operate...
Fast and Furious: Aerospace Firms Reduce Hypersonic Design to Months, Not Years
Aerospace firms Specter Aerospace and nTop announced a new workflow that reduces hypersonic aircraft design from months to days while maintaining high fidelity. Their implicit geometry modeling eliminates traditional CAD bottlenecks, enabling rapid conceptual modeling, automated analysis, and design‑space optimization....
Artemis II Crew Nears Moon as Spacecraft Enters Lunar Orbit Phase
NASA launched the Artemis II mission on April 1, 2026, sending a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft with four astronauts from Kennedy Space Center. Early Monday, the crew entered the lunar sphere of influence, where the Moon’s gravity overtakes Earth’s,...
NAVAIR Seeks Industry Input on CV-22 Osprey JTT-NG Integration
The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has issued a sources‑sought notice to find industry partners capable of integrating the Joint Tactical Terminal – Next Generation (JTT‑NG) onto the CV‑22 Osprey. The effort is driven by the V‑22 Joint Program Office...
Nominations Open for Member Advancement
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has opened nominations for its Member Advancement program, inviting members to recognize peers who have delivered outstanding contributions to the aerospace sector. Eligibility hinges on demonstrated leadership, technical excellence, and measurable industry...
Embraer Reports 47% Jump in First-Quarter Aircraft Deliveries
Embraer announced that it handed over 44 aircraft in the first quarter of 2026, marking a 47% year‑on‑year increase. The growth spanned its commercial, executive and defense divisions, reflecting broader market recovery. The company disclosed the figures in a securities...
SpaceX Secures SDA-4 Launch Task Order From U.S. Space Force
SpaceX has secured a task order worth more than $178 million from the U.S. Space Force Systems Command to conduct two National Security Space Launch Phase 3, Lane 1 missions in fiscal 2027. The launches will occur from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station...
AIAA Anticipates Artemis II Launch with Collection of Technical Papers
AIAA announced a complimentary collection of technical papers tied to NASA’s Artemis II mission, drawing from the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets and AIAA SciTech Forum papers published between 2024 and 2026. The papers are hosted on AIAA’s Aerospace Research Central...
April-June 2026 Issue of Aerospace America Now Live
The April‑June 2026 issue of Aerospace America is now live, featuring the cover story “The New Space Race” by Leonard David and associate editor Cat Hofacker. The article examines the United States’ renewed push to land astronauts on the Moon, a goal...