"Thursday was a monumental day in launch history with Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket not just taking off successfully, but with the first stage masterfully returning to the surface of the ocean, hovering near the Jacklyn drone ship, and then making a landing in the center of the barge. It was fantastic to watch, and cements our new reality of reusable rockets. The future of space access is very bright indeed."
"Private Chinese rocket fails. Galactic Energy's solid-fuel Ceres-1 rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sunday, carrying three satellites toward low Earth orbit. The rocket's first three stages performed well, according to media reports, but its fourth and final stage shut down too early, leading to the loss of all three payloads, Space.com reports. Sincerely sorry ... Those payloads were two satellites for China's Jilin-1 commercial Earth-observation constellation, as well as a craft developed by Zhongbei University."
"“We offer our sincerest apologies to the mission's customer and to everyone who supports Galactic Energy,” the Beijing-based company said in a statement. The Ceres-1 can lift 400 kg of payload to low-Earth orbit and debuted in November 2020. It flew successfully nine times in a row before suffering a failure in September 2023. The Ceres-1 bounced back from that problem, notching 11 consecutive successes before Sunday night's setback."
Blue Origin's New Glenn executed a successful launch with a first-stage return and precise landing on the Jacklyn drone ship, reinforcing reusable-rocket capabilities and promising improved space access. Galactic Energy's solid-fuel Ceres-1 launched from Jiuquan but experienced a fourth-stage shutdown that caused the loss of three payloads, including two Jilin-1 Earth-observation satellites and a university spacecraft. Galactic Energy issued an apology to its customer and supporters. The Ceres-1 can carry 400 kg to low Earth orbit, debuted in November 2020, logged nine straight successes before a September 2023 failure, then achieved 11 consecutive successes prior to this setback.
Read at Ars Technica
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