Keith’s note: SpaceX Launched the 11th flight of Starship this evening. The first stage came back exactly as planned. Ship made it to orbit and worked smoothly. Payload doors opened and all Starlink simulators were deployed. When operational, each Starship launch will deploy an additional 60Tb of coverage to the orbital Starlink constellation – 20 times the amount of satellites that a Falcon 9 workhorse currently does. The upper stage then landed precisely on target in the Indian Ocean after doing some wild banking maneuvers on the way down. I did launch coverage on Bloomberg Radio (audio) and I was on Deutsche Welle TV to do landing coverage. (audio)

Keith’s note: The White House put out a commercial space policy executive order today that says: “It is imperative that we build on the far-reaching actions taken by my Administration during my first term to ensure that new space-based industries, space exploration capabilities, and cutting-edge defense systems are pioneered in America rather than by our adversaries. Ensuring that United States operators can efficiently launch, conduct missions in space, and reenter United States airspace is critical to economic growth, national security, and accomplishing Federal space objectives.” There is a fact sheet too.

Keith’s note: Multiple sources have mentioned ongoing discussion at NASA HQ, NASA Goddard, and NASA Wallops that consider the option of moving toward a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GOCO) model for the future of Wallops.

Keith’s note: according to a 31 July 2025 NASA Directive titled “Directive on Revised Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destinations (CLD) Phase 2 Acquisition Strategy“ (see below) says “To ensure mission continuity, affordability, and national alignment, this directive includes accountability measures, transition planning, and performance metrics for industry participation. The CLD Program shall support commercial viability while enabling NASA’s safe and sustainable transition from ISS operations.”

Keith’s note: The Aerospace Industries Association just put put their self-serving and totally anodyne “Space Priorities 2025“. Its all bland happy talk – as if nothing was really happening these days when it comes to the health and well being of the aerospace sector. With all of the swirling concern over budget cuts, program cancellations, and layoffs, you’d think that a non-profit established to be concerned about the aerospace sector would be a little more proactive in discussing these threats. Guess again.

Keith’s note: According to Blue Origin: “New Glenn safely reached its intended orbit during today’s NG-1 mission, accomplishing our primary objective. New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines ignited on January 16, 2025, at 2:03 a.m. EST (0703 UTC) from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The second stage is in its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines. The Blue Ring Pathfinder is receiving data and performing well.We lost the booster during descent.”

Keith’s note: In order to make sure that no one outside of the DC space bubble knows what is going on with the Federal government and space commerce, this conference will not be recorded or webcast by FAA, or NASA, or the Commercial Spaceflight Federation – or anyone. Meanwhile Blue Origin and SpaceX are launching massive commercially-developed launch vehicles. Go figure.

Keith’s note: like everyone else I stayed up to watch the New Glenn launch and did some TV talking head time too. Here’s the audio from Deutsche Welle prior to the launch scrub. I was going to be on BBC World too for post-launch coverage but then the delays changed that. Weather is going to be pacing the next launch attempt apparently. Stay tuned. [Audio]

Keith’s note: NASA put out a report NASA’s Economic Impact Report for fiscal year (FY) 2023. In addition to its data rich/ lousy common language construction (see A Nice NASA Economic Impact Report By / For Wonks) NASA is not really spending much effort to tell people about it. In addition to the report there are additional data files and one PDF file for every state (but nothing for Puerto Rico). But other than some info from GSFC, KSC, and Armstrong, NASA PAO seems to have ignored its own websites and not sent out any media advisories or press releases relevant to local state economic impacts (no mention here) just their main release and a KSC link. NASA has once again demonstrated that it is utterly clueless and bereft of strategic thought when it comes to demonstrating its value and relevance to its stakeholders, taxpayers, and its puppet masters in DC. This is going to come back and bite the agency. It is downright embarrassing that the same agency that can look outward and back at the beginning of time and reprogram 50 year old spacecraft in interstellar space can’t explain itself to the people that pay for the whole space thing. More snarky detail below.

[L] Astronaut Scott Parazynski stands atop Everest, the highest point on Earth’s surface, watching a sunrise. [R] Astronaut Jared Isaacman stands atop Resilience, the highest vantage point in Earth orbit, watching a sunset.