This will be the rocket’s first flight from European soil … The flight from SaxaVord will be HyImpulse’s second SR75 mission and its first to carry commercial payloads. The company completed an initial test flight of the suborbital rocket on May 3, 2024, from the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.
German launch company gets a new CEO. The Supervisory Board of Rocket Factory Augburg has appointed Alexander Dahm as CEO. He succeeds Indulis Kalnins and will be responsible for the company’s continued development and its path to the debut flight of the RFA ONE launch vehicle, the company said this week. Dahm has 30 years of aerospace experience, including involvement with the Ariane 5 program.
Still seeking orbit … “I am impressed by the grit, innovative strength, and passion with which a new generation of European launch vehicles is being developed here. Together, we will reach the next important milestones on the way to the maiden flight of RFA ONE and actively shape the company’s future,” Dahm said. RFA has been working toward its first orbital launch following the loss of its first stage during a 2024 static-fire test.
SpaceX has rare scrub of Falcon 9 late in countdown. A Falcon 9 launch planned for early Monday morning was scrubbed in the final minute of the count as the rocket was shifting into its automated startup sequence, Spaceflight Now reports. SpaceX didn’t provide a reason for the abort. The rocket is intended to launch a new batch of data satellites to low Earth orbit on behalf of the United States Space Force’s Space Development Agency.
A relatively young booster … The company targeted Tuesday, October 6, for its next launch attempt, but waved off that opportunity as well. Following additional changes, the company is now aiming for no earlier than Saturday, October 10. The mission will use Falcon 9 first stage booster B1103. This will be its sixth flight following the launches of the SDA’s T1TL-E, NROL-179, and three batches of Starlink satellites.
Europe’s progress on hop tests remains slow. The European Commission has extended the deadline for the SALTO reusable launcher project to the end of 2026, giving the program another three months to complete the first hop test of Europe’s Themis reusable rocket demonstrator, European Spaceflight reports. This is the latest in a series of extensions that have pushed the completion date back from the original November 2025 deadline.