IPO Shows Moon Missions Stir Stock Investors

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Blue Ghost lunar lander. (Firefly Aerospace)

Firefly Aerospace, the Texas-based company that successfully put a lander on the Moon earlier this year, is now having success with the stock market as well. It’s initial public offering (IPO) earlier this week led to a valuation of about $6 billion for the company. The sale provided Firefly with about $868 million in new funds to supports its ongoing efforts.

Firefly Aerospace has seen contracts roll in after its recent lunar success. For example, just last month NASA awarded the company a $177 million Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract. The contract calls for Firefly to deliver NASA-sponsored payloads to the lunar South Pole in 2029.

After the award last month, CEO Jason Kim stated:

Firefly is honored to support another NASA CLPS task order as a proven, reliable partner for robotic missions to the Moon…Following our first Blue Ghost mission that made history just a few months ago, this bold Firefly team proved we have the right mix of grit, innovation, and dedication to not only stick the landing, but also complete all scientific objectives for our payload partners. We’ve set the bar high, and we aim to continue setting new records in our missions to come with our active production line of Blue Ghost landers.

This is good news for other companies striving for a piece of the space industry. Now we just need to ensure NASA remains a reliable partner for Firefly Aerospace and others who have proven they can get the job done.

The Next Mission for Starliner

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Starliner capsule outside the ISS in July 2024. (Boeing)

The good news is that Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft will be returning to the International Space Station (ISS). However, the not so good news is that NASA may not trust it enough to carry humans – what it was designed to do – so it will probably be carrying cargo on its next mission instead.

Overall, this is good news in that Boeing is not throwing in the towel. We need a backup to SpaceX’s Dragon, and Boeing’s spacecraft is the best bet at the moment.

The Starliner is designed to carry seven crew members or a mix of crew and cargo. That means it can carry quite a bit of cargo if that is all it is doing on its next trip.

NASA is still sorting things out, but this cargo mission, if it occurs, is expected to take place next year.

Mission Possible, But Not Yet

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Mission Possible vehicle during construction. (The Exploration Company)

A new European space company came close to success with its space capsule early this week until it had problems with reentry. The Exploration Company, discussing its Mission Possible vehicle, had this to say:

The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in-orbit, stabilized itself after separation with the launcher, reentered and reestablished communication after black out…We are still investigating the root causes and will share more information soon. We apologize to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads.

The Mission Possible capsule was expected to complete the following tasks:

  • Phase 1: Separation from the Launcher
  • Phase 2: Stabilizing the Capsule and Putting its Heatshield Forward
  • Phase 3: Atmospheric Re-entry
  • Phase 4: Parachute Deployment and Descent
  • Phase 5: Splashdown and Recovery

The problem appears to be related to the parachute deployment in Phase 4.

Launched into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the European company was preparing the way for its planned Nyx capsule. With the Nyx capsule, the company hopes to carve out a place for itself in the space cargo business – first in low-Earth orbit and later between the Earth and the Moon.

In an earlier press release, the company outlined its European roots:

Germany, Munich:Core of spacecraft avionics, power systems, and flight software. Also, a leader in additive manufacturing.
France, Bordeaux: Specializing in propulsion systems, reentry phase, thermal engineering, system engineering, and mission safety, also hosts the main control center.
Italy, Turin: Home to the babckup control center, docking and other complex mechanisms, life support system and high-thrust engine turbomachinery.
Luxembourg, opening in 2025: Dedicated to cryogenic refuelling, a critical development for deep-space missions.

This bold European company’s partial success should pave the way for more attempts and contribute to a greater European presence in the space industry.

The Recently Created iSpace Crater Has Been Spotted

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The arrow indicates the impact site for ispace’s Resilience lunar lander, as seen by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera on June 11, 2025. (NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)

It doesn’t look like much, but NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently spotted the small crater made by the crashed ispace lunar lander named Resilience. The Japanese lander crashed on the Moon’s surface earlier this month after the company’s second try at a lunar landing.

The Moon is littered with debris and pockmarks from various successful and failed missions. The Apollo crew alone left enormous amounts of trash, debris, and space equipment scattered around the Moon. The Russians also left quite a bit of space equipment on the Moon many years ago, as well as its most recent Luna-25 mission, which crash-landed.

We can only hope that the Artemis mission will soon enough be adding to the equipment on the Moon without the drama of crash landings.

Pic of the Week: Mars or Bust?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The explosion of a Starship rocket during testing at the Brownsville, Texas Starbase on June 18, 2025. (LabPadre Space)

As shown in the image above, SpaceX lost one of its Starships yesterday in a massive explosion at the Brownsville, Texas Starbase, making the Moon and Mars seem even farther away. Fortunately, no one was injured during this failed test firing of the Starship 36 rocket engines.

We should expect some problems along the way, but the trend is going backwards for Mr. Musk.

In a press release, SpaceX stated:

Engineering teams are actively investigating the incident and will follow established procedures to determine root cause. Initial analysis indicates the potential failure of a pressurized tank known as a COPV, or composite overwrapped pressure vessel, containing gaseous nitrogen in Starship’s nosecone area, but the full data review is ongoing. There is no commonality between the COPVs used on Starship and SpaceX’s Falcon rockets.

In separate comments, Mr. Musk initially stated:

Just a scratch.

Yes, the scratch heard round the world.