Firefly Aerospace is preparing to return its Alpha rocket to flight after a failed sixth launch attempt ended in an anomaly during a mission launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The company said it received FAA clearance on Aug.

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket carrying classified Space Force payloads suffered a booster problem but apparently made an otherwise "nominal" ascent to space, the company said.

This will mark the seventh flight for the company's Alpha rocket, which had been grounded following a failed flight in April.

The Vulcan rocket leapt off its pad at 4:22 a.m. EST, lighting up the Florida coast before a problem inside one of its strap-on boosters turned a routine climb to orbit into a high-stakes anomaly. United Launch Alliance later described what happened as a “significant performance anomaly” in one of the solid rocket motors,

The booster anomaly resulted in months of delays before the Space Force finally gave ULA the green light to begin launching its missions. Vulcan launched its first military payload in August 2025, carrying an experimental navigation satellite developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, called NTS-3, to geostationary orbit.

Japan's flagship heavy-lift rocket, the H3, suffered another setback on Sunday after its eighth flight failed, dealing a blow to the country's ambitions to strengthen its independent space capabilities. After two postponements, the rocket lifted off at 10: ...

Japan will not be able to launch satellites and probes for the time being, after the failed launch on Monday of the eighth H3 rocket, the nation's large main rocket. This has put Japan in a critical situation in which it cannot move forward with its own ...