PlanetSpace Inc - which lost out on NASA’s 3.5 billion dollar Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract - have filed an official protest. Last month, SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp) and Orbital were awarded the contract to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) during the transition between Shuttle and Orion.

SpaceX chief Elon Musk has spoke of his desire to make Falcon 9 the first fully reusable launch vehicle, which he would “love” to include a flyback first stage. Musk also noted he is aiming for Falcon 9 to launch in under 60 minutes from the moment they leave their hangers.

SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation have been awarded the lucrative Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract, with SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corp.) earning 12 missions, and Orbital winning another eight missions. The details of the award - worth up to 3.5 billion dollars - equates to Orbital winning 54 percent of the funding. PlanetSpace Inc lose out on the award.

The last ILS mission of 2008 has launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, as their Proton-M launch vehicle prepares lifted-off from Pad PU-39 of Launch Complex 200. Launch occured on time at 13:43 UTC. The launch phase of the mission will last a total of nine hours, injecting the Ciel-2 communications satellite in to a geostationary [...]

NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft has been launched via an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL launch vehicle on Sunday, after it was released by its L-1011 carrier aircraft at around 1:44pm EDT.

Space X have finally put their teething problems behind them with total success for their fourth launch attempt of their Falcon I vehicle, which launched from Omelek island, Kwajalein Atoll.
NASASpaceflight.com covered the launch as a live event, with extensive background, live updates, images and video, all available on the link below (read more).

SpaceX’s third flight of their Falcon I launch vehicle - carrying three satellites - has failed during first and second stage separation.
The launch window opened at 4:00 pm PDT - though a problem with the helium load resulted in several holds, before a launch attempt was aborted at T-0 seconds. A final attempt [...]

The re-award of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract - called after RpK’s failure to reach designated milestones - has been won by Orbital Sciences Corporation, due to being the “best, sustainable business case.”
At the center of the bid is a new vehicle, OSC’s Taurus II - a medium class launch vehicle [...]

ATK have officially unveiled their new vehicle, which is targeted at a near-term solution for their COTS partner PlanetSpace, as well as satellite and planetary markets.
Unnamed, but known in the industry as Athena III, the three stage vehicle is based on a 2.5 segment Solid Rocket Booster, with an ATK Castor 120 second [...]

Gert van Ommering, Director of Technology at Space Systems/Loral - and leader of the company’s activities regarding COTS 2 - has conducted a Q&A with NASASpaceFlight.com.
SS/L and Constellation Service International (CSI) have collaborated to bid for the lucrative NASA contract, utilizing SS/L’s 1300 model spacecraft bus and CSI’s space intermodal transportation architecture.

Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) has written a letter to NASA’s Scott Horowitz, asking him to reconsider the decision to issue the company with a 30 day notice of termination of their COTS contract.
The seven page letter - sent to Horowitz in the latter part of last month - cites actions made by NASA during [...]

Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies - commonly known as SpaceX - has given NASASpaceflight.com an exclusive interview, in which he updates the status of their Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, along with their push towards the debut of their Dragon manned spacecraft.
Musk speaks candidly about the challenges involved with [...]

Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) was officially notified by NASA on Friday that they had failed to complete two COTS milestones. Sources from both NASA and RpK have confirmed that the letter does NOT represent a final decision by NASA to terminate the company’s COTS contract.
Meanwhile, RpK are pressing on with the a new configuration [...]

Bigelow Aerospace have been informed by their launch provider ISC Kosmotras that they’ll have to wait another four weeks - until an undisclosed window at the end of June - for the launch of their Genesis II.
Kosmotras need yet more time to test ground support equipment and the Dnepr launch vehicle at the [...]

SpaceDev have announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with United Launch Alliance (ULA) to pursue the potential of launching people and cargo in SpaceDev’s Dream Chaser vehicle atop of the Atlas V.
Under a MOU recently finalized by the two companies, SpaceDev will work with ULA to explore the technical requirements for commercial launch [...]

The launch of Bigelow Aerospace’s Genesis II has suffered a delay of at least 60 days, according to a statement released by its founder, Robert Bigelow.
The hit to the schedule of the second revolutionary spacecraft, which is an upgraded version of Genesis I - which was successfully launched via a Russian RS-20 Voyevoda [...]

More details about Burt Rutan’s SpaceShipTwo - VSS Enterprise - have been revealed to the public on Thursday, during a press briefing in New York City.
The new ship is 60 feet in length - twice that of its predecessor SpaceShipOne - carrying six paying space tourists to 360,000 feet above the Earth.

Lockheed Martin and Bigelow Aerospace have entered into a deal to move towards the use of the Atlas V for private manned space flight, NASASpaceFlight.com has exclusively learned.
A formal agreement between the two companies to study Atlas V feasibility for space tourism - including up to 16 launches a year - will be [...]

NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services or COTS contracts have been awared to SpaceX and RP Kistler.
The six finalists, Andrews Space, Rocketplane Kistler, Space Dev, Space Exploration Technologies or SpaceX, SPACEHAB and Transformational Space Corporation were all in the running for the deal that may also include future manned access to the ISS.