Rocket Report: NASA chief sort of endorses SLS; Russia woes; Virgin Orbit

Enlarge / We need your help to produce a new newsletter to chronicle the dynamic launch industry. (credit: Aurich Lawson/background image United Launch Alliance)

Welcome to Edition 1.03 of the Rocket Report! This collaborative effort with readers of Ars Technica seeks to diversify our coverage of the blossoming launch industry. The Rocket Report publishes as a newsletter on Thursday and on this website every Friday morning.

We welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe in the box below. Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Virgin Orbit "months" away from first rocket launch. In an in-depth feature on Virgin Orbit, the company's VP of special projects, Will Pomerantz, told Ars that the LauncherOne rocket is nearing completion. "We are getting pretty darn close," Pomerantz said when Ars visited Virgin Orbit recently for a tour of the factory. "I'm always hesitant to put dates on it, because we're always wrong, like everyone in the industry. But I think we're months away."

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