Rocket Report: Virgin Galactic kills tourism tax, New Glenn fairing test

Enlarge / Composite image showing a Falcon 9 rocket launching, and a first stage landing, at Vandenberg Space Force Base this weekend. (credit: SpaceX)

Welcome to Edition 4.31 of the Rocket Report! SpaceX launched three Falcon 9 rockets in three days this week, bringing its tally of orbital launches in 2022 to six. Not bad for a year that's only about five weeks old. Now the spotlight moves to Astra, Rocket Lab, and other companies making their first launch attempts of 2022.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). 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.

Astra set for first Florida launch on Saturday. The California-based company said it anticipates receiving a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday. The license will allow Astra to launch its Rocket 3 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a three-hour window that opens at 1 pm EST (18:00 UTC) on Saturday. This will be the company's first attempt at launching from Florida after its small rocket reached orbit on its fourth attempt from Alaska last year.

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