Currently, there are four reusable spaceplanes either operational or under development around the world. However, the leaders in the industry have switched back to space capsules, so are spaceplanes back or not?

Apple TV’sFor All Mankind original series portrayed an alternative timeline of our own: what if the Soviets made it to theMoon first? That simple question, with storytelling rooted in actual science, was supposed to have fun at a time that could have been, but might have actually precluded a real-world reality.

A recent report from ProPublica shared a rather concerning tacticSpaceX is encouraging when it comes to foreign investment. While Chinese investors are usually avoided when the company is a defense contractor, SpaceX has supported this investment through offshore shell companies, masking their identity from government regulators.

We finally saw the debut launch of Blue Origin’sNew Glenn rocket last week. We also saw the first of manyStarship flights of 2025. While both were considered flight data-gathering missions, one seems a little more successful than the other, and spoiler, it wasn’tSpaceX.

Checkout the podcast version of Terminal Count here.

We’re only into the first full week of the new year, and it’s already looking pretty packed, with Blue Origin looking to debut its New Glenn rocket while SpaceX is gearing up for its seventh Starship rocket. Both of these missions could have dynamic schedules, so it’s possible we’ll just be stuck with a handful of Starlink missions as well.

Checkout the podcast version of Terminal Counthere.

On this holiday week, we’re discussing SpaceX’s recent approval for Starship Flight 7’s launch license well ahead of the planned launch date, and almost overnight, Europe has another launch provider to bid on contracts with Avio’s takeover of the Vega C rocket.

This week we’re discussing SpaceX’s recent valuation of $350 billion, a staggering higher valuation than what was previously expected. Blue Origin is also still attempting to launch its first New Glenn rocket but is apparently battling regulators to get approval to complete its pre-launch tests.

It will be a quiet launch week with only two days seeing orbital launches from China, Japan, and of course,SpaceX. The biggest story of the last week was withNASA; it received a nomination for the next NASA Administrator, then the outgoing Administrator announced the delay of the Artemis 2 and 3 missions.

Welcome back to another edition ofTerminal Count.Starship has continued to command the news cycle even after its launch last month. That will likely not change for the foreseeable future; however, NASA’sArtemis 2 mission is entering the chat with the start ofSLS stacking.

SpaceX is making its quickest turnaround yet for theStarship rocket, hopefully launching some five weeks afterFlight 5. This mission will have more big milestones for the company while other companies still work towards competing with its olderFalcon 9 rocket.

New photos and planning documents show potentialStarship-sized expansions atSpaceX‘s Roberts Road facility atNASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The company is also planning fourFalcon 9 launches this week. Meanwhile, its closest thing to a near-term competitor,Blue Origin, is gearing up to debut itsNew Glenn rocket.

This week,SpaceX hit its first triple-digit launch year and continues to extend that number in the remaining months of 2024.Blue Origin might finally get its NS-27 mission off the ground to certify its newNew Shepard rocket. Finally, NASA’sArtemis program is once again under fire for being behind schedule and so much… so much… over budget.

This weekSpaceX returns with theFAA‘s okay to resume launches, starting withESA‘s Hera mission to the asteroid Didymos. Late-week weather around the Florida Peninsula will, however, likely delay several missions the company has.

China is leading this week in launches, butSpaceX is set (already has by publishing this) to launch yet another majorESA mission over using domestic options.Rocket Lab will also make a showing this week with a… family-specific mission name.

This week will be another week ofStarlink launches fromSpaceX after a short break from the company to launch some missions commercially, how nice of them. With that, according to the current launch manifest, two Starlink missions are scheduled to lift off from the same launch pad in less than three days.

On August 6,China launched a Long March 6A rocket, which successfully deployed 18 satellites as part of the country’s “Thousand Sails” megaconstellation project. However, shortly after completing its mission, the rocket’s upper stage experienced an anomaly that led toa significant debris event. 

This weekSpaceX is looking at launching threeFalcon 9 rockets, two of those will be for the company’sStarlink constellation. Another payload is a multi-payload satellite that will host missions for theSpace Force, Norwegian’s Ministry of Defense, and ViaSat.

On this quiet holiday week, China will actually be launching more than SpaceX, and even on Fourth of July (how rude). However, we do finally get to see Firefly return to the launch site after December’s partial failure of its Alpha rocket – scheduled for late Monday evening.

This week, two rockets returning to the launch pad after over six months. First will be SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, launching NOAA’s GOES-U weather satellite, and Firefly’s Alpha, launching CatSat, and many others, a 6U CubeSat built by students from the University of Arizona.

An honorable mention, Japan’s H3 rocket will launch for the third time, its second of the year.

This week is a big week for Rocket Lab as it plans to launch its 50th Electron rocket, faster than any other company to date. SpaceX will also have a double header on Tuesday with a third mission on Thursday.

Alongside possibly two other missions, SpaceX is launching a science mission co-sponsored by ESA and JAXA, beating both agencies home-built rockets. This week we’ll also see a resupply mission to the ISS by Russia and two mysterious launches from a Chinese company within a few days of each other.

For the fourth time, Boeing’s Starliner CFT makes an appearance as it struggles with leakage and propellent issues in the spacecraft’s service module.