Posted: Sat, Jun 13 10:21 AM ET (1421 GMT)
SpaceX went public Friday in the largest IPO in stock market history. Shares in SpaceX closed up nearly 20% in the first day of trading after the company sold $75 billion in shares. SpaceX said the proceeds of the IPO will support initiatives like Starship, expansion of its Starlink constellation, and work on AI, including proposed orbital data centers. SpaceX first signaled an interest last December in going public after stating for years that it would remain privately held to focus on long-term ambitions such as human missions to Mars. SpaceX executives insisted that despite going public they would not focus on quarterly earnings but instead its long-term goals.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  New York Times article
•  BBC article
•  Los Angeles Times article
•  Washington Post article

Posted: Sat, Jun 13 10:08 AM ET (1408 GMT)
Japan's H3 rocket successfully returned to flight Thursday night. An H3 rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 8:54 p.m. Eastern. The launch was a test flight of a new version of the rocket, the H3-30S, which uses three engines in its first stage but no solid rocket boosters. The rocket placed six smallsats, including one from French company Unseenlabs, into orbit. The launch was the first for the H3 since a failure in December when shocks from deployment of the payload fairing damaged its satellite and payload adapter, causing the satellite to fall off the upper stage.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Space.com article
•  NHK article
•  JAXA press release

Thales and Airbus to build next-generation radar imaging satellites
Posted: Sat, Jun 13 10:02 AM ET (1402 GMT)
Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space won contracts to build next-generation radar imaging satellites. ESA signed contracts Wednesday with the companies for...

NASA announces Artemis 3 crew
Posted: Sat, Jun 13 10:01 AM ET (1401 GMT)
NASA announced Tuesday the crew of Artemis 3 and revealed more details about the low Earth orbit test flight of lunar landers. The mission, slated...

Iceye closes one billion euro funding round
Posted: Sat, Jun 13 9:58 AM ET (1358 GMT)
Iceye, a Finnish company that builds and operates radar imaging satellites, announced Tuesday a funding round worth more than one billion euros ($1.16 billion)....