Space Current Affairs March 2026

On a Starlink mission, Falcon 9 booster B1067 became the first booster to launch on 34 missions, a new reusability milestone.

A Falcon 9 flew the Transporter-16 SmallSat rideshare (60+ payloads) to sun-synchronous orbit, including a quantum-key-distribution demonstrator (SPOQC), a Danish climate CubeSat and NASA Ames' TechEdSat-23.

CAS Space launched the maiden flight of the Kinetica 2 rocket from Jiuquan, which also carried the first flight of the Qingzhou cargo spacecraft prototype.

Rocket Lab's Electron deployed Celeste IOD-1 and IOD-2, the first pair of satellites for ESA's next-generation LEO-PNT (positioning-navigation-timing) constellation - the first Electron launch conducted for ESA.

Japan's Space One KAIROS (F3) rocket failed on launch from Spaceport Kii, destroying all five payloads - a setback for Japan's private launch sector.

NASA's targeted March 2026 launch window for Artemis II (the first crewed Moon flyby of the Artemis programme) was scrubbed after engineers found a helium-flow problem in the SLS upper stage; the mission launched on 1 April 2026.