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SNAPSHOT: New launch vehicles

The launches included successful maiden flights for three new launch vehicles. With a dozen more new launch vehicles expected to debut, 2024 appears poised to be a game-changing year in orbital flight.

Space Development Agency’s Tournear still has need for speed

The Space Development agency has launched satellites to track missiles. Credit: SDA

Four years into his tenure atop the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, Derek Tournear saw key goals realized in 2023. The first small, commercially built satellites for missile warning and communications are set to change how the Pentagon detects missile threats

SNAPSHOT: Human spaceflight

Cumulative human spaceflight, 1961–March 18, 2024

As of mid-March, 685 astronauts have reached at least 80 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. This total includes 86 private astronauts, 22 times as many as there were two decades ago.