News Summary

• Indian rocket programs have traditionally been managed by the government, but the commercial arm of the Indian space agency last year awarded a contract to Indian industry to build five Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles on a commercial basis.
• Rocket Lab's CEO, Peter Beck, says the company is taking methodical steps toward eventually reusing the first stage of the light-class Electron rocket but did not identify a timetable for re-flying a booster, Space News reports.Focusing on marine recovery ...
• A commercial Chinese firm named LandSpace launched its Zhuque-2 rocket July 11 (US time) and made history as the first company to send a methane-fueled launcher into orbit, beating a bevy of US vehicles to the milestone, Ars reports.
• Astra shelved its Rocket 3 small satellite launch vehicle last year after five failures in seven orbital launch attempts.
• The next launch of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket will feature another attempt to recover the first-stage booster at sea.
• The smaller SSLV is designed to launch payloads up to 500 kgs (1,100 lbs) into low-Earth orbit, a market segment seemingly saturated by commercial rocket companies.