OUTERSPACE TODAYNEWS
← All editionsWednesday, September 30, 2026 / Issue 088
[ OST Daily ]

NASA Adds Blue Origin's New Glenn 9x4 to Its Launch Services Contract, ESA Picks Airbus and OHB to Study a European Space Station, and Axelspace Says Four of Seven New Grus-3 Sa...

Outerspace Today4 min read / 2026-09-30
OST Daily September 30, 2026 — NASA added Blue Origin's New Glenn 9x4 to the NASA Launch Services II contract through its annual on-ramp, giving the Launch Services Program another heavy-lift option for missions through 2032; ESA selected Airbus and OHB to lead studies on the feasibility of a European-led space station in low Earth orbit; and Japan's Axelspace said high-speed communications have failed on four of the seven Grus-3 imaging satellites it launched in July, with commercial service unlikely.
The daily pictureOST editorial illustration · 2026-09-30
[ 01 ]

The briefing

NASA added Blue Origin's New Glenn 9x4 to the NASA Launch Services II contract under its annual on-ramp clause, so the Launch Services Program can now buy it for science and other agency missions under contracts that run to December 2032. ESA selected Airbus and OHB to lead studies on the feasibility of a European-led space station in low Earth orbit. Japan's Axelspace said high-speed communications have failed on four of the seven Grus-3 imaging satellites it launched in July, and its risk committee concluded commercial service is unlikely.

Administrator Jared Isaacman said on Monday it is no secret that SpaceX intends to sunset Falcon and Dragon as it concentrates on Starship. SpaceX has agreed to support the International Space Station (ISS) until 2030, but has told Axiom Space, Voyager Space and Vast that they cannot order Crew Dragon missions for their private stations, leaving commercial low Earth orbit plans without a committed crew vehicle beyond the Starliner flights NASA extended a day earlier.

The Navy picked Boeing over Northrop Grumman for its sixth-generation F/A-XX carrier fighter, giving Boeing both US sixth-generation fighter programs after the Air Force's F-47, and Raytheon received an AMRAAM production contract worth up to $20.7 billion. Avio USA broke ground on a 900,000-square-foot solid rocket motor plant in Hurt, Virginia, and the European-Chinese Smile mission began science operations.

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The headlines

01

NASA adds Blue Origin's New Glenn 9x4 to NLS II launch services contract

SpaceX

NASA added Blue Origin's New Glenn 9x4 launch service to the NASA Launch Services II indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract through the pact's annual on-ramp provision, making the vehicle available to the Launch Services Program for future science and agency missions. NLS II runs through an ordering period ending in June 2030 with performance through December 2032 and can also be used to buy launches for other government agencies, including NOAA.

02

ESA selects Airbus and OHB to lead European space station feasibility studies

AIR

The European Space Agency selected Airbus and OHB to lead studies examining the feasibility of a future European-led space station in low Earth orbit, the agency's first formal step toward its own crewed outpost after the International Space Station.

03

Axelspace reports communications failures on 4 of 7 Grus-3 satellites, mission loss likely

Japan's Axelspace said four of the seven medium-resolution Grus-3 optical imaging satellites launched in July have suffered failures of their high-speed communications systems, and its compliance and risk management committee concluded it would be difficult to restore the subsystem and proceed with planned commercial operation. Recovery work continues, but the company signaled probable mission loss for the affected spacecraft, a material setback for its Earth observation refresh.

04

Isaacman says SpaceX intends to sunset Falcon and Dragon as private stations lose their crew ride

SpaceX BA

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed at a Monday news conference that SpaceX intends to sunset Falcon and Dragon as it concentrates on Starship, saying it is not a secret. SpaceX has agreed to support the International Space Station until 2030, but has told Axiom Space, Voyager Space and Vast that they cannot order Crew Dragon missions for their private stations, according to industry sources. NASA invested $3.1 billion in developing and certifying Crew Dragon, which has flown well past the six missions SpaceX was required to fly.

05

Boeing wins the Navy's F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter over Northrop Grumman

BA

The Navy selected Boeing over Northrop Grumman to build the F/A-XX sixth-generation carrier strike fighter; the contract buys multiple test aircraft for ground, airworthiness, systems and weapons integration testing, and the jet is to fly beginning in the 2030s. With its 2025 selection to build the Air Force's F-47, Boeing now holds both US sixth-generation fighter programs, shutting Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman out of that market for the foreseeable future.

06

SpaceX Transporter-18 to carry 130 payloads from Vandenberg including three Canadian satellites

SpaceX

SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare is set to lift off on a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg at 11:18 a.m. Pacific on October 1, carrying 130 payloads including GHGSat's SFL-built C18 Eleanor and C19 Aidan methane monitors, NordSpace's Terra Nova dual-use demonstrator, Starfish Space's SSPICY Otter inspector, Varda W-8 and W-9 reentry capsules, Planet's Project Suncatcher M1 and Tanager-2, and ICEYE, Satellogic, Sateliot, Loft Orbital and OHB IRIDE payloads. SpaceX will release 41 payloads later from four orbital transfer vehicles.

[ 03 / +27 / -16 ]

Market pulse

Archived snapshot from this edition. Prices and moves are not live.

Gainers+27
Decliners-16
Big mover MTRN+5.3%
AssetSnapshotMoveTrend
MTRNMaterion$283.82+5.3%
GLWCorning$158.75+3.2%
RDWRedwire Space$10.75+3.0%
FJETStarfighters Space$1.748-4.5%
SPIRSpire Global$10.96-2.0%
MDAMDA SpaceC$41.41-1.8%
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Launch watch

Schedule and countdowns as recorded in the 2026-09-30 edition.

Nuri | NeonSat-2 to 6

Korea Aerospace Research Institute · KSLV-2 Nuri · LC-2 · Naro Space Center, South Korea · SSO

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Filings

[ End of Issue 088 ]

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