Aug 21 2025 USSF-36 OTV-8 F9 - SpaceX - KSCLC 39A - FLA

The U.S. Department of Defense’s reusable X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) has embarked on its eighth overall flight into orbit. Vehicle 1, the first X-37B to fly, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 11:50 PM EDT (03:50 UTC on Friday, Aug. 22). 

The launch window was just under four hours long and lasted until 3:40 AM EDT (07:40 UTC) on Friday morning. After liftoff, Falcon 9 followed a northeast trajectory to loft the X-37B into a low-Earth orbit, possibly a circular orbit at 500 km altitude inclined 49.5 degrees to the equator. The Orbital Test Vehicle 8 (OTV-8) mission will spend an unspecified amount of time in orbit, with missions lasting hundreds of days in orbit before landing on a runway. 

20250821: NSF.

Aug 21 2025 - Rocket Launch - Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska

Thursday night just after 10 p.m. a rocket was launched from the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska on Kodiak Island, at Narrow Cape. Residents from around the island and even elsewhere in the state took to social media to share videos and reactions to the launch, which was not publicly announced. 

Travis Amodo posted a video Thursday night on Facebook from Akhiok showing a rocket flying across the sky at 10:09 p.m. 

 

Dozens of people from Homer to Kenai and elsewhere in the state commented on Amodo’s post, some noting that there was no advanced notice given to the public about the launch and many questioned where the rocket came from in the first place. 

 

This morning on Aug. 22, the Alaska Aerospace Corporation confirmed in a press release that a successful government rocket launch occurred from the spaceport on Kodiak Island Thursday night. 

 

The statement did not say what the purpose of the launch was or anything more about the payload. 

 

An online blog that tracks satellites and analyses missile tests from the Netherlands, called SatTrackCam, theorized that the launch was a hypersonic missile test. A similar government hypersonic test failed at the Kodiak Island spaceport in October of 2021. The Defense Department official told Defense News that the rocket made it off the launch pad but the booster system failed in that instance. 

 

Based on navigational warnings issued by the Maritime Safety Office this week, the rocket launch included hazard areas around Kodiak Island, the Gulf of Alaska and the North Pacific near the Marshall Islands. 

 

CEO and President of the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, John Oberst, told KMXT earlier this week the road to Fossil Beach was going to be closed on Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings due to “hazardous operations” going on at the spaceport. But the road closure notice for Friday night was canceled this morning after the rocket launch took place. 

 

Oberst previously said that it’s likely more road closures will be announced in the near future. As of today, Aug. 22, the corporation has not released any public notices about upcoming road closures or launches from the spaceport. 

 

20250822: KMXT.

 

 

Hypersonic Missile Test: SatTrackCam.

FAA Licensed Spaceport - Alaska

Alaska: Pacific Spaceport Complex.

On Kodiak Island, Alaska, the Pacific Spaceport Complex excels in vertical launches. Operated by the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, it holds license LSO 03-008, renewed September 23, 2023, expiring September 23, 2028. Launches began in 1998, making it the first FAA-licensed spaceport not on a federal range. It operates without state or federal funds for maintenance since 2015, providing economic benefits to Alaska. The site offers launch azimuths from 110 to 220 degrees, accessing inclinations of 59 to 110 degrees for polar and sun-synchronous orbits. It has six pads: four orbital-class and two suborbital. Facilities include two command and control systems, fixed and transportable Range Safety and Tracking Systems, fiber optics, indoor vehicle processing, a Payload Processing Facility with clean rooms and hypergolic fueling, and support for liquid, solid, hybrid, and stratospheric balloons. Notable features are 22 years of experience, suborbital and orbital scenarios, off-axis tracking, and a Rapid and Agile Space Launch Innovation Center. The remote location minimizes risks, and it operates year-round. 

20250813: New Space Economy.

ISS Current Spacecraft Status: Expedition 73

20250811: International Space Station Configuration. 

 

Aug. 8, 2025: International Space Station Configuration. Four spaceships are docked at the space station including the SpaceX Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft, the Soyuz MS-27 crew ship, and the Progress 91 and 92 resupply ships: NASA.

FAA Forecasts Indicate Substantial Expansion of Commercial Space Activity by FY 2034

The Federal Aviation Administration’s recently released Aerospace Forecast for Fiscal Years 2025–2045 presents a detailed outlook for commercial launch and reentry operations, including robust projections that hint at transformative growth across the sector. 

The FAA has adopted a ten-year horizon for this forecast—a significant expansion beyond previous five-year forecasts—aimed at providing clearer insights for both government and industry planning. 

The projections encompass all FAA-approved commercial space operations, regardless of location, and span a broad spectrum of emerging market activities: satellite deployment and replacement, in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing (ISAM), lunar missions, Mars exploration, and space tourism. 

Within the high-case scenario, the forecast anticipates a jump from approximately 183 operations in FY 2025 to as many as 566 operations by FY 2034. In total, this scenario projects 4,010 authorized space operations over the 10-year period.

20250811: New Space Economy.

2025: FAA Aerospace Forecast Fiscal Years 2025–2045.

ISS Current Spacecraft Status: Expedition 73

20250802: International Space Station Configuration. 

 

Five spaceships are docked at the space station including the SpaceX Crew-10 and Crew-11 Dragon spacecraft, the Soyuz MS-27 crew ship, and the Progress 91P MS-30 and 92P MS-31 resupply ships: NASA.