Current affairs
Our own analysis of aerospace current affairs, built on primary documents: reports, official statements and public records.
Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana ESAEuropean Space Agency (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO), via Wikimedia Commons Current affairs
FLEX and Sentinel-3C ready on Vega-C: the European launcher's eighth flight carries a photosynthesis satellite and Copernicus's next relay
Flight VV30 is due to lift off from Kourou at 01:21 UTC on 15 September 2026 with two stacked payloads: Sentinel-3C, the third satellite of the series that watches oceans and land for Copernicus, and FLEX, a 400 kg Earth Explorer whose FLORIS spectrometer will measure plant fluorescence.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope LaunchesNASA, vía NASA Image of the Day Current affairs
Roman lifts off on a Falcon Heavy: three months to L2 and a sky surveyed a thousand times faster than Hubble's
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched on 30 August 2026 from Kennedy Space Center. It separated from the rocket 31 minutes into the flight, the side boosters returned to the launch site and the observatory has already completed its first course correction; first images are not expected before early 2027.
Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 departing BostonFoto: 4300streetcar (CC BY 4.0) Current affairs
A door left open in the rain cost a 747-400 freighter two electrical buses and all its pitot heating: the AAIB report
The UK AAIB attributes the serious incident to 747-433 G-ONEE after departing Heathrow on 8 February 2024 to rainwater entering through the open L1 door: loss of AC Buses 1 and 4, a descent with unreliable airspeed, an 18 kt overspeed and a diversion to Schiphol. It issues four recommendations to Boeing and IAI for repetitive inspection of the drip shield and seals above the equipment centre.
