Ariane 6, Starship, and Webb Telescope Make Headlines This Week

This week saw the first flight of the Ariane 6 rocket on July 28, 2026, as it took flight for the first time. Earlier, on June 17, 2026, an upgraded Ariane 6 launched 36 satellites for Amazon. Meanwhile, SpaceX is preparing for upcoming launches, with live coverage expected for a Falcon 9 rocket launch of 24 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg SFB on July 31, 2026. Starship development continued with Booster 20 completing a record duration Static Fire on July 10, 2026. In space science, NASA's Webb Telescope explored the family tree of newly discovered distant objects on July 29, 2026, and previously revealed millions of stars in a nearby galaxy on July 6, 2026. NASA’s Hubble also discovered the first of a star cluster’s missing black holes on July 13, 2026.