The European and the U.S. space agencies, ESA and NASA, have scheduled the launch of the giant James Webb Space Telescope on an Ariane 5 rocket for 18 December 2021, Arianespace said. Flight VA256 is scheduled for 18 December from the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace said. The launcher and launch services are part of ESA´s contribution to the Webb project.

The German government supports plans to build an offshore launch platform in the North Sea, Germany´s minister for economy, Peter Altmaier, said in Berlin. The minister partnered with the Federation of German Industries (BDI), who had promoted the idea since several years. The German Offshore Spaceport Alliance (Gosa) signed contracts with four microlaunchers.

The ESA Member States have agreed on Europe´s exploitation of the new Ariane 6 and Vega-C launchers and its future space transportation options, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. The agreement frames the conditions for Europe’s exploitation of Ariane 6 and Vega-C and requests ESA “to propose a roadmap for new and innovative space transportation solutions”, ESA said.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) invests €10 million in the Bulgarian nanosat startup EnduroSat, the bank said. EnduroSat provides software-defined nanosats and space services and serves more than 110 customers worldwide. With an annual growth of more than 250%, it claims to be “one of the fastest growing space companies in Europe”.

The giant James Webb Space Telescope is ready to be shipped to its launch site at Europe´s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. The telescope has successfully completed its final tests and is being prepared for its shipment. The final tests were carried out at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in California, U.S.

Rocket Lab will build two Photon spacecraft for NASA´s Escapade science mission to Mars, the launch company that will start trading on Nasdaq today said. Escapade stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers; the mission will orbit two Rocket Lab-built Photon spacecraft around Mars

The upper stage of the Ariane 5 which will launch the James Webb Space Telescope into space later this year is on its way from Bremen in Germany to the European Spaceport in French Guiana, ArianeGroup said. James Webb will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched.

Success for Vega: Arianespace launched the 19th Vega mission (VV19), to orbit Pléiades Neo 4, the second very high-resolution satellite of the new Airbus Defence and Space’s Earth Observation satellite constellation, as well as four cubesats for ESA and Unseenlabs.

The space flight startup Astra closed a launch contract with Spire Global for next year, the Nasdaq-listed company said. Spire Global plans to begin launching with Astra next spring, the launch company said, without giving further details. Spire uses its multi-purpose satellite constellations to source hard to acquire,

The Canadian government invests $1.44 billion in Telesat to support its new LEO Lightspeed constellation. The government provides a loan of $790 million and makes a $650 million preferred equity investment in Telesat Lightspeed, Telesat said. In return, Telesat commits to invest in Canada and create hundreds of high-quality jobs.