Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 13, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher For 20 years the New Zealand origin, now Long Beach, California-based Rocket Lab corporation has developed innovative small space launch vehicles, growing into a space launch service provider and satellite developer, serving commercial and military markets in the United States and other democracies. On Aug. […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 9, 2026 Excerpts from weekly Astronomy.com report. Sunday, August 9 The Moon passes 4° north of Mars at 2 A.M. EDT; the pair is visible together in the early-morning sky, some 30° high in the east an hour before sunrise. They straddle the border of Gemini and Taurus, to the upper left […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, August 6, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher Before their astronauts set foot on the Moon, the United States (by 2028?) and China (by 2029-2030) are engaging in an “unmanned Moon race” to undertake surveys and to then deploy systems to prepare for building eventual manned Moon Bases. Targeting the lunar South Pole […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 30, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher The Philippines has ambitions to develop both a national space capability and a new military space force; Both should be opportunities for the Philippines and the United States to strengthen their alliance cooperation. During his July 27 State of the Nation Address, Philippine President Ferdinand […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 23, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher For both the United States and China, satellite megaconstellation companies require space launch vehicles (SLVs), or rockets, while SLV makers require customers — governments or companies that require their payload to be launched into space. In the United States there are well-known SLV-satellite “ecosystems” in […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 16, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher The video showed the big rocket’s first stage in recovery, then a huge crowd of people erupt in cheers — it was all very SpaceX-like — but only this video was of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s (CASC) July 10 first launch and […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 1, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher While China has been considering the problems of asteroid defense since at least about 2020, there may now be real plans for the construction of a Chinese planetary defense capability — with inherit dual-use dangers. On June 30, Chinese state television CCTV featured an official […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 25, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher The demand for commercial manned space activity in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has been demonstrated recently by the success of Long Beach, California-based space station developer VAST having signed up astronaut clients from three European countries just during the month of June 2026. Founded only […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 12, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher The 54-year record of NASA-European Space Agency (ESA) cooperation is impressive, covering Skylab, the Hubble Space Telescope and its successor the Webb Space Telescope, and 26 individual Europeans have flown on NASA missions; 20 on Space Shuttle flights, 12 to the International Space Station. Back […]
Special to CosmicTribune.com, June 3, 2026 Geostrategy-Direct By Richard Fisher While it appeared to be a significant setback, the May 28 spectacular explosion of Blue Origin’s New Glenn reusable space launch vehicle (SLV) may not result in a huge delay in the Moon Base building plans of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). On […]
