Space Roundup — Week of Nov. 10: New Glenn Scrubbed, SpaceX Starship Update, and Florida's Launch Record Chase

Space news you may have missed — Week of Nov. 10

Overview: A busy week on Florida's Space Coast featured a scrubbed Blue Origin New Glenn launch, SpaceX updates for its Starship lunar plans, fresh leadership headlines at NASA, and multiple Falcon 9 missions that kept the region on track for a record number of annual launches. Concerns about a federal shutdown also prompted FAA changes that will affect commercial launch schedules.

Blue Origin's New Glenn

Ten months after its historic maiden flight, Blue Origin's towering 321-foot New Glenn was scheduled to attempt a second launch on Sunday, Nov. 9, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. FAA operations planning listed an afternoon launch window from 2:45 p.m. to 5:11 p.m. for the two-stage vehicle to lift off from Launch Complex 36, with oceanfront viewing available along the Cape Canaveral–Cocoa Beach shoreline.

The Nov. 9 attempt was scrubbed. Live coverage documented the abort and the team's next steps as engineers troubleshoot before a future retry. For the mission, Blue Origin aimed to recover the booster with a sea landing and to demonstrate continued operations of one of the largest rockets active in the United States.

SpaceX and Starship

SpaceX posted a detailed update on Oct. 30 describing a "simplified" approach to ready Starship for crewed lunar landing operations. The blog outlined changes to the vehicle and operations as NASA evaluates competing lunar lander proposals for Artemis 3. NASA officials have noted schedule concerns with Starship's readiness timeline; SpaceX says the revisions are intended to address those issues.

NASA Leadership: Jared Isaacman

On Nov. 4, President Donald Trump again nominated entrepreneur and astronaut Jared Isaacman to serve as NASA administrator, reversing an earlier decision in May to withdraw his nomination. Trump praised Isaacman's "passion for Space, astronaut experience, and dedication" as reasons he is suited to lead the agency.

Launches, Scrubs and Local Record Watch

Several missions across the Space Coast saw mixed results. SpaceX launched the Starlink 6-81 mission at 8:31 p.m. on Nov. 5 from Launch Complex 40. By contrast, the ViaSat-3 F3 mission was scrubbed after an issue cycling the Atlas V booster liquid-oxygen tank vent valve. A separate ULA attempt for ViaSat-3 F2 from Launch Complex 41 on Nov. 6 was also scrubbed for the same LOX vent-valve issue.

After a Saturday scrub, a Falcon 9 was rescheduled to place 29 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit between 3:10 a.m. and 7:10 a.m. Sunday from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. With a string of launches, Florida was poised to reach an unprecedented 94th liftoff for the year.

FAA Actions and the Federal Shutdown

As a partial federal government shutdown moved into its second month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy outlined FAA measures that will affect aviation and space activity. Those measures include a 10% reduction in flights at 40 of the busiest airports and a policy temporarily limiting commercial space launches to overnight hours beginning Monday, Nov. 10. The restrictions are expected to impact launch timing and planning across the industry until the shutdown ends.

What's Next

Following the New Glenn scrub, SpaceX targeted a no-earlier-than 10:21 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10 attempt for the Starlink 6-87 mission from Launch Complex 40, a schedule that could help keep Florida near that record annual launch count. Newsrooms and launch teams continued to provide live updates and coverage as teams worked through technical issues and adjusted to the FAA restrictions.

For continuing coverage of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida Today maintains live updates and a weekly space newsletter. Reporter Rick Neale covers space for Florida Today and can be reached at Rneale@floridatoday.com. This summary is based on reporting by Florida Today.