The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to use two separate spacecraft to create its own solar eclipse to study the Sun's corona. The spacecraft will fly 150 meters apart, aligned so that one satellite blocks out all but of corona from the other satellite. They will have to fly in precise formation down to millimeter accuracy. Studying the Sun's corona will reveal details about its role in our solar system's weather. The ESA hopes to launch the mission in September.

The European Space Agency will launch a mission later this year to demonstrate precision formation flying in orbit to create artificial solar eclipses. The mission will involve a pair of spacecraft that will fly about 144 meters apart, with one spacecraft acting as a disc to block out the sun from the other spacecraft. This will allow the ESA to study the Sun's highly ionized atmosphere. The formation flying technology could be used for other future missions as well.

A number of private-sector companies are aiming to harbor commercial activities in low Earth orbit (LEO) as the International Space Station approaches its end of service. This article discusses the various projects, with a focus on Blue Origin's Orbital Reef program, which recently aced testing milestones for its critical life support system with assistance from NASA. Orbital Reef plans to build a space habitat with NASA as a main client starting out, with a wider goal of fostering a sustainable commercial presence in LEO. The initiative is backed by NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations program, which is providing funding to encourage the private sector to build space habitats.

The Federal Aviation Administration is kicking off a new environmental review of SpaceX's plan to launch Starships from Florida. The US Space Force is overseeing a similar Environmental Impact Statement review for SpaceX's proposal to take over a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. While the reviews can take a while and may delay SpaceX's plans, they show that SpaceX is finally cementing its plans to launch Starship from Florida.

SpaceX aims to fly its full stack Starship rocket for the fifth time in late July. The rocket was able to make a successful soft splashdown during its fourth test, giving the company the confidence to try a tower catch for the fifth test. Another area SpaceX will be testing is the second stage ship's heat shield, which is made of thousands of tiles. Many of the tiles fell off in the previous test even when the ship was on the ground.

Several agencies are now preparing impact statements for SpaceX's Starship launch plans. SpaceX plans to launch its Starship mega-rocket up to 44 times per year from NASA's Kennedy Space Center and up to 76 times per year from the Space Launch Complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Elon Musk aims to eventually launch Starship multiple times per day, with each launch delivering hundreds of tons of cargo to low Earth orbit or beyond. Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance have expressed concerns that SpaceX's high flight rate will have effects on other launch providers with infrastructure at Kennedy and Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX will begin returning its Dragon crew and cargo capsules to splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean sometime next year and end recoveries of the spacecraft off the coast of Florida. This will eliminate the tiny risk that a piece of debris from the ship's trunk section might fall on someone and cause damage, injury, or death. Debris from several Dragon missions have been discovered on properties over the past couple of years. SpaceX is unaware of any structure damage or injuries caused by this debris.