Rocket Report: Chinese Falcon 9 clone fails, Artemis II nears reentry

The latest Rocket Report covers several developments in the launch industry as Artemis II approaches its most critical phase - atmospheric reentry on Friday evening after a successful lunar flyby with striking far-side imagery. The mission has gone smoothly so far, but the crew and Orion spacecraft still face the hardest part of the flight.

On the commercial side, Seagate Space and Firefly Aerospace signed a memorandum of understanding to develop an offshore launch platform for the Alpha rocket. Seagate claims its Gateway platform is a ground-up design rather than a converted barge, and the sea-based capability would unlock additional orbital inclinations for Alpha missions.

Meanwhile, German launcher startup Isar Aerospace scrubbed its planned second Spectrum rocket launch about an hour before the window opened on April 9, citing a suspected leak in a composite overwrapped pressure vessel that requires further evaluation.