This week, off world: China (possibly) conducts re-fuelling test in space, while US satellite watch, and Honda lands its 1st re-useable rocket...

  Decades of conflict have devastated the Central African Republic, with especially harsh effects on children. To help alleviate the suffering if this mostly forgotten conflict, you can donate here...

...here is (one) place you can donate to help children in Afghanistan, caught under the Taliban...

Thank you!

Pick o' the podcasts:

From the video store:

This Week in Orbit 🌍 | Earth in 4K from Space – Cities, Mountains & Storms:

Watch Honda launch (and land) its 1st reusable rocket in this wild video | Space

2 Chinese spacecraft just met up 22,000 miles above Earth. What were they doing? | Space

A short time-lapse of today's 11:46-hour coverage of SJ-21 and SJ-25, recorded from 08:47 to 20:33 UTC. pic.twitter.com/Z8SjGLNDuH

— s2a systems (@s2a_systems) June 13, 2025

Landspace performs 9-engine static fire test for reusable Zhuque-3 rocket  - SpaceNews

Old but still cool: Japanese spacecraft flies around big derelict upper stage booster

Reading material:

Varda to launch its first in-house built spacecraft for on-orbit manufacturing - SpaceNews

NASA moon orbiter spies grave of crashed Japanese lunar lander (image) | Space

ESA signs agreement for potential use of Orbital Reef - SpaceNews

Pentagon struggles to build unified satellite network  - SpaceNews

Trump’s dispute with Musk shows the danger of private monopolies in space - SpaceNews

Portal Space Systems to build larger factory for Supernova vehicle - SpaceNews

ESA and EU emphasize good relationship as they press forward on imaging constellation - SpaceNews