A test flight more than a decade in the making is scheduled to take place Dec. 13 as Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle is set to make its highest and fastest flight to date, one that, if all goes well, will take it beyond one boundary of space. SpaceNews.com

The shift was mandated by Congress in Section 1601(a) of the Fiscal Year 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. SpaceNews.com

This year’s satcom workshop comes amid major questions about the Pentagon’s plans — or lack thereof — to buy more satellite communications services from the private sector. SpaceNews.com

Members of the C-Band Alliance have stipulated that they will only buy U.S.-built satellites to replace any capacity lost through the transfer of some C-band spectrum to cellular operators for 5G, a move that could position their plan more favorably with the White House and Congress. SpaceNews.com

Harris Corp.’s first small satellite, a six-unit cubesat, is fully operational, receiving commands and transmitting information to the satellite operations center in Palm Bay, Florida. SpaceNews.com

Arianespace’s final launch of the year is scheduled for Dec. 18 at 11:37 a.m. Eastern. The company will launch a French military Earth observation satellite called CSO-1 on a Europeanized Soyuz rocket from Sinnamary, French Guiana. SpaceNews.com

Nearly a year after the release of the latest decadal survey for the field, the head of NASA’s Earth science program says the agency is making good progress in implementing its recommendations. SpaceNews.com

Smith: The difficulties we’ve had with space launch has been a good example of why a different approach is needed to manage military space. SpaceNews.com

SpaceNews Editor-in-Chief Brian Berger presents the winners of 2018 SpaceNews Awards for Excellence & Innovation. SpaceNews.com

China’s Chang’e-4 lander and rover spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit Wednesday following a four-and-half-day flight to the moon. SpaceNews.com

Virgin Galactic plans to perform the next test flight of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane as soon as Dec. 13, a flight that could be the first by the vehicle to reach at least one definition of space. SpaceNews.com

As a founder and chief strategy officer of ATLAS Space Operations, a satellite data communications company that has been doing this very same thing for the past four years, you might think I’d be a little nervous to see Amazon enter the industry. But I’m not. SpaceNews.com

With both the current Congress and his political career nearing their ends, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said Dec. 10 he’s continuing to fight to extend operations of the International Space Station through the end of the next decade. SpaceNews.com

Aerospace CEO Isakowitz: The government traditionally buys a bus, payload and ground segment as a package, he said. That does not give you flexibility to swap out and change pieces. SpaceNews.com

As NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft enters interstellar space, project officials have high hopes that it and its twin spacecraft will continue to operate for as long as a decade. SpaceNews.com

Spacecraft manufacturers have complained of stress on their supplier base as operators purchase fewer traditional geostationary satellites. One company in France is bucking that trend, however. SpaceNews.com

“Boeing is terminating the Global IP satellite contract for reasons of default for nonpayment,” the company said in a Dec. 7 statement to SpaceNews. SpaceNews.com

A NASA spacecraft originally built as part of the previous effort to return humans to the moon is now playing a key role in the new effort at human lunar return, including aiding commercial landers. SpaceNews.com

Planet's employees, customers and investors paint a picture of a company growing steadily while seeking to dramatically expand the market for data captured via satellite. SpaceNews.com

Two consulting firms anticipate strong demand for commercial Earth observation products and services in the next decade as satellite constellations offer an increasing array of optical, radar, hyperspectral and video imagery and data. SpaceNews.com