As Blue Origin prepares to start flying people on its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, the company’s founder says the altitude the vehicle can reach will put it at an advantage over Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. SpaceNews.com

The Indonesian communications satellite that is SpaceX’s primary payload for its second Falcon 9 launch this year overcame a change of manufacturers and the loss of a U.S. Ex-Im Bank loan to reach the launch pad. SpaceNews.com

Facebook and Viasat are collaborating first in Mexico, but are open to expanding globally, Viasat said. SpaceNews.com

Virgin Galactic scrubbed the Feb. 20 flight test for SpaceShipTwo, the air-launched suborbital spaceplane, due to high winds in Mojave, California. The flight test is now scheduled for Friday, Feb. 22. SpaceNews.com

The new chair of the House space subcommittee says she’s looking forward to working with the commercial space industry on a number of issues, including oversight of non-traditional space activities. SpaceNews.com

ULA and SpaceX will split six national security launches planned for 2021 to 2022, the Air Force announced Feb. 19. SpaceNews.com

SPD-4 gives the Pentagon the official go-ahead to send a proposal to the White House recommending the establishment of a separate military branch for space. SpaceNews.com

Virgin Galactic plans to conduct a fifth test flight Feb. 20 of its suborbital spaceplane SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity. SpaceNews.com

A slow start for Eutelsat’s Konnect Africa broadband venture and losses in activities beyond the fleet operator’s core business contributed to a 4.4 percent decline in revenue during the last half of 2018. SpaceNews.com

The multiyear investment begins with 18-month contract worth few million pounds. SpaceNews.com

As LeoStella inaugurated the factory that will be used to produce a series of Earth imaging satellites, the joint venture of Thales Alenia Space and Spaceflight Industries continues to look for other customers. SpaceNews.com

DoD wants space sensors that can be counted on to work even in adverse conditions like solar activity, radiation belts and orbital debris. SpaceNews.com

An appropriation bill signed into law Feb. 15 gives NASA $21.5 billion for fiscal year 2019, $1.6 billion above the administration’s original request. SpaceNews.com

NASA is considering buying two additional seats on Soyuz spacecraft to ensure a continued American presence on the International Space Station amid worries about additional delays in commercial crew flights. SpaceNews.com

An experimental Air Force small satellite intended to test space situational awareness technologies will be a secondary payload on the upcoming Falcon 9 launch of a commercial communications satellite and lunar lander. SpaceNews.com

NASA is now emphasizing speed in its lunar exploration plans, including seeking to fly payloads on commercial lunar landers before the end of this year as it works with industry on lander concepts. SpaceNews.com

During a recent conversation with a senior defense official about the changes coming to military space, he pointed out that under the proposed reorganization the lines of authority could become a little blurred. SpaceNews.com

Bill LaPlante, MITRE: The NC3 system “has been studied a lot, its life has been extended as long as we could, and that’s where we are." SpaceNews.com

We are starting to get a clearer picture of how the Pentagon plans to fund and organize the Space Force as a new military branch. SpaceNews.com

Fleet Space Technologies will begin raising money next week from investors in a Series A financing round after service launch immediately filled its four cubesats with customers. SpaceNews.com