SpaceX has told the US Space Force it does not want three military launch contracts the service offered it.
The source gives no detail on which missions were involved, their value, or why SpaceX declined. Turning down government work is unusual for a company that has long counted national security launches among its steady customers, so the missing reasoning is the main open question.
The same week brought a second SpaceX item, this one on the civil side. A NASA safety panel said Starship may need up to 22 refuelings to support a lunar landing. Starship's moon plans depend on moving propellant between vehicles in orbit, a maneuver nobody has yet demonstrated at scale. "Up to 22" is a ceiling from a safety panel, not a flight plan from SpaceX, and the source does not say how the panel arrived at it.
Farther from the headlines, Spanish company PLD Space says its Miura 5 is nearing final integration, Aviation Week reported. Three Miura 5 rockets have been built so far. Two of them exist to qualify key systems, which leaves one as the vehicle meant to fly. CEO Raúl Torres gave the update on October 19.
The launch date needs care. The rocket was described as due for its inaugural launch next year, while the company now targets a first flight before mid-2027. That is a window rather than a date, and first flights of new rockets tend to slip.
Miura 5 is a small-lift vehicle, meant for modest payloads rather than the heavy missions Starship is built around. If it flies, Europe gains another home-grown launch option, and PLD Space moves from test hardware to a rocket that has to reach orbit.