Spaceflight Daily Report, Wednesday 8th July 2026

Image credit: ISRO

Gaganyaan Parachute System Drop Test

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have conducted a fifth drop test of the parachute system that will be used aboard Gaganyaan, the country's first crewed spacecraft that is hoping to make its maiden uncrewed test flight before the end of this year, and which is expected to soon make India the fourth country with the capability to put people in orbit. This test only involved a single main parachute and a dummy mass, while the final craft will have three main parachutes. The test was a success. [Source: ISRO]

ispace Lunar Cargo Rover to Fly with Starship

Japanese company ispace have signed a deal with SpaceX to deliver payloads to the Moon on a future Starship mission, currently slated for 2030. ispace are developing a rover called the Mobile Cargo System that will be deployed by Starship and will be capable of travelling across the lunar surface carrying payloads from other customers. This will not be the first time ispace have flown on a SpaceX rocket to the Moon. They previously launched two Lunar landers aboard Falcon 9 rockets, but both of them lost contact and crash landed on the lunar surface, with a third attempt planned for 2028. [Source: ispace]

International Space Station Activities

NASA published their daily blog post on the crew's activities aboard the International Space Station. The crew stowed equipment following last week's spacewalk, brought in the NanoRacks CubeSat deployer following last week's deployment, checked the seats in Soyuz MS-28 ahead of its departure later this month, and carried out routine research and maintenance. [Source: NASA]