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The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) voted to abolish the leap second. The organization will instead use a leap hour adjustment mechanism. This global resolution passed by majority vote, though the new leap hour mechanism will likely not be needed for thousands of years.
SpaceX launched its Starship spacecraft into orbit for the first time. The single test flight was cut short, reducing the planned mission duration from 10 hours to 3 hours for unspecified reasons. Technical challenges remain before the vehicle reaches operational readiness.
SpaceX's Starship rocket reached orbit for the first time during an uncrewed test flight from Starbase, Texas. The single orbital test flight carried 26 Starlink satellites. The flight was an early-stage test, and the booster was not recovered.
The Spectrum rocket launched into orbit from the Andøya spaceport in Norway. This is the first time a privately developed rocket reached orbit from continental Europe. This was an early-stage demonstration and the rocket is not yet mass-produced.
The Vikram-1 rocket, India's first privately developed orbital vehicle, launched from Sriharikota on July 18, 2026. This single launch was a test flight and is not yet an operational commercial service. It follows a sub-orbital private launch in 2022.