I’m Anthony Colangelo.

Thanks to my producers and supporters for the month of December, and throughout 2016. If you’re getting some value out of what I do here and want to send a little value back to help support Main Engine Cut Off, head over to Patreon and donate as little as $1 a month—every little bit helps.

The inevitable delay has been confirmed—approximately a six-month push–which is not surprising. The more important and meaningful revelation that came yesterday, per Jeff Foust of SpaceNews, was about the Falcon 9 propellant loading procedures as it pertains to crewed launches.

National Geographic posted a clip with fantastic behind-the-scenes footage from the first successful Falcon 9 landing. The emotion from every person who works at SpaceX is wonderful to watch—from the crowd behind mission control, to Gwynne Shotwell hugging and high-fiving anyone nearby, to Elon Musk running like a little kid after it lands.

Four months ago, we heard about the tricky situation Inmarsat is in with this satellite. It’s not a big surprise that they switched, and while it’s a bad look for SpaceX, it’s not that big of a deal. Yet.

One of the big hurdles that satellite servicing needs to jump in order to become a viable market in the current era is the ability to work with satellites not specifically designed to be serviced. For that reason, it’ll be interesting to follow along with this mission as it progresses.

Thanks to my patrons for the month of November. If you’re getting some value out of what I do here and want to send a little value back to help support Main Engine Cut Off, head over to Patreon and donate as little as $1 a month—every little bit helps.

The announcement didn’t contain breaking news or mind-blowing visions of the future, but that doesn’t mean it was entirely inconsequential. It showed that ULA is learning how to speak to the market, and they’re finding new ways to reach out to potential customers. We’ll see just how many customers they get out of this effort, but their improved messaging should not go unnoticed.

Marcia Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com got her hands on a draft of the upcoming NASA authorization act.

We must be getting really close to that first launch.

A website alone won’t attract more customers, so it’s tough to read the tea leaves and say what exactly is transformative about the announcement. But the existence of the announcement alone shows how much of an effort ULA is making towards becoming competitive in commercial launch services.

Lately when I’ve been talking about political and financial tradeoffs made to sustain programs, I’ve been focusing on NASA’s exploration program, but the same things are true of Ariane 6.

Next week will be very interesting to watch. Keep an eye out for any and all decisions coming out of Lucerne, Switzerland.

After some investigation, a saturated IMU was blamed for causing the crash of Schiaparelli.

Electron is to one-month increments as Falcon Heavy is to six.