Space News & Blog Articles

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon Endurance spacecraft, carrying a crew of four, depart NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday heading for the International Space Station. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

Two NASA astronauts, a veteran Japanese space flier, and the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a U.S. spacecraft since 2002 soared into orbit Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, in what could signal an easing of tension between NASA and the new leadership of the Russian space agency.

SpaceX’s second Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A on April 11, 2019, with the Arabsat 6A communications satellite. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Spaceflight Now

More than three years after SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket last blazed a path into orbit, the 28-engine launcher is finally set to fly again as soon as Oct. 28 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a long-delayed national security mission for the U.S. Space Force, a military spokesperson said.

A Falcon 9 rocket climbs above a fog layer over Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, to begin the Starlink 4-29 mission. Credit: SpaceX

Seven hours after a Falcon 9 launcher carried a four-person crew into orbit from Florida, SpaceX sent aloft another Falcon 9 from a foggy California spaceport Wednesday evening with 52 more Starlink internet satellites, setting a new record for the shortest interval between two flights of SpaceX’s workhorse rocket.

The Galaxy 33 and Galaxy 34 (top and bottom) satellites stacked in launch configuration at SpaceX’s payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: Intelsat

For the third time in 31 hours, SpaceX is poised to fire a Falcon 9 rocket into space Thursday, this time on a mission from Cape Canaveral with two commercial Intelsat television broadcasting satellites heading for geostationary orbit as part of a multibillion-dollar program to clear C-band frequencies for 5G wireless services.

The timeline below covers major vehicle and crew activities during the Crew-5 countdown and rendezvous with the International Space Station. All times assume liftoff of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 12:00:57 p.m. EDT (1600:57 GMT) on Oct. 5. All times in Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4).

Live coverage of the countdown and flight of SpaceX’s Crew-5 mission carrying NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina on a flight to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina during training at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Credit: SpaceX

Cosmonaut Anna Kikina will become the first Russian crew member to launch on a U.S. spacecraft since 2002 when she straps into a seat aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Endurance capsule Wednesday for a flight to the International Space Station, opening a new chapter in the U.S.-Russian partnership in orbit that a senior Russian space agency official hopes can be extended past the current end date of 2024, despite souring relations on Earth.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket climbs off pad 41 Tuesday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with the SES 20 and SES 21 television broadcasting satellites. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

Running a few days late after a delay caused by Hurricane Ian, an Atlas 5 rocket built by United Launch Alliance thundered off a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Tuesday and soared to an altitude of nearly 22,000 miles to deploy two commercial television broadcasting satellites for the commercial operator SES.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission will launch the commercial SES 20 and SES 21 communications satellites toward geosynchronous orbit. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

SpaceX’s Dragon Endurance spacecraft stands on pad 39A atop a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of liftoff on NASA’s Crew-5 mission. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX’s next astronaut launch for NASA, set for Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center, is one of three missions on the company’s schedule this week from launch pads in Florida and California. The crew mission will get top priority, a SpaceX official said, as managers watch downrange sea conditions and technicians try to resolve final technical issues before liftoff.

Four kerosene-fueled Reaver engines power Firefly’s Alpha rocket off the launch pad in California on Oct. 1. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now

Firefly Aerospace said its privately-developed Alpha small satellite launcher achieved “100% mission success” on a test flight from California early Saturday, adding another provider to the growing roster of commercial companies that have successfully fired a rocket into orbit.

NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket rolls into High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building on Sept. 27 to take shelter from Hurricane Ian. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA said Friday that officials have ruled out launching the agency’s first giant Space Launch System moon rocket and Orion spacecraft before mid-November, following the rocket’s return to the hangar at Kennedy Space Center for safekeeping from Hurricane Ian.

Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata inside the crew access arm at pad 39A during a launch day dress rehearsal Sunday. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX teams and the four crew members set for blastoff this week to the International Space Station completed dress rehearsals Sunday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, familiarizing the astronauts with their launch day checklist and testing out the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry them into orbit.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Watch a replay of the Atlas 5 rocket’s rollout to the launch pad here.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with 52 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

From left to right: Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, NASA astronaut Josh Cassada, NASA commander Nicole Mann, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina arrive at Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 1 to prepare for launch to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

The next multinational crew scheduled to ride a SpaceX rocket and capsule to the International Space Station next week arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Saturday as ground teams rolled their Falcon 9 booster and Dragon Endurance spacecraft to the launch pad, resuming work suspended earlier in the week as Hurricane Ian moved across Florida.

Live coverage of preparations for the launch of SpaceX’s Crew-5 mission carrying NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina on a flight to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

The Hubble Space Telescope in the payload bay of space shuttle Atlantis during the last servicing mission in May 2009. Credit: NASA

NASA and SpaceX will study the potential use of a commercial Dragon crew spacecraft to reboost and service the Hubble Space Telescope, a 32-year-old observatory last upgraded by a space shuttle in 2009, officials announced Thursday.

Firefly’s Alpha rocket stands on its launch pad Sept. 29 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now

After a delay of several weeks due to technical issues, bad weather, and a busy launch range, Firefly Aerospace is set to try again early Friday to send its commercial small satellite launcher into orbit on a test flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of Firefly’s Alpha rocket on the “To the Black” test flight with seven small nanosatellites and picosatellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION