Space News & Blog Articles

Left: A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off at 6:29 a.m. EDT (1029 GMT) on Aug. 4 from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with the U.S. military’s SBIRS GEO 6 missile warning satellite; Right: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at 7:08 p.m. EDT (2308 GMT) on Aug. 4 with the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter mission. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Aug. 4 occurred 12 hours and 39 minutes after the liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the shortest turnaround between two orbital-class missions at the Florida spaceport since Sept. 7 and 8, 1967.

This long exposure photo shows SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaking into the sky over the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday night. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

Fifty-two satellites are on the way to join SpaceX’s Starlink internet network after a sky-lighting blastoff from the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday night, a mission that included the 3,000th spacecraft to launch for the Starlink constellation.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Aug. 4 with the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter. Credit: SpaceX

South Korea’s first moon orbiter launched Thursday from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, heading off on a mission to survey potential lunar landing sites and search for water ice hidden inside shadowed craters near the moon’s poles.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Starlink 4-26 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 53 Starlink broadband satellites. Follow us on Twitter.

ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Credit: United Launch Alliance

The departure at dawn of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Thursday sent aloft the U.S. military’s last Space Based Infrared System missile warning satellite, a $1.2 billion mission billed by the Space Force as a stepping stone to a new generation of more sensitive sentinels in the sky.

A view of Launch Complex 39A on Tuesday morning, where SpaceX rolled a Falcon 9 rocket to the pad for liftoff with another batch of 52 Starlink internet satellites. On the right, work continues on the launch pad for SpaceX’s next-generation Starship program. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX continues to launch Falcon 9 rockets from Launch Complex 39A in Florida as construction work advances on the nearby tower for the company’s next-generation Starship rocket. Overnight Tuesday, SpaceX rolled another Falcon 9 to pad 39A for liftoff with the next batch of Starlink internet satellites, just hours after another section of the Starship gantry tower arrived at the pad.

India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center. Credit: ISRO

India’s space agency said Sunday the inaugural demonstration flight of the country’s new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle — the fourth rocket in India’s fleet of launchers — failed to place two satellites into their targeted low Earth orbit.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of India’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle with the EOS-02 Earth observation technology demonstration satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

An illustration of India’s 111-foot-tall (34-meter) Small Satellite Launch Vehicle. Credit: ISRO

India’s space agency will debut a new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle Saturday, adding a fourth member to the company’s rocket fleet. The SSLV’s test flight will take off from Sriharikota Island on India’s east coast with a small Earth observation satellite and a CubeSat from an Indian startup focused on science education.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with the Korea Lunar Pathfinder Orbiter mission. Follow us on Twitter.

Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle takes off from New Zealand Thursday on the NROL-199 mission. Nine Rutherford engines powered the rocket off the pad. Credit: Rocket Lab

Flying the second of back-to-back launches for the National Reconnaissance Office, Rocket Lab placed a classified U.S. government payload into orbit Thursday after a liftoff from New Zealand. It was the third Electron rocket flight in less than six weeks, the busiest stretch of missions in the Rocket Lab’s history.



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 U.S. Space Force’s SBIRS GEO 6 missile warning satellite toward geosynchronous orbit. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket heads downrange after a Jan. 31 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: SpaceX

With two rockets from industry rivals United Launch Alliance and SpaceX ready for liftoff just 12 hours apart Thursday, the Cape Canaveral spaceport is poised to surpass the record for most missions in a year to fly into orbit from its launch pads. The launch day doubleheader would also mark the shortest span between two space launches from Florida’s Space Coast since 1967.

Artist’s concept of the SBIRS GEO 6 satellite in orbit, with its solar arrays extended. Credit: Lockheed Martin

The last in a line of six satellites for the U.S. military’s Space Based Infrared System, or SBIRS, missile warning program is ready for launch Thursday from Cape Canaveral on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.

ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket rolls out to Space Launch Complex 41 on Tuesday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance’s next Atlas 5 rocket rolled out to its launch pad Tuesday at Cape Canaveral for a fiery blastoff at dawn Thursday with a U.S. military missile warning satellite.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1B on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand on a satellite delivery mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

The Korea Lunar Pathfinder Orbiter spacecraft undergoing testing in South Korea before shipment to Florida for launch preparations. Credit: KARI

A South Korean spacecraft set for launch to the moon next week from Cape Canaveral has been loaded with the fuel it needs to maneuver into a low-altitude lunar orbit for image-taking and scientific observations.

A prototype vertical takeoff/vertical landing demonstrator undergoing testing at Masten Space Systems. Credit: Masten Space Systems

Masten Space Systems, a private California company focused on developing lunar and planetary landing vehicles, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday after recent layoffs and funding problems.

This map shows the ground track of the Long March 5B core stage during the two-hour re-entry window as of Saturday morning. The re-entry and debris footprint could occur anywhere along the track. Credit: Aerospace Corp.

The 22-ton core stage of a Chinese rocket is expected to fall back to Earth some time Saturday, the third time in two years China has allowed such a large booster to re-enter the atmosphere uncontrolled. The unguided re-entry poses a low but avoidable risk to the world’s population, space debris experts said.

An illustration of Draper’s SERIES-2 lunar lander, which will deliver science and technology payloads to the moon for NASA in 2025. Credit: Draper

NASA has awarded Draper a $73 million contract to deliver science instruments to the far side of the moon on a commercial robotic lander in 2025, the eighth award through the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Officials with the companies flying the first two CLPS missions, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, said recently their commercial landers are scheduled to launch late this year or early next year.