Space News & Blog Articles

Mirror segments on the James Webb Space Telescope reflect members of the Ariane 5 and Webb teams in French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Baudon

A poor weather forecast at the Guiana Space Center in South America has forced officials to delay the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope by one day to Dec. 25, Christmas morning, mission managers said Tuesday.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with SpaceX’s 24th operational Dragon resupply flight to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

A Falcon 9 rocket emerges from SpaceX’s hangar at Kenned Space Center for the quarter-mile trip up the ramp to launch pad 39A. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX’s 31st and final Falcon 9 launch of the year is scheduled to take off early Tuesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, weather permitting, with a Dragon cargo ship carrying more than 6,500 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station.

Russian commander Alexander Misurkin smiles after getting out of the Soyuz MS-20 landing capsule, visible at bottom. Credit: Roscosmos

Two Japanese space tourists and a veteran Russian cosmonaut departed the International Space Station and landed back on Earth Sunday, capping a 12-day mission with a parachute-assisted touchdown in frigid Kazakhstan.

The Ariane 5 rocket’s payload fairing was lowered over the James Webb Space Telescope on Friday. Credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut

The James Webb Space Telescope has been closed up inside the nose cone of its Ariane 5 launcher in French Guiana, and officials confirmed Saturday the huge astronomical observatory is set for blastoff Dec. 24.

Live coverage of the Soyuz MS-20 mission on the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks downrange over the Atlantic Ocean Saturday night. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

Fifteen hours after hurling a package of Starlink internet satellites into orbit from California, SpaceX launched a high-power geostationary communications spacecraft for Turkey from Cape Canaveral late Saturday, the first time two Falcon 9 rockets have flown on the same day.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Turkish Turksat 5B communications satellite into orbit around 33 minutes later.

A Falcon 9 rocket takes off from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Space Force Base with 52 Starlink internet satellites. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX deployed 52 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit early Saturday after a predawn launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California that routed a Falcon 9 rocket on an unusual track southeast from the West Coast spaceport over Baja California.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with the Turksat 5B communications satellite for Turksat. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

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.

A Falcon 9 rocket heads downrange from Cape Canaveral after liftoff May 9. This was the 10th, and most recent, launch of SpaceX’s B1051 first stage booster. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now

SpaceX will set a new record for rocket reuse Saturday with the launch of a Falcon 9 booster from California for an 11th trip to space Saturday, carrying more Starlink internet satellites into orbit. If schedules hold, another Falcon 9 will blast off from Florida’s Space Coast about 18-and-a-half hours later with an all-electric Turkish data relay spacecraft.

A Chinese Long March 3B rocket lifts off Dec. 13 with Tianlian 2-02 data relay satellite. Credit: CASC

China succeeded in its 50th orbital launch attempt of the year Dec. 13, when a Long March 3B rocket delivered a Tianlian data relay satellite to orbit on a mission to link ground control with the Chinese space station and other spacecraft.

Ground crews work with the James Webb Space Telescope inside the Ariane 5 rocket’s final assembly building in French Guiana. Credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut

Technicians at a jungle spaceport in South America are completing tests on the James Webb Space Telescope Thursday to make sure they fixed a “finicky” communications interface glitch that halted launch preparations earlier this week, potentially paving the way for liftoff of the three-story-tall observatory as soon as Dec. 24.

A Falcon 9 rocket streaks off its launch pad in Florida in this long exposure photo. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX is set to close out the year with three Falcon 9 rocket flights in just four days from launch pads in Florida and California, carrying another batch of Starlink internet satellites, a Turkish data relay spacecraft, and a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

A Long March 4B rocket launches two Shijian 6 satellites. Credit: CASC

The 400th flight of China’s Long March rocket family deployed two classified Shijian 6 satellites into orbit Dec. 10, likely on a mission to test technology or gather signals intelligence data for the Chinese military.

Galactic Energy’s second Ceres rocket blasts off from the Jiuquan space base. Credit: Galactic Energy

A solid-fueled Ceres satellite launcher developed to serve China’s burgeoning commercially-focused smallsat market successfully deployed five spacecraft into orbit Dec. 7, making the new Chinese rocket two-for-two since its debut last year.

Ground teams at the Guiana Space Center connect the James Webb Space Telescope with its Ariane 5 launcher on Dec. 11. Credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut

Engineers discovered an intermittent data dropout associated with a piece of ground support equipment after connecting the James Webb Space Telescope with its Ariane 5 launcher over the weekend in French Guiana, and the observatory’s long-awaited blastoff will be delayed at least two days to Dec. 24 to troubleshoot the problem, the head of NASA’s science division said Tuesday.

The James Webb Space Telescope is lifted on top of its Ariane 5 launcher inside the final assembly building in French Guiana. Credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut

The nearly $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, suspended under a crane with four cables, was raised atop top an Ariane 5 launcher Saturday inside a vertical hangar in French Guiana, one of the final steps to prep the mission for liftoff this month after a quarter-century of design and development.



SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

SpaceX launched a refrigerator-sized NASA X-ray observatory from Kennedy Space Center into an unusual orbit hugging the equator Thursday, beginning a $214 million mission to study black holes and super-compact neutron stars.