Space News & Blog Articles

Ahead of launching the Artemis 2 mission no earlier than November 2024, the four astronauts donned test flight suits to go through a pre-launch simulation. They rode to launch pad 39B in Canoo electric vehicles and climbed the Mobile Launcher tower.

The launch day demonstration was the first in a series of seven milestones that will be conducted in coordination with NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Frank Rubio inside the International Space Station’s Destiny laboratory module. Image: NASA.

If NASA had asked astronaut Frank Rubio, well in advance, if he would like to spend a full year aboard the International Space Station, he likely would have turned it down. But that’s how it turned out anyway, when trouble with his crew’s Soyuz ferry ship forced them to extended a six-month stay to 12.

“If they had asked me up front before training, because you do train for a year or two years for your mission, I probably would have declined,” Rubio told reporters Tuesday, eight days before he and his two Soyuz crewmates plan to return to Earth on Sept. 27. “It would have hurt, but I would have declined.

“And that’s only because of family, things that were going on this past year,” he said of his wife and four children. “Had I known that I would have had to miss those very important events, I just would have had to say thank you, but no thank you.”

But once training began for what was supposed to be a six-month flight he was committed, and he took the mission extension in stride “because ultimately that’s our job.”

“We have to get the mission done,” he said. “Having the International Space Station (permanently occupied) for 23 years requires a lot of individual and family sacrifices. But sometimes that’s what you have to do.”

SpaceX will push the boundaries of booster reusability Tuesday night with the scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 using a first stage rocket making its 17th flight. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral with 22 satellites for the Starlink internet network is scheduled for 10:47 p.m. EDT (0247 UTC).

Booster serial number 1060 will be making a record-breaking 17th flight for the Starlink 6-17 mission. Earlier this year SpaceX certified its fleet of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters for up to 20 flights.

The booster first flew in June 2020 carrying the GPS 3-3 satellite for the U.S. Space Force and went on to fly the Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34 and Transporter-6 mission, plus 11 Starlink delivery flights.

Space Force meteorologists are keeping a close watch as a weather front stalls just south of Florida’s space coast and a storm is brewing off shore in the Atlantic. In a forecast issued on Monday, they predicted a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather for launch. The main concern being a violation of the cumulus cloud rule. With the development of the costal storm, conditions deteriorate if the launch slips a day, with only a 30 percent chance of acceptable weather.

It will be the 20th launch of the so-called V2 mini Starlink satellites which are larger and have four times the bandwidth of the previous versions. The full-sized V2 Starlink satellites are due to be launched by SpaceX’s fully-reusable Starship vehicle, but the delayed debut of Starship led the company to create a condensed version of the satellites so they could be launched on Falcon 9.

A shower of sparks at the point the Electron rocket’s second stage engine was supposed to ignite. Image: Rocket Lab.

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket, carrying a radar-imaging satellite for Capella Space, failed on Tuesday after a problem occurred two and half minutes into flight. It was the fourth failure in 41 flights for the small satellite launcher.

The 59-foot-tall (18-meter) rocket lifted off from pad B at Rocket Lab’s privately-operated spaceport on the North Island of New Zealand at 2:55 a.m. EDT (6:55 p.m. NZST / 0655 UTC), a little later than planned due to high levels of solar activity.

Launch controllers reported all was going well as nine Ruthford engines burning kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants propelled the vehicle to an altitude of 43.5 miles (70 km), before burning out two and a half minutes after liftoff.

The first and second stages separated with the aid of pneumatic pushers but, as the single Rutherford vacuum engine of the second stage was supposed to ignite, a brief glow was seen, followed by a spray of orange sparks, and then video from cameras aboard the rocket froze. An on-screen gauge showed the vehicle was losing velocity.

“All stations. We have experienced an anomaly,” a launch controller announced about 30 seconds later. “Please remain on station and we will investigate and action the anomaly plan.”

Artist’s impression of Capella’s Acadia radar-imaging satellite. Image: Capella.

Rocket Lab is gearing up to launch the second of four next-generation radar-imaging satellites for Capella Space atop an Electron rocket from New Zealand at 6:30 p.m. NZST (2:30 a.m. EDT / 0630 UTC) on Tuesday.

After lifting off from pad B at Rocket Lab’s privately-operated launch site on the Mahia Peninsula, the expendable Electron rocket, powered by its nine Rutherford first-stage engines, will head off on a south-easterly trajectory, targeting a 635 km circular orbit inclined at 53 degrees to the Equator. It will be the 41st orbital mission for the Electron rocket overall and the ninth during 2023.

After burning for two minutes and 25 seconds, the Electron first stage will separate and a single Ruthford vacuum engine on the second stage will ignite to continue the rocket’s climb. After reaching a parking orbit, the second stage will separate a little over nine minutes into flight.

After coasting for about 44 minutes, the Curie engine of the Electron kick stage will fire for three minutes to achieve the intended orbit. Separation of the Arcadia-2 satellite will follow approximately 57 minutes, 15 seconds into flight.

Rocket Lab launched the first of the four Acadia series of satellites on a recoverable Electron rocket on August 23, 2023. Capella Space reported “a flawless commissioning” for the satellite within a week of it reaching orbit. The company released the first imagery from the satellite’s cloud-piercing radar on August 31, showing views of roller coasters at amusement parks in the U.S. and Japan.

Mission Status Center

Live coverage will start here about one hour before launch

SpaceX hopes to launch its 65th orbital mission of the year shortly after midnight tonight, but it’s keeping an eye on the hurricane-churned ocean in the booster recovery zone. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral with 22 satellites for the Starlink network is scheduled for 12:03 a.m. EDT (0403 UTC).

The 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station placed the probability of violating weather rules at 35 percent in a forecast issued on Wednesday.

As of the 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) update from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Lee is a strong, Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 90 miles per hour. While the eye of the storm is well to the east of Florida and moving north, the hurricane is creating rough sea conditions in the Atlantic east of the Bahamas, where the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” is to be stationed for the first-stage booster landing.

The Space Force meteorologists noted that booster recovery weather is a “moderate” risk. Waves in the vicinity of the landing zone are forecast to be 9-14 feet today, easing to 7-11 feet overnight.

The FAA has closed the SpaceX-led mishap investigation following the first Starship Integrated Test Flight (IFT). SpaceX founder Elon Musk also published the checklist of 63 items to be completed before the company can apply for a launch license modification for IFT-2.

The pathway to the next launch is now being hashed out between SpaceX and the FAA. Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith reports.

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SpaceX will launch another batch of satellites for the company’s Starlink internet service from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:57 p.m. PDT Monday (2:57 a.m. EDT / 0657 UTC Tuesday). We’ll have live coverage of the liftoff in our Launch Pad Live stream.

The mission, designated Starlink Group 7-2 will place 21 second-generation Starlink satellites into a 185×178 mile (297×286 km) orbit inclined at 53 degrees to the equator. This satellite version is known as the V2 Mini and is a condensed version of the full-sized V2 Starlink satellites which are intended to be launched in the future by SpaceX’s fully-reusable Starship vehicle. It will be the 18th launch of the V2 Mini series of satellites.

After lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on a southerly trajectory, the Falcon 9 first stage will fire for about two and a half minutes before the second stage takes over to complete the climb to orbit. The first stage booster, tailnumber B1071, is making its 11th flight and will head for a landing on the drone ship ‘Of Course I still Love You’ stationed about 416 miles (670km) downrange from Vandenberg off the coast of Baja California. If all goes well the booster will touchdown about eight and a half minutes after launch.

The second stage will complete its first burn to reach an initial parking orbit shortly after the booster landing. It will then coast for about 45 minutes before a two-second firing to reach the intended orbit. Deployment of the 21 satellites will occur at T+1 hour, 2 minutes and 19 seconds.

Based on statistics compiled by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who maintains a space flight database, the total number of Starlink satellites launched currently stands at 5,070.



United Launch Alliance (ULA) is preparing to launch its penultimate national security mission using one of its workhorse Atlas 5 rockets. The mission, dubbed NROL-107 or Silentbarker, is poised for liftoff at 8:47 a.m. EDT (1247 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The Sunday morning launch comes following a one day slip from the planned liftoff on Saturday after ULA discovered what it described as “an issue found during a prelaunch ordnance circuit continuity check” in the lead up to the fueling process.

As of the most recent update from ULA at 4:05 a.m. EDT (0805 UTC), the countdown process was proceeding well, stating that “All systems remain ‘go’ here at the Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center and at the Space Launch Complex-41 pad.”

Earlier in the morning, they stated that the launch weather forecast was 90 percent favorable for an on-time liftoff.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 22 second-generation Starlink internet satellites at 7:56 p.m. EDT (2356 UTC) Friday evening from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Additional launch opportunities are available at 11:12 p.m. EDT (0312 UTC) and 11:30 p.m. EDT (0330 UTC). The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will land on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean. The booster is making its 7th flight.

According to the 45th Weather Squadron, in a forecast issued on Thursday, there is a 60-percent chance of acceptable conditions for the first launch opportunity, improving to 85 percent for the later launch opportunities.

Our live coverage from Cape Canaveral, with commentary by Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith, will begin about an hour before launch.

Starship 25 is lifted atop Super Heavy booster by the launch pad ‘chopsticks’. Image: SpaceX.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Friday the conclusion its mishap investigation into the first integrated test flight of SpaceX’s reusable Starship launch vehicle. It stressed SpaceX has 63 corrective actions that need to be taken before Starship can make a second test flight.

“SpaceX must implement all corrective actions that impact public safety and apply for and receive a license modification from the FAA that addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory requirements prior to the next Starship launch,” the FAA said in a statement.

The announcement came days after SpaceX completed stacking its Starship vehicle (S25) on top of a Super Heavy Booster (B9). Company founder Elon Musk said it was ready for Integrated Test Flight 2 (IFT-2) and was “awaiting FAA license approval”.

The FAA said the mishap investigation report itself won’t be released publicly due to the disclosure of proprietary information within it, but spoke generally to some of the needed changes.

“Corrective actions include redesigns of vehicle hardware to prevent leaks and fires, redesign of the launch pad to increase its robustness, incorporation of additional reviews in the design process, additional analysis and testing of safety critical systems and components including the Autonomous Flight Safety System, and the application of additional change control practices,” the agency said in a statement.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket made its way back to the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday morning for a mission carrying national security mission payloads, collectively codenamed Silentbarker. The 45th Weather Squadron’s launch weather forecast shows conditions are 85 percent favorable for liftoff at 8:51 a.m. EDT (1251 UTC).

While the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) tends to remain mum about much of its operations and missions, the agency hosted a pre-launch press conference on Aug. 28 with its director, Dr. Christopher Scolese, appearing alongside ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno and the commander of U.S. Space Systems Command, Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, to talk about the mission and take questions from the press.

Asked why the NRO wanted to be more forthcoming with this mission, Scolese said they felt that sharing information about the Silentbarker mission is important to help better inform the U.S. public about the scope of the NRO’s operations beyond its national security implications.

“We want to let people know, to some extent, what our capabilities are and this is one capability that, if you think about it, has great value beyond just the national security community,” Scolese said. “The NRO supports more than just the national security community, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Intelligence Community (IC). It also supports the civil community.”

Guetlein added that discussing some of their capabilities is also an important tool that can be used as deterrence with respect to adversaries of the United States.

A Japanese H-2A rocket is prepared for fueling on the launch pad Sunday. Image: MHI Launch Services.

A next-generation X-ray space telescope and an experimental lunar lander are back on the launch pad Wednesday after a ten-day delay. An H-2A rocket is scheduled to liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 7:42 p.m. EDT (8:42 a.m. local time / 2342 UTC).

The launch was postponed from August 27 due to upper levels winds being out of limits for the ascent of the H-2A rocket.

The X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM for short, pronounced as ‘crism’ by the mission team, is a collaboration between the Japanese Space Agency JAXA, NASA and ESA, the European Space Agency. X-ray telescopes need to be placed in space as the Earth’s atmosphere blocks the wavelength. X-ray observations allow astronomers to study some of the hottest and largest objects in the Universe and the most powerful gravitational pulls, like black holes.

“Some of the things we hope to study with XRISM include the aftermath of stellar explosions and near-light-speed particle jets launched by supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies,” said Richard Kelley, NASA’s XRISM principal investigator at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “But of course, we’re most excited about all the unexpected phenomena XRISM will discover as it observes our cosmos.”

There are two main instruments aboard XRISM. Resolve, which will perform X-ray spectroscopy, that is cooled close to absolute zero by liquid helium, and Xtend, a camera that will image the cosmos with X-ray vision.

Aerial view of the fully stacked Starship vehicle at Starbase, Texas, on Sept. 6, 2023. Image: SpaceX.

Another SpaceX Starship rocket stands fully integrated against the South Texas horizon and company-founder Elon Musk said from his perspective, they’re ready to launch.

Over the course of several hours on Tuesday at its test facility near Boca Chica Beach, SpaceX teams hoisted the Starship upper stage of the rocket, S25, on top of the Super Heavy Booster, dubbed Booster 9 or B9, that was already on the launch mount.

Following the operation, Musk took to his social media platform, X, to declare that “Starship is ready to launch, awaiting [Federal Aviation Administration] license approval.”

While some aviation and marine warning notifications suggest launch could be somewhat soon, the second clause of Musk’s post will be the great determinative factor of when the second launch of a fully integrated Starship rocket will actually take place.

SpaceX submitted its final mishap investigation report to the FAA over the summer, following it’s unsuccessful launch attempt on April 20. It’s part of the SpaceX-led mishap investigation that is being overseen by the FAA.

Crew Dragon streaks through the midnight sky as seen from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Image: Will Robinson-Smith/Spaceflight Now.

Blazing like a shooting star as it streaked high above northern Florida, a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carried four space station fliers back to Earth early Monday, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville to wrap up a six-month stay in orbit.

Crew-6 commander Stephen Bowen, pilot Woody Hoburg, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and UAE crewmate Sultan Alneyadi undocked from the station’s forward Harmony module at 7:05 a.m. EDT Sunday to kick off a 17-hour flight back to Earth.

The automated Crew Dragon executed a 16-minute de-orbit thruster firing starting at 11:24 p.m., slowing the spacecraft by about 250 mph — just enough to drop it back into the lower atmosphere for a steep southwest-to-northeast trajectory carrying it above Central America and north Florida.

Viewed from the Kennedy Space Center, the returning spacecraft looked like a slow-motion meteor blazing a long, brilliant trail across the sky as the Crew Dragon was enveloped in a cloud of super-heated plasma, slowing from orbital velocity of 17,100 mph to just 300 mph or so in a matter of minutes.

With SpaceX recovery crews and NASA observers standing by, the capsule’s four main parachutes deployed on time, inflated and lowered the spacecraft to a gentle splashdown in light wind and five-foot waves off Florida’s east coast at 12:17 a.m.

SpaceX rolled out a Falcon 9 Sunday for a record-breaking 62nd launch of the year. Image: Spaceflight Now.

A Falcon 9 rocket is being readied Sunday for a record-breaking 62nd orbital launch of the year for SpaceX. The previous record was set in 2022 with 61 launches by the company. Liftoff from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, with 21 Starlink satellites aboard, is currently targeted for 9:56 p.m. EDT (0156 UTC).

SpaceX has averaged an orbital rocket launch every four days so far this year. It chalked up nine Falcon 9 launches in August. A total of 62 launches in a calendar year would be the highest number achieved by a single commercial launch company.

“Aiming for 10 Falcon flights in a month by end of this year, then 12 per month next year,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

This 62nd launch of the year for SpaceX will carry 21 of the so-called V2 mini satellites for the company’s Starlink internet service.

Seconds after clearing the launch pad, the Falcon 9 will pitch and roll on to a south-east trajectory, targeting an orbit inclined at 43 degrees to the equator. After separating from the second stage about two and a half minutes into flight, the first stage booster will head for a landing on the drone ship ‘Just Read the Instructions’, which will be stationed in the Atlantic east of the Bahamas about 390 miles (627 km) from the Cape. The first stage booster, tailnumber B1077, is making its 10th mission.

Mission Status Center

Mission Status Center