A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A to begin the Fram2 polar orbit mission. This was the 200th orbital launch from LC-39A. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now
A historic mission took flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Monday night. Against the backdrop of an off-shore band of thunderstorms, four first-time astronauts soared off the pad at Launch Complex 39A onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and headed into a polar orbit.
The four astronauts of the Fram2 mission pose inside the suit up room near Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. From left to right: mission commander Chun Wang, vehicle pilot Rabea Rogge, vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen and mission specialist and medical officer Eric Philips. Image: Fram2
Four people united by their fascination with the Earth’s polar regions are embarking on a spaceflight that will allow them to experience those remote areas like no human before.
File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) ahead of the launch of the Starlink 12-18 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX is hoping to close out the weekend with a Falcon 9 rocket launching a batch of 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. The weather forecast on Sunday, however, is quite problematic, with meteorologists tracking storms that “may pack strong wind gusts and even small hail.”
The four astronauts of the Fram2 mission stand atop the crew access tower at Launch Complex 39A during a pad visit in mid-February. From left to right: Eric Philips, Chun Wang, Rabea Rogge, Jannicke Mikkelsen. Image: Fram2
Less than a month after the SpaceX Crew-10 mission blasted off to the International Space Station, another four-person crew is gearing to up launch from the same pad in Florida this time making history as the first astronauts to fly in a polar orbit.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 members stand inside the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Nov. 13, 2024. From left are Mission Specialist Kimiya Yui from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Commander NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, Mission Specialist Oleg Platonov of Roscosmos, and Pilot NASA astronaut Mike Fincke. Image: NASA/Josh Valcarcel
The makeup of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station was announced publicly Thursday evening and it includes three astronauts who were previously assigned to other missions.
Vulcan climbs away from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station shortly after sunrise on Oct. 4, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
In an announcement highly anticipated by United Launch Alliance and others in the spaceflight community, the U.S. Space Force’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) office affirmed that the Vulcan rocket is now fully certified to launch national security payloads.
File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the Starlink 7-14 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX is preparing to send a batch of 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. This flight ties the record for the most number of these types of satellites launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to date.
An artist’s depiction of an OroraTech OTC-P1 satellite in low Earth orbit. Graphic: OroraTech via Rocket Lab
Update 12:35 p.m. EDT: Rocket Lab confirms successful deployment of all eight satellites.
A SpaceX Falcon rocket lifted of from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) to begin the NROL-69 mission on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now
The National Reconnaissance Office, which manages the American military’s spy satellites, launched its fifth mission of the 2025 out of roughly a dozen planned for the year.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in launch position at Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base ahead of the launch of the NROL-57 mission. Image: SpaceX
The National Reconnaissance Office launched its eighth batch of satellites to support its proliferated architecture constellation. The mission includes a number of notable milestones for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket program, including a record-fast turnaround time for its booster.
Support teams work around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. Image: NASA/Keegan Barber
Update March 18, 6:30 p.m. EDT: Dragon Freedom splashed down off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, and the spacecraft was brought aboard the recovery vessel, Megan.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) to begin the Starlink 12-25 mission on March 18, 2025. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX launched a batch of 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit as it and NASA are in the process of returning four people from the International Space Station back to Earth.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander captures photo of its shadow on the Moon with the volcanic feature, Mons Latreille, visible on the top right side of the lunar surface. Image: Firefly Aerospace
The journey of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander came to an end over the weekend. The 14-day operation on the surface of the Moon was officially declared over on Sunday, March 16, when the robotic lander sent its final transmissions back to Earth.
The four SpaceX Crew-10 members and the seven Expedition 72 crew members join each other for a welcoming ceremony shortly after the SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft docked to the International Space Station and the hatches opened. Image: NASA
The Crew 10 Dragon capsule caught up with the International Space Station and moved in for a textbook docking early Sunday, bringing four fresh crew members to the lab and clearing the way for the Starliner astronauts to return to Earth after nearly 300 days in space.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at sunrise to begin the Starlink 12-16 mission on March 15, 2025. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
Update March 15, 8:41 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 23 Starlink satellites.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A to begin the Crew-10 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
Update March 14, 8:30 p.m. EDT: Dragon Endurance is making its way to the space station.
A streak shot of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it soared away from Florida’s Space Coast. The launch of the Starlink 12-21 mission was captured next to a riverboat about 47 miles away in St. Cloud, Florida. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now
Update March 12, 11 p.m. ET: B1069 landed on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket first stage booster, tail number B1086, lands on the droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ amid the Starlink 12-20 mission on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Shortly after touchdown, a fire broke out in the engine section and caused the loss of the booster. Image: SpaceX via livestream
SpaceX is preparing for the return to flight of its Falcon 9 on Monday evening following week without flying its workhorse rocket after a booster caught fire and exploded after landing. Two missions are on tap if the weather cooperates: one in California and the other in Florida.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base to begin NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions on March 11, 2025. Image: SpaceX
Update March 12, 1:52 a.m. ET: NASA confirms acquisition of signal.
File: A Falcon 9 stands ready for the Starlink 8-10 mission at Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.
Update 1:30 a.m. EST (0630 UTC): SpaceX has delayed the launch to Tuesday.
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams inside the vestibule between the forward port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Image: NASA.
In a late afternoon post to X, SpaceX founder Elon Musk stirred up some confusion and consternation among the space community.
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