Space News & Blog Articles

The countdown clock at the Kennedy Space Center Press Site stops at T-29 seconds at the end of the second terminal countdown demonstration, bringing an end to the wet dress rehearsal tanking test on Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. Image: John Pisani/Spaceflight Now

NASA and contractor engineers pumped more than 750,000 gallons of supercold propellants into the agency’s huge Space Launch System rocket Thursday without any signs of hydrogen leaks or any other significant problems in a major step toward launching four astronauts on a flight around the moon as early as March 6.

A file photo shows Boeing’s Starliner capsule docked to the International Space Station as the two spacecraft fly over northern Africa toward the Nile Delta. Image: NASA

An independent review of the first, and so far only, piloted flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft concluded the test represented a potentially life-threatening “type A” mishap resulting from multiple technical problems and management miscues, NASA officials said Thursday.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin the Starlink 10-36 mission on Feb. 19, 2026. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

Update Feb. 19, 9:34 p.m. EST (0234 UTC): SpaceX confirms successful landing on the droneship.

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is seen at Launch Complex 39B in the midst of pre-launch testing for the Artemis 2 mission. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now

NASA will try again to fully load its Space Launch System rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen this week at the conclusion of a full launch countdown rehearsal.

File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

SpaceX plans to kick off the President’s Day holiday in the United States with a Falcon 9 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. However, the flight from Florida’s Space Coast faces challenging weather conditions.

The Crew 12 fliers cavort aboard the International Space Station shortly after floating inside Saturday. They joined station commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, back left in black shirt, NASA astronaut Chis Williams and cosmonaut Sergey Mikaev, both wearing black shirts. The Crew 12 astronauts, from left to right, are cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev (upside down), Jack Hathaway, Jessica Meir and French astronaut Sophie Adenot at far right. Image: NASA

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule glided in for a Valentine’s Day docking at the International Space Station Saturday boosting the lab’s crew back to a full complement of seven one month after four other fliers came home early because of a medical issue.

A long-exposure streak shot of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket soaring away from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Starlink 17-13 mission on Feb. 14, 2026. Image: SpaceX

Update Feb. 14, 10:45 p.m. EST (0345 UTC): SpaceX deployed the 24 Starlink satellites.

A composite shot showing the liftoff of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 and the landing of the Falcon booster, 1101, at the new recovery site, Landing Zone 40, during NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. Image: John Pisani/Spaceflight Now

Flying in the face of superstition, NASA and SpaceX conducted a smooth countdown and launch of three astronauts and a cosmonaut to begin the latest, long-duration mission to the International Space Station on Friday, Feb. 13.

Base of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket where the tail service masts feed propellants into the rocket’s core stage. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.

NASA is loading liquid hydrogen aboard its Space Launch System moon rocket at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday for an unpublicized but crucial test of the repairs made to a leaky umbilical that derailed a countdown rehearsal on Feb. 2.

An anomalous plume is visible from one of the Vulcan’s solid rocket motors during the launch of the USSF-87 mission on Feb. 12, 2026. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

United Launch Alliance said an issue affected one of the four solid rocket boosters that helped propel its Vulcan rocket into space Thursday on a mission for the United States Space Force. Despite the problem the rocket, making only its fourth flight, continued on its planned trajectory, the company said.

United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, designation V-005, is seen at the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station prior to the launch of the USSF-87 mission for the U.S. Space Force. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now

United Launch Alliance is gearing up for a predawn launch of its Vulcan rocket on Thursday morning, the companies first flight of the year.

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 for its 12th Starlink mission of the year so far with a Falcon 9 rocket launch set for Wednesday morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket rolls from the Government Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-G) to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Vulcan will launch the USSF-87 mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC). Image: United Launch Alliance

On the cusp of launching its first Vulcan rocket of the year on Thursday, United Launch Alliance leadership announced its goal for 2026 to launch between 18 and 22 times.

Teams monitor the countdown during a dress rehearsal in preparation for the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev onboard, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, in the control room of SpaceX’s HangarX at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

The launch of the next crew rotation mission to the International Space Station will have to wait at least another day after NASA and SpaceX leadership determined weather along the flight path would be unacceptable.

The nine Merlin 1D engines at the base of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket briefly ignited during a static fire test of the vehicle on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. This test was a precursor to the launch of Crew-12 to the International Space Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

An early morning rocket engine test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station brings NASA and SpaceX one step closer to flying the next long duration mission to the International Space Station.

File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the Starlink 7-14 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX is set to launch its Falcon 9 rocket on a return to flight mission following a brief stand down period lasting less than a week.

SpaceX works on the crew access arm at Launch Complex 39A on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

It’s the end of an era as SpaceX transitions all of its planned Dragon flights from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan booster is offloaded from the company’s R/S RocketShip barge at a dock at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This will be the first Vulcan rocket to launch from the West Coast. Image: United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance is staging rockets at launch complexes on both the West Coast and the East Coast for the first time since November 2022.

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket stands atop pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. After working around a hydrogen leak at the base of the rocket, engineers spent the day Monday pumping more than 750,000 gallons of supercold liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel into the 32-story-tall launcher in a dress rehearsal countdown. How the leak might play into plans to launch four astronauts on a moon mission as early as Sunday is not yet clear. Image: NASA

A hydrogen leak at the base of NASA’s giant SLS moon rocket Monday threw a wrench into a carefully planned countdown “wet dress” rehearsal, but engineers were able to manage a workaround and the test proceeded toward a delayed, simulated launch.

File – SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket stands in the vertical launch position at Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base ahead of the launch of the Starlink 17-5 mission on Aug. 18, 2025. This was the ninth flight for Falcon 9 booster, tail number B1088. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX is kicking off the month of February with a Monday morning Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

A full moon rises behind NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket atop pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. If a practice countdown and fueling test Monday go well, NASA is expected to press ahead with launch of the Artemis 2 mission on Feb. 8, sending four astronauts on a flight around the moon. Image: NASA/Sam Lott

Braving rare sub-freezing temperatures, Kennedy Space Center workers pressed ahead with a dress-rehearsal countdown Sunday, readying NASA’s huge SLS rocket for a critical fueling test Monday to clear the way for launch on a flight to send four astronauts on a flight around the moon.