Space News & Blog Articles

NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission launches at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The TRACERS mission will study magnetic reconnection around Earth — a process in which electrically charged plasmas exchange energy in the atmosphere — to understand how the Sun’s solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere, Earth’s protective magnetic shield. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX launched twin satellites for NASA Wednesday that will study how the electrically-charged solar wind interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, creating constantly changing and occasionally dangerous “space weather” affecting satellites, electrical grids and other critical systems.

NASA’s two TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) are encapsulated along with five other satellites ahead of launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Image: NASA

NASA’s next trip to space will be a rideshare mission with nine other satellites sharing a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the planned launch of SES’ ninth and tenth O3b mPOWER satellites. Image: SpaceX

Update July 21, 5:52 p.m. EDT: SpaceX scrubbed the launch, targeting Tuesday, July 22.

File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in the launch position during sunset at Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX is preparing for a rare launch of its Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites into a polar orbit shortly after sunset on Friday night.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying 24 satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet constellation. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

Update July 16, 2:53 a.m. EDT: The Falcon 9 booster landed on the droneship.

SpaceX’s Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites pictured before the batch of 26 were deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage. Image: SpaceX

Update July 16, 1 a.m.: SpaceX confirmed deployment of the satellites.

The four crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station are pictured inside SpaceX’s Hangar X at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left to right: Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, and JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui. Image: SpaceX

The next four-person crew heading to the International Space Station is less than three weeks away from launch. On Thursday, NASA announced that it and SpaceX were targeting July 31 for the flight of SpaceX’s Crew-11 mission to the orbiting outpost.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts of from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin the Commercial GTO-1 mission, a flight for Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket early Sunday carrying the Israeli Dror 1 satellite. The mission was initially shrouded in secrecy as the satellite’s manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), shunned any  pre-launch publicity.

Axiom Space’s Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit features a visor system provided through a partnership with Oakley. Image: Axiom Space

The next humans to walk on the South Pole of the Moon will sport a truly unique visor, courtesy of Oakley.

Acting NASA Associate Administrator Vanessa Wyche, left, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro, right, react as they watch the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft splash down with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, from the Space Operations Center at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy will now also oversee NASA as its newest interim administrator. The new leadership announcement came in a late-night post by President Donal Trump on his social media site, Truth Social.

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 is preparing to launch its latest batch of broadband internet satellites onboard its Falcon 9 rocket in a predawn Falcon 9 launch on Tuesday.

The Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. Image: NASA

A massive tax and spending package passed by the Senate on Wednesday was approved by the House on Thursday and signed by President Donald Trump on Friday, July 4.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) hoists its Vulcan first stage booster into the Vertical Integration Facility-G (VIF-G) adjacent to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on Oct. 22, 2024. The rocket will launch the USSF-106 mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command, Vulcan’s first national security flight. Image: United Launch Alliance

A little more than a week after its most recent Atlas 5 rocket launch, United Launch Alliance rolled a Vulcan booster to the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday morning to begin stacking its first post-certification Vulcan rocket.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks away from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during the Starlink 10-25 mission on July 2, 2025. This was SpaceX’s 500th Falcon 9 rocket launch to date. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now

Update July 2, 3 a.m. EDT: SpaceX landed its first stage booster on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’

The Meteosat Third Generation Sounder (MTG-S1) satellite from the European Oganisation for the Exploration of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is encapsulated in SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairings ahead of launch. Image: SpaceX

A European satellite designed to augment both weather monitoring and assessments of air quality and pollution for Europe and North Africa is preparing to take flight from Florida on Tuesday evening.

File: The Falcon 9 at sunrise Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 as final preparations were made for the NROL-167 mission. Image: SpaceX.

SpaceX is preparing for the second of two planned Saturday Falcon 9 rocket launches. This time, launch will take place at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

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

Continuing to push the boundaries of rapid reuse, SpaceX set a new launchpad turnaround record in the predawn hours of Saturday when it launched its latest Falcon 9 rocket.

File: A Falcon 9 rocket stands in the launch position at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the planned liftoff of the Starlink 6-61 mission on Oct. 22, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

Update June 25, 2:17 p.m. EDT: SpaceX pushed back the T-0 liftoff time.

Axiom Space’s fourth flight to the International Space Station got off to a sky-lighting start with blastoff from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now

Retired astronaut Peggy Whitson, America’s most experienced space flier, and three rookie crewmates from India, Poland and Hungary blasted off on a privately-financed flight to the International Space Station early Wednesday — the fourth non-government mission mounted by Houston-based Axiom Space.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 41 ahead of the planned launch of the Kuiper 2 mission for Amazon on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

It’s round two for both United Launch Alliance and its customer, Amazon. Monday, June 23, will be ULA’s second Atlas 5 launch of the year and the second batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites launched to date.

A collection of 70 payloads manifested onto SpaceX’s Transporter-14 mission. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX is preparing for its fourth launch of the year as part of its dedicated smallsat rideshare program, which is set to liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday.