The Ariane 6 rocket stands at the launch pad at the Europe Spaceport in French Guiana following the removal of the mobile launch gantry. Image: M. Pédoussaut/ESA
To quote the title track of Swedish rock band Europe’s third album, “It’s the final countdown” for the long awaited Ariane 6 to finally take flight. After running years behind schedule, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Arianespace are less than a week from the planned debut.
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX is preparing to launch a batch of Starlink satellites using a booster that ran into technical issues during the final seconds of its last launch attempt. The launch is the first of the month for the company, which is aiming for an average of 12 Falcon flights per month in 2024.
Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket carrying eight CubeSats as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative’s (CSLI) ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) 43 mission rolls out of the company’s Payload Processing Facility to Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on Sunday, June 30, 2024. Firefly Aerospace is one of three companies selected to fly small satellites to space under NASA’s Launch Services Program Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 (VCLS Demo 2) contract awarded in December 2020. Image: Firefly Aerospace / Trevor Mahlmann
Update 12:30 a.m. EDT: Firefly called a scrub of the “Noise of Summer” mission and is assessing its next launch opportunity.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the NROL-186 mission on June 28, 2024. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX launched a national security mission on behalf of the United States’ National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from Vandenberg Space Force Base Friday night. The spy agency described the classified mission as “the second launch of NRO’s proliferated architecture, delivering critical space-based ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) to the nation.”
This view from a window on the cupola overlooks a portion of the International Space and shows the partially obscured Starliner spacecraft from Boeing docked to the Harmony module’s forward port. Image: NASA
The return to Earth of Boeing’s Starliner capsule is on indefinite hold pending results of new thruster tests and ongoing analysis of helium leaks that cropped up during the ship’s rendezvous with the International Space Station, NASA announced Friday.
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX is marking two key records with the planned launch of its latest batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Starlink 10-3 mission will be SpaceX’s 350th Falcon 9 rocket launch.
The 10th SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket stands ready to launch the joint NASA and NOAA GOES-U mission on June 25, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight Now
The finale in a series of critical weather satellites for the United States faces some weather challenges as it looks to join its three fellow satellites on orbit. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-U (GOES-U) satellite is designed to provide critical weather, climate and solar data to meteorologists and other parties to enhance the safety of people and property.
A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to support the Starlink 7-9 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The mission also includes the first six satellites that will be used for the company’s direct-to-cell service. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX hopes to complete another double launch day as it prepares to launch its first Falcon Heavy rocket of the year with a payload for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The second of the doubleheader boasts 20 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, with 13 featuring Direct to Cell capabilities.
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX is preparing to launch its first Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in more than two weeks. The last time the company attempted to launch the Starlink 10-2 mission, it encountered a rare scrub as the Falcon 9’s first stage Merlin engines began firing.
The Starliner spacecraft on NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port as the International Space Station orbited 263 miles above the Mediterranean Sea. Image: NASA.
NASA and Boeing managers have again decided to extend the Starliner crew capsule’s stay at the International Space Station, passing up a June 26 re-entry to allow more time for analysis and testing to make sure helium leaks and thruster failures are fully understood, officials said late Friday.
Rocket Lab’s 50th Electron rocket stands ready to launch five satellites on behalf of France-based internet of things company, Kinéis. Image: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab successfully reached a milestone that few commercial rockets achieved and at a pace that outperformed its competition. The company launched its 50th Electron rocket to date just seven years after the vehicle’s debut in May 2017.
A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX
Update 12:09 a.m. EDT: SpaceX launches the Starlink 9-1 mission.
Boeing’s leak-prone Starliner capsule will remain docked to the International Space Station an additional four days, NASA announced Tuesday, returning to Earth with a pre-dawn landing at White Sands, New Mexico, on June 26 to close out an extended 20-day test flight, the first with astronauts aboard.
SES’s Astra 1P satellite is encapsulated in a pair of payload fairings ahead of its planned launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 18, 2024. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX is preparing to launch a satellite to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on behalf of one of its oldest customers: Luxembourg-based SES. The prolific launch company aims to bounce back from an unusually quiet period in its launch cadence, accented by a last-second abort as the engines on another one of its Falcon 9 rockets began to fire.
This view from a window on the cupola overlooks a portion of the International Space and shows the partially obscured Starliner spacecraft from Boeing docked to the Harmony module’s forward port. Image: NASA
NASA and Boeing teams pushed back the target undocking and landing date for the Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station by four days. They shifted from June 18 to now no earlier than June 22.
A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
Update 8:30 p.m. EDT: SpaceX scrubbed the mission due to poor weather; targeting Friday for launch.
The Ship 29 upper stage of the fully integrated Starship rocket as seen before its fourth flight test on June 6, 2024. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now
The Federal Aviation Administration is preparing to gather public input on SpaceX Starship launch operations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The request for comments comes about a month after the conclusion of an environmental review of a 100-acre expansion for SpaceX at its Hangar X site.
Space station commander Oleg Kononenko, flanked on his left by Starliner commander Butch Wilmore and on his right by co-pilot Sunita Williams, anchors a group photo of the lab’s seven long-duration crew members and their two visitors. Back row, left to right: cosmonaut Nikolai Chub, Jeanette Epps and Matthew Dominick; middle row, left to right: cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, Tracy Dyson and Michael Barratt. Image: NASA
Working around multiple helium leaks and thruster problems, the crew of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft wrapped up a challenging rendezvous and a delayed-but-successful docking with the International Space Station Thursday in a major milestone for the new ship’s first piloted test flight.
A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX
SpaceX is preparing to kick off the weekend with the launch of another batch of its Starlink satellites. The mission, dubbed Starlink 8-8, will add 20 more satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation, including 13 that have Direct to Cell capabilities.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 7, 2024. The mission, Starlink 10-1, was the first to send Starlink satellites to this shell of the mega constellation. Image: Spaceflight Now
Update 8:57 p.m. EDT: SpaceX adjusted the T-0 liftoff time.
SpaceX restacked its nearly 400-foot-tall Starship rocket on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in anticipation of launching it on the fourth test flight of the program the following day. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now
For a fourth time in a little more than a year, SpaceX is preparing to launch a test mission of its massive Starship rocket from its development facility in southern Texas called Starbase. The launch, dubbed Flight 4, will push the launch vehicle towards its goal of being a mostly reusable rocket.
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