ULA’s fully integrated Vulcan rocket with the addition of the payload fairings added on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. On board is the main payload, Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander. Image: ULA
United Launch Alliance achieved a critical milestone towards the debut of its next launch vehicle. On Wednesday, the company integrated the payload fairing on top of its Vulcan rocket, marking the first time it has put together the full stack.
Firefly Aerospace is aiming to launch its fourth Alpha rocket to date before the end of 2023. The ‘Fly the Lightning’ mission will launch a satellite from Lockheed Martin using a satellite bus built by Terran Orbital. Image: Firefly Aerospace
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers opening remarks at the first meeting of the National Space Council, Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021, at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. Chaired by Vice President Harris, the council’s role is to advise the President regarding national space policy and strategy, and ensuring the United States capitalizes on the opportunities presented by the country’s space activities. Image: NASA/Joel Kowsky
The furtherance of international space cooperation is expected to be at the heart of the third meeting of the National Space Council under the Biden-Harris Administration. Building on multilateral agreements, like the Artemis Accords, Harris will focus on what’s deemed the U.S. Novel Space Activities Authorization and Supervision Framework.
A Blue Origin New Shepard rocket lifts off from the launch site in Van Horn, Texas, on the NS-24 mission. This was the first launch of a New Shepard rocket since the vehicle was grounded in the after math of the NS-23 anomaly. Image: Blue Origin
Updated 3:11 p.m. EST: Added comments and additional mission information from Blue Origin.
A Falcon 9 lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Starlink 6-34 mission. Image: Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Monday night after high winds kept the rocket grounded last week. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 with 23 Starlink satellites occurred at 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 UTC).
Join us for a roundup of the week’s space news with reporters covering the big stories. Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith is joined by Sandra Erwin of Space News and Stephen Clark on Ars Technica. Among the stories this week: Falcon Heavy and X-37B spaceplane launch delayed, the inaugural Spacepower Conference held in Orlando, Florida, highlights the challenge posed by China, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket gets closer to launch and United Launch Alliance says it has completed a countdown dress rehearsal and is targeting Jan. 8 for the first flight of its Vulcan launcher.
Update 12:05 a.m. EST: Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket successfully deployed the Tsukuyomi-1 satellite.
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
Update 1:13 a.m. EST: SpaceX delayed the launch until Friday night at 9:19 p.m. PST (12:19 a.m. EST, 0519 UTC).
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on the launch pad ahead of the NS-23 mission. Credit: Blue Origin
After more than a year of being sidelined, Blue Origin is preparing for a resurgence of its New Shepard rocket suborbital flights.
A Falcon 9 stands ready for launch with 23 Starlink satellites on pad 40. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket after delaying a Falcon Heavy launch for the U.S. military. It had planned the launch Monday night, less than three hours after the scheduled launch of a Falcon Heavy from nearby pad 39A. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 with 23 Starlink satellites was tentatively rescheduled for 11:02 p.m. EST (0402 UTC) Tuesday.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket stands ready to launch the USSF-52 mission. The two side boosters are making their fifth flight while the center booster is launching on its first and only flight. Image: Michael Cain
The fifth and final Falcon Heavy mission of 2023 is preparing to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying the X-37B, a secretive spaceplane operated by the U.S. military. The mission, code-named U.S. Space Force (USSF)-52, is set for liftoff during a ten-minute window on Monday, Dec. 10, that opens at 8:14 p.m. EST (0114 UTC).
ULA’s Vulcan rocket sits at the pad at Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) ahead of the start of a wet dress rehearsal tanking test on Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. Image: ULA
The debut of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket may slip from late December into early January, according to the company’s president and CEO, Tory Bruno. In a social media post on Sunday, Bruno said the planned Dec. 24 launch date is “likely out.”
A Falcon 9 carrying 22 Starlink satellites lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Dec. 8, 2023. Image: SpaceX.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted from the West Coast with another batch of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink network at 12:03 a.m. PST Friday (3:03 a.m. EST / 0803 UTC). Including Starship test flights this was SpaceX’s 100th launch in 365 days.
File photo a a Falcon 9 prior to a Starlink satellite delivery mission. Image: SpaceX.
SpaceX is preparing to hit another milestone with its late Wednesday night Starlink mission launch. The flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will mark the company’s 90th orbital launch in 2023 and its 280th Falcon 9 launch to date.
Intuitive Machines engineers loading the IM-1 mission Nova-C lunar lander into its custom container in Houston, TX. Image: Intuitive Machines
In a blend of interesting circumstances and happenstance, two private companies and Japan’s space agency are all poised to land on the Moon in the back half of January 2024.
The Ariane 6 rocket photographed at dusk in French Guiana. During a briefing on Thursday, Nov. 30, ESA officials discussed a summer timeframe for the first launch of the rocket. Image: ESA
Lengthy delays for the debut of Europe’s future flagship rocket may have an end in sight. During a briefing with press on Thursday, European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher announced that Ariane 6 would have its first launch between mid-June and the end of July in 2024.
A Soyuz 2.1a rocket blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome carrying a Progress cargo ship loaded with 5,500 pounds of equipment, supplies and propellant bound for the International Space Station. Image: NASA TV.
A Russian Progress cargo ship loaded with more than 5,500 pounds of supplies and equipment bound for the International Space Station blasted off from Kazakhstan early Friday, kicking off a two-day orbital chase.
A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the Korea 425 mission from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Image: SpaceX
Kicking off the month of December for SpaceX was a Falcon 9 ride share mission with a payload of 25 spacecraft on board. The launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base was headlined by the Korea 425 mission.
A pair of prototype satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet constellation are encapsulated in a pair of payload fairings for launch aboard a ULA Atlas 5 rocket. Image: ULA
Tech giant Amazon is adding a fifth rocket to launch its satellite internet constellation. In a surprise move on Friday afternoon, the company announced it purchased three flights aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets to send batched of its Project Kuiper satellites to low Earth orbit.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaks across the sky above Florida’s Space Coast amid the Starlink 6-31 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein
SpaceX continued a busy weekend with the launch of another batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Saturday night. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 occurred at 11:00 p.m. EST (0400 UTC).
The Falcon Heavy for the USSF 52 mission to launch the U.S. military’s X-37B spaceplane inside the hangar at launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. Image: SpaceX.
Following two Falcon 9 launches from both California and Florida, SpaceX closed out the first weekend of December with a Falcon Heavy static fire test. The ignition of the 27 Merlin engines came a week ahead of the planned launch of a national security mission that has been on the books for half a decade.
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