Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Starlink 5-3 mission with 48 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Europe’s venerable Ariane 5 rocket blasted off on its 117th and final flight Wednesday, successfully boosting two communications satellites into orbit but leaving the European space program without a large satellite launcher of its own until a delayed successor comes on line.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s navigation camera captured the rotorcraft in shadow during its 52nd flight on April 26, 2023. This image was finally received after Ingenuity was out of communication for 63 days. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
NASA engineers are prepping the miniature Mars helicopter Ingenuity for its 53rd flight across the surface of the Red Planet after re-establishing contact following a two-month radio blackout.
The final Ariane 5 rocket rolls to the launch pad on Monday, July 3, 2023. Image: ESA – S. Corvaja.
Europe’s workhorse Ariane 5 rocket is being retired after 27 years of service. Check this page for live coverage of the countdown and launch. Liftoff from the Guiana Space Center, the European spaceport in South America, is now scheduled for no earlier than Wednesday, July 5. The 65-minute launch window window runs 7 p.m. to 8:05 p.m. local time (6:00-7:05 p.m. EDT / 2200-2305 UTC).
Aerial view of the launch of Ariane 5 V198 on November 26, 2010, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Image: ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE – Optique Video CSG – L. Mira.
Europe’s iconic Ariane 5 rocket, with its liquid hydrogen-fueled core stage and solid rocket boosters, has guaranteed Europe’s access to space, providing a unique capacity for launching satellites and spacecraft into precise orbits over almost three decades.
The last Ariane 5 rocket arrives at the launch pad for its last satellite delivery mission. Image: Arianespace.
The last Ariane 5 rocket was hauled to the launch pad on Monday at the Guiana Space Centre, Europe’s South American spaceport. Ariane 5, which for years was the world’s leading commercial satellite launcher, is scheduled to make its final lift off on Tuesday, carrying a French military satellite and a communications technology testbed spacecraft for Germany.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thunders away from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, boosting the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope on a trajectory to deep space where it will probe the nature of dark energy and dark matter. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
The European Space Agency launched its $1.5 billion Euclid space telescope Saturday, an ambitious, first-of-a-kind attempt to pin down the nature of dark matter, an unknown material pervading the cosmos, and dark energy, the mysterious repulsive force that is speeding up the expansion of the universe.
An artist’s impression of the Euclid space telescope. Image: ESA.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope will blast off from Cape Canaveral on 1 July on a mission to shed light on the ‘dark universe’ dominated by dark matter and dark energy.
VSS Unity ignites its engine after being released from its carrier aircraft. Image: Virgin Galactic.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic launched its first commercial space flight Thursday, sending three Italian researchers, two company pilots and an astronaut trainer on a high-speed thrill ride to the edge of space aboard a winged rocketplane.
Virgin Galactic’s Eve carrier jet carries the VSS Unity on a test flight in April 2023. Image: Virgin Galactic.Four-and-a-half years after an initial sub-orbital test flight, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is finally ready to begin commercial operations with the launch Thursday of a six-man crew, including three Italian researchers, on an up-and-down flight to the edge of space aboard the company’s winged spaceplane.
A prototype of Europe’s reusable Prometheus engine roars to life on the test stand in Vernon, France on June 22, 2023. Image: ArianeGroup.
Europe has successfully completed the first hot-fire test of its reusable Prometheus rocket, a 12-second burn while integrated to the Themis first-stage demonstrator at the ArianeGroup site in Vernon, France.
An overhead drone captures the static test fire of Starship Ship 25 on June 26, 2023. Credit: SpaceX.
SpaceX conducted a six-engine static test fire on Monday of the Starship vehicle that will eventually be paired with a Super Heavy booster for the second test flight of the company’s fully-reusable launch system.
The final Ariane 5 rocket inside the launcher integration building at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/S. Martin
Europe’s last Ariane 5 rocket is now scheduled to lift off July 4 after being grounded for more than two weeks due to a problem with the pyrotechnic systems required to jettison the launcher’s strap-on solid rocket boosters. Europe’s workhorse rocket is being retired after 27 years of service.
SpaceX’s Starship sits atop its Super Heavy booster prior to the the launcher’s first test flight in April 2023. Image: SpaceX.
SpaceX will need another six weeks or so to finish implementing hundreds of changes to its Super Heavy-Starship rocket and the gargantuan booster’s Texas launch pad before it will be ready for a second attempt to reach orbit, company founder Elon Musk said Saturday.
Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 5-12 mission at 9:56 a.m. EDT (1356 UTC) on June 23 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Starlink 5-7 mission with 47 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket with a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office from Space Launch Complex 37B at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.
File photo of Delta 4 rocket boosters inside ULA’s factory in Decatur, Alabama. Credit: NASA
United Launch Alliance has closed its Delta rocket assembly line in Alabama, after the 389th and last Delta rocket rolled out of the factory for the journey to its launch base in Florida, clearing real estate in ULA’s sprawling manufacturing center for the next-generation Vulcan launch vehicle.
Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with PSN’s SATRIA communications satellite from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Monday on the Transporter 8 mission. Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX launched 72 small payloads into polar orbit from California’s Central Coast Monday, delivering satellites to space for customers around the world while accomplishing the 200th landing of a Falcon rocket since the first booster recovery in 2015.
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