SpaceX’s fully fueled Starship and Super Heavy booster during the first launch attempt Monday, April 17. Credit: SpaceX
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, did his best to set low expectations heading into the first test flight of the gargantuan Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket this week.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of SpaceX’s first full-scale Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket from Starbase, SpaceX’s development and test facility at Boca Chica Beach, Texas. 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 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 6-2 mission at 9:47 a.m. EDT (1347 GMT) on April 19 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.
Watch a live 24-7 stream of space operations from Starbase, Texas, and Cape Canaveral, Florida. Starbase views courtesy LabPadre.
SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicle fully fueled during a launch attempt Monday in South Texas. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now
SpaceX scrubbed the first test launch of its huge new rocket Monday due to a frozen valve in the pressurization system on the 33-engine Super Heavy booster, delaying the widely-anticipated flight from South Texas until at least Thursday.
Artist’s illustration of the Starship and Super Heavy booster in flight. Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX’s Starship is set to propel itself into the record books today on its maiden flight, becoming the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket ever launched by humankind into space, topping a role call of famous and history-making heavy-lift launch vehicles including the mighty Saturn 5 that first took humans to the moon.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of SpaceX’s first full-scale Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket from Starbase, SpaceX’s development and test facility at Boca Chica Beach, Texas. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
We captured the sights and sounds of SpaceX’s Starbase launch complex in Texas on the eve of the first launch attempt for the fully-stacked Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket on a test flight aiming for near orbital velocity.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with 51 small satellites and payloads. Credit: SpaceX
After several delays to wait for improved weather, SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 rocket into space late Friday night from California’s Central Coast with 51 small satellites, payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles from customers around the world.
A European Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from the Guiana Space Center with the Juicy Icy Moons Explorer mission. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/JM Guillon
An Ariane 5 rocket took off from French Guiana Friday with the heaviest interplanetary science probe ever launched, kicking off a $1.7 billion European Space Agency mission on a decade-long quest to Jupiter’s icy moons in search of environments that could be habitable for life.
SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy rocket on their launch pad in South Texas. Credit: SpaceX
The Federal Aviation Administration approved a commercial license Friday for the first full-scale test flight of SpaceX’s nearly 400-foot-tall Super Heavy and Starship mega-rocket from South Texas, a launch SpaceX said could happen as soon as Monday morning.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California with 51 CubeSats, microsatellites, hosted payloads, and orbital transfer vehicles on the Transporter 7 rideshare mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
File photo of SpaceX’s Ship 24 vehicle, slated to fly on the Starship integrated flight test. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now
SpaceX continues to prepare for a launch attempt as soon as next week for the first test flight of its Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket, with final work on the ship’s self-destruct system, data reviews, and the receipt of an FAA license still to come before teams proceed into a countdown in South Texas.
The test-firing of 27 engines on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket Thursday sent a plume of exhaust out of the flame trench at Launch Complex 39A. Credit: Spaceflight Now
SpaceX test-fired 27 main engines on a Falcon Heavy rocket Thursday in Florida, clearing a hurdle before installing three commercial communications satellites on the launcher for a mission to geostationary orbit next week.
The Ariane 5 rocket after rollout to its launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana. Credit: ESA/S. Corvaja
The liftoff of Europe’s first mission to Jupiter aboard an Ariane 5 rocket was scrubbed Thursday in French Guiana due to a high risk of lightning at the launch site, delaying until Friday the start of the JUICE spacecraft’s voyager of exploration.
These photos and a time lapse video from the European Space Agency chronicle the final preparations for launch of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, spacecraft from the Guiana Space Center on the second-to-last Ariane 5 rocket.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or JUICE, spacecraft is buttoned up for launch inside the payload fairing of an Ariane 5 rocket. The illustration on the Ariane 5 payload fairing was the winning submission in a children’s art competition, drawn by eight-year-old Yaryna from Ukraine. Credit:
ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut
The European Space Agency’s $1.7 billion robotic Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer mission is ready for liftoff Thursday from French Guiana, beginning an eight-year cruise to the solar system’s largest planet before becoming the first-ever spacecraft to orbit one of Jupiter’s moons in the 2030s.
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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket for the ViaSat 3 Americas mission inside the hangar at Launch Complex 39A. Credit: SpaceX
SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy mission, set for April 18 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will launch a powerhouse bus-sized broadband satellite for Viasat into a high-altitude circular geostationary orbit, a demanding flight profile that will require disposal of all three of the rocket’s reusable boosters.
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