Space News & Blog Articles

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida before liftoff with the GPS 3 SV06 spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX’s second launch for the U.S. military in three days is set to blast off from Florida and deliver a GPS navigation satellite into orbit Wednesday, reinforcing the global positioning and timing network as four more GPS spacecraft are in storage at a Lockheed Martin factory in Colorado to be launched as needed over the next few years.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket fires away from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida with two U.S. Space Force satellites. Credit: SpaceX

A U.S. military data relay satellite and a rideshare platform with its own suite of payloads rocketed into a sunset sky over Florida’s Space Coast Sunday on a Falcon Heavy launcher, putting on a dazzling show for local residents and visitors as the rocket’s two side boosters returned to Cape Canaveral for landing.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center on the USSF-67 mission for the U.S. Space Force. The mission will deploy two main payloads into geosynchronous orbit, and the Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters will return to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for landing. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

Artist’s concept of a Long Duration Propulsive ESPA spacecraft, based on Northrop Grumman’s ESPAStar satellite bus. Credit: Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Space Force say converted launch vehicle payload adapter rings, upgraded with power and propulsion to create full-fledged satellites, are proving effective in more rapidly delivering military instruments and sensors to orbit. Another such mission is set to launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket Saturday.

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Falcon Heavy’s 27 Merlin engines. Credit: SpaceX

Two U.S. military satellites set to ride SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket into geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth were mated with their launch vehicle Friday at Kennedy Space Center ahead of a scheduled liftoff Saturday just after sunset.

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule streaks through the atmosphere on the way to splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tampa, Florida. Credit: SpaceX

A SpaceX-owned Dragon cargo capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico early Wednesday, returning 4,400 pounds of science equipment and hardware from the International Space Station after a 45-day resupply mission.

ABL’s RS1 rocket lifts off from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on Wednesday. Credit: ABL Space Systems

ABL Space Systems’ first RS1 rocket fell back on its launch pad at Kodiak Island, Alaska, shortly after liftoff Tuesday on the company’s first orbital launch attempt, destroying the rocket and damaging the ground facility, officials said.

Russia’s Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft undergoing launch preparations last year at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Energia

Russian space agency and NASA officials said Wednesday they will accelerate the launch of the next Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, and fly it to the complex next month without anyone on-board to replace a Soyuz crew ferry ship damaged Dec. 14 by a high-speed impact, likely from a tiny particle from deep space.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Starlink 2-4 mission with 51 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.

Virgin Orbit’s Boeing 747 carrier aircraft takes off from Spaceport Cornwall Monday night to begin the ill-fated “Start Me Up” mission. Credit: Virgin Orbit

An investigation has been launched after an attempt to make space history by sending satellites into orbit from British soil for the first time ended in failure Monday night due to an anomaly in the second stage of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket.

Live coverage of preparations for launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket on the U.S. Space Force’s USSF-67 mission. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.

Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:50 p.m. EST (0450 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, with 40 OneWeb internet satellites. Our live stream will also cover the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12:35 a.m. EST (9:35 p.m. PST; 0535 GMT) with 51 Starlink internet satellites. Follow us on Twitter.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, in this file photo before a launch in December. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX’s first launch of Starlink internet satellites this year is set to blast off from California’s Central Coast Monday night, but high winds and storms could stand in the way of the Falcon 9 rocket lifting off with 51 new broadband relay stations.

File photo of two OneWeb satellites at the company’s factory in Merritt Island, Florida. Credit: Airbus OneWeb Satellites

SpaceX is set to deliver 40 more internet satellites into orbit for OneWeb with a late-night blastoff Monday from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, followed by landing of the first stage booster back at the Florida spaceport less than 10 minutes later.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket. The air-launched rocket will climb into orbit with nine small satellite payloads after release from a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft after taking off from Spaceport Cornwall in South West England. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.



Virgin Orbit’s carrier aircraft arrived at Spaceport Cornwall from the company’s home base in Mojave, California, late last year for final launch preparations. Credit: Virgin Orbit

A new chapter in spaceflight history will be made Monday when the first ever satellites to be launched into orbit from Western Europe begin their journey into space inside a rocket slung beneath a converted jumbo jet carrier aircraft that will take off from Cornwall on the southwest peninsula of England.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket for the USSF-67 mission inside the integration hangar at Launch Complex 39A. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX is set to kick off a busy week of launch preparations at Kennedy Space Center for the first of five planned Falcon Heavy rocket missions this year, targeting a dusk departure no earlier than Thursday evening from Launch Complex 39A on a flight for the U.S. Space Force.

The next piece of SpaceX’s growing Starship infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center arrived at Launch Complex 39A on Friday. A carriage apparatus for the Starship pad’s mechanized chopstick arm system rolled to the complex for installation on the launch pad tower.

A truck carrying NASA’s Orion spacecraft from the Artemis 1 test flight arrived back at Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 30. Credit: NASA

Fresh off the 1.4-million-mile Artemis 1 test flight around around the moon, NASA’s Orion spacecraft arrived Dec. 30 back at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where technicians will offload propellants and payloads, and begin removing internal hardware destined to fly back to the moon with astronauts on the next Orion crew capsule in 2024.