Space News & Blog Articles

Falcon Heavy streaks towards orbit in this long exposure as the side boosters perform entry and landing burns before touching down at Cape Canaveral. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.

SpaceX launched the world’s heaviest commercial communications satellite atop a Falcon Heavy rocket on Friday. The triple-core rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A with the Jupiter 3/EchoStar 24 satellite at 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 UTC Saturday).

Falcon Heavy stands on the launch pad early this morning as a Falcon 9 lifts off from pad 40 on a Starlink delivery mission. Image: SpaceX.

SpaceX will make another attempt Friday to launch the world’s heaviest commercial communications satellite atop a Falcon Heavy rocket after technical problems halted a countdown on Wednesday. Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39A with the Jupiter 3/EchoStar 24 satellite is scheduled for 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 UTC Saturday).

File photo of SpaceX’s Starlink V2 Mini satellites inside a payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral. Image: SpaceX

Update 10:28 p.m. EDT:

Falcon Heavy (left) and Falcon 9 missions could launch within 44 minutes of each other. Images: SpaceX/Spaceflight Now

SpaceX could break the record for the shortest time between Cape Canaveral launches Thursday night if it can launch a Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy in quick succession. But achieving that assumes the weather cooperates and any technical issues with the Falcon Heavy can be resolved.

Falcon Heavy stands ready to launch the heaviest commercial communications satellite ever, the Jupiter 3/EchoStar 24 satellite. Image: SpaceX.

SpaceX rolled a Falcon Heavy to the launch pad early Wednesday morning ahead of its planned liftoff tonight at 11:04 p.m. EDT (0304 UTC) with the Jupiter 3/EchoStar 24 satellite, the heaviest commercial communications satellite ever launched.

File photo of SpaceX’s Starlink V2 Mini satellites inside a payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX will make another attempt to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral after thunderstorms postponed the mission on Saturday. The rocket with 22 second-generation Starlink satellites aboard is now scheduled to liftoff at 7:09 p.m. EDT (2309 UTC) but weather is again expected to be a problem.

SpaceX is planning to launch 22 more second-generation Starlink satellites into orbit Saturday evening from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:34 p.m. EDT (2334 UTC).

A rendering of Amazon’s proposed satellite processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The 100,000-square-foot facility will be used to prepare satellites for its Project Kuiper internet constellation for launch aboard rockets from ULA and Blue Origin.

On Friday, online retail giant amazon will join with members of Space Florida to reveal its plans for a 100,000-square-foot satellite processing facility located at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

A Falcon 9 rocket rises through a thick layer of fog at Vandenberg Space Force Base as it launches 15 second-generation Starlink satellites. Image: SpaceX.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is lifted off Wednesday night/Thursday morning carrying the first batch of second-generation Starlink satellites to be lofted from the West Coast. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 9:09 p.m. PDT (1209 a.m. EDT / 0409 UTC July 19).

Live commentary will begin at 9 p.m. PDT / 12 a.m. EDT / 0400 UTC in our Launch Pad Live Stream. Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1B on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand with seven small satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Threads or Twitter.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1B on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand with seven small satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Threads.

For the second time this week, SpaceX is pushing the envelope by flying a Falcon 9 rocket for a 16th time. Booster 1060 is now scheduled to liftoff from Cape Canaveral’s pad 40 at 11:50 p.m. EDT (0350 UTC) Saturday carrying 54 Starlink satellites into orbit. Just last Sunday, Booster 1058 launched 22 second-generation Starlink satellites, becoming the first Falcon 9 rocket to make a 16th flight. Previously, the reusable Falcon 9 first stage booster had only been certified for 15 missions.

File photo close up of a Falcon 9 static fire. Image: SpaceX.

SpaceX will test fire a Falcon 9 on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral tonight to clear the booster for its 16th flight. A launch attempt early Friday was aborted in the final minute of the countdown. SpaceX did not disclose the reason for the scrub.

For the third time in its space program, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch a mission to the Moon. India is hoping for a more successful outcome this time around after a failed attempt to land safely on the Moon back in 2019.

For the second time this week, SpaceX will push the envelope by flying a Falcon 9 rocket for a 16th time. The rocket is scheduled to liftoff from Cape Canaveral’s pad 40 at 12:40 a.m. EDT (0440 UTC) carrying more Starlink satellites into orbit. On Sunday night another booster lifted off from the same launch pad becoming the first Falcon 9 rocket to make a 16th flight.

The Blue Origin BE-4 first stage engines of United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket were successfully test fired June 7 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: ULA.

The debut of United Launch Alliance’s next generation rocket, the Vulcan Centaur, is now scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023, following an investigation into a mishap that destroyed an upper-stage test article, company CEO and President Tory Bruno said during a media briefing on Thursday.

A stellar nursery in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex as imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI)

Celebrating the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year of science operations, NASA released a mesmerising new image of a nearby stellar nursery where 50 or so sun-size stars are blazing or just switching on in shimmering clouds of interstellar hydrogen.

The final Ariane 5 roars away from the Guiana Space Centre on July 5, 2023. Photo: ESA – S. Corvaja.

Europe is facing months without its own independent access to space for large satellites following the retirement of its heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket this week after notching up its 117th and final mission over 27 years of operations.

Booster 1058 is a distinctive member of the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 fleet because it was emblazoned with a red NASA ‘worm’ logo prior to the May 2020 flight of Demo-2, the first Cred Dragon mission to carry astronauts. This photo of the soot-covered booster was captured in December 2020 after the CRS-21 space station cargo resupply mission, its fourth launch and landing. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.

SpaceX will test the limits of its reusable Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday evening when it launches a booster on a record-breaking 16th flight. The launch was originally scheduled before dawn on Sunday but SpaceX opted to target a rare 12-hour-later backup opportunity in the evening, 13 minutes after sunset. The Falcon 9 is now scheduled to liftoff from Cape Canaveral at 8:36 p.m. EDT (0036 UTC Monday) with the fifth batch of second-generation Starlink satellites.

SpaceX lofted another batch of Starlink internet satellites into orbit on Friday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A Falcon 9, carrying 48 satellites inside its payload fairing, lifted off at 12:29:50 p.m. PDT (3:29:50 p.m. EDT; 1929:50 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4-East.

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.