Space News & Blog Articles

Update 12:05 a.m. EST: Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket successfully deployed the Tsukuyomi-1 satellite.

Rocket Lab launched its first flight of its Electron rocket since a failure on Sept. 19. The 42nd mission for the small-satellite launcher lifted off on Dec. 15 from New Zealand during at about 1705 NZDT (0405 UTC or 11:05 p.m. EST).

The Electron rocket launched the “The Moon God Awakens” mission from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Pad B, on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. This was a dedicated mission for Japan-based Earth imaging company iQPS (Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc.). The Tsukuyomi-1 synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite joins another iQPS satellite on orbit to capture high-resolution views of Earth as closely as a 1 meter-square view.

Eventually, it will be part of a 36-satellite constellation designed to monitor fixed points on Earth every 10 minutes. iQPS said it aims to have its full constellation deployed by 2025 or later.

“We are deeply grateful to the Rocket Lab team for their efforts in arranging the launch opportunity that aligns perfectly with our desired orbit,” said iQPS CEO Shunsuke Onishi in a statement. “Additionally, we take great pride in our team, working tirelessly day by day to accommodate this tight timeline.”

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.

In a social media post, the company stated that the launch window for its uncrewed return-to-flight mission dubbed NS-24 opens on Monday, Dec. 18.

Blue Origin said this mission will feature 33 science and research payloads in addition to 38,000 postcards that are part of the company’s youth outreach program, Club for the Future.

The company didn’t publish the manifest of individual payloads when it made the announcement, but they could include some of the 36 payloads that previously were onboard the NS-23 mission.

In a March 2023 statement, Blue Origin said that “the Crew Capsule and all payloads onboard landed safely and will be flown again.” It went on to state that its return to flight would be “a re-flight of the NS-23 payloads.”

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.

If the doubleheader with the Falcon Heavy goes off om Tuesday it would be the shortest interval between orbital launches from Cape Canaveral since the Gemini program in the 1960s. With the Falcon Heavy scheduled for launch no earlier than at 8:14 p.m. EST on Tuesday, the Falcon 9 would follow two hours and 48 minutes later.

U.S. Space Force meteorologists at the 45th Weather Squadron said Sunday there was an 60-percent chance of acceptable weather for the Falcon 9 launch on Wednesday, with liftoff winds and thick clouds being the concerns.

Spaceflight Now’s live coverage of the launch will get underway about an hour before liftoff. You can also watch 24-7 views of launch pads at the Cape in our Launch Pad Live stream.

The Falcon 9 booster for Tuesday’s Starlink 6-34 mission, tail number B1081, is making its third flight. It previously flew two missions for NASA, one carrying Dragon Endurance in August with a four-member crew to the International Space Station and the other being a Cargo Dragon on a space station resupply mission 32 days ago in November.

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).

The mission had been scheduled to liftoff Sunday evening but was delayed 24 hours. In a post on social media, SpaceX did not provide a specific reason for the delay, but stated it would allow “time to complete additional pre-launch check outs.”

This will be the seventh mission for the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) since its space debut in 2010 and the first time it has flown aboard the triple-booster Falcon Heavy rocket. SpaceX launched the fifth OTV mission in September 2017 on a Falcon 9. The other five flights of the spaceplane used the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 501 rocket.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage of the mission starting an hour and 30 minutes ahead of liftoff.

As with prior flights of the military spaceplane, much about the mission remains undisclosed, including it’s orbit and activities after liftoff. In a statement the U.S. Space Force said: “The use of a Falcon Heavy rocket will expand the X-37B flight envelope, launching into a new orbital regime, and enabling unique experimentation opportunities for the X-37B.”

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.”

The statement comes a couple days after the rocket conducted a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR), where the vehicle was fully fueled and went the countdown was to proceed to the final seconds before cutting off. But Bruno said a “couple of routine ground issues came up near the end” of the test.

Ground teams were targeting a T-0 of 4:30 p.m. EST on Friday. Based on observations of venting during the operation it appeared the countdown reached its final four minutes before an abort occurred. The Vulcan vehicle left the launch pad and returned to the Vertical Integration Facility building at launch complex 41 Saturday afternoon.

“I’d like a full WDR before our first flight, so [Christmas] Eve is likely out,” Bruno said in his post on X. He added that they are working on schedules but Spaceflight Now understands another test has been scheduled for as soon as Tuesday.

#VulcanRocket WDR update: Vehicle performed well. Ground system had a couple of (routine) issues, (being corrected). Ran the timeline long so we didn't quite finish. I'd like a FULL WDR before our first flight, so XMAS eve is likely out. Next Peregrine window is 8 Jan.

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.

The Starlink 7-8 mission began from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and departed on a south-easterly direction, targeting a 183×178 mile (295×286 km) orbit, inclined at 53 degrees to the equator. SpaceX’s webcast encountered technical difficulties and did not show the liftoff. It was the fastest turnaround for SpaceX’s West Coast launch pad with six days, 13 hours, 43 minutes and 57 seconds passing since the last launch from SLC-4E, beating the previous record set on Oct. 29, 2023, by almost 36 hours.

This was the:

281st Falcon 9 launch to date87th Falcon 9 launch of 202391st SpaceX orbital launch of 2023100th SpaceX launch in the last 365 days98th SpaceX orbital launch in the last 365 days59th SpaceX orbital launch from pad SLC-4E109th overall orbital launch from pad SLC-4E27th orbital launch of 2023 from Vandenberg Space Force Base200th overall orbital launch attempt of 2023

 
The first stage booster, making its 13th flight, previously launched the NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, Transporter-9 missions. Plus six previous Starlink delivery missions. After completing its burn, the first stage landed on the drone ship ‘Of Course I still Love You’ stationed about 400 miles downrange (644km) in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.

Falcon 9 booster 1071 approaches touchdown on the drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ as it neared the end of its 13th fight. Image: SpaceX.

SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 22 Starlink satellites will occur just over an hour after launch in a social media post. This was the 40th launch of a batch of the V2 Mini Starlink model since it was introduced earlier this year. This new version is much larger than the previous V1.5 satellites and is equipped with upgraded antennae and larger solar panels, and are capable of delivering four times more bandwidth.

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.

Liftoff of the Starlink 6-33 mission is set for 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage of the mission starting an hour before liftoff on YouTube.

Weather for the mission is ideal at liftoff, but meteorologists have their eye on the picture downrange as well. Liftoff winds are the only watch item in a forecast that predicts 95 percent favorable weather.

“A secondary push of cold air will filter into the area [on Wednesday], bringing clear skies and a stronger pressure gradient over the Space Coast,” the launch forecast stated. “This will result in gusty surface winds through tomorrow evening which will slowly diminish through the launch window, so liftoff winds remain the only concern.”

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 Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines are all exercising distinct launch and landing options to reach the lunar surface. But all three have announced timelines that would see them land on the Moon within days of each other, if everything stays on track at this point.

While avoiding further timeline slipping is far from a certainty, Earth’s satellite could see its busiest month ever in terms of new spacecraft arriving.

As it happens, the last lander scheduled to launch could be the first to touch down on the Moon. Intuitive Machine’s Nova-C lander is targeting liftoff between Jan. 12-16 and is set to land at the Moon’s South Pole (80.297°S, 1.2613°E) on either Jan. 19 or 21.

A spokesperson for Intuitive Machines said the landing opportunity for both days is in the afternoon in EST.

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.

The U.S. Space Systems Command said the USSF-52 mission is targeting liftoff no earlier than Sunday, Dec. 10. The launch window has not been announced publicly. It will be the first time the Falcon Heavy has conducted a launch for the U.S. military’s secretive X-37B spaceplane project. It will be the eighth Falcon Heavy launch to date and the seventh mission for the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle.

U.S. Space Systems Command noted that this will be the fifth mission in 2023 for the Assured Access to Space (AATS) Directorate:

USSF-67 – Jan. 15 (Falcon Heavy, SpaceX)GPS III-6 – Jan. 18 (Falcon 9, SpaceX)NROL-68 – June 21 (Delta 4 Heavy, ULA)NROL-107 – Sept. 10 (Atlas 5, ULA)USSF-52 – NET Dec. 10 (Falcon Heavy, SpaceX)

“Our national security space launches transport our most important capabilities into orbit,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, Program Executive Officer for AATS and Commander, Space Launch Delta 45, in a statement. “We partner closely with our launch service providers, and the entire team is focused on executing a successful mission.”

The launch contract was awarded to SpaceX as part of the Phase 1A National Security Space Launch (NSSL) procurement. The launch contract with SpaceX for this mission is valued at about $155 million according to SSC and will feature side boosters that are flying for their fifth time.

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).

Overcoming weather hurdles, the Starlink 6-31 mission marked SpaceX’s second launch in less than 40 hours. U.S. Space Force meteorologists had been concerned about the potential for rocket-trigger lightning from thick cloud layers and cumulus clouds. They also listed a low to moderate risk of upper level wind shear posing a threat. But in the end the Falcon 9 faced only a thin layer of cloud cover in the sky over Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX had pushed back the launch from Friday night. It did not provide an explanation but the Falcon 9 was not on the pad in time for the original launch date.

The first-stage booster for this launch, tail number B1078, was making its sixth flight after first launching the Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station on March 2, 2023. It also launched the O3b mPOWER 3 and 4 satellites as well as three Starlink missions.

About eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, it landed on the droneship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” out in the Atlantic Ocean. According to SpaceX, it was the 251st landing of an orbital class rocket after the Korea 425 mission’s landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base’s Landing Zone 4 claimed the distinction of landing number 250 on Friday.

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.

The news was unexpected by many since the launch company, owned by Elon Musk, was previously left out of an historically large launch purchase when Amazon acquired 77 launches using Arianespace’s Ariane 6, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rockets in spring 2022.

This purchase was on top of the previously announced nine launches using ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket. The first of these nine was used to launch the first two prototype satellites in October due to Vulcan delays.

In a blog post, Amazon stated that it three flights on board Falcon 9 rockets would start in mid-2025 and would “offer even more capacity to support our deployment schedule.” Spaceflight Now reached out to Amazon for further details, but a spokesperson said the blog post was the extent of their statement on Project Kuiper for the time being.

Ticking clock

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.

The rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at 10:19 a.m. PST (1:19 EST, 1819 UTC). The launch is set to be the first of two missions SpaceX plans to launch over the weekend. The company aims to launch another batch of 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The booster for the mission, B1061, made its 17th flight after previously launching the Crew-1 and Crew-2 missions along with the fourth and fifth Transporter rideshare missions. This launch also marked the first time a Falcon 9 first stage with more than 15 previous flight will support a non-Starlink mission.

Following launch, the booster landed back at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at VSFB about eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.

Headlining the slate of 25 spacecraft on board the Friday morning launch was a satellite for South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and its 425 Project. It features a 30cm resolution electro-optic (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors.

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.

Perched atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket, the Progress MS-25/86P spacecraft took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 4:25 a.m. EST (2:25 p.m. local time) and slipped into the planned preliminary orbit eight minutes and 45 seconds later.

The Progress then separated, spread its solar wings and set off after the space station in the first stages of a two-day 34-orbit rendezvous. If all goes well, the spacecraft will catch up with the lab complex early Sunday, guiding itself into a docking at the Russian space-facing Poisk module around 6:15 a.m.

The space freighter is delivering 3,423 pounds of spare parts, other equipment and supplies, 88 pounds of nitrogen, 926 pounds of water and 1,135 pounds of propellant used to help maintain the station’s orbit.

The Progress launching was the first of two and possibly three flights to orbit Friday.

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.

The announcement comes a week after a seven-minute hot fire test of the rocket’s core stage engines in Kourou, French Guiana. The hefty delays to a launch vehicle that was originally supposed to debut in 2020 stem from a combination of “very severe” technical issues and a mismanaged schedule, according to Aschbacher.

“When I started as DG of ESA some two and a half years ago, I asked immediately for an assessment of the situation on Ariane 6 and it became crystal clear after a few months of very intense investigations that the schedule and some technical issues on Ariane 6 are not in a very good shape,” he said. “This is something that of course is highly disturbing.”

The intention was for the Ariane 6 to start flying while overlapping the Ariane 5, so that there would be a smooth transition of launch capabilities, similar to what United Launch Alliance is doing with its shift away from its Atlas 5 and Delta 4 Heavy rockets and towards Vulcan.

ESA was hit with a double whammy when its small launch vehicle, Vega C, was grounded late last year following an anomaly about 150 seconds into flight.

A Dual Engine Centaur upper stage for Atlas V nears completion at the factory in Decatur, Alabama. The RL10 engine marked 60 years of flight on Nov. 27, 2023. Image: United Launch Alliance

A rocket engine with a long pedigree marked a big milestone on Monday. It’s 60 years since the hydrogen-fueled RL10 engine debuted onboard a Centaur upper stage launched from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 27, 1963.

With that first launch, the RL10 engine, currently manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne, became the first engine powered by a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to be fired in space. The milestone came at a pivotal time for the United States, since it was just five days after the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.

Since that point 60 years ago, 522 RL10 engines have flown in space, with the lion’s share of those flights aboard United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta and Atlas rockets. These engines power the Delta Cryogenic Second Stage and Centaur upper stage respectively.

“Centaur and the RL10 have made it possible for us to launch spacecraft at greater size and weight over any of the other upper stage designs in use,” said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of government and commercial programs, during a media event celebrating the milestone. “It has delivered fantastic missions to the Sun, our Moon, asteroids, every planet in the [solar] system.”

The engine was developed by Pratt & Whitney in the late 1950s through the oversight of NASA’s Lewis Research Center, which was renamed the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in 1999. Centaur was originally developed by General Dynamics.

A Falcon 9 heads on a south-easterly trajectory from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 28, 2023, carrying a batch of Starlink satellites into orbit. Image: Pete Carstens.

The next batch of Starlink satellites for SpaceX’s space-based internet service soared into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Monday night from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Liftoff occurred at 11:20 p.m. EST (0420 UTC) the Falcon 9 piercing a thin layer of cloud as it headed on southerly trajectory as it targeted an orbit inclined at 43 degrees.

The first stage booster flying on this mission, tail number 1062, made its 17th flight. It previously supported two crewed missions with the Ax-1 private astronaut mission to the International Space Station as well as the Inspiration4 mission.

The Falcon 9 first stage landed on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” about eight and a half minutes after launch. The droneship, a converted ocean-going barge, is one of three operated by SpaceX, and was stationed about 420 miles (620km) downrange, East of the Bahamas. The two halves of the payload fairing parachuted to a splashdown a little further downrange where they were to be scooped up by SpaceX’s support vessel “Bob”.

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

SpaceX confirmed in a social media post that the 23 Starlink satellites were deployed as planned from the second-stage of the Falcon 9 a little over an hour into the mission. The successful flight will bring the total number of Starlink satellites launched to 5,514.

SpaceX was racing to get a Falcon 9 rocket ready to fly from Cape Canaveral Tuesday evening as launch preparations fell behind schedule. Currently liftoff with a batch of 23 Starlink satellites is planned for 1:47 a.m. EST (0647 UTC) Wednesday morning.

The Starlink 6-29 mission was originally targeted for 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 UTC) on Tuesday night but SpaceX pushed back the launch to 1:47 a.m. EST (0647 UTC). There are three more launch opportunities Wednesday morning, the last one coming at 2:59 a.m. EST (0759 UTC).

The Falcon 9 rocket was lifted upright at Space Launch Complex 40 shortly before 10 p.m. EST (0300 UTC), much later than would have been expected. The previous mission from pad 40 lifted off just four days earlier so if the current launch time sticks this would be the seventh fastest turnaround attempt for the launch facility.

The Falcon 9 rocket is lifted upright at Space Launch Complex 40 as SpaceX presses ahead with plans for a Starlink delivery mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

U.S. Space Force meteorologists at the 45th Weather squadron said Monday weather conditions would be 90-percent favorable at the time of the first opportunity with chances dropping slightly to 75-percent at the end of the launch window.

After lifting off from Cape Canaveral, the Falcon 9 will set off on a south-easterly trajectory targeting an orbit inclined 43 degrees to the Equator. After burning its nine Merlin 1D engines for nearly two and a half minutes, the first stage will separate from the second stage and continue downrange to land on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean, about 424 miles (682 km) from the launch site.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California carrying 22 Starlink satellites on Nov 20, 2023. Image: Space X.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from the West Coast with another batch of 22 Starlink satellites at 2:30 a.m. PST Monday (5:30 a.m. EST / 1030 UTC).

On this 55th Starlink delivery mission of the year, the Falcon 9 headed in a south-easterly direction after lifting off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California targeting a 183×178 mile (295×286 km) orbit, inclined at 53 degrees to the equator.

It was the second time SpaceX had fueled this Falcon 9. Early Sunday morning, a countdown for the Falcon 9 was halted with just minutes left on the clock. SpaceX said it was “standing down” in a social media post about seven minutes after the planned liftoff time. It did not provide a reason for the aborted launch attempt. The Starlink 7-7 mission had already been delayed by a day. This latest attempt has been repeatedly pushed back from the original launch time of 10:33 p.m. PST and is now targeting the last launch opportunity of the night.

The first stage booster, making its 15th flight, previously launched the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb and the Space Development Agency Tranche 0B missions. Plus nine previous Starlink delivery missions. After completing its burn, the first stage landed on the drone ship ‘Of Course I still Love You’ stationed about 400 miles downrange (644km) in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.

SpaceX first-stage booster B1063 after landing on the drone ship at the conclusion of its 15th flight. Image: SpaceX.

Deployment of the 22 V2 Mini Starlink satellites occurred* just over an hour after launch and was confirmed by SpaceX in a social media post. The V2 Mini model was introduced earlier this year and is much larger than the V1.5 satellites. Equipped with upgraded antennae and larger solar panels, the latest models can delivery four times the bandwidth of the previous satellites.

Starship thunders away from its launch pad on its second test flight, trailing a one thousand foot exhaust plume. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

SpaceX’s gargantuan Super Heavy-Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, blasted off on its second test flight Saturday and while the initial stages of the mission went smoothly, the first stage broke apart moments after separation from the Starship upper stage, which then blew itself up as it neared space.

Viewed as a successful learning experience by SpaceX, it was the second failure in a row to get the Starship upper stage into space, a frustrating disappointment for Elon Musk’s rocket company and a potentially major setback for NASA, which is counting on the Starship to carry Artemis astronauts to the surface of the moon in the next few years.

While SpaceX’s philosophy is to fly frequently, learn from mistakes and fly again, NASA will require a long string of successful missions before the agency will deem it safe to put astronauts aboard. SpaceX will no doubt resolve the issues that derailed Saturday’s flight, but every delay poses a threat to NASA’s moon landing timeline.

But SpaceX, at least, viewed the launching as more of a success than a failure.

“Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting second integrated flight test of Starship!” the company posted on X. “Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster and made it through stage separation”

Our live webcast from Starbase, Texas, will get underway at 5 a.m. CST / 6 a.m. EST / 1300 UTC. Our coverage of the countdown and launch is brought to you in partnership with our colleagues at LabPadre.