Space News & Blog Articles

A Falcon 9 stands ready for the Starlink 6-46 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

SpaceX is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Monday evening with 23 Starlink satellites on board. This mission will mark the 175th launch for SpaceX from its workhorse pad to date.

Liftoff of the Starlink 6-46 mission is set for 7:42 p.m. EDT (2342 UTC) from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40). This will also be the 20th mission launching from Florida in 2024.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about one hour prior to liftoff.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1078 in the SpaceX fleet, will be launching for an eighth time. It previously launched NASA’s Crew-6 mission, SES’ O3b mPOWER 3 &4 satellites, the USSF-124 mission and four Starlink flights.

About eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff, B1078 will land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ This will be the 62nd landing on ASOG and the 228th booster landing to date.

A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch at pad 39A on a mission to deliver another 23 Starlink satellites to orbit. Image: Spaceflight Now.

SpaceX is gearing up for the first of two Starlink missions from Cape Canaveral in 48 hours. A Falcon 9 rocket will launch from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 7:39 p.m. EDT on Saturday, one minute after sunset. It will be followed by another Falcon 9 from nearby pad 40 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday.

In a forecast issued by the 45th Weather Squadron on Friday, Space Force meteorologists gave Saturday’s launch a 75-percent chance of acceptable weather. The main concerns are for highs winds and breaching the cumulus cloud rule associated with the risk of lightning.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage with commentary of the launch starting about an hour prior to liftoff.

The mission was originally scheduled for Friday evening but SpaceX abandoned that attempt citing bad weather. The decision to scrub the launch came Friday afternoon as the rocket was rolling out of the hangar at launch complex 39A. The Falcon 9 was not raised vertical until late Friday night.

The Falcon 9 first stage assigned to the Starlink 6-42 mission will be making a record-tying 19th flight. Booster 1060 first flew in June 2020 and has made 12 previous Starlink delivery missions. It most recently launched on Feb. 15 placing the IM-1 commercial lunar lander on course for the Moon.

Photographers capture the liftoff of the Soyuz MS-25 mission bound for the International Space Station. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls.

Two days after a rare last-second launch abort, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off Saturday on a flight to the International Space Station, carrying two short-duration crew members and a NASA astronaut bound for a six-month tour of duty.

Soyuz MS-25/71S commander Oleg Novitskiy, Belarus guest cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya and NASA veteran Tracy Dyson thundered away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 8:36 a.m. EDT (5:36 p.m. local time) and slipped into orbit eight minutes and 45 seconds later.

Launch originally was planned for last Thursday, but the countdown was aborted inside 20 seconds to launch when computers detected low voltage readings in the Soyuz 2.1a rocket’s first stage electrical system.

It was the first ever such abort for a Soyuz rocket, and it took Russian engineers a day to review telemetry, pinpoint the problem and replace suspect batteries. Subsequent testing showed all systems were go for a second launch attempt Saturday.

As the Soyuz countdown ticked toward a late afternoon launch in Kazakhstan, a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship launched Thursday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station caught up with the space station and moved in for docking at 7:19 a.m., bringing 6,200 pounds of science gear, spare parts and crew supplies to the lab complex, including fresh food and coffee kits.

Expedition 71 NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya are seen in quarantine, behind glass, during a press conference, Wednesday, March 20, 2024 a the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Dyson, Novitskiy, and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya are scheduled to launch aboard their Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft on March 21. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls

A Russian cosmonaut, an American astronaut and a Belarusian flight attendant turned spaceflight participant are preparing for a mission to the International Space Station. Their arrival at the orbiting outpost will mark the beginning of Expedition 71.

Liftoff onboard a Soyuz 2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is set for 4:21 p.m. MSK (9:21 a.m. ET, 1321 UTC). Oleg Novistky, Tracy Dyson and Marina Vasilevskaya make up the trio of the MS-25 mission.

They are set to dock with the space station at about 11:39 p.m. MSK (12:39 p.m. ET, 1639 UTC). This will be the fourth trip to the ISS for Novitsky, the third trip for Dyson and the first trip for Vasilevskaya.

Novitsky, 52, served as the commander for his three previous flights and will hold the position again on this mission. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in Russia with a speciality in military unit management and formations in 2006 and went on to graduate from the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in 2015. He amassed more than 700 hours of flight time in his career.

He began his cosmonaut training in February 2007 and was named a test cosmonaut in July 2009.

For the first time, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon 2 spacecraft on top is positioned in launch configuration at pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX is gearing up for the next phase of launches from Cape Canaveral that is, in a way, a callback to a previous era in their launch history. While this will be SpaceX’s 30th flight as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program, it’s the first time a Dragon 2 spacecraft will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) from pad 40.

Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket and Cargo Dragon spacecraft on this mission is set for Thursday, March 21, at 4:55 p.m. ET (2055 UTC). More than 6,000 pounds of cargo and science is packed into the capsule, which will dock autonomously to the zenith port of the ISS’ Harmony module on Saturday morning at roughly 7:30 a.m. ET (1130 UTC). NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Michael Barratt, will oversee the docking process from inside the ISS.

The 45th Weather Squadron forecast conditions to be 90 percent favorable at liftoff on Thursday, with upper-level winds potentially being a limiting factor. Should the mission slip past Thursday, the 24-hour backup opportunity on Friday only has a 20 percent chance of good weather, due to a low-pressure system forming off the Atlantic coast of Florida.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage starting about an hour prior to liftoff.

“The SpaceX 30 cargo vehicle is packed full of the hardware and samples to support a very diverse set of new and continuing research from all across the international partnership,” said Heidi Harris, the associated program scientist for NASA’s International Space Station Program Research Office.

File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at pad 4E ready to launch a Starlink mission. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX kicked off another busy week following the third test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday and three Falcon 9 missions. The company notched a Monday launch with 22 Starlink satellites from its pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on the Starlink 7-16 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at 7:28 p.m. PT (1028 p.m. ET, 0228 UTC).

The Falcon 9 first stage booster being used on this flight, tail number B1075 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for a 10th time. It previously launched two missions for the U.S. Space Development Agency as well as seven other Starlink missions.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1075 landed on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ It was the 86th landing on OCISLY and the 285th SpaceX booster landing to date.

While this mission is in work, SpaceX and NASA are also preparing to launch a Cargo Dragon from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This will be the 30th flight under SpaceX’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA to fly cargo and science up to the orbiting outpost.

SpaceX Starship rocket stands ready to launch on its third integrated flight test from southern Texas. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

SpaceX’s Starship rocket is poised to take to the skies over Texas for a third time Thursday morning. The launch is moving forward thanks to the final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, which issued its supporting documents Wednesday afternoon.

Liftoff of the world’s tallest rocket currently flying is set to take place during a 110-minute launch window that opens at 7 a,m. CT (8 a.m. ET, 1200 UTC). The vehicle was stacked for launch late last week at SpaceX’s Starbase launch and manufacturing site in southern Texas near Brownsville.

Spaceflight Now will have joint live coverage with Lab Padre beginning about 1.5 hours prior to liftoff.

The mission represents the shortest time between second and third flights for a commercial, orbital rocket. Both the Falcon 1 and the Falcon 9 spent more than a year between those two flights.

This mission will also fly a markedly different flight path compared to the previous two missions. SpaceX hopes to send the Ship 28 upper stage to reach a splash down in the middle of the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar.

A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to support the Starlink 6-44 launch from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on March 13, 2024. Image: Spaceflight Now

SpaceX is busily preparing for two missions from launchpads in both Florida and Texas. It’s poised to launch the third integrated flight test (IFT-3) of its Starship rocket Thursday morning, but in the meantime, it hopes to launch a batch of Starlink satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Liftoff of the Starlink 6-44 mission from Launch Complex 39A is set for no earlier than 7:29 p.m. ET (2329 UTC) on Wednesday. There are 23 satellites on board the Falcon 9 rocket, which will mark more than 6,000 Starlink satellites launched to date.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage about an hour prior to liftoff.

The first stage booster supporting this mission, B1062, will be launching for a 19th time, tying it as the flight leader alongside B1058 and B1061. B1058 was destroyed during its voyage back to Port Canaveral.

B1062 previously launched two GPS satellites; Inspiration4 and the Ax-1 crewed flights; and 11 Starlink missions among its previous 18 launches.

Rocket Lab’s 45th Electron rocket to date launches on the “Owl Night Long” mission for Synspective. Image: Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab launches its third Electron mission of the year and its fourth for Japanese Earth-imaging company, Synspective.

The mission, dubbed “Owl Night Long,” lifted off on March 13 from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex-1 in Mahia, New Zealand, at 4:03 a.m. NZDT (11:03 a.m. EDT, 1503 UTC). This was the 45th Electron rocket to launch to date.

It sent the StriX-3 satellite into an orbit 561 km above the Earth’s surface at a 97-degree inclination. It’s the latest in the StriX-series of satellites, which are synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft. It allows them to observe the Earth’s surface regardless of weather or day light.

Rocket Lab previously launched the following missions on behalf of Synspective:

The most recent mission carried the 300th Rutherford engine and became the 150th satellite launched by Rocket Lab. The Electron is a two-stage rocket that stands 18 meters (59 feet) tall.

A view of the Crew Dragon Endurance as it prepared to undock from the International Space Station following 197 days at the orbiting outpost. Image: NASA

A journey of more than half a year orbiting around the world is coming to an end for the four-member team of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission. The Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) at 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 UTC) after 197 days.

Commander and NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and her crew, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov bid farewell to the rest of Expedition 70 during a ceremony on Sunday.

“This has been the adventure of a lifetime. This is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a child and I was afraid I would get up here and might be disappointed and it wouldn’t live up to my expectations,” Moghbeli said. “But the international partnership we have up here and the space station are just incredible. It’s an indication of what we can do when we work together.”

The approaching conclusion of the Crew-7 mission wraps up the first spaceflights for both Moghbeli and Borisov.

“It’s a bittersweet moment. We have been here for over six months, but the time has flown very fast and it’s time to get back,” Borisov said. “I’m really happy that we’ve done all the work we have planned to do. The station is working just fine, all the experiments are going and we know that we are taking over by a great team for continuing into the end of Expedition 70 and into the beginning of Expedition 71.”

File: A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch a Starlink mission. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX completed a double launch day on Sunday with the flight of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Starlink 7-17 mission will add another 23 satellites to the growing low Earth orbit constellation.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) occurred at 9:09 p.m. PDT (12:09 a.m. EDT, 0409 UTC). It followed the successful launch of the Starlink 6-43 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force station at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 UTC).

The first stage booster supporting this mission, B1063, made its 17th flight. It previously launched NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft, the Transporter-7 rideshare mission and 11 Starlink satellite missions among its previous flights.

B1063 landed on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ a little more than eight minutes after liftoff. This will mark the 85th landing on OCISLY and the 283rd booster landing to date.

This mission was the ninth launch for SpaceX from Florida in 2024 and the 309th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket to date.

File photo a a Falcon 9 prior to a Starlink satellite delivery mission. Image: SpaceX.

SpaceX is closing out the weekend with a pair of planned Falcon 9 launches from Florida and California while also preparing for the undocking of Crew Dragon Endurance from the International Space Station.

The Falcon 9 rocket supporting the Starlink 6-43 mission is set to liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:05 p.m. EDT (2305 UTC). It will add 23 Starlink satellites to the growing low Earth orbit constellation.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.

The first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1077, will be launching for an 11th time. It previously launched the Crew-5 mission, the Commercial Resupply Services 28 (CRS-28) mission and the Northrop Grumman 20 (NG-20) Cygnus flight to the ISS.

About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the booster will land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions.’ This will be the 74th landing on JRTI and the 218th booster landing to date.

Join us for a roundup of the week’s space news with reporters covering the big stories. Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith is joined by Irene Klotz, Senior Space Editor for Aviation Week, and Richard Tribou, Space Reporter and Senior Content Editor for The Orlando Sentinel.

Among the topics of discussion, the panel will talk about the recent testing of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, the preparations for the third test flight of Starship and the status of the Commercial Crew Program with the SpaceX Crew-8 mission in progress and Boeing’s Crewed Flight Test of its Starliner spacecraft coming soon.

Irene Klotz, Aviation Week:

• Blue Origin New Glenn Tanking Test Sets Stage For Launch This Year

• Blue Origin’s New CEO On Honing The Company’s Business Practices

• SpaceX Eyes March 14 For Possible Starship Flight Test 3

SpaceX performs a tanking test, called a wet dress rehearsal, on its fully integrated Starship rocket on March 4, 2024. At the same time, it was preparing to launch the Crew-8 mission for NASA from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX may be on the cusp of launching its massive Starship rocket for a third time, potentially as early as next Thursday. In an online update, the company said it is targeting Thursday, March 14 for the third flight test of Starship “pending regulatory approval.”

While SpaceX didn’t publish a launch time on its website, a livestream post on X (formerly Twitter) showed a start time of 7:30 am EST (6:30 a.m. CST, 1230 UTC). Coupled with SpaceX stating that its broadcast would begin about 30 minutes prior to liftoff, that suggests a target launch time of 8:00 a.m. EST (7:00: a.m. CST, 1300 UTC).

The mission continues SpaceX’s iterative approach to developing its Starship rocket, which involves flying as much as possible and getting through as much of its mission profile as it can. SpaceX is hoping to push a number of boundaries for the vehicle with this flight.

On the Ship 28 upper stage for instance, SpaceX aims to test the payload door, conduct a re-ignition of one or more Raptor engines while in space and conduct a propellant transfer demonstration during the coast phase.

Being able to demonstrate propellant transfer in space is key not only to SpaceX’s future ambitions, but also to NASA’s Artemis program. While this flight will perform the transfer within Ship 28, the next big leap will be a ship-to-ship transfer.

Crew Dragon Endeavour approaches the International Space Station carrying three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut. Image: NASA TV.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft caught up with the International Space Station early Tuesday after a 28-hour orbital chase, bringing three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut to the outpost for a six-month tour of duty.

The docking capped an exceptionally busy “day” for SpaceX that included the Crew Dragon’s launch Sunday at 10:53 p.m. EST, followed by two back-to-back Falcon 9 flights Monday, one from Florida and the other from California, that put a total of 76 satellites into orbit.

All the while, the Crew Dragon, launched three days late because of high winds, continued its automated approach to the space station, catching up from behind and below and then moving in for docking at the Harmony module’s forward port at 2:28 a.m. EST Tuesday, about a half hour earlier than expected.

After hooks drove home to firmly lock the spacecraft in place, a SpaceX flight controller called to confirm “docking sequence is complete. So with that, Crew Dragon Endeavour, welcome to the International Space Station. We would also like to note that you can’t be ‘Crew L8’ (late) when you arrive 30 minutes early.”

“SpaceX Dragon … copies all,” Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick replied. “So excited to be here, and thank you, all the teams that got us here, so much.”

SpaceX’s new Starlink V2 Mini satellites inside a payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX

Coming on the heels of the successful launch of the four-person Crew-8 mission heading up to the International Space Station, SpaceX is preparing for another Falcon 9 launch from the Cape. The Starlink 6-41 mission will see another batch of 23 internet satellites head up to join the growing constellation in low Earth orbit.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 6:56 p.m. EST (2356 UTC). Weather for the mission is 80 percent favorable at liftoff, according to a forecast from the 45th Weather Squadron.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage starting about one hour before liftoff.

SpaceX has not provided information regarding which first stage booster is supporting this mission. However, its droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ and fairing recovery vessel, ‘Doug,’ departed Port Canaveral last week in support of this mission.

A collection of 53 payloads are encapsulated inside a pair of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 payload fairings ahead of the launch of the Transporter-10 rideshare mission set for March 4, 2024. Image: SpaceX

For a tenth time in a little more than three years, SpaceX will conduct a rideshare mission, carrying dozens of small payloads, called CubeSats and MicroSats, to low Earth orbit. The mission, dubbed Transporter-10, is set to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Monday afternoon.

Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) is set for 2:05 p.m. PST (5:05 p.m. EST, 2205 UTC). If necessary, there is a backup launch opportunity 24 hours after that.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage of the mission beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.

SpaceX advertises these missions as a continuous opportunity for those wanting to launch smaller payloads to have a way of getting to a variety of orbital inclinations. On its website, the company advertises getting a 50kg payload to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) for $300,000 “with additional mass at $6,000 per kilogram.”

Transporter missions can also be launched to mid-inclination low Earth orbit, geostationary transfer orbit and trans-lunar injection. SpaceX states that its Transporter mission are scheduled to launch roughly every four months to mid-inclination orbit.

A remotely triggered camera captures the liftoff of a SpaceX Dragon atop a Falcon 9 rocket on the Crew 8 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

Three NASA astronauts and a cosmonaut blasted off on a flight to the International Space Station Sunday, the first of two launches by NASA and the Russian space agency to replace five of the lab’s seven crew members and to deliver a fresh Soyuz ferry ship for two cosmonauts midway through a yearlong flight.

After launch scrubs Friday and Saturday, Crew 8 commander Matthew Dominick, co-pilot Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps and cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin thundered away from the Kennedy Space Center atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 10:53 p.m. EST.

The Falcon 9’s reusable first stage, making its maiden flight, flew itself back to a pinpoint landing at the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station after boosting the upper stage and Crew Dragon out of the lower atmosphere. It was the 48th booster landing in Florida and SpaceX’s 279th successful recovery overall.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft was released to fly on its own 12 minutes after liftoff, on course for rendezvous and docking with the space station early Tuesday.

“Oh my goodness, what an incredible ride to orbit,” Dominick exclaimed after reaching space. “I’m both glad, and not glad, that you don’t have a copy of our (cabin intercom), the cheers all the way up were incredible. A big thank you to SpaceX for incredible instructors … engineers and operators. They’re the reason we are now safely in orbit.”

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour sits atop a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of the launch of the Crew-8 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

For the second time this year, SpaceX is preparing to send a quartet of people up to the International Space Station. Its Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft are standing by at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, hoping weather permits a launch late Saturday night.

Liftoff of the Crew-8 mission from historic Launch Complex 39A is set for Saturday, March 2 at 11:16 p.m. EST (0416 UTC Sunday). The launch was delayed from March 1 due to poor weather in the downrange area off shore where crew would be rescued in the unlikely event of a mid-ascent mission abort. NASA and SpaceX are continuing to keep a close watch on the abort zone weather conditions which is listed as moderate to high risk and the local weather at the launch site which currently is considered only 40-percent favorable.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage from the Kennedy Space Center Press Site beginning about four hours prior to liftoff.

The mission will be a first for three out of the four members of Crew-8. Michael Barratt, the pilot, previously flew a Soyuz and Space Shuttle Discovery to the ISS in 2009 and 2011 respectively.

“The idea of multiple vehicles is just such a positive sign of human spaceflight to begin with,” Barratt said. “Different entities: government agency, private agency, different government agency. Human spaceflight is flourishing and that’s a really good thing.”

In just the fourth Leap Day launch in history, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now

SpaceX made the most of a weather delay to an astronaut launch from Florida’s Space Coast. The company launched a batch of Starlink satellites from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday morning.

The Leap Day launch of the Starlink 6-40 mission added another 23 Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites to the growing low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 occurred at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 UTC).

This was just the fourth time in history that an orbital launch took place on Feb. 29. Japan, Russia and China can also lay claim to launching on a day that only exists every four years.

About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, tail number B1076, landed on the droneship ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ which was positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the 11th flight of this booster and the 73rd landing for this droneship.

The launch on Thursday was only possible because of poor weather out in the Atlantic Ocean much farther north. Launch weather forecasters predicted that if a mid-flight abort were necessary during the ascent of the Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station, conditions would be unsafe for the recovery crew and the astronauts within the Crew Dragon spacecraft.