Artist’s concept of the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Credit: NASA
A NASA astronomy satellite that launched Dec. 9 from Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX rocket has started observing the X-ray universe, beginning a mission to study the nature of black holes and the super-dense skeletons left behind by exploded stars.
An Atlas 5 rocket rolls out to pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with two GSSAP satellites for the U.S. Space Force. Credit: United Launch Alliance
Gearing up for its first mission of the year, United Launch Alliance rolled an Atlas 5 rocket to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Thursday, a day before liftoff with a pair of U.S. Space Force satellites on a flight that will debut a version of the Atlas 5 never used before.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission, known as USSF 8, will launch two U.S. Space Force satellites for the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
A promotional poster for the USSF-8 mission, showing the Atlas 5’s configuration with a single solid rocket booster and a 5.4-meter (17.7-foot) diameter payload fairing. Credit: United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket has flown in 10 different configurations over 90 missions since 2002, each version optimized to haul satellites of a certain size and mass into space.
Cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov work outside the Prichal module Wednesday. Credit: NASA/Mark Vande Hei
Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov completed a 7-hour, 11-minute spacewalk Wednesday outside the International Space Station, preparing Russia’s new Prichal module for the arrival of the next Soyuz crew spacecraft in March.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks into orbit with 49 more Starlink internet satellites. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
A package of 49 Starlink satellites that rode a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Tuesday night from Florida included the 2,000th spacecraft to launch into SpaceX’s broadband internet network.
A Chinese Long March 2D rocket lifts off with the Shiyan 13 satellite. Credit: CASC
China launched a Long March 2D rocket Monday with another classified satellite, deploying the spacecraft into a polar orbit on the first of more than 40 Chinese Long March rocket missions planned in 2022.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 49 Starlink broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
File photo of a Faclcon 9 rocket on pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now
Forecasters expect brisk winds and chilly temperatures for a prime time, full moon launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with another batch of Starlink internet satellites Monday night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Virgin Orbit’s 70-foot-long (21-meter) LauncherOne rocket ignites its liquid-fueled engine after release from the company’s Boeing 747 carrier aircraft. Credit: Virgin Orbit
Virgin Orbit delivered seven small CubeSats for NASA, the U.S. military, Spire, and the Polish company SatRevolution into orbit Thursday with its air-launched rocket after release from a jumbo jet off the coast of California.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin the Transporter 3 small satellite rideshare mission. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
SpaceX launched 105 small satellites from Cape Canaveral on the company’s third Transporter rideshare mission Thursday, deploying payloads for commercial remote sensing companies, communications and data relay startups, and foreign governments.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket. The air-launched rocket will climb into orbit with seven small satellites after release from a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft southwest of Los Angeles. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The mission will launch 105 small satellites from customers in 20 nations. Follow us on Twitter.
A close-up of the top of the Falcon 9 booster stage set for launch with the Transporter 3 rideshare mission. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
SpaceX plans to land a Falcon 9 rocket booster back at Cape Canaveral around eight-and-a-half minutes after launch Thursday in the company’s first onshore rocket recovery since last June.
A Falcon 9 rocket stands vertical on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for liftoff on SpaceX’s Transporter 3 rideshare mission. Credit: SpaceX
With its small satellite launch business booming, SpaceX is set to double its cadence of dedicated rideshare missions this year, beginning with the liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday from Cape Canaveral with 105 spacecraft for customers in 20 countries.
File photo of a previous Astra rocket on a launch pad in Alaska. Credit: Astra
Tests are beginning this week at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for the first flight of Astra’s small satellite launcher from the Florida spaceport, following the company’s successful November demonstration mission from Alaska.
Artist’s illustration of the fully deployed James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA
Still cruising toward its operating orbit nearly a million miles from Earth, the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope completed a transformation into its final dimension Saturday with the last of some 50 post-launch deployments, the unfolding of the observatory’s 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror.
Artist’s illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope’s port-side mirror segment folded into place. Credit: NASA
One of the two wings holding three of the James Webb Space Telescope’s gold-coated mirror segments folded into place Friday, setting the stage for positioning of the other wing Saturday to complete the nearly $10 billion observatory’s major deployments.
SpaceX’s first launch of 2022 carried 49 more Starlink satellites into orbit. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and deployed 49 more Starlink internet satellites, blazing a new trail to orbit on the first of as many as seven space missions from Florida’s Space Coast planned in January.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 49 Starlink broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
Artist’s concept of Webb’s secondary mirror support structure fully extended. Credit: NASA
In another major milestone for the James Webb Space Telescope, a motor-driven tripod unfolded as planned Wednesday, moving a 2.4-foot-wide secondary mirror into position to reflect collected starlight back down to the instruments that will study it.
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