A Long March 4B rocket launches two Shijian 6 satellites. Credit: CASC
The 400th flight of China’s Long March rocket family deployed two classified Shijian 6 satellites into orbit Dec. 10, likely on a mission to test technology or gather signals intelligence data for the Chinese military.
Galactic Energy’s second Ceres rocket blasts off from the Jiuquan space base. Credit: Galactic Energy
A solid-fueled Ceres satellite launcher developed to serve China’s burgeoning commercially-focused smallsat market successfully deployed five spacecraft into orbit Dec. 7, making the new Chinese rocket two-for-two since its debut last year.
Ground teams at the Guiana Space Center connect the James Webb Space Telescope with its Ariane 5 launcher on Dec. 11. Credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut
Engineers discovered an intermittent data dropout associated with a piece of ground support equipment after connecting the James Webb Space Telescope with its Ariane 5 launcher over the weekend in French Guiana, and the observatory’s long-awaited blastoff will be delayed at least two days to Dec. 24 to troubleshoot the problem, the head of NASA’s science division said Tuesday.
The James Webb Space Telescope is lifted on top of its Ariane 5 launcher inside the final assembly building in French Guiana. Credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut
The nearly $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, suspended under a crane with four cables, was raised atop top an Ariane 5 launcher Saturday inside a vertical hangar in French Guiana, one of the final steps to prep the mission for liftoff this month after a quarter-century of design and development.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches with NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography
SpaceX launched a refrigerator-sized NASA X-ray observatory from Kennedy Space Center into an unusual orbit hugging the equator Thursday, beginning a $214 million mission to study black holes and super-compact neutron stars.
Yusaku Maezawa, Yozo Hirano, and Alexander Misurkin, wearing blue flight suits, joined seven other residents on the International Space Station after docking Dec. 8. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now
A Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese billionaire and his production assistant rocketed into orbit Wednesday and headed for the International Space Station for an 12-day visit, the first by paying “space tourists” in more than a decade.
The James Webb Space Telescope is loaded with toxic propellants by technicians wearing protective self-contained suits. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Piron
A crane at the Guiana Space Center in South America will hoist the nearly $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope more than 15 stories above the floor of a rocket assembly hangar this weekend to position the observatory on top of its Ariane 5 launcher for blastoff later this month.
United Launch Alliance’s 90th Atlas 5 rocket lifts off with the Space Force’s STP-3 mission. Credit: Alex Polimeni / Spaceflight Now
United Launch Alliance deployed two U.S. Space Force technology demonstration satellites into an on-target orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator Tuesday after a booming blastoff before dawn from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas 5 rocket.
Blue Origin’s mission patch for the NS-19 spaceflight. Credit: Blue Origin
A forecast of high winds at Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas has prompted the company to delay its first suborbital space shot with a full complement of six passengers from Thursday to Saturday.
An Electron rocket fires off its launch pad in New Zealand at 7:02 p.m. EST (0002 GMT) with two BlackSky optical Earth imaging satellites. Credit: Rocket Lab
Two more BlackSky high-resolution optical remote sensing satellites rode a Rocket Lab Electron launcher into orbit Wednesday from New Zealand, the second mission for Rocket Lab in three weeks, and the third satellite delivery for BlackSky in the same period.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying two small BlackSky Earth observation satellites. 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 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launch NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
Live coverage of the Soyuz MS-20 mission on the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Japanese spaceflight participant Yozo Hirano, Russan cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, and Japanese space tourist Yusaku Maezawa pose for a crew portrait at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia. Credit: Roscosmos
A Russian Soyuz rocket is set for blastoff Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire businessman, his cameraman and production assistant, and a veteran Russian cosmonaut commander on a 12-day trip to the International Space Station.
NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer spacecraft ready for encapsulation inside the payload fairing of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: NASA
A NASA astronomy satellite will be the smallest payload to ever get a dedicated ride on a Falcon 9 rocket when it takes off from Florida this week, but the SpaceX launcher will need to flex its muscles to reach the mission’s unusual orbit hugging the equator.
An Atlas 5 rocket stands on launch pad 41 ahead of the STP-3 mission. Credit: United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket will set an endurance record after liftoff from Cape Canaveral Tuesday, targeting the delivery of two U.S. military tech demo satellites directly into a geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Atlas 5 rocket with the U.S. Space Force’s STP-3 mission, carrying two satellites hosting technology demonstration experiments to geosynchronous orbit. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
All Rights Reserved. 2025. SpaceZE.com
