Space News & Blog Articles

Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin will venture outside the International Space Station’s Poisk airlock on Wednesday on a spacewalk to attach three debris shields to the Rassvet module. They also will test the sturdiness of a work platform that will be affixed to the end of the European robotic arm attached to the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module. The spacewalk will be the eighth for Prokopyev, who will wear an Orlan spacesuit with red stripes, and the sixth for Petelin, who will wear a spacesuit with blue stripes.

The Artemis 2 crew, standing in from of their Artemis spacecraft, discusses their planned 2024 around-the-moon flight with reporters at the Kennedy Space Center. Left to right: commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

NASA’s four Artemis 2 astronauts, getting their first look at the Orion capsule that will carry them around the moon next year, said seeing the hardware first hand and meeting the men and women building the spacecraft brought home the reality of their historic mission.

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 with 15 second generation Starlink satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Threads or Twitter.

A Starliner capsule and its service module during processing at Boeing’s assembly hangar at the Kennedy Space Center. Image: NASA.

The first piloted launch of Boeing’s oft-delayed Starliner crew capsule is slipping to next March at the earliest because of ongoing work to test and replace the capsule’s parachute system and to resolve issues with a flammable adhesive used in protective electrical tape, officials said Monday.

An Atlas 5 rocket in a configuration similar to the one that will launch two prototype Kuiper satellites in September. Credit: United Launch Alliance.

The opening salvo in Amazon’s 3,236-satellite Project Kuiper venture is switching its ride to space. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Spaceflight Now on Monday that the first two demonstration satellites for the broadband constellation will launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket as soon as Sept. 26, 2023, instead of the inaugural Vulcan rocket.

SpaceX is planning to launch 22 more second-generation Starlink satellites into orbit Sunday evening from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:50 p.m. EDT (0150 UTC) with the hope of breaking a launch pad turnaround record.

SpaceX is getting ready to fire up its Starship Super Heavy Booster 9 for a static test of its liquid methane-fueled Raptor rocket engines. It will be the first test of a new water deluge system installed at the launch pad following the first Integrated Test Flight for the Starship vehicle on April 20.

Rocket Lab’s 40th Electron rocket stands ready for launch on LC-1B, a the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. Image: Rocket Lab.

Rocket Lab will make another attempt to launch its 40th Electron rocket Sunday after a last-second abort on July 30. The small satellite launcher, carrying a radar-imaging satellite, is scheduled to liftoff from the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, during a launch window that runs from 0500-0700 UTC (1-3 a.m. EDT/5-7pm NZST).

The International Space Station’s robot arm captured the Cygnus cargo ship before attaching it to a docking port. Image: NASA TV.

An unpiloted Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship carrying four tons of supplies and equipment caught up with the International Space Station early Friday to wrap up a smooth two-and-a-half-day rendezvous.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Aug. 3, 2023, carrying Intelsat’s Galaxy 37 satellite. Photo: Adam Bernstein.

SpaceX launched an Intelsat communications satellite early Thursday, part of a fleet-wide refresh under a Federal Communications Commission push to free up transmission space for 5G cellular networks.

A Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 40 poised to launch the Galaxy 37 satellite for Intelsat. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 is set to launch the Galaxy 37 communications satellite for Intelsat during the midnight hour Thursday. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 12:15 a.m. EDT (0415 UTC).

Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket stands ready for launch at Wallops Island, Virginia. Image: Chuck and Jen Briggs.

After a busy spring of spacecraft going to and from the International Space Station, another surge of activity is about to begin Tuesday, with the launch of a Cygnus cargo ship from Wallops Island, Virginia at 8:31 p.m. EDT (0031 UTC on Aug. 2). This mission marks the final flight of this generation of Antares rockets, which uses major components from Russia and Ukraine.

NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli and the other members of the Crew-7 mission train at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, in the runup to launching to the International Space Station.
Image: SpaceX

The next quartet bound for the International Space Station will wait a bit longer before they can punch their ticket to space after Falcon Heavy delays pushed back the launch of the next Crew Dragon mission, NASA said Tuesday.

Artist’s impression of Capella’s Acadia radar-imaging satellite. Image: Capella.

In a launch market dominated by SpaceX, Rocket Lab continues to cement its place in the orbital delivery landscape with plans for the 40th launch of its Electon rocket early Sunday.

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).