Space News & Blog Articles

The crew members for the next space station mission pose for photographers after arriving at the Kennedy Space Center on August 20, 2023. From left to right: Mission Specialist Konstantin Borisov, Pilot Andreas Mogensen, Commander Jasmin Moghbeli, and Mission Specialist Satoshi Furukawa. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.

The next four crew members bound for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station flew to the Kennedy Space Center Sunday to prepare for launch early Friday atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

An animation depicts the Luna 25 probe in orbit above the Moon’s surface. Image: Roscomos.

Russia’s first mission to the Moon for nearly 50 years ended in failure when the Luna 25 spacecraft crashed onto the surface, the Russian space agency Roscomos said Sunday.

A Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 16, carrying 22 Starlink satellites. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral late Wednesday carrying 22 Starlink satellites but a launch from California scheduled for just hours later was delayed, dashing SpaceX’s plans for back-to-back launches for its broadband internet service.

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

SpaceX will launch Starlink missions from launch pads on the east and west coast in the overnight hours from Wednesday into Thursday. The back-to-back Falcon 9 launches will be the 99th and 100th dedicated Starlink missions.

NASA’s Mobile Launcher begins its journey from the park site near the Vehicle Assembly Building to launch pad 39B. Image: NASA.

The launch tower supporting the first three Artemis moon missions was back on the move for the first time Wednesday after more than half a year of repairs and upgrades.

Russia is about to launch its first robotic mission to the moon since 1976. The Luna 25 spacecraft, also known as the Luna-Glob-Lander is scheduled to liftoff at 7:10 p.m. EDT (2310 UTC).

Updated 3:05 p.m. EDT (1905 UTC): New launch time.

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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.