SpaceX

Aerial view of the fully stacked Starship vehicle at Starbase, Texas, on Sept. 6, 2023. Image: SpaceX. Another SpaceX Starship rocket stands fully integrated against the South Texas horizon and company-founder Elon Musk said from his perspective, they’re ready to launch. Over the course of several hours on Tuesday at its test facility near Boca Chica Beach, SpaceX teams hoisted the Starship upper stage of the rocket, S25, on top of the Super Heavy Booster, dubbed Booster 9 or B9, that was already on the launch mount. Following the operation, Musk took to his social media platform, X, to declare that “Starship is ready to launch, awaiting [Federal Aviation Administration] license approval.” While some aviation and marine warning notifications suggest launch could be somewhat soon, the seco...

Crew Dragon streaks through the midnight sky as seen from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Image: Will Robinson-Smith/Spaceflight Now. Blazing like a shooting star as it streaked high above northern Florida, a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft carried four space station fliers back to Earth early Monday, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville to wrap up a six-month stay in orbit. Crew-6 commander Stephen Bowen, pilot Woody Hoburg, cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and UAE crewmate Sultan Alneyadi undocked from the station’s forward Harmony module at 7:05 a.m. EDT Sunday to kick off a 17-hour flight back to Earth. The automated Crew Dragon executed a 16-minute de-orbit thruster firing starting at 11:24 p.m., slowing the spacecraft by about 250 mph — just enough to drop it back into the lo...

Update 6:56 p.m. EDT: SpaceX is now targeting a T-0 liftoff time of 10:47 p.m. EDT (0247 UTC). This is 90 minutes before the planned splashdown time of the Crew-6 astronauts and cosmonaut aboard the Crew Dragon Endeavor. SpaceX has one additional backup time on Sept. 3 for this launch at 11:05 p.m. EDT (0305 UTC). There are also five backup opportunities on Monday, Sept. 4, from 6:59 p.m. EDT (22:59 UTC) until 10:39 p.m. EDT (0239 UTC on Sept. 5).   SpaceX rolled out a Falcon 9 Sunday for a record-breaking 62nd launch of the year. Image: Spaceflight Now. A Falcon 9 rocket is being readied Sunday for a record-breaking 62nd orbital launch of the year for SpaceX. The previous record was set in 2022 with 61 launches by the company. Liftoff from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, with 21 Sta...

A double-exposure captures the launch of a Falcon 9 on a mission for the Space Development Agency and its landing seven and half minutes later. Image: SpaceX. A Falcon 9 rocket launched 13 demonstration satellites for a planned U.S. military mega-constellation from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Saturday. It was the 61st orbital launch of the year for SpaceX. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at 7:25 a.m. PDT (10:25 a.m. EDT / 1425 UTC). After stage separation and ignition of the upper stage, about two and half minutes into flight the satellite-delivery mission entered a news blackout, typical for national security missions. It was the third launch attempt in as many days for the mission. A problem with the Falcon 9’s engine 4 scrubbed the launch on Aug. 31...

Update 8:58 p.m. EDT: SpaceX shifted the launch time of the mission to a new T-0 at 10:21 p.m. EDT (0221 UTC).   Update 7:52 p.m. EDT: SpaceX adjusted the T-0 liftoff to 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 UTC). Beyond this point, SpaceX has three additional launch opportunities to launch the Starlink 6-13 mission on Thursday.   Update 7:05 p.m. EDT: SpaceX pushed back the T-0 liftoff to 8:40 p.m. EDT (0040 UTC on Sept. 1). SpaceX noted in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that its launch teams were keeping an eye on the impacts of Hurricane Idalia on the Cape.   Original story: SpaceX is preparing a Falcon 9 rocket for what will be its 60th orbital launch of the year. The Starlink Group 6-13 mission is targeting a liftoff no earlier than 7:52 p.m. EDT (2352 UTC) on Thursday, Aug. 31, with a batch of 22 Sta...