SpaceX

The SpaceX Dragon Freedom spacecraft is pictured docked to the space-facing port on the International Space Station’s Harmony module. Dragon Freedom carried four Axiom Mission-2 astronauts to the orbital lab on May 22, 2023, including Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot John Shoffner, and Mission Specialists Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. Image: NASA The full crew of the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station was announced on Monday as they officially began training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The mission, dubbed Ax-4, will include a pilot from India and mission specialists from Poland and Hungary. Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson will once again sit in the commander seat, leading her second mission as part of Axiom Space’s astronaut corp...

A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. SpaceX is preparing to launch its latest batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Friday morning launch will add another 21 satellites to the mega-constellation in low Earth orbit. As it happens, the booster flying this mission, tail number B1067 in the SpaceX fleet, will also be making its 21st flight. Liftoff of the Starlink 8-3 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 8:13 a.m. EDT (1213 UTC). Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff. The Falcon 9 booster, B1067, flew a fifth of its previous missions in support of NASA. It launched the Crew-3 and Crew-4 astro...

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that launched astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the International Space Station is pictured docked to the Harmony module’s forward port. Image: NASA. As NASA debates the safety of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft in the wake of multiple helium leaks and thruster issues, the agency is “getting more serious” about a backup plan to bring the ship’s two crew members back to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon, officials said Wednesday. In that case — and no final decisions have been made — Starliner commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and co-pilot Sunita Williams would remain aboard the International Space Station for another six months and come down on a Crew Dragon that’s scheduled for launch Sept. 24 to carry long-duration crew members to the outpost. Two of...

The crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station poses during training at SpaceX’s Hawthorne facility. Image: SpaceX NASA is delaying the launch of the next space station crew as it continues to work through thruster issues with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. In a blog post, the agency said the launch of the Crew-9 mission, aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, is now targeted for no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24. “This adjustment allows more time for mission managers to finalize return planning for the agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test currently docked to the orbiting laboratory,” NASA wrote. “Starliner ground teams are taking their time to analyze the results of recent docked hot-fire testing, finalize flight rationale for the spacecraft’s integrated propulsion syste...

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft separates from a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage during the NG-21 mission on Aug. 4, 2024. Image: SpaceX Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft is preparing to end a roughly 40-hour journey playing catchup with the International Space Station. After launching late Sunday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the spacecraft is targeting its arrival at the orbiting outpost Tuesday morning. According to NASA, the Cygnus is on track for capture and the beginning of the berthing process at 3:10 a.m. EDT (0710 UTC). NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick will be controlling the Canadarm2 robotic arm during the operation and fellow Crew-8 member and NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps will be serving in the backup role. Once Cygnus is captu...