SpaceX

File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the Starlink 7-14 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Image: SpaceX Update 9:08 p.m. EST (0208 UTC): SpaceX landed the booster on the droneship. SpaceX launched the first of two planned Starlink flights over the weekend. Up first was the launch of the Starlink 15-1 mission on Saturday, which carried with it 22 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 5:38 p.m. PST (8:38 p.m. EST, 0138 UTC).  SpaceX used the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number B1082 on this mission, which launched for an 11th time. It previously launched USSF-62, OneWeb Launch 20 and eight batches of Starlink satellites. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1...

Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket stands at Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, ahead of the launch of BlackSky’s first Gen-3 satellite. Image: Rocket Lab Update 7:16 p.m. EST (0016 UTC): Rocket Lab confirms a successful payload deployment. Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) completed its second Electron rocket of the month and its 60th to date. The flight carried with it the first of BlackSky’s Gen-3 Earth imaging and analytics gathering satellites. Liftoff of the mission, dubbed ‘Fasten Your Space Belts,’ from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand happened at 12:17 p.m. NZDT on Feb. 19 (6:17 p.m. EST, 2317 UCT on Feb. 18).  “Electron is a trusted and reliable constellation builder for companies like BlackSky, allowing them to be in control of how, when, and where to deploy their constellation,” ...

File: A Falcon 9 rocket stands in the launch position at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the planned liftoff of the Starlink 6-61 mission on Oct. 22, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update Feb. 17, 5:43 p.m. EST (2243 UTC): SpaceX pushed back the launch time. SpaceX is preparing for its first launch that features a booster landing attempt in the midst of The Bahamas. The droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ is positioned off the coast of the island named Exuma. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 10-12 mission is set for 6:15 p.m. EST (2315 UTC) on Tuesday, Feb. 18. This will be SpaceX’s 21st orbital launch attempt of the year. Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.  Comin...

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members stand in front of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at SpaceX’s HangarX facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Commander Anne McClain of NASA, Pilot Nichole Ayers of NASA, and Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos. Image: SpaceX NASA has a new launch date for the SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station. The move comes after the agency decided to replace a brand new Dragon spacecraft with a previously flown capsule. NASA astronaut and mission commander Anne McClain will lead two other astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on the journey to the orbiting outpost, now targeting a liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center no earlier than Wednesd...

The Artemis 2 crew, standing in from of their Artemis spacecraft, discusses their planned 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. While assembly of the Space Launch System rocket continues at the Kennedy Space Center, NASA and its prime contractors supporting the Artemis program are arguing for the continuity of the program’s current architecture. The statements come as some in the space community are arguing that the U.S. should bypass the Moon and focus on Mars exploration instead. Speaking during a panel at the annual SpaceCom conference in Orlando in January, Kirk Shireman, the vice president of Human Space Explorat...