SpaceX

United Launch Alliance (ULA) hoists the USSF-106 mission payload atop the Vulcan rocket in the Government Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-G) adjacent to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This will be Vulcan’s first national security mission for the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command (SSC). Image: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance is on the cusp of a significant milestone for its Vulcan rocket. The 202-foot-tall (61 m) launch vehicle is poised to take flight on its first national security mission as soon as Tuesday, August 12. Atop the two-stage rocket are a pair of missions for that are part of the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program. The launch will be the first post-certification flight for a Vulcan rocket. “Thi...

SpaceX Falcon 9 payload fairings, containing 24 of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites, rolls out of Amazon’s payload processing facility at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility on Monday, Aug. 5, 2025. The satellites will launch on the KF-02 mission, the second Falcon 9 flight carrying these broadband satellites into low Earth orbit. Image: Amazon Update Aug. 7, 10:18 a.m. EDT: SpaceX scrubbed the launch attempt; updating weather information. Amazon is back at the launch pad once again with more of its Project Kuiper broadband internet satellites. The tech giant is getting a lift to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. However, the launch of the mission, dubbed KF-02, will have to wait at least one more day. SpaceX scrubbed the mis...

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission with agency astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov is preparing to return to Earth in early August after a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station. During their stay, McClain, Ayers, and Onishi completed dozens of experiments and technology demonstrations, helping push the boundaries of scientific discovery aboard the orbiting laboratory. Here’s a look at some scientific milestones accomplished during the Crew-10 mission: The canisters floating in the cupola of the International Space Station contain wild-type and genetically-modified thale cress plants for the Rhodium Plant LIFE experiment. The investigation studies how radiatio...

The small satellite was to map lunar water, but operators lost contact with the spacecraft the day after launch and were unable to recover the mission. NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer ended its mission to the Moon on July 31. Despite extensive efforts, mission operators were unable to establish two-way communications after losing contact with the spacecraft the day following its Feb. 26 launch. The mission aimed to produce high-resolution maps of water on the Moon’s surface and determine what form the water is in, how much is there, and how it changes over time. The maps would have supported future robotic and human exploration of the Moon as well as commercial interests while also contributing to the understanding of water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system. Lunar Trailblazer ...

File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update Aug. 4, 4:30 a.m. EDT: SpaceX landed its first stage booster on its droneship. SpaceX passed another milestone in rocket reuse when it launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the overnight hours of Monday, Aug. 4. The mission, dubbed Starlink 10-30, features the company’s 450th launch of a flight-proven booster. That stat is a combination of both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. SpaceX first reused a Falcon booster with the launch of the SES-10 satellite on March 30, 2017, using the first-stage booster with the tail number 1021. That booster first flew on SpaceX’s eighth Commercial Resupply Services mis...