SpaceX

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaks during an event where NASA is outlining how the agency is executing President Donald J. Trump’s National Space Policy and accelerating preparations for America’s return to the surface of the Moon by 2028, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building in Washington. During the event NASA leadership provided updates on mission priorities, including sending the first astronauts to the lunar surface in more than 50 years, establishing the initial elements of a permanent lunar base, getting America underway in space on nuclear propulsion, and other objectives. Image: NASA/Bill Ingalls With the Artemis 2 around-the-moon launch just eight days away, NASA announced ambitious long-range plans Tuesday to spend $20 billion over the...

Technicians and engineers perform prelaunch work on the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft inside the Vehicle Assembly Building on Feb. 26, 2026. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now NASA plans to haul its Artemis 2 moon rocket back out to its seaside launch pad next week to ready the huge booster for blastoff as early as April 1 on a delayed-but-historic flight to send four astronauts on a nine-day trip to the moon, the agency announced Thursday. At the conclusion of a two-day flight readiness review, “all the teams polled ‘go’ to launch and fly Artemis 2 around the moon, pending completion of some of the work before we roll out to the launch pad,” said Lori Glaze, associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters. “Just a reminder to everybody,...

As part of a Golden Age of exploration and discovery, NASA announced Friday the agency is increasing its cadence of missions under the Artemis program to achieve the national objective of returning American astronauts to the Moon and establishing an enduring presence. This includes standardizing vehicle configuration, adding an additional mission in 2027, and undertaking at least one surface landing every year thereafter. As teams prepare to launch Artemis II in the weeks ahead, the Artemis III mission, now in 2027, will be designed to test out systems and operational capabilities in low Earth orbit to prepare for an Artemis IV landing in 2028. This new mission will endeavor to include a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, in-space tests...

Artist concept of a SpaceX Starship lunar lander on the surface of the moon. Image: SpaceX. New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a major overhaul of the agency’s Artemis moon program Friday, acknowledging that the agency’s plan to land astronauts on the moon in 2028 was not realistic without another preparatory mission first to lay the groundwork. He said NASA will now add an additional flight in 2027 in which astronauts will dock with new commercial moon landers in low-Earth orbit for detailed tests of navigation, communications, propulsion and life support systems, along with verifying rendezvous procedures. That flight, in turn, will be followed by at least one and possibly two lunar landing missions in 2028 that incorporate lessons learned from the preceding flight. The goa...

A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. SpaceX is aiming to launch a Falcon 9 rocket late Tuesday afternoon with a batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites onboard. The flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will be the company’s 18th launch of the year supporting its broadband internet satellite constellation. The Starlink 6-110 mission will send another 29 satellites into low Earth orbit. Prior to liftoff, SpaceX had more than 9,700 Starlink satellites in space, according to stats maintained by expert orbital tracker and astronomer, Jonathan McDowell. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 is scheduled for 6:04:10 p.m. EST (2304:10 UTC). The Falcon 9 rocket will launch on a south-easterly trajectory upon lea...