SpaceX

Blue Origin transported its New Glenn first stage booster, ‘Never Tell Me the Odds,’ from its facilities at Rocket Park to Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Oct. 8, 2025. Image: John Pisani / Spaceflight Now Blue Origin is one step closer to its second ever launch of its New Glenn rocket. On Wednesday morning, teams rolled the 189-foot-tall (57.5 m) booster from its faculties at Rocket Park near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to begin its journey out to Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The company announced that the rocket was on the move around 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 UTC) as it was simultaneously launching six space tourists on a suborbital New Shepard launch from West Texas. The booster, named ‘Never Tell Me the Odds,’ a nod to the ...

A Falcon Heavy roars passed the Moon as it launches the X-37B for the U.S. military. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now. The latest missions carrying payloads for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) were announced on Friday with a combined value of $1.142 billion. SpaceX was tasked with five missions and United Launch Alliance (ULA) received two. This is the second order year (OY2) for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 2 contract, which was awarded to Blue Origin, SpaceX and ULA. Back in April, USSF’s Space Systems Command announced the trio as the recipients of this half of the Phase 3 Acquisition Strategy. SpaceX was named as the Requirement 1 provider and is anticipated to receive 28 missions between FY25 and FY29. ULA as the Re...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base to begin the Starlink 11-39 mission on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. Image: SpaceX Update Oct. 3, 11:43 a.m. EDT (1543 UTC): SpaceX confirms deployment of the Starlink satellites. SpaceX launched its 125th Falcon 9 rocket of 2025, which carried a batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. The company’s first mission of the month took flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base shortly after sunrise on Friday morning. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) happened 7:06 a.m. PDT (10:06 a.m. EDT / 1406 UTC). This was SpaceX’s 47th launch from Vandenberg so far this year.  SpaceX launched this mission using the Falcon 9 booster with the tail number B1097. This was its se...

NASA’s 2025 Astronaut Candidate join together after being announced to the public on Sept. 22, 2025. From left to right, Erin Overcash, Katherine Spies, Cameron Jones, Ben Bailey, Adam Fuhrmann, Rebecca Lawler, Imelda Muller, Yuri Kubo, Anna Menon, Lauren Edgar. With its eyes on creating a persistent human presence on the Moon and pushing closer to crewed exploration of Mars, NASA announced its newest class of astronaut candidates. The collection of ten women and men from across the United States were selected from more than 8,000 applications submitted. They represent the 24th astronaut candidate (ASCAN) class picked by NASA. “This selection was challenging, competitive and very difficult, but what we have for you here today is a group of individuals who are not only exceptional, but who ...

Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane (right) and its Shooting Star cargo module (left) seen inside a processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image: Sierra Space The debut of Sierra Space’s cargo space plane Dream Chaser has delayed again and will no longer see a docking with the International Space Station. In a statement Thursday afternoon, NASA said the space agency and Sierra Space had agreed to a major modification of their space station resupply contract. The space plane is now scheduled to launch on its inaugural flight no earlier than late 2026. Additionally, instead of docking to the ISS, the vehicle named Tenacity will now conduct a free-flyer mission. NASA said under the contract revsion it is “no longer obligated for a specific number of resupply mission...