SpaceX

NASA and its partners will discuss the upcoming crew rotation to the International Space Station during a pair of news conferences on Friday, Jan. 30, from the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. At 11 a.m. EST, mission leadership will discuss final launch and mission preparations in a news conference that will stream on the agency’s YouTube channel. Next, the crew of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission will participate in a virtual news conference from NASA Johnson crew quarters at 1 p.m., also on the agency’s YouTube channel. Individual streams for each of the events will be available on that page. This is the final media opportunity with Crew-12 before they travel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch. Crew-12 will carry NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ES...

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket at Launch Complex 39B (left) and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket inside its Vertical Integration Facility (right): Image: NASA/Keegan Barber (left), United Launch Alliance (right) February 2026 is shaping up to be a blockbuster month for launches from Florida’s Space Coast. In addition to a now regular cadence of Falcon 9 launches from SpaceX, Cape Canaveral is poised to see launches from Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance and potentially NASA via its Space Launch System rocket. The current schedule has two marquee operations scheduled for the same day, Feb. 2: the launch of USSF-87, a national security mission, on a ULA Vulcan rocket and the wet dress rehearsal tanking test for the SLS, a critical milestone on the road to launching Artemis 2, a cr...

As America approaches its 250th anniversary of declaring independence, NASA’s Artemis II mission will carry a host of mementos that reflect the nation’s long tradition of exploration, innovation, and leadership in its official flight kit. The items will fly aboard the Orion spacecraft, launched on top of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, as it carries four astronauts around the Moon on the first crewed test flight of the agency’s Artemis campaign. “Historical artifacts flying aboard Artemis II reflect the long arc of American exploration and the generations of innovators who made this moment possible,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “This mission will bring together pieces of our earliest achievements in aviation, defining moments from human spaceflight, and symbols of where...

SpaceX’s Dragon Endeavour spacecraft drifts away from the International Space Station on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, as NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission winds down. Image: NASA via livestream Update Jan. 14, 6:30 p.m. EST (2330 UTC): NASA, SpaceX confirm safe undocking of the Dragon Endeavour. The SpaceX Crew-11 mission is coming to a close with the crew departing the International Space Station Wednesday evening ahead of a planned splashdown off the coast of California in the predawn hours on Thursday. At 3:29 p.m. EST (2029 UTC), the hatch to the Dragon Endeavour was officially closed and the crew began final preparations for undocking. Crew-11 commander Zena Cardman, pilot Mike Fincke along with mission specialists Kimiya Yui of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Oleg Platonov gav...

(Left to Right) Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronauts Mike Fincke, Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya You inside the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour shortly after splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Long Beach, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls. Four space station crewmates undocked and plunged back to Earth Thursday, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast six days after NASA ordered them home early because of a medical issue. Descending under four large parachutes, Crew 11 commander Zena Cardman, co-pilot Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov landed in the Pacific near San Diego at 3:41 a.m. EST, closing out a 167-day stay in space. ...