SpaceX

United Launch Alliance (ULA) hoists its Vulcan first stage booster into the Vertical Integration Facility-G (VIF-G) adjacent to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The rocket will launch the USSF-106 mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command, Vulcan’s first national security flight. Image: United Launch Alliance Less than a month after the second of two planned certification launches, United Launch Alliance is getting a Vulcan rocket ready for its first national security mission: United States Space Force 106 (USSF-106). On Monday, ULA shared photos of the 109.2-foot-long (33.3 m) booster being hoisted into the Vertical Integration Facility to begin the stacking process. In the days and possibly weeks to come, the 38.5-foot-long (11.7 m) C...

A Falcon 9 stands ready for a Starlink mission at Cape Canaveral’s pad 40. File photo: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. Update Oct. 21, 4:20 p.m.: SpaceX is pushing back its planned launch to no earlier than Tuesday, Oct. 22. SpaceX is set to launch another batch of 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to low Earth orbit on Tuesday. The Falcon 9 rocket launch comes on the heels of a week that saw the company launch a record six missions with four Falcon 9 rockets, one Falcon Heavy rocket and a Starship rocket, utilizing all four of its launch pads. Liftoff of the Starlink 6-61 mission from pad 40 at CCSFS is set for no earlier than 6:14 p.m. EDT (2214 UTC), pending weather. This will be SpaceX’s 68th dedicated Starlink launch of the year. Spaceflight Now will have ...

The final two satellites in a batch of 20 OneWeb Gen. 1 satellites are deployed at the tail end of the OneWeb Launch #20 mission. Image: SpaceX SpaceX completed its 100th orbital launch of the year for its Falcon family of rockets late Saturday night in California. It reach this first-time milestone by launching OneWeb’s final batch of its first generation internet satellites. The mission, dubbed OneWeb Launch #20, lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:13 p.m. PDT on Saturday, Oct. 19 (1:13 a.m. EDT, 0513 UTC on Sunday, Oct. 20). The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail number B1082 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for a seventh time. It previously supported USSF-62 and five Starlink missions. A little less than eight minutes after liftoff, B1082 returned to Vanden...

Dozens gather on the lawn of the Kennedy Space Center press site to watch as a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off with NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Hot on the heels of its successful mid-air booster catch during its Sunday Starship Flight 5 mission, SpaceX launched a Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center around lunchtime on Monday. Onboard the three-core vehicle was NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which will embark on a year’s long expedition to Jupiter’s ocean moon, Europa. NASA believes this moon, characterized by its icy exterior and the ocean beneath it, may contain evidence suggesting that the building blocks for life might exist on another celestial body besides Earth. Europa Clipper was sent on an inter-planetary trajectory...

A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX SpaceX completed a double launch day on Tuesday with a Starlink mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The Starlink 9-7 mission occurred just a few hours after the Starlink 10-10 mission launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) occurred at 1:21 a.m. PDT (4:21 a.m. EDT, 0821 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1071 in the SpaceX fleet, flew for a 19th time. It previously support...