SpaceX

A Falcon 9 rocket soars above Florida on the Starlink 10-5 mission. NASA and SpaceX decided to use the first launch of booster B1085 on this Starlink flight instead of first flying it on the Crew-9 mission due to a “water intrusion” issue that happened during transport from Texas to Florida. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. A Falcon 9 rocket carried 22 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit after launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) happened at 9:20 a.m. EDT (1320 UTC), which was the end of a four-hour launch window. The Starlink 10-5 mission was the 57th launch of the internet enabling satellites so far in 2024. Heading into the launch opportunity, the...

The crew of the Polaris Dawn mission pose in front of the Alpha jets they flew in on to the Kennedy Space Center. Left to right: Mission Specialist Anna Menon, Pilot Scott “Kidd” Potent, Commander Jared Isaacman, Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now The four-member crew of what is set to be an historic spaceflight arrived in Florida on Monday. Against the backdrop of clear blue skies and summertime humidity, the quartet of astronauts descended from the camouflage clad Dassault Alpha jets owned by the mission’s commander, Jared Isaacman. The crew, which also includes former retired U.S. Air Force pilot, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and two SpaceX Lead Space Operations Engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, will not only fly further beyond Earth than anyone since t...

A collection of smallsats integrated ahead of SpaceX’s rideshare mission, Transporter-11, ahead of encapsulation within the payload fairings. Image: SpaceX Update 5:46 p.m. EDT: SpaceX confirms successful deployment of all payloads. SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, sending dozens of spacecraft into orbit with its latest rideshare mission launching from California. The rocket’s first stage booster touched down back near the launch site following stage separation, creating a sonic boom for those nearby. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) happened 11:56 a.m. PDT (2:56 p.m. EDT, 1856 UTC). The satellites will be deployed over a more than two-hour-long period. The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting the mission, tail number B1075 in the S...

The next two WorldView Legion satellites, which will be the company’s first spacecraft in MIO, are seen here at Maxar Space Systems’ manufacturing facility in Palo Alto, California, shortly before shipment to the launch site. Image: Maxar SpaceX is preparing to launch a pair of Maxar Space Systems’ WorldView Legion satellites to a mid-inclination orbit Thursday morning. The 30 cm-class imaging satellites will ride to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) is set for the beginning of a 60-minute window at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 UTC). Those watching the launch in or around Florida’s Space Coast can expect to hear a sonic boom as the first stage booster returns for a touchdown on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at the Cape...

The Fram2 crew, seen during a visit to SpaceX’s Hawthorn, Calif., manufacturing facility. Left to right: Eric Philips, Jannicke Mikkelse, commander Chun Wang and Rabea Rogge. Image: SpaceX. A blockchain entrepreneur, a cinematographer, a polar adventurer and a robotics researcher plan to fly around Earth’s poles aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule by end of year, becoming the first humans to observe the ice caps and extreme polar environments from orbit, SpaceX announced Monday. The historic flight, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will be commanded by Chun Wang, a wealthy bitcoin pioneer who founded f2pool and stakefish, “which are among the largest Bitcoin mining pools and Ethereum staking providers,” the crew’s website says. “Wang aims to use the mission to highlight t...