SpaceX

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander pictured atop a bespoke payload canister, which encased ispace’s Resilience lunar lander prior to encapsulation inside SpaceX’s Falcon 9 payload fairings. Image: SpaceX For the first time in lunar exploration, two robotic landers, from two different nations launched to the Moon on one rocket. But despite Texas-based Firefly Aerospace and Tokyo-based ispace sharing one SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the two missions are taking very different paths and timelines to reach the lunar surface. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center happened Jan. 15 at 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 UTC). The flight was the 100th orbital launch for SpaceX from the historic pad formerly used by Apollo and the Space Shuttle. Minutes after deployment, Firefly confirm...

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket stands at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station prior to the rocket’s inaugural flight on the NG-1 mission. Image: Blue Origin Update 3:20 a.m. EST (0820 UTC): Blue Origin scrubbed the launch. Blue Origin is preparing to step into a new chapter of rocketry, by debuting its first orbital class rocket, New Glenn. It will also attempt to recover the first stage booster on landing platform the Atlantic Ocean. The company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was targeting the inaugural launch of New Glenn during a three-hour window on Monday, Jan. 13. However, launch teams ran into what they described as a “vehicle subsystem issue” that took longer to potentially resolve than they had time available in the window. A new launch date was still being ...

File: The Falcon 9 at sunrise Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024 as final preparations were made for the NROL-167 mission. Image: SpaceX. SpaceX is preparing for its first West Coast Falcon 9 launch of the year, which will feature the latest batch of Starshield satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff of the NROL-153 mission from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base is set for 7:52 p.m. PST (10:52 p.m. EST, 0352 UTC). This will be SpaceX’s fourth orbital launch of the year. Spaceflight Now will have live coverage of the mission beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.  The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail number B1071 in the SpaceX fleet, will be launching for a 22nd time. It’s previous flights included three rideshare missions (Transporter-8, Transporte...

File: 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 is preparing to launch a batch of 21 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, including 13 equipped to provide text and data cellphone service. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 10:27 a.m. EST (1527 UTC). If needed the launch window extends until 2:17 p.m. EST (1917 UTC) Wednesday afternoon. Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.  On Monday, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast an 95 percent chance of favorable launch weather fo...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the planned launch of the Starlink 6-71 mission. Image: Spaceflight Now Update Jan. 6, 4:54 p.m. EST (2154 UTC): SpaceX confirms deployment of the 24 Starlink satellites. SpaceX completed its first Starlink mission of the year on the first Monday of 2025. Onboard the Starlink 6-71 mission were 24 V2 Mini satellites headed to low Earth orbit. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 3:43 p.m. EST (2043 UTC), which was the end of the available three-hour window. SpaceX didn’t bring its rocket into launch position at the pad until nearly 9:45 am EST (1445 UTC). Typically for launches at pad 40, the Falc...