SpaceX

A rendering of the Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) spacecraft onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage as the payload fairings deploy. Graphic: ESA The European Space Agency is preparing to launch its latest Earth observing satellite, designed to better understand the climate. The Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) has four instruments which will study clouds and aerosols around the Earth “to improve the accuracy of climate models and support numerical weather prediction.” ESA’s spacecraft will launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Liftoff is set for 3:20 p.m. PDT (6:20 p.m. EDT, 2220 UTC). Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff. ...

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket takes flight supporting the Starlink 6-62 mission on Wednesday, May 23, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now SpaceX continued the expansion of its Starlink internet satellite mega-constellation with the first of two planned Falcon 9 launches from Florida this week as the company boasts hitting more than three million users. First up to bat was the Starlink 6-62 launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:35 p.m. EDT (0235 UTC). It added 23 additional satellites to the thousands currently in low Earth orbit. The Wednesday night launch comes later in the day after the company successfully launched a classified number of satellites supporting the National Reconnaissance Office’s so-called “proliferated architecture” constellation.  It was th...

Onboard cameras on the Starship upper stage flown during Flight 3 (Starship IFT-3) show the vehicle surrounded by plasma as it reenters the atmosphere on March 14, 2024. Image: SpaceX SpaceX is preparing to launch its massive Starship rocket on its fourth flight test from its Starbase facilities in southern Texas as soon as June 5. The target launch date comes a little less than three months after Flight 3 on March 14. In a pair of posts on its website, SpaceX outlined the learnings from Flight 3, the mission objectives for Flight 4 and the differences between the timing of everything between these two pieces of the development campaign. The Flight 4 launch window is set to open on June 5 at 7 a.m. CDT (8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC). However, as SpaceX points out, they are still waiting on regulat...

A Falcon 9 rocket streaks across the sky over Central Florida amid the Starlink 6-63 mission on May 23, 2023. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update 11:15 p.m. EDT: SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX completed its third Falcon 9 launch in less than 48 hours with a mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. As with its launch Wednesday night, SpaceX sent another 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. Either serendipitously or intentionally, the Starlink 6-63 mission fell on the fifth anniversary of the first dedicated Starlink launch, Starlink v0.9 on May 23, 2019. The launch times of the two missions are also coincidentally very similar. Thursday night’s flight lifted off at 10:45 p.m. EDT (0245 UTC) and its five-year counterpart launched at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 UTC). The ...