SpaceX

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...

The Starship upper stage on a test firing mount ahead of a static fire demonstration in December 20204. It’s the first Block 2 Starship that will be launched by SpaceX. Image: SpaceX SpaceX is launching into 2025 with what is poised to be a blistering pace of launch for its super heavy lift rocket, Starship. The company is angling for as many as 25 launches of the nearly 40-story-tall rocket, if approved by federal regulators. In a lengthy post to its website, SpaceX laid out a laundry list of objectives it hopes to check off during the first mission of the year dubbed, Flight 7. The company didn’t announce a launch date along with the mission description, but current maritime and aviation warnings posted publicly suggest Flight 7 could happen as soon as Friday, Jan. 10, at 4 p.m. CST (5 p...

A rendering of the Thuraya 4-NGS satellite on orbit. Graphic: Space42 SpaceX is preparing for its first Falcon 9 launch of 2025, which will launch a telecommunications satellite designed to serve regions in Africa, Central Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Liftoff of the Thuraya 4-NGS (Next Generation System) mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 3 at 8:27 p.m. EST (0127 UTC), the opening of a four-hour launch window. Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.  The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail number B1073 in the SpaceX fleet, will launch for a 20th time. It previously launched the CRS-27 mission to the International Space Station, ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 1, Bandwagon-1 and 13...

This illustration shows a concept for multiple robots that would team up to ferry to Earth samples of rocks and soil being collected from the Martian surface by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover.Credit: NASA/ESA/JPL-Caltech One of the biggest decision points for the space community, how to redesign the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, may be weeks away from an inflection point, according to outgoing NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. During a roundtable discussion with reporters on Dec. 18 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Nelson said the agency will announce the path forward on the U.S.-led initiative to return samples from the Red Planet “in the first part of January, before I leave.” “As a matter of fact, one of the major briefings is going to occur Friday morning (Dec. 20) here at KSC...