Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX launches 27 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) to begin the Starlink 11-7 mission with 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites onboard. Image: SpaceX SpaceX sent a batch of 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket launch Wednesday afternoon. The flight tied the…
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SpaceX launches national security satellite for NRO on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
A SpaceX Falcon rocket lifted of from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) to begin the NROL-69 mission on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now The National Reconnaissance Office, which manages the American military’s spy satellites, launched its fifth mission of the 2025 out…
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Launch Roundup: Spectrum, Electron, and Falcon 9 fly missions
This week included three launches scheduled for Wednesday and the third Electron rocket to fly within 12 days. SpaceX kicked off the week with the launch of a classified mission on Monday. Two Starlink missions also flew alongside two others from China this week. Firefly Aerospace postponed the sixth flight of its Alpha rocket, following…
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SpaceX launches 450th Falcon 9 rocket, breaks booster turnaround record on NRO mission
A streak shot of the liftoff and booster landing for the NROL-57 mission on March 21, 2025. Image: SpaceX The National Reconnaissance Office launched its eighth batch of satellites to support its proliferated architecture constellation. The mission includes a number of notable milestones for SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket program, including a record-fast turnaround time for…
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Can NASA remain nonpartisan when basic spaceflight truths are shredded?
It looked like the final scene of a movie, the denouement of a long adventure in which the good guys finally prevail. Azure skies and brilliant blue seas provided a perfect backdrop on Tuesday evening as a spacecraft carrying four people neared the planet’s surface. “Just breathtaking views of a calm, glass-like ocean off the…
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Crew-9, Starliner CFT astronauts return to Earth aboard Dragon
After more than nine months in space, the crew of the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission have returned home. Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams boarded SpaceX Crew Dragon C212 Freedom and undocked from the International Space Station on March 17, and splashed down off the coast of Florida on March 18. They were…
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SpaceX Dragon Freedom splashes down off coast of Florida, ending Crew-9 mission
Support teams work around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International…
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SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites Tuesday afternoon Falcon 9 flight
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) to begin the Starlink 12-25 mission on March 18, 2025. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now SpaceX launched a batch of 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit as it and NASA are in the process of returning four people from the…
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Launch Roundup: Electron, Falcon 9, and Ceres-1 launches flying this week
The busy launch manifests of recent weeks are continuing, with Falcon 9, Electron, and Chinese rocket launches having taken place this week. SpaceX launched Starlink 12-25 and NROL-57 along with NROL-69, while Starlink 11-7 moved into next week. Rocket Lab’s Electron successfully launched from New Zealand on the heels of last week’s “The Lightning God…
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SpaceX sets new launchpad turnaround record with Saturday sunrise launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at sunrise to begin the Starlink 12-16 mission on March 15, 2025. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update March 15, 8:41 a.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 23 Starlink satellites. SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at sunrise Saturday morning.…