Tag: SpaceX
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Launch Roundup: Starship, Ariane 6 and telescope missions delayed, lunar lander flies
Several significant missions were scheduled for this week, including the third lunar lander to launch in just over a month. The Intuitive Machines-2 (IM-2) mission will explore and analyze the Moon’s subsurface, testing new technologies and paving the way for future lunar missions. NASA is also set to launch its SPHEREx observatory, which will map…
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SpaceX launches Starlink 12-13 mission on third attempt
Updated at 10:57 p.m. EST, Feb 26: SpaceX landed the first stage booster on the droneship. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) to begin the Starlink 12-13 mission. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Following two days of scrubbed attempts, SpaceX managed to send 21 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into…
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SpaceX crosses 8,000 total Starlink satellites launched with latest Falcon 9 flight
File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the Starlink 7-14 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Image: SpaceX Update 9:08 p.m. EST (0208 UTC): SpaceX landed the booster on the droneship. SpaceX launched the first of two planned Starlink flights over the weekend. Up first was the launch of the Starlink 15-1…
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SpaceX launches 450th Falcon rocket on Starlink 12-14 mission
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) to begin the Starlink 12-14 mission on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. Image: John Pisani Updated 6:26 a.m. EST: SpaceX confirms booster landing on the droneship. SpaceX launched its latest batch of 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit Friday morning. The…
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Starship Flight 8 vehicles prepare to join forces at Pad A
SpaceX has completed the engine test campaigns for both Ship 34 and Booster 15, which are slated to fly on Starship Flight 8. However, the Mishap Investigation for Flight 7 is still open and needs to be closed before Flight 8 can be approved to launch. Despite this requirement, SpaceX appears confident of approval by…
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Rocket Report: SpaceX lands in the Bahamas; ULA tests modified booster
Welcome to Edition 7.32 of the Rocket Report! It’s true that the US space program has always been political. Domestic and global politics have driven nearly all of the US government’s decisions on major space issues, most notably President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to land astronauts on the Moon amid intense Cold War competition with…
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Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 achieves Bahamas booster landing; Electron flies 60th mission
Three Falcon 9 Starlink missions and a Rocket Lab Electron launch from New Zealand made up the launch manifest for this week. The first Starlink flight of the week saw a Falcon booster land within Bahamian waters for the first time, while Electron’s launch marked the 60th flight of the rocket since its first flight…
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SpaceX sticks first Falcon 9 booster landing in The Bahamas
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket takes off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin the Starlink 10-12 mission on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, B1080, performed the first booster landing in The Bahamas. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now…
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Starship program at Cape Canaveral kicking into gear
After building a Launch Tower at LC-39A in 2022, building what was to be the Roberts Road Starfactory, and then putting all of the plans on hold, SpaceX has since started ramping up the Starship Program at Cape Canaveral. With the redesign of the Starship Pad at LC-39A and a much larger production facility at…
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NASA announces new launch date for Crew-10, swap of SpaceX Dragon spacecraft following construction delays
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 members stand in front of a Falcon 9 first-stage booster at SpaceX’s HangarX facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From left are Mission Specialist Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency),Pilot Nichole Ayers of NASA, Commander Anne McClain of NASA and Mission Specialist Kirill Peskov of Roscosmos. Image: SpaceX…