Tag: Launches & Spacecraft

United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday (Jan. 8) at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT).  The launch — the first ever for the powerful Vulcan Centaur — sent Astrobotic’s private Peregrine moon lander toward Earth’s nearest neighbor, where it is expected to land on Feb. 23. Success in that effort would be historic: No private spacecraft has ever touched down softly on the lunar surface. Here we take a look at some of the first photos from this stunning nighttime launch.  Related: ULA’s Vulcan…

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A historic moon mission will launch early Monday morning (Jan. 8), and you can watch the action live. United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT). The launch — the first ever for the powerful new rocket — will send the private Peregrine moon lander toward Earth’s nearest neighbor.  You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV, beginning at 1:30 a.m. EST (0630 GMT) on Monday. Related: 10…

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After weeks of delays, the United Launch Alliance is ready to launch its first-ever Vulcan rocket — a test flight that will also send a private lunar lander to the moon in another first — but if you’re hoping to watch the historic liftoff, you’ll need to know when and how. For that, space fans, we’ve got you covered.  The Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch from ULA’s Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT) on its Cert-1 mission to prove…

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SpaceX closed out 2023 with a fiery double test of its next Starship megarocket booster and spacecraft on Friday (Sept. 29), sharing some stunning videos of both vehicles in the process. The dual test of engines on the giant Starship and Super Heavy rocket stages at SpaceX’s Starbase proving ground in Boca Chica, Texas on Friday comes as the company prepares for its third Starship launch test, which is expected in early 2024.  “Just completed static fire of Flight 3 Super Heavy Booster,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X…

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Rocket debris from China’s recent satellite launch fell to ground near inhabited areas, where bystanders caught the fiery touchdown on tape.  The China National Space Administratio launched two satellites into orbit on Monday (Dec. 25) at 10:26 p.m. EST (0326 GMT Dec. 26 or 11:26 a.m. local time in China) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province. The Long March 3B rocket carried two satellites for China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System, which is roughly equivalent to the GPS system used in North America.  While the satellites were successfully…

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The U.S. military’s X-37B space plane has embarked on its latest clandestine mission at last. The robotic X-37B lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida Thursday night (Dec. 28) at 8:07 p.m. EST (0107 GMT on Dec. 29) after weeks of delays. SpaceX first two attempts to launch the secretive X-37-B military space plane earlier this month were delayed by bad weather and a ground equipment issue. Thursday’s launch marked the seventh liftoff for the X-37B to date but its first…

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The Japanese space agency’s H3 rocket system will return to the launchpad in early 2024 after an explosive failure this year. The H3 will launch from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency‘s (JAXA’s) Tanegashima Space Center as soon as Feb. 14, 2024, officials said in a statement released on Wednesday (Dec. 27). The prime launch window runs between 7:22 p.m. and 11:06 p.m. EST Feb. 14 (0022 and 0406 GMT, or 9:22 a.m. and 1:06 p.m. local time in Japan on Feb. 15.) Backup launch windows for the mission, designated H3…

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch two radar reconnaissance satellites for the German military early Saturday morning (Dec. 23). A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the SARah-2 mission to low Earth orbit (LEO) from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday, during an 83-minute window that opens at 8:11 a.m. EST (1311 GMT; 5:11 a.m. local California time). You can watch it live via SpaceX‘s account on X (formerly known as Twitter). Coverage will begin about 15 minutes before the launch window opens. Related: 8…

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A month after its latest liftoff, SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket is getting ready to fly again. Starship launched Nov. 18 on its second-ever test mission, which ended in two spectacular explosions. But the company, as ever, is gearing up for the next try. “Flight 3 vehicles on the pad at Starbase for testing ahead of Starship‘s next launch,” SpaceX wrote today (Dec. 18) in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that shared three photos of the spacecraft involved. (Starbase is SpaceX’s South Texas site, which serves as the…

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SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will fly again before the end of the year, if all goes according to plan. SpaceX is now targeting Dec. 28 for the launch of the U.S. Space Force‘s X-37B space plane, which will fly atop a Falcon Heavy from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. You can watch the action here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, when the time comes. Related: The Space Force’s secretive X-37B space plane: 10 surprising facts SpaceX had originally planned to launch the robotic X-37B on Dec. 11. But…

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