Tag: Launches & Spacecraft

SpaceX launched 24 of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida early this morning (Nov. 14) in the second half of a spaceflight doubleheader. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the 24 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 8:21 a.m. EST (1321 GMT.) The four-hour launch window opened at 5:33 a.m. EST (0933 GMT) just five hours after another Falcon 9 launched 20 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff…

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SpaceX is set to tie its rocket-reuse record today (Nov. 11). A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the KoreaSat-6A telecom satellite from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida today, during a four-hour window that opens at 12:07 p.m. EST (1607 GMT). It will be the 23rd mission for this rocket’s first stage, according to SpaceX, equaling a mark set by two other Falcon 9 boosters. SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about 15 minutes before liftoff. If all goes according to plan, the booster…

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SpaceX plans to launch 24 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast on Monday (Nov. 11). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday during a four-hour window that opens at 4:02 p.m. EST (2102 GMT). The launch had originally been planned for Sunday evening, but was delayed due to “unfavorable recovery weather conditions,” according to SpaceX. SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about five minutes before liftoff. If all goes to…

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In a clean room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, scientists have successfully integrated a crucial component onto the Roman Space Telescope. This device, known as the Roman Coronagraph Instrument, is designed to block starlight, enabling scientists to detect the faint light from planets beyond our solar system. This achievement marks a significant milestone for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a next-generation space observatory that will launch around May 2027. With a field of view at least 100 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope,…

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Australia is poised to be the next country to take the giant leap into orbit. Aussie-based company Gilmour Space received the country’s first orbital launch license this week, as it prepares for the first test flight of its Eris rocket. A specific launch date is expected within the next few weeks, according to a Gilmour Space press release, with a liftoff from the company’s Bowen Orbital Spaceport, in northern Queensland. Gilmour Space opened its doors in 2015, and has since grown to more than 200 employees. Located on Queensland’s Gold…

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Russia launched 53 small satellites into orbit on Monday (Nov. 4), a mix of Russian and international spacecraft. A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage lifted off from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East at 6:18 p.m. EST on Monday (2318 GMT; or 2:18 a.m. on Nov. 5 local time). “The hosted payload consisting of 49 Russian satellites, a Russian-Chinese satellite, a Russian-Zimbabwean satellite and two Iranian small satellites was delivered into the designated orbits and separated from the Fregat booster that was launched by a…

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SpaceX will launch 20 Starlink internet satellites from California early Saturday morning (Nov. 9). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft — 13 of which have direct-to-cell capability — is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday, during a four-hour window that opens at 1:16 a.m. EST (0516 GMT; 10:16 p.m. Nov. 8 local time).  SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about five minutes before liftoff. If all goes according to plan on Saturday morning, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back…

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Rocket Lab plans to launch a hush-hush mission early Tuesday morning (Nov. 5), and you can watch the action live. The mission, for a “confidential commercial customer,” is set to lift off atop an Electron vehicle from Rocket Lab‘s New Zealand site on Tuesday at 5:30 a.m. EST (0930 GMT). Rocket Lab will webcast the launch live, beginning 30 minutes before liftoff. Space.com will carry the feed if Rocket Lab makes it available. Tuesday’s mission, which Rocket Lab calls “‘Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” will send one commercial satellite…

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Japan’s new H3 rocket flew for the fourth time ever on Monday morning (Nov. 4). The H3 launched Kirameki 3, a military communications satellite also known as DSN-3, from Tanegashima Space Center on Monday at 1:48 a.m. EST (0548 GMT; 3:48 p.m. local Japan time). The flight was apparently a success: Kirameki 3 deployed at about 29 minutes after liftoff as planned, eliciting cheers and handshakes in mission control, as seen in the launch webcast by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The two-stage H3 is Japan’s new workhorse medium-lift…

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China’s Shenzhou 18 crew are ready to return home after more than six months in space. Astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu have been living aboard the Tiangong space station since April 25 this year, but are set to return to Earth on Sunday (Nov. 3) after completing their mission. The trio greeted the incoming Shenzhou 19 crew aboard Tiangong on Oct. 30, meaning China briefly has six astronauts in space. Commander Ye officially handed over the control of the orbital outpost to Shenzhou 19 commander Cai Xuzhe…

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