Tag: Launches & Spacecraft

LOUISVILLE, Colorado — The scene here is intense. Slowly, ever so slowly, the Sierra Space Dream Chaser spaceplane draws near the International Space Station. There is focused face time here as mission controllers monitor their computer screens and diligently monitor incoming data. Anxiety mounts within the private company’s control center as the craft makes its way through various perfunctory pauses — cautiously approaching the International Space Station (ISS) and enters the approach ellipsoid. The outstretched Canadarm2 robotic arm grapples a fixture on Dream Chaser‘s Shooting Star cargo module. A go-ahead…

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After a successful engine burn test in October, Maine-based bluShift Aerospace is planning for its next big milestone: a suborbital flight test toward the end of 2025. The rocket company, located at Brunswick Landing in southern Maine, was founded over a decade ago. In January of 2021, the company carved its niche in space history when it became the first to commercially use non-toxic biofuel to power its inaugural rocket prototype, Stardust 1.0, on a successful test launch. According to bluShift CEO and founder Sascha Deri, the rocket’s “secret sauce”…

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SpaceX will launch its first Falcon 9 rocket of 2025 today, if all goes according to plan. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to take off on Friday (Jan. 3) at 8:27 p.m. EST (0127 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The flight will launch the Thuraya 4 spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit on behalf of Space42, a satellite and space services company based in the United Arab Emirates. The satellite will provide mobile communications services throughout Europe, the Middle East and…

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India will launch an ambitious space docking test flight on Monday (Dec. 30) that could set the stage for a future mission to the moon. The India Space Research Organisation will launch the two small satellites of its Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) atop an Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Monday. Liftoff is set for 11:28 a.m. EST (9:58 p.m. IST, 1628 GMT) from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. You can watch the SpaDeX mission launch live online via ISRO’s YouTube livestream, which is expected to begin at 11…

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SpaceX is preparing to launch its last mission of the year and you can watch it live. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 21 Starlink broadband internet satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, is poised to lift off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday (Dec. 30). The 3.5-hour launch window opens at 12 a.m. EST (0500 GMT). A live webcast of Monday’s mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch on SpaceX’s website and on the social…

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Dec. 28: SpaceX launching 2 rockets today (Image credit: Astranis) SpaceX is planning two rocket launches in the next 12 hours, one from California and the other from Florida. The first launch is a Falcon 9 rocket launching Saturday, Dec. 28, from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 5:48 p.m. PST (8:48 EST, 0148 GMT). You can watch the launch on SpaceX’s X account and mission page starting about 15 minutes before liftoff. This mission, called Starlink 11-3, will launch 22 new Starlink…

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SpaceX will make a new attempt to launch a miniature fleet of communications satellites overnight tonight and you’ll be able to watch it live online. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch four “MicroGEO” satellites for the company Astranis from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is set for 12 a.m. EST (0500 GMT) on Sunday. You can watch the launch on SpaceX’s X account and mission page starting about 15 minutes before liftoff. The midnight launch will mark SpaceX’s second attempt to…

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United Launch Alliance (ULA) envisions its new, powerful Vulcan Centaur rocket as playing a key role in defending satellites from potential threats in space. Centaur, the upper stage of the Vulcan Centaur, is designed for orbit. During the recent Spacepower Conference in Orlando, Florida, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said that Centaur could be upgraded to function in a defensive capacity in orbit. If an adversary were to endanger U.S. Space Force assets, the Centaur could operate as a “space interceptor” that could act fast to provide defense. “What I’ve been…

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The spaceflight company Rocket Lab called off a planned launch of half a dozen commercial satellites due to concerns over sensor readings on Friday (Dec. 20). Rocket Lab scrubbed what was to be its 16th Electron rocket flight of 2024 less than 20 minutes before planned liftoff at 10:03 a.m. EST (1503 GMT) from the company’s primary launch site on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Fueling of the rocket had already begun at the time of the scrub. “We are standing down from today’s launch attempt for Synspective to take…

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Firefly Aerospace’s first mission to the moon is nearly ready to fly. The company’s Blue Ghost lunar lander arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on Monday (Dec. 16) for integration with the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will launch the robotic probe — as well as the private Japanese moon lander Resilience — to space. Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, is scheduled to launch sometime within a six-day window that begins no earlier than mid-January. Firefly was chosen for the mission through…

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