Mission Reports
SpaceX to set new company records with back-to-back weekend launches
SpaceX aims to set a new record for rocket reuse Saturday with the launch of a Falcon 9 booster from California on an 11th trip to space, carrying more Starlink internet satellites into orbit. If schedules hold, another Falcon 9 will blast off from Florida’s Space Coast about 18-and-a-half hours later with an all-electric Turkish data relay spacecraft.
Webb telescope testing on tap before setting target launch date
Technicians at a jungle spaceport in South America are completing tests on the James Webb Space Telescope Thursday to make sure they fixed a “finicky” communications interface glitch that halted launch preparations earlier this week. NASA and European officials will confirm the mission’s target launch date — currently penciled in for no earlier than Dec. 24 — as soon as Friday.