Video: SpaceX Dragon departs space station

Russian engineers will replace rocket engines on two Soyuz rockets assigned to send a batch of supplies and the next crew to the International Space Station after an investigation revealed foreign objects or a manufacturing defect led to the crash of a Progress cargo craft on launch in December, according to Russian media reports and a statement from the Russian space agency.

A little more than a year after the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first test flight, SpaceX teams on Florida’s Space Coast are readying the world’s most powerful operational launcher for its second mission Thursday with a commercial communications satellite.

The Starlink 17-29 mission was the 44th dedicated flight supporting the broadband internet constellation so far in 2026. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:59:19 p.m. PDT (11:59:19 p.m. EDT / 0359:19 UTC).