Q&A with Keith Gendreau, principal investigator of the first X-ray space communications experiment (members only)

The batch of 21 Starlink satellites includes another 13 with the Direct to Cell capability. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 8:50 a.m. EDT (1250 UTC) Saturday.

Gusty winds associated with a subtropical low pressure system prevented United Launch Alliance from sending an Atlas 5 rocket into orbit Saturday from Cape Canaveral with the U.S. Air Force’s clandestine X-37B spaceplane. ULA plans to try again Sunday, and a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from a nearby pad has been delayed to Tuesday.

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus supply ship set for liftoff Saturday will deliver to the International Space Station the final hardware for a series of ambitious spacewalks later this month to install a new coolant system on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $2 billion particle physics experiment seeking the cosmic signatures of dark matter and antimatter.