Video: Falcon 9 fires up engines for static fire test (members only)

The STP-S30 mission was moved up five months on the launch manifest for Rocket Lab. This was the 20th launch of an Electron rocket in 2025.

Space missions dispatched into the solar system often have journeys lasting years before reaching a scientific payoff, but NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched last weekend on a speedy departure from planet Earth is already getting ready to sweep closer to the sun than any spacecraft in history during a flyby later this year.

This is a collection of images taken during the three previous flights of the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle mini space shuttle.