March 2023 – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Falcon 9 deploys 56 Starlink satellites on SpaceX’s 20th launch of the year

March 24, 2023 Stephen Clark

SpaceX continued launching satellites for the Starlink internet network Friday, sending a Falcon 9 rocket aloft from Cape Canaveral with 56 more older-generation broadband spacecraft as ground teams troubleshoot problems with a batch of upgraded Starlinks launched last month.

Rocket Lab recovers booster again after launch with BlackSky satellites

March 24, 2023 Stephen Clark

Two BlackSky optical Earth-imaging satellites rode an Electron launcher into orbit Friday from New Zealand, while the Electron’s first stage booster gently parachuted into the Pacific Ocean as engineers consider abandoning airborne rocket recovery in favor of ship-based retrieval and reuse.

Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches BlackSky satellites from New Zealand

March 24, 2023 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab’s second launch in a little more than a week blasted off from New Zealand at 5:14 a.m. EDT (0914 UTC) Friday with two commercial Earth observation satellites for BlackSky. The Electron rocket’s first stage booster successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean for recovery.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches 56 more Starlink internet satellites

March 24, 2023 Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket Friday, this time to deliver 56 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 11:43 a.m. EDT (1543 UTC). The first stage booster landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX pausing launches of new-generation Starlink satellites

March 23, 2023 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next two missions will revert to launching older versions of the company’s Starlink internet satellites, instead of new second-generation Starlink platforms as originally planned, while ground teams work out unspecified problems with the first batch of upgraded Starlinks launched in February.

Starlink 5-5 static fire at pad 40

March 23, 2023 Spaceflight Now

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 booster ahead of the planned launch of another batch of Starlink satellites.

Relativity’s 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket reaches space, but falls short of orbit

March 22, 2023 Stephen Clark

Relativity Space, a company with ambitions to develop a fully reusable rocket, launched its first expendable methane-fueled booster from Cape Canaveral Wednesday night, successfully demonstrating the strength of the launcher’s first-of-its-kind 3D-printed structure but failing to reach orbit after a malfunction on the test flight’s second stage.

Penultimate Delta rocket to launch next month on ULA’s first mission of 2023

March 22, 2023 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance’s second-to-last Delta 4-Heavy rocket is scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral April 20 with a classified cargo for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency, a mission that will mark ULA’s first flight of the year, officials announced this week.

Good weather expected for Relativity Space’s late-night launch attempt

March 21, 2023 Stephen Clark

Relativity Space will try a third time to launch a 3D-printed rocket from Cape Canaveral Wednesday night, and weather forecasters predict a 95% chance of favorable conditions for the late-night test flight.

Webb telescope sees the prelude to a supernova

March 21, 2023 Stephen Clark

A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a rare glimpse of a massive star 15,000 light-years away shedding a halo of gas and dust, seeding the cosmos with elements necessary for forming other stars, planets, and the building blocks of life.