December 2023 – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Blue Origin launches New Shepard rocket on return to flight mission

December 19, 2023 Will Robinson-Smith

Blue Origin appears to be back in the suborbital business. Under a mostly sunny west Texas sky, the company launched its New Shepard suborbital rocket at roughly 10:43 a.m. CST (1643 UTC).

Space X Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral

December 19, 2023 Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Monday night after high winds kept the rocket grounded last week. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 with 23 Starlink satellites occurred at 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 UTC).

News from the Press Site: A roundup of the week’s space news

December 18, 2023 Spaceflight Now

Join us for a roundup of the week’s space news with reporters covering the big stories. Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith is joined by Sandra Erwin of Space News and Stephen Clark on Ars Technica.

SpaceX delays first Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability

December 15, 2023 Will Robinson-Smith

SpaceX was looking to rebound from a week of scuttled launches with a Falcon 9 launch from California but the Starlink 7-9 mission was delayed to Dec. 28 for unspecified reasons.

Rocket Lab successfully completes return-to-flight Electron launch

December 14, 2023 Will Robinson-Smith

Rocket Lab launched its first flight of the Electron rocket since a failure on Sept. 19. The 42nd mission for the small-satellite launcher lifted off on Dec. 15 from New Zealand 1705 NZDT (0405 UTC or 11:05 p.m. EST).

Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket set for return to flight mission

December 14, 2023 Will Robinson-Smith

After more than a year of being sidelined, Blue Origin is preparing for a resurgence of its New Shepard rocket suborbital flights. The launch window for its uncrewed return-to-flight mission dubbed NS-24 opens on Monday at 9:30 a.m. CST (1530 UTC).

SpaceX standing down from Starlink 6-34 mission Wednesday due to poor Atlantic weather

December 11, 2023 Spaceflight Now

SpaceX is standing down from a launch attempt of the Starlink 6-34 mission onboard its Falcon 9 rocket. It comes less than a day after they had to scrub the launch at the T-1 minute mark due to strong, ground-level winds at Cape Canaveral.

Falcon Heavy launch of secretive X-37B military spaceplane on hold

December 11, 2023 Will Robinson-Smith

Falcon Heavy is returning to the hangar and the launch of the USSF-52 mission with the X-37B spaceplane is on hold. A ground issue scrubbed an earlier launch attempt and now required work on the vehicle itself.

ULA’s first mission with its Vulcan rocket slides to January launch window

December 10, 2023 Will Robinson-Smith

The debut of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket is slipping from late December into early January, according to the company’s president and CEO, Tory Bruno. In a social media post on Sunday, Bruno said the planned Dec. 24 launch date was no longer a viable option.

Falcon 9 flies from California with 22 Starlink satellites, SpaceX’s 100th launch in 365 days

December 8, 2023 Spaceflight Now

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted from the West Coast with another batch of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink network at 12:03 a.m. PST Friday (3:03 a.m. EST / 0803 UTC). Including Starship test flights this was SpaceX’s 100th launch in 365 days.