March 2025 – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX Dragon Freedom splashes down off coast of Florida, ending Crew-9 mission

March 18, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

Dragon Freedom undocked from the space station at 1:05 a.m. EDT (1705 UTC) on Tuesday to begin its roughly 17-hour trip to splash down along Florida’s Gulf Coast. The parachute-supported splash down happened at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 UTC).

SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites Tuesday afternoon Falcon 9 flight

March 18, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The launch came amid the return of three astronauts and a cosmonaut from the International Space Station. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station 3:57 p.m. EDT (1957 UTC).

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 concludes successful, 14-day mission on the Moon

March 18, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The lunar operation marks the longest commercial mission on the Moon to date. Firefly Aerospace is in the midst of preparing for its next trip to the Moon, which is set to launch in 2026.

Fresh crew docks at space station; Starliner astronauts expected to return to Earth Tuesday

March 17, 2025 William Harwood

Approaching from behind and below, the Crew Dragon, launched Friday evening from the Kennedy Space Center, passed 1,300 feet directly under the station before looping up to a point 720 feet directly ahead of the outpost. From there, it glided straight in for docking at the Harmony module’s forward port at 12:04 a.m. EDT.

SpaceX sets new launchpad turnaround record with Saturday sunrise launch

March 15, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The Saturday morning launch broke the pad turnaround record at Space Launch Complex 40 by at nearly six hours. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 7:35 a.m. EDT (1135 UTC).

NASA, SpaceX launch Crew-10 to begin flight to the International Space Station

March 12, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission will be the 14th time that a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carries humans to the International Space Station. The mission launched on Friday, March 14, at 7:03 p.m. EDT (2303 UTC).

SpaceX launches Starlink 12-21 mission following back-to-back scrubs

March 10, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The last Falcon 9 launch from Florida was back on March 2 marking the longest stretch between Florida launches since an upper stage anomaly caused a launch halt from July 13 through July 27. Liftoff of the Starlink 12-21 mission happened Wednesday, March 12 at 10:35 p.m. EDT (0235 UTC).

SpaceX details Falcon 9 anomaly that temporarily grounded the rocket fleet

March 10, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

SpaceX hasn’t launched a Falcon 9 rocket since the March 2 flight of Starlink 12-20. It’s return to flight mission is set to be the rideshare launch of NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions on Monday night.

NASA, SpaceX launch SPHEREx and PUNCH missions following spacecraft-driven scrub

March 10, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The infrared space telescope and Sun-centric missions will launch on a rideshare Falcon 9 flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday, March 10. Liftoff happened Tuesday, March 11, at 8:10 p.m. PDT (11:10 p.m. EDT, 0310 UTC).

Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 Moon mission ends with lander on its side

March 7, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

A photo from the lunar lander, named Athena, shows it landed inside a crater roughly 250 m from its intended landing site. The spacecraft touched down on the Moon’s surface at 12:28:50 p.m. EST (1728:50 UTC), according to ham radio non-profit AMSAT-DL.