June 2026 – Spaceflight Now

Astronauts ‘operate’ on space station’s broken robot arm

June 30, 2026 William Harwood

On May 27, flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston noticed one of the Canadian-built arm’s seven joints was drawing more current than expected and not moving properly.

Blue Origin outlines return to flight logistics for its New Glenn rockets

June 30, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The explosion of a New Glenn rocket on May 28 is still under investigation. The company said it’s moving to a hybrid horizontal-vertical integration for its rockets moving forward.

SpaceX launches 7.5-ton SiriusXM satellite as part of constellation refresh

June 28, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The SXM-11 satellite was built by Intuitive Machines and is more than 230-feet-tall. Liftoff on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 10:25 p.m. EDT (0225 UTC).

SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base

June 28, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 17-40 mission will add another 24 broadband internet satellites to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 9:09 a.m. PDT (12:09 p.m. EDT / 1609 UTC)

Next-gen astronaut Moon rovers aim for deployment ahead of Artemis 4 crew arrival

June 26, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

On May 26, NASA selected two lunar terrain vehicle providers to create iterative versions of their prior LTV designs that can deploy to the Moon in more timely and cost-effective manner.

West Coast Falcon 9 launch continues expansion of SpaceX’s Starlink network

June 24, 2026 Steven Young

Liftoff of the Starlink 17-45 mission from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California occurred at 8:30 p.m. PDT (11:30 p.m. EDT / 0330 UTC).

NASA, Boeing committed to Starliner-1 launch despite unclear timeline

June 23, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The uncrewed flight of the spacecraft is still going through testing and analysis before NASA green lights a return to flight mission.

SpaceX launches reentry capsule demo mission called ‘Starfall’

June 23, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission is the debut of a new reentry capsule developed by SpaceX that weighs about 2,100 kg (4,600 lbs). Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 6:53 a.m. EDT (1053 UTC).

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrives in Florida

June 22, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The $4.3 billion observatory will go through about 70 days of prelaunch processing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center before it launches on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket no earlier than August 30.

SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg

June 20, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 17-28 mission is the 58th mission launching the broadband satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 9:39:06 a.m. PDT (12:39:06 p.m. EDT / 1639:06 UTC).