2026 – Page 6 – Spaceflight Now

‘Very lucky day’: NASA, SpaceX ace astronaut launch to the space station on Friday the 13th

February 14, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

This was the first time that the space agency happened to launch a crewed mission to the International Space Station on a Friday the 13th. The Crew-12 mission took flight onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 UTC).

NASA loading liquid hydrogen aboard Artemis 2 rocket in unannounced test

February 12, 2026 Steven Young

NASA is loading liquid hydrogen aboard its Space Launch System moon rocket at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday for an unpublicized but crucial test of the repairs made to a leaky umbilical that derailed a countdown rehearsal on Feb. 2.

Vulcan suffers solid rocket booster problem during USSF-87 launch

February 12, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The anomaly appears similar to the nozzle burn through seen during the launch of the second certification flight of a Vulcan rocket.

ULA to launch geosynchronous orbit surveillance satellite for the U.S. Space Force

February 11, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The USSF-87 will be the second national security flight for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket and the fourth flight of this type of rocket to date. Liftoff from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 3:30 a.m. EST (0830 UTC).

SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB

February 11, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 17-34 mission was the 16th launch for SpaceX so far this year. Liftoff from pad 4E happened at 9:11:29 a.m. PST (12:11:29 p.m. EST / 1711:29 UTC).

ULA sets sights on ramping up launch cadence in 2026

February 11, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The company came under new leadership in December following the departure of Tory Bruno, who left the company to join Blue Origin.

Weather delays NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 flight to the International Space Station

February 9, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The launch is now targeting no earlier than Friday, Feb. 13, for the launch of Crew-12. Liftoff will be at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 UTC).

SpaceX test fires its Falcon 9 rocket ahead of midweek launch of Crew-12 to the space station

February 8, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The static fire test is an important precursor to the Crew-12 launch, scheduled for the morning of Feb. 11. Ignition at pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 3:16 a.m. EST (0816 UTC).

SpaceX launches return to flight Falcon 9 mission following brief stand down

February 7, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

SpaceX halted launches for less than a week following an in-flight anomaly. Liftoff of the Starlink 17-33 mission happened at 12:58:09 p.m. PST (3:58:09 p.m. EST / 2058:09 UTC).

SpaceX shifts away from Dragon launches at pad 39A as Starship looms

February 6, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The last Dragon flight from pad 39A was the CRS-33 mission in August 2025. SpaceX is preparing for the just the second pad 40 launch supporting NASA’s Commercial Crew Program no earlier than Feb. 11.