2026 – Page 8 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launches first West Coast Starlink mission of 2026

January 21, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 17-30 mission sent the batch of satellites into a polar low Earth orbit. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 9:47:29 p.m. PST (12:47:29 a.m. EST / 0547:29 UTC).

SpaceX launches Sunday sunset Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral

January 18, 2026 Steven Young

SpaceX continued the expansion of its Starlink internet network with the launch of 29 new satellites. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral in Florida happened 6:31:40 p.m. EST (2331:40 UTC) Sunday.

NRO, SpaceX launch reconnaissance satellites from Vandenberg

January 16, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The NROL-105 mission is the first of about a dozen missions planned for 2026 that support the NRO’s so-called proliferated architecture satellite constellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 8:39:51 p.m. PST (11:39:51 p.m. EST / 0439:51 UTC).

Crew 11 safely splashes down after shortened mission

January 15, 2026 William Harwood

Four space station crewmates undocked and plunged back to Earth Thursday, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast six days after NASA ordered them home early because of a medical issue.

NASA, SpaceX conduct ‘medical evacuation’ Crew-11 return to Earth

January 14, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The three astronauts and cosmonaut are scheduled to undock from the space station at 5:05 p.m. EST (2205 UTC) on Wednesday, Jan. 14, and splashdown off the coast of California at 3:41 a.m. EST (0841 UTC).

SpaceX breaks pad turnaround record at Cape Canaveral with midday Starlink launch

January 14, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 6-98 mission added 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 1:08 p.m. EST (1808 UTC).

U.S. Space Force switches rockets for upcoming GPS satellite launch

January 13, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The change will allow the U.S. Space Force to expedite the process of building out its GPS constellation in medium Earth orbit. The launch date for the next satellite, GPS III Space Vehicle 09, could be within weeks.

ISS gains new commander as Crew-11 prepares midweek departure

January 13, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

NASA astronaut Mike Fincke took over command of the International Space Station on Dec. 7, 2025. He and the rest of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission will undock from the ISS on Jan. 14.

SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral

January 12, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 6-97 mission was the fifth Falcon 9 rocket launch of 2026, a rate of roughly one flight every 2.5 days. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 4:08:20 p.m. EST (2108:20 UTC).

India’s PSLV suffers second consecutive launch failure, 16 satellites lost

January 12, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The anomaly Monday morning local time came less than a year after a previous issue that caused the failure of the PSLV-C61 mission.