2026 – Page 9 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX deploys NASA’s Pandora, other smallsats amid 1st ‘Twilight’ rideshare mission

January 10, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The flight included 40 deployment events for a variety of payloads, including NASA’s Pandora spacecraft. Liftoff from pad 4E happened at 5:44 a.m. PST (8:44 a.m. EST / 1344 UTC).

L3Harris announces $845 million majority sale of Space Propulsion and Power Systems business

January 9, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The deal with AE Industrial Partners is expected to close in the second half of 2026. L3Harris will retain full control over the RS-25 engine.

Crew-11 to cut mission short and return to Earth due to medical issue

January 9, 2026 William Harwood

In keeping with the agency’s strict medical privacy policy, NASA officials have not identified the astronaut in question or provided any details about the nature of the medical issue.

FCC gives SpaceX “green light” to expand Starlink constellation to 15,000 satellites

January 8, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 6-96 mission added another 29 broadband internet satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation. SpaceX launched from Space Launch Complex 40 on Friday, Jan. 9, at 4:41 p.m. EST (2141 UTC).

NASA weighs an earlier end to the Crew-11 mission after a ‘medical situation’ with an ISS crew member postpones first spacewalk of 2026

January 7, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

U.S. spacewalk 94 was slated to have NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman perform a variety of operations around the orbiting outpost during the roughly 6.5-hour-long event. A new date for the spacewalk hasn’t been announced.

Year: 2026

SpaceX deploys NASA’s Pandora, other smallsats amid 1st ‘Twilight’ rideshare mission

L3Harris announces $845 million majority sale of Space Propulsion and Power Systems business

Crew-11 to cut mission short and return to Earth due to medical issue

FCC gives SpaceX “green light” to expand Starlink constellation to 15,000 satellites

NASA weighs an earlier end to the Crew-11 mission after a ‘medical situation’ with an ISS crew member postpones first spacewalk of 2026

Dept. of the Air Force opens bidding for Space Launch Complex 14 at Vandenberg SFB

SpaceX launches first Starlink deployment mission since problem strikes satellite

SpaceX opens 2026 with launch of Cosmo-SkyMed Earth observation satellite for Italy