Will Robinson-Smith – Page 22

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.

U.S. Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane lands following 434-day orbital mission

March 7, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The secretive winged spacecraft launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Dec. 29, 2023 to conduct a classified mission. The landing concludes the seventh flight of the Boeing-built spacecraft since 2010.

Launch preview: SpaceX to launch Starship Flight 8 following Monday scrub

March 3, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The eighth launch of SpaceX’s fully integrated Starship rocket will largely repeat the mission objectives of the previous flight, which saw the breakup of the Ship upper stage of the Turks and Caicos Islands. SpaceX is currently targeting Thursday, March 6, at 5:30 p.m. CST (6:30 p.m. EST, 2330 UTC).

Arianespace successfully launches Ariane 6’s first commercial launch following Monday scrub

March 3, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The launch will be managed by Arianespace and will carry the third satellite for the Optical Space Component (CSO– Composante Spatiale Optique) program. Liftoff is scheduled for Thursday, March 6, at 1:24 p.m. Kourou time (11:24 a.m. EST, 1624 UTC).

Firefly Aerospace aces Moon landing on first attempt

March 2, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The successful touchdown marks the beginning of a planned 14-day mission on the lunar surface. The Blue Ghost lander is designed to power down after operating for a few hours into the lunar nighttime, which begins on March 16.

As it happened: Firefly Aerospace completes first Moon landing with Blue Ghost

March 1, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The robotic lander will attempt to touch down on the lunar surface at Mare Crisium near Mons Latreille Sunday morning. The anticipated landing time is no earlier than 3:34 a.m. EST (0834 UTC).

SpaceX launches 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral

March 1, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission came shortly after announcing they crossed 5 million subscribers to the Starlink internet service. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened on Sunday, March 2, at 9:24 p.m. EST (0224 UTC on March 3).

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, AstroForge’s Odin face post-deployment challenges

February 28, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

Two spacecraft that launched as rideshare payloads on Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission are dealing with post-deployment challenges that might put the missions in jeopardy.