Mission Reports

SpaceX hauled a classified payload into orbit for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, accomplishing another successful launch and landing on the second of three Falcon 9 rocket missions planned this week.

SpaceX launched a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office at 12:27 p.m. PST (3:27 p.m. EST; 2027 GMT) Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. After sending the NRO payload toward polar orbit, the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Vandenberg for landing.

A spectacular launch from Cape Canaveral just after sunset Monday delivered to orbit Italy’s second satellite in a new generation of COSMO-SkyMed radar remote sensing spacecraft. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket put on a memorable sky show over Florida’s Space Coast during its climb into space and return to Earth.

A classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office is closed up in the nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff Wednesday from California’s Central Coast, debuting a brand new booster that will land back near the launch site for reuse on another national security mission later this year.

SpaceX gave an Italian radar satellite a picture-perfect ride into orbit with a memorable Monday evening launch from Cape Canaveral on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. A clear sunset sky offered spectators dazzling views of the reusable booster’s fiery climb into space and pyrotechnic plunge back to Earth.

The first launch of the year from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, set for Wednesday afternoon, will send a payload into orbit for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

A cruise ship that ventured under the planned flight path of a Falcon 9 rocket near Cape Canaveral Sunday forced SpaceX to delay launch of an Italian Earth-imaging satellite for a fourth time, setting up the mission for another try just after sunset Monday.

SpaceX has delayed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket and an Italian radar satellite for three straight days, and is now aiming to send the mission aloft Sunday evening from Cape Canaveral. The following launch on SpaceX’s schedule, set to carry Starlink internet satellites into orbit, was delayed from Sunday until Monday.

After bad weather and an errant cruise ship prevented launch on four previous days, SpaceX fired a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Monday from Cape Canaveral with an Italian radar remote sensing satellite. Liftoff occurred at 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT), and the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster successfully returned to Florida’s Space Coast eight minutes later for landing.

A converted SpaceX side booster that flew on two Falcon Heavy missions in 2019 will launch again Thursday as the first stage of a single-stick Falcon 9 rocket set to lift off from Cape Canaveral with an Italian radar imaging satellite.