Mission Reports

August 20, 2026

Breaking News

[ August 19, 2026 ] LandSpace becomes first commercial Chinese company to land an orbital-class booster Mission Reports
[ August 18, 2026 ] Astronauts remove failed antenna; run out of time to install a spare News
[ August 18, 2026 ] SpaceX exceeds 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit Falcon 9
[ August 15, 2026 ] SpaceX launches record-breaking back-to-back Falcon 9 rockets for Globalstar, U.S. Space Force Falcon 9
[ August 14, 2026 ] NASA Administrator ‘extremely confident’ in Artemis 3 mission in 2027 Artemis

Super Heavy-Starship rocket chalks up mostly successful test flight

July 25, 2026 William Harwood

Powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, the 407-foot-tall two-stage rocket blasted off from SpaceX’s “Starbase,” Texas, launch site at 5:51 p.m. EDT, putting on a spectacular show for area residents and tourists as it climbed away atop some 16 million pounds of thrust.

Launch preview: SpaceX ready for 2nd attempt to launch Starship Flight 13 following post-abort engine work

July 23, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The flight was delayed another day as Tropical Storm Bertha was expected to make landfall in Texas on Thursday. Liftoff of the Starship Flight 13 mission is scheduled during a 90-minute window that opens on Friday, July 24, at 5:45 p.m. CDT (6:45 p.m. EDT / 2245 UTC).

SpaceX launches novel geosynchronous robotic servicing satellite on decade-long mission

July 21, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

Northrop Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle features the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites (RSGS) payload from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and DARPA. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled during a four-hour window that opens at 5:15 p.m. EDT (2115 UTC).

SpaceX launches Starlink mission from California a day after last-second abort

July 21, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 17-39 mission is SpaceX’s 85th Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 7:49 a.m. PDT (10:49 a.m. EDT / 1449 UTC).

SpaceX suffers rare, last-second Falcon 9 rocket launch abort

July 20, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 17-39 mission is SpaceX’s 85th Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 7:49 a.m. PDT (10:49 a.m. EDT / 1449 UTC).

Post-ignition anomaly causes abort of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13

July 16, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission will also test out a series of improvements to the launcher to help push it closer to full reusability. Liftoff from pad 2 at Starbase, Texas, was aborted at ignition due to an engine-related issue.

SpaceX launches 21 communications satellites for the Space Development Agency

July 16, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Tranche 1 Transporter Layer E (T1TL-E) mission was the third batch of operational satellites launched to support the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture satellite constellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 1:32 p.m. PDT (4:32 p.m. EDT / 2032 UTC).