Mission Reports – Page 242

May 31, 2026

Breaking News

[ May 30, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 50th Starlink mission of 2026 Falcon 9
[ May 29, 2026 ] ULA launches 29 Amazon Leo satellites on Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Atlas 5
[ May 29, 2026 ] Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explodes during prelaunch testing at Cape Canaveral Mission Reports
[ May 29, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
[ May 27, 2026 ] FAA requires SpaceX-led mishap investigation before resumption of Starship launches Mission Reports

U.S. military to award smallsat launch contracts using COVID-19 relief funds

June 19, 2020 Stephen Clark

The U.S. military said this week it plans to award rideshare small satellite launch contracts to six U.S. companies using funds appropriated to help stabilize the defense industrial base amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Vega rocket’s return-to-flight launch waits for improved wind conditions

June 18, 2020 Stephen Clark

The first launch of an Italian-made Vega rocket since an in-flight failure nearly one year ago has been postponed to no earlier than Monday night due to unfavorable upper level winds over the Vega launch base in Kourou, French Guiana.

Photos: NASA’s Perseverance rover buttoned up for launch

June 17, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Perseverance rover has been closed up inside its protective aeroshell, the structure that will protect the spacecraft when it plunges into the Martian atmosphere, in preparation for launch no earlier than July 20 from Cape Canaveral.

China launches Earth observation satellite

June 17, 2020 Stephen Clark

A Gaofen Earth-imaging satellite and two secondary payloads launched Wednesday aboard a Chinese Long March 2D rocket.

Fitted with super-clean sample tubes, NASA’s next Mars rover nears launch date

June 16, 2020 Stephen Clark

The Perseverance rover’s sterilized sample tubes — designed to seal Martian rock and sediment for eventual return to Earth — are installed on the spacecraft as teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center prepare to enclose the rover inside the payload shroud of its Atlas 5 launcher for liftoff July 20.

NASA says JWST won’t be ready for launch in March 2021

June 16, 2020 Stephen Clark

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will not happen in March 2021 — the mission’s previously-scheduled launch date — after the coronavirus pandemic forced a more than 50 percent reduction in staff levels at the observatory’s assembly and test facility.

Last Beidou satellite launch postponed by rocket trouble

June 15, 2020 Stephen Clark

Ground crews at the Xichang launch center in China postponed the launch of a Long March 3B rocket into orbit Tuesday that was to complete the deployment of the Beidou navigation fleet, a project approved by the Chinese government in 1994 to end reliance on the U.S. military’s GPS network.

Starlink satellite deployments continue with successful Falcon 9 launch

June 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

Breaking a SpaceX record for the shortest span between two missions from the same launch pad, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Saturday from Cape Canaveral carrying 58 more Starlink broadband satellites and three Earth-imaging spacecraft for Planet.

University-built CubeSat launched with swarm of auroral science nodes

June 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab successfully launched five small satellites from New Zealand Saturday for customers in the United States and Australia, including a CubeSat with a novel swarm of tiny magnetometers to measure the plasma currents that shape colorful auroras.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on first Starlink rideshare mission

June 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

Another batch of Starlink Internet satellites shared a ride into orbit with three of Planet’s SkySat Earth-imaging satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Saturday. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 5:21 a.m. EDT (0921 GMT) from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.