News – Spaceflight Now

April 21, 2026

Breaking News

[ April 21, 2026 ] Live coverage: SpaceX to launch final GPS III satellite for the U.S. Space Force Falcon 9
[ April 20, 2026 ] Blue Origin launches third New Glenn rocket, but payload ends up in wrong orbit New Glenn
[ April 19, 2026 ] Third flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket to feature 1st reuse of booster Mission Reports
[ April 18, 2026 ] SpaceX makes 600th Falcon booster landing during West Coast Starlink mission Falcon 9
[ April 16, 2026 ] Blue Origin hot fires its first previously flown booster, prepares for weekend launch Mission Reports

Live coverage: SpaceX to launch final GPS III satellite for the U.S. Space Force

April 21, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

This is the final spacecraft of this generation of precision, navigation, and timing satellites before the U.S. Space Force shifts to launching GPS IIIF satellites. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled during a 15-minute launch window opens at 2:53 a.m. EDT (0653 UTC).

Blue Origin launches third New Glenn rocket, but payload ends up in wrong orbit

April 20, 2026 William Harwood

Blue Origin launched the company’s third New Glenn rocket Sunday, re-flying and successfully recovering a previously used first stage. But the rocket’s payload, a direct-to-cellphone communications satellite, ended up in the wrong orbit, the company said.

Third flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket to feature 1st reuse of booster

April 19, 2026 Spaceflight Now

Blue Origin plans to launch its third New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral Sunday during a two-hour window that opens at 6:45 a.m. EDT (1045 UTC). It will carry AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite to provide direct to cell phone services from space.

SpaceX makes 600th Falcon booster landing during West Coast Starlink mission

April 18, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 17-22 mission launched 25 broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 9:03:09 a.m. PDT (12:03:09 pm EDT / 1603:09 UTC).

Blue Origin hot fires its first previously flown booster, prepares for weekend launch

April 16, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The engine test, called a static fire, saw the company ignite all seven of its BE-4 engines for less than half a minute. Local maritime and aviation hazards suggest a launch could happen as soon as Sunday, April 19.

Blue Origin one step closer to launching New Glenn from Vandenberg Space Force Base

April 15, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The U.S. Space Force said that it down-selected the company owned by Jeff Bezos to potentially develop a new launch site in California.

West Coast SpaceX Falcon 9 mission launches 25 Starlink satellites

April 15, 2026 Spaceflight Now

Liftoff of the Starlink 17-27 mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 9:29:49 p.m. PDT (12:29:49 a.m. EDT / 0429:49 UTC).

SpaceX launches 1,000th Starlink satellite of 2026 on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral

April 14, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The Starlink 10-24 mission will add another 29 satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 5:33:10 a.m. EDT (0933:10 UTC).

NASA confident Artemis 2 heat shield will protect crew during re-entry

April 10, 2026 William Harwood

When the Artemis 2 Orion crew capsule returns to Earth after flying around the moon, it will hit the discernible atmosphere some 75 miles above the Pacific Ocean at a blistering 24,000 mph, fast enough to fly from New York to London in less than 10 minutes.

Artemis astronauts send down Easter message, prep for lunar fly around Monday

April 5, 2026 William Harwood

Taking time out to send Easter greetings down to Earth, the four Artemis II astronauts closed in on the moon Sunday, already seeing unexpected detail on the surface and giving scientists a taste of things to come during a pass over the lunar far side Monday evening.