News – Page 358 – Spaceflight Now

October 2, 2026

Breaking News

[ October 1, 2026 ] Falcon Heavy flies its first mission for U.S. spy satellite agency Falcon Heavy
[ October 1, 2026 ] Fresh crew takes off for six-month stay aboard space station Falcon 9
[ October 1, 2026 ] NASA, SpaceX launch next crewed mission to the International Space Station Falcon 9
[ September 29, 2026 ] NASA plans unpiloted Starliner test flight at end of year News
[ September 28, 2026 ] Starship returns to Earth; rocket splashes down north of Hawaii after three-hour flight Mission Reports

SpaceX wins NASA contract to launch X-ray telescope on reused rocket

July 8, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket — flying with a reused first stage booster — to launch the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in April 2021, bypassing Northrop Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus rocket for the task.

Arianespace delays Vega launch to avoid unfavorable high-altitude winds

July 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

The launch from French Guiana of a solid-fueled Vega rocket with a European-built surveillance satellite for the United Arab Emirates has been postponed, Arianespace said, citing unfavorable high-altitude winds over the spaceport. Officials have not set a new target launch date.

Soyuz rocket and Fregat upper stage deliver 33 satellites to three different orbits

July 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

A new Russian weather satellite, a CubeSat to test a Silicon Valley startup’s water-based propulsion system, and eight more members of Spire’s commercial fleet of multipurpose nanosatellites were among 33 spacecraft that rode a Soyuz rocket into orbit Friday from Russia’s Far East.

Photos: NASA conducts key Orion abort test

July 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA simulated an in-flight launch abort of an Orion crew capsule high above Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, in a major test of the safety system that would whisk astronauts on future moon missions away from a failing rocket.

GPS satellite encapsulated for Delta 4 launch

July 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force’s next GPS navigation satellite has been closed up inside the payload fairing of its Delta 4 launcher ahead a liftoff from Cape Canaveral scheduled for July 25.

Live coverage: Soyuz rideshare mission lifts off from Vostochny Cosmodrome

July 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off at 0541 GMT (1:41 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East, carrying a new Russian weather satellite and 32 secondary payloads into polar orbit.

Russian Soyuz launcher set to carry 33 satellites into orbit

July 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz rocket is scheduled for liftoff Friday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia’s newest launch site, with 33 satellites from 12 countries on-board to collect weather data and test new space technology.

Newly-released videos show SpaceX payload fairing coming back to Earth

July 3, 2019 Stephen Clark

New videos released Wednesday by SpaceX show the payload fairing from the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket plunging back into the atmosphere after launch June 25, trailing a wake of haunting blue super-heated plasma before unfurling a parafoil and landing in the net of an offshore recovery ship.

Hayabusa 2 cleared for second touchdown on asteroid

July 3, 2019 Stephen Clark

Ground teams have approved plans for Japan’s Hayabusa 2 sample return mission to briefly land on asteroid Ryugu for the second time July 11, aiming for a targeted touch-and-go to gather material exposed by an explosive impactor released by the robot explorer in April.

Watch replays of the Orion inflight abort test

July 2, 2019 Spaceflight Now

Watch replays from launch pad and tracking cameras of the Orion AA-2 inflight abort test conducted at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 2, 2019.