News – Page 405 – Spaceflight Now

November 19, 2025

Breaking News

[ November 18, 2025 ] SpaceX resumes early evening launches after FAA restrictions lifted News
[ November 17, 2025 ] SpaceX launches joint NASA-European sea level monitor Falcon 9
[ November 17, 2025 ] SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch international satellite to keep watch on rising sea levels Falcon 9
[ November 14, 2025 ] SpaceX completes second fastest turnaround between Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
[ November 14, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Falcon 9

Photos: Mobile gantry retracted for launch of Atlas 5 rocket at Vandenberg

May 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

Towering more than 20 stories tall, the 8-million-pound mobile gantry at the Atlas 5 rocket’s launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, was retracted into position late Friday for liftoff of NASA’s InSight mission to Mars.

SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 Block 5 test-fired at pad 39A

May 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s launch team loaded liquid propellants into the company’s first upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the countdown rehearsal culminated in a brief ignition of the launcher’s nine Merlin main engines on the launch pad.

Communications satellite launched from China to connect Asia-Pacific

May 4, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Chinese-built communications satellite owned by Hong Kong-based operator launched Thursday aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang space base in southwest China.

Launch timeline for Atlas 5’s mission with InSight

May 4, 2018 Stephen Clark

A United Launch Atlas 5 rocket is set to dispatch NASA’s InSight lander toward Mars, kicking off an interplanetary journey from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

All systems go for launch of InSight, a mission to reveal the inside of Mars

May 4, 2018 Stephen Clark

Scientists eager for answers to long-standing questions about the geology of Mars will get a lift Saturday with the blastoff from California of an Atlas 5 rocket with NASA’s InSight mission, a robotic landing craft that will take the pulse and temperature of the red planet.

Time-lapse video: First Falcon 9 Block 5 arrives at pad 39A for hotfire test

May 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, sporting changes to make the booster easier to reuse, rolled out of its hangar and up the ramp to launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday ahead of a planned hold-down engine firing.

Live coverage: InSight Mars mission lifts off from California aboard Atlas 5 rocket

May 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s InSight spacecraft, the next lander to head for Mars, lifted off Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. Launch occurred in a blanket of fog at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT; 1105 GMT).

Live coverage: Upgraded Falcon 9 rocket test-fired at pad 39A

May 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX conducted the first hold-down firing of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 rocket Friday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for launch next week with Bangladesh’s first communications satellite.

Firefly’s commercial satellite launcher to use Delta 2 pad at Vandenberg

May 2, 2018 Stephen Clark

A commercial rocket under development by Firefly Aerospace will conduct its first orbital test flight in 2019 from a launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California that will become vacant with the retirement of the venerable Delta 2 booster later this year, the company announced Tuesday.

Dragon cargo craft’s return to Earth delayed to Saturday

May 1, 2018 Stephen Clark

A commercial Dragon cargo capsule will remain at the International Space Station until Saturday, three days later than previously planned due to high sea states observed by the SpaceX recovery team in the spaceship’s splashdown zone in the Pacific Ocean.