News – Page 438 – Spaceflight Now

September 3, 2026

Breaking News

[ September 1, 2026 ] SpaceX launches Starlink mission from West Coast Falcon 9
[ August 29, 2026 ] Roman Space Telescope, NASA’s next ‘great observatory,’ launched Falcon Heavy
[ August 25, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 27 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Falcon 9
[ August 24, 2026 ] SpaceX launches Starlink mission on a Falcon booster’s record-breaking 37th flight Falcon 9
[ August 21, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 100th orbital mission of 2026 Falcon 9

Musk: Atmospheric tests of interplanetary spaceship could happen next year

March 13, 2018 Stephen Clark

A team of SpaceX engineers is building a prototype of the spaceship Elon Musk hopes will one day carry people and cargo deep into the solar system, and it could begin low-altitude testing next year, kicking off a multi-step test campaign before eventually going into space, then perhaps the moon or Mars.

Photos: Soyuz rocket soars into space from French Guiana

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz rocket launched Friday with four commercial satellites to expand broadband Internet coverage in remote parts of the world, climbing into orbit from the Guiana Space Center positioned on the northeastern shore of South America.

New NOAA weather satellite reaches geostationary orbit

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

Less than two weeks after its launch from Cape Canaveral, a new NOAA weather observatory has boosted itself into a circular orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator, and officials have renamed it GOES-17 ahead of a test series before it enters service later this year.

Robert Lightfoot, NASA’s longest-serving interim administrator, to retire

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot, a rocket propulsion engineer and career civil servant who has led the space agency since the beginning of the Trump administration, said Monday he will retire from the space agency at the end of April.

SpaceX’s most recent launch carried a secret military-funded experiment

March 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

A previously-undisclosed payload funded by a U.S. military research agency rode into orbit with a Spanish communications satellite on SpaceX’s most recent Falcon 9 rocket launch March 6, officials said Friday.

Four O3b satellites launched to beam Internet to developing world

March 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

Four satellites set to join O3b’s expanding broadband network successfully launched Friday on top of a Russian-built Soyuz booster from French Guiana, joining 12 other craft linking developing nations, far-flung islands, cruise ships and other hard-to-reach locales with the Internet.

Video: Replay of Soyuz takeoff with four O3b broadband satellites

March 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off Friday from French Guiana with four broadband satellites for the O3b network, which provides high-speed connectivity to developing countries, ships and other customers who lack a reliable Internet link.

Eutelsat plans satellite to assess potential for low-altitude constellation

March 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

Joining other established commercial geostationary satellite operators looking at fleets of communications platforms in low Earth orbit, Eutelsat announced Thursday it will launch a small testbed next year as a precursor to a potential network of data relay craft flying a few hundred miles above the planet.

Live coverage: Soyuz rocket lifts off with four O3b broadband satellites

March 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

A Russian-built Soyuz booster lifted off Friday from the European-run spaceport in French Guiana, carrying four new broadband Internet satellites to orbit to join the O3b network owned by SES. Launch occurred at 1710:06 GMT (12:10:06 p.m. EST).

Europe’s ExoMars orbiter nears start of methane-sniffing science mission

March 7, 2018 Stephen Clark

Nearly a year-and-a-half after arriving at the red planet, Europe’s ExoMars orbiter is finally approaching a planned perch around 250 miles over the rust-colored world after repeatedly dipping into the Martian atmosphere to lower its orbit.