News – Page 617 – Spaceflight Now

December 10, 2025

Breaking News

[ December 10, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 160th Falcon 9 rocket of 2025 Falcon 9
[ December 9, 2025 ] SpaceX launches classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office Falcon 9
[ December 9, 2025 ] Soyuz safely lands in Kazakhstan Mission Reports
[ December 7, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 3,000th Starlink satellite in 2025 on record-setting 32nd flight of Falcon 9 booster Falcon 9
[ December 7, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB Falcon 9

Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

October 7, 2015 Justin Ray

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 5:49 a.m. local time (8:49 a.m. EDT; 1249 GMT) Thursday on the classified National Reconnaissance Office NROL-55 mission.

Quartet of Earth imaging satellites launched from China

October 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

Four commercial satellites launched from China’s northwestern spaceport Wednesday, riding into a 400-mile-high orbit on top of a two-stage Long March 2D booster rocket.

Workers complete $15 million in repairs to Antares launch pad

October 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

Repair crews in Virginia have restored the Antares booster’s launch pad — damaged in an explosive rocket crash nearly one year ago — to flight-ready status as the Orbital ATK launcher moves toward a return-to-flight in 2016.

Intel-gathering spacecraft launch on Atlas 5 scheduled for Thursday

October 6, 2015 Justin Ray

Poised for its one and only satellite launch of the year, the National Reconnaissance Office will conduct a hush-hush flight Thursday using a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from California.

NASA might pick two Discovery missions, but at a price

October 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

A senior NASA official said Monday the agency could select two new robotic planetary science missions next year for launch in the early 2020s, and the five finalists favor Venus and asteroid research.

Target of Japanese space mission named for dragon’s palace

October 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

The Japanese space agency has selected Ryugu as the name of an asteroid pursued by the country’s Hayabusa 2 space probe, naming the object after a dragon’s palace in an ancient Japanese fairy tale, officials said Monday.

Photos: NROL-55 payload joins Atlas booster rocket for launch

October 4, 2015 Justin Ray

This photo gallery shows the classified National Reconnaissance Office payload, already encapsulated in the 14-foot-diameter nose cone, being lifted atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas-Centaur rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base for liftoff Oct. 8.

Hurricane Joaquin eyed from space station

October 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

Astronauts on the International Space Station spied powerful Hurricane Joaquin spinning in the Bahamas in a spectacular photo showing the eye of the storm Friday.

Photos: Predawn launch of Atlas 5

October 2, 2015 Justin Ray

A collection of liftoff photos from the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight to deploy the Morelos 3 communications satellite for Mexico.

Recap story: 100 successes and counting for United Launch Alliance

October 2, 2015 Justin Ray

The 100th flight by United Launch Alliance took off Friday for deployment of a sophisticated geomobile communications satellite to bridge the digital divide in Mexico while extending the rocket company’s unparalleled record of success in launching $80 billion in space assets.