News Archive
Browse every article published on Spaceflight Now, from launch reports and mission previews to spacecraft development coverage. Use the filters to narrow by topic or search by keyword.
Matching Articles
1,137 articles
VideoLive coverage: More Starlink satellites launch from Kennedy Space Center
SpaceX's third Falcon 9 rocket launch of the week carried 49 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit Thursday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, continuing the rapid build-out of the company's commercial broadband network. Liftoff from launch pad 39A occurred at 1:13:20 p.m. EST (1813:20 GMT), and the first stage landed on SpaceX's offshore drone ship.
VideoLive coverage: Falcon 9 rocket launches and lands in California
SpaceX launched a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office at 12:27 p.m. PST (3:27 p.m. EST; 2027 GMT) Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. After sending the NRO payload toward polar orbit, the Falcon 9's first stage returned to Vandenberg for landing.
VideoLive coverage: SpaceX launches Italian radar satellite on fifth try
After bad weather and an errant cruise ship prevented launch on four previous days, SpaceX fired a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Monday from Cape Canaveral with an Italian radar remote sensing satellite. Liftoff occurred at 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT), and the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage booster successfully returned to Florida's Space Coast eight minutes later for landing.
VideoAstra fires up rocket for first time at Cape Canaveral
Astra, a company seeking to carve out a segment of the growing small satellite launch market, test-fired its two-stage rocket at Cape Canaveral on Saturday in preparation for an upcoming demonstration flight for NASA.
VideoLive coverage: Atlas 5 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral
United Launch Alliance's first mission of the year debuted a new configuration of the company's workhorse Atlas 5 rocket when it lifted off at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) Friday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The rocket, featuring a wide fairing and a single solid rocket booster, is carrying two U.S. military tracking and inspection satellites into geosynchronous orbit during a nearly seven-hour flight sequence.
VideoULA’s first launch of 2022 to debut unflown variant of Atlas 5 rocket
United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket has flown in 10 different configurations over 90 missions since 2002, each version optimized to haul satellites of a certain size and mass into space. The only variant of the Atlas 5 rocket yet to fly is set to launch Friday afternoon from Cape Canaveral with a pair of satellites to help the U.S. military keep track of traffic in geosynchronous orbit.
VideoLive coverage: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket with 49 Starlink satellites
Keeping up a rapid-fire launch cadence to begin 2022, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday night from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with 49 Starlink internet satellites. Liftoff from pad 39A occurred at 9:02 p.m. EST Tuesday (0202 GMT Wednesday), following a one-day delay to wait for better conditions in the offshore booster recovery zone north of the Bahamas.
VideoLive coverage: Virgin Orbit’s air-launched rocket deploys seven smallsats in orbit
Virgin Orbit aims to build on two successful small satellite launches last year with another flight of its air-dropped rocket Thursday off the coast of California, this time carrying seven mini-payloads into low Earth orbit. The company's Boeing 747 carrier aircraft departed Mojave Air and Space Port and released the LauncherOne rocket to begin its climb into orbit at 2:52 p.m. PST (5:52 p.m. EST; 2252 GMT).
VideoLive coverage: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket with 105 satellites
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday from Cape Canaveral with 105 satellites ranging from the size of a soda can to a washing machine. Liftoff occurred at 10:25 a.m. EST (1525 GMT), and the Falcon 9's first stage booster returned to Florida's Space Coast for a propulsive landing about eight-and-a-half minutes later.
VideoLive coverage: SpaceX launches first mission of 2022
SpaceX's first launch of 2022 took off Thursday afternoon, when a Falcon 9 rocket carried 49 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit. Launch from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center occurred at 4:49 p.m. EST (2149 GMT), and the Falcon 9 tracked southeast from Florida's Space Coast just north of the Bahamas, rather than the more typical northeasterly route to orbit.