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
583 articles
SpaceX to experiment with less-reflective satellite coatings on next Starlink launch
SpaceX's next launch of satellites for the company's Starlink broadband network -- planned in the final days of 2019 -- will carry one spacecraft with an experimental coating designed to make it less reflective in orbit, a first step in assuaging concerns from scientists who say the deployment of thousands more Starlink stations would impede some astronomical observations.

SpaceX pausing some Starship work in Florida
SpaceX says it is temporarily halting some activity on the company's next-generation Starship program in Florida, allowing teams to focus on building a new Starship test vehicle in Texas.

After quiet autumn, SpaceX preps for busy December launch schedule
After a lull in launch activity this fall, SpaceX teams at Cape Canaveral are preparing for up to four Falcon 9 missions in December to close out 2019 with a surge of launches.
VideoSpaceX’s first Starship prototype ruptures during cryogenic test
SpaceX's first partially-assembled Starship vehicle, originally built for atmospheric test flights, ruptured in dramatic fashion Wednesday during a cryogenic loading test at the company's launch facility in South Texas.

SpaceX offering Starship to NASA for lunar landing missions
SpaceX is eligible to propose using its next-generation Starship vehicle to carry NASA robotic science payloads to the lunar surface, the U.S. space agency announced Monday, on missions that could precede future Starship flights with people on-board. SpaceX is one of five companies NASA selected Monday to join a roster of commercial transportation providers to deliver scientific instruments and technology demonstration packages to the moon as soon as 2022.

Starlink ‘train’ traces path across twilight skies
The 60 Starlink satellites deployed Monday by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket have traced paths across twilight skies around the world this week, but their brightness is expected to dim as the spacecraft -- designed to beam broadband signals down to Earth -- spread out and climb to higher altitudes.

Photos: Falcon 9 launches with 60 Starlink satellites
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the heaviest payload ever launched by SpaceX took off Monday morning from Cape Canaveral with 60 satellites for then company's Starlink broadband network.

Successful launch continues deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink network
Sixty upgraded satellites for SpaceX's Starlink broadband network rocketed into orbit Monday from Florida's Space Coast, debuting performance enhancements and notching new firsts in SpaceX's list of rocket reuse accomplishments.

Falcon 9 launches Starlink satellites (members only)
SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 broadband satellites into orbit for the company’s Starlink constellation as seen from the Kennedy Space Center Press Site.

Timeline for Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites
Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket's ascent to orbit 60 satellites for SpaceX's Starlink broadband network.