Arizona – Spaceflight Now

July 1, 2026

Breaking News

[ June 30, 2026 ] Astronauts ‘operate’ on space station’s broken robot arm Mission Reports
[ June 30, 2026 ] Blue Origin outlines return to flight logistics for its New Glenn rockets Moon Base
[ June 28, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 7.5-ton SiriusXM satellite as part of constellation refresh Falcon 9
[ June 28, 2026 ] SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base Falcon 9
[ June 24, 2026 ] West Coast Falcon 9 launch continues expansion of SpaceX’s Starlink network Falcon 9

Orion’s parachutes tested under launch abort conditions

March 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

A model of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, in development to loft astronaut crews into deep space, was dropped from a U.S. Air Force cargo plane over Arizona on Wednesday in the latest in a series of tests to verify the capsule’s parachutes are up to the job of safely landing with humans on-board.

Iridium satellites rolling off assembly line in Arizona

July 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

Construction is complete on the first batch of 81 new satellites to overhaul Iridium’s mobile communications network, and the data relay stations will soon head from their factory near Phoenix to California’s hilly Central Coast for launch Sept. 11 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.