September 27, 2025
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Breaking News
  • [ September 26, 2025 ] Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser debut mission delayed again, no longer docking to station News
  • [ September 25, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Falcon 9
  • [ September 25, 2025 ] ULA launches third batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites from Cape Canaveral Atlas 5
  • [ September 25, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Falcon 9
  • [ September 24, 2025 ] SpaceX launches NASA, NOAA missions exploring the impacts of the Sun Falcon 9

Earth Observation

Mission Reports

Two BlackSky satellites lost on Rocket Lab launch failure

May 15, 2021 Stephen Clark

A Rocket Lab Electron launcher malfunctioned about two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff from New Zealand Saturday, destroying two BlackSky optical Earth-imaging satellites in the launch company’s second failed flight in less than a year.

Mission Reports

Live coverage: Rocket Lab’s upper stage runs into trouble soon after launch

May 15, 2021 Stephen Clark

The 20th flight of a Rocket Lab Electron launcher appeared to run into trouble a few minutes after liftoff at 7:11 a.m. EDT (1111 GMT) Saturday from New Zealand, when video showed the rocket’s upper stage tumbling and shutting off its engine prematurely. The rocket was carrying two commercial BlackSky Earth observation satellites into orbit.

Falcon 9

Two hitchhiker smallsats to accompany SpaceX’s next Starlink mission into orbit

May 14, 2021 Stephen Clark

An innovative commercial Capella radar observation spacecraft with night vision and a small payload from the California-based smallsat manufacturer Tyvak are set to ride into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast Saturday with 52 more Starlink internet satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Mission Reports

Rocket Lab ready for second booster recovery attempt

May 14, 2021 Stephen Clark

The scheduled launch Saturday of two commercial BlackSky Earth-imaging satellites from New Zealand will double as an opportunity for Rocket Lab to test an enhanced heat shield on its Electron booster, an upgrade that should allow the company to recover rockets in better condition for eventual reuse.

Mission Reports

China launches military observation satellite

May 4, 2021 Stephen Clark

China launched an optical Earth observation satellite April 30, beginning a mission designed to provide detailed reconnaissance imagery to the Chinese military.

Mission Reports

Chinese Long March 6 rocket delivers nine small satellites to space

April 30, 2021 Stephen Clark

Nine small Chinese satellites, including a technology experiment to test out ways to capture space debris, rode a Long March 6 rocket into orbit April 27 on a rideshare mission managed by China Great Wall Industry Corp., the government-owned enterprise charged with selling Chinese launch services on the commercial market.

Mission Reports

“Big relief” as Europe’s Vega rocket returns to service with successful launch

April 29, 2021 Stephen Clark

A European Vega rocket deployed six commercial satellites in orbit, including a new Airbus-built eye-in-the-sky for high-resolution Earth-imaging, on a successful launch from French Guiana on Wednesday night after two of the last three Vega missions failed.

Mission Reports

Live coverage: Arianespace launches Vega rocket from French Guiana

April 28, 2021 Stephen Clark

After two of the last three Vega rocket launches ended in failure, Arianespace launched another Vega launcher from French Guiana at 9:50 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0150 GMT Thursday) with Airbus’s Pléiades Neo 3 commercial Earth observation satellite and five secondary payloads.

Mission Reports

Vega rocket’s return-to-flight launch set for Wednesday night

April 28, 2021 Stephen Clark

Six satellites are set to ride a light-class European Vega rocket into orbit from French Guiana on Wednesday night, the first Vega launch since a failure last year that officials attributed to human error.

Delta 4

Spy satellite successfully launched from California military base

April 26, 2021 Stephen Clark

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket climbed into orbit Monday from a military base northwest of Los Angeles, delivering to space a classified U.S. government spy satellite as large as a school bus and leaving just three Delta rockets left to fly before retirement.

Posts pagination

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News Headlines

  • Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser debut mission delayed again, no longer docking to station
    September 26, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg
    September 25, 2025
  • ULA launches third batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites from Cape Canaveral
    September 25, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    September 25, 2025
  • SpaceX launches NASA, NOAA missions exploring the impacts of the Sun
    September 24, 2025
  • A geologist, a former SpaceX launch director and a commercial astronaut; meet NASA’s 10 new astronaut candidates
    September 22, 2025
  • NRO, SpaceX launch reconnaissance satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB
    September 22, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Sunday sunrise Falcon 9 flight
    September 20, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    September 17, 2025
  • NASA, Northrop Grumman postpone Cygnus XL arrival to ISS following propulsion issue
    September 16, 2025
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