Falcon Heavy – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX shifts away from Dragon launches at pad 39A as Starship looms

February 6, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The last Dragon flight from pad 39A was the CRS-33 mission in August 2025. SpaceX is preparing for the just the second pad 40 launch supporting NASA’s Commercial Crew Program no earlier than Feb. 11.

SpaceX to launch 4 Falcon Heavy rockets as part of newest U.S. national security missions award

October 4, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command announced that SpaceX and ULA would launch five and two missions respectively as part of the latest round of National Security Space Launch contract assignments.

Department of the Air Force issues draft documents for new SpaceX launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base

May 19, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The proposal would allow SpaceX to take over Space Launch Complex 6, United Launch Alliance’s former Delta 4 launch site, and convert it for use to launch both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

U.S. Space Force awards $13.7 billion in new national security launch contracts to Blue Origin, SpaceX and ULA

April 5, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The 54 national security missions will be awarded over the course of five years spanning FY25-FY29. The U.S. Space Force said missions are anticipated to fly from FY27-FY32.

U.S. Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane lands following 434-day orbital mission

March 7, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The secretive winged spacecraft launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket on Dec. 29, 2023 to conduct a classified mission. The landing concludes the seventh flight of the Boeing-built spacecraft since 2010.

SpaceX launches $5.2 billion NASA mission to Jupiter’s ocean moon, Europa

October 14, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission featured the launch of NASA’s largest spacecraft bound on a planetary mission. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A happened 12:06 p.m. EDT (1606 UTC).

SpaceX launches final NOAA GOES weather satellite on Falcon Heavy rocket

June 25, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The geostationary orbital satellite is the fourth and final in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R (GOES-R) series. Liftoff happened at 5:26 p.m. EDT (2126 UTC).

SpaceX completes Falcon 9 double launch day with Starlink mission from Vandenberg Space Force Station

June 23, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission marked SpaceX’s second launch of the day. Liftoff happened at 8:47 p.m. PDT (11:47 p.m. EDT, 0347 UTC).

SpaceX marks record 20th flight with Falcon 9 payload fairing half on Starlink mission

June 22, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

SpaceX swapped out the Falcon 9 vehicle after a last-second abort at engine ignition during a launch attempt on June 14. Liftoff of the Starlink 10-2 mission happened at 1:15 p.m. EDT (1715 UTC) on Sunday.

SpaceX experiences a rare mission scrub of its Falcon 9 rocket at the moment engine ignition

June 13, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

SpaceX struck out for a third time in as many days attempting to launch the Starlink 10-2 mission. After pushing back the launch time a few times within their window of availability on Friday, an abort was called just as the Merlin engines at the base of the 70-meter-tall (299 feet) rocket ignited.