Kennedy Space Center – Spaceflight Now

SLS core ready for shipment to Florida; NASA still hopes for late 2021 launch

April 21, 2021

Teams at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi removed the core of NASA’s first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket from a test stand earlier this week for loading onto a barge to carry it to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the rocket stage is due to arrive by the end of the month to start final preparations for a test flight around the Moon.

Astrobotic selects SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch robotic lunar lander

April 13, 2021

A commercial lunar lander built by Astrobotic will launch from the Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in late 2023 to deliver a water-hunting NASA rover to the moon’s south pole, officials announced Tuesday.

Busy month of crew rotations on tap at International Space Station

April 1, 2021

Seven astronauts and cosmonauts are gearing up for launches April 9 and April 22 to the International Space Station, replacing seven outgoing crew members set to land in Kazakhstan and off the coast of Florida on April 17 and April 28.

Final two passengers named for first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth

March 30, 2021

The billionaire financing the SpaceX flight that will carry the first non-professional “everyday people” into orbit in September, announced the final two members of his four-person crew Tuesday, adding an artist-educator and an aerospace worker selected in a charity-themed competition.

Delta 2 rocket exhibit opens at Kennedy Space Center

March 28, 2021

United Launch Alliance’s final Delta 2 rocket is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, a monument to an industry workhorse that helped build the GPS navigation satellite fleet and enabled a new era of Mars exploration.

SpaceX extends its own rocket reuse record on Starlink launch

March 14, 2021

Using a Falcon 9 booster flying for a record ninth time, SpaceX’s swift sequence of launches continued Sunday with a predawn liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center carrying another set of 60 Starlink internet satellites, the company’s third mission in 10 days.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket launches with SpaceX’s next 60 Starlink satellites

March 14, 2021

SpaceX launched of a Falcon 9 rocket at 6:01 a.m. EDT (1001 GMT) Sunday with the company’s next 60 Starlink internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s reusable first stage, making its ninth flight to space, successfully landed on a drone ship positioned offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX rocket rolls out to pad 39A for next Starlink mission

March 13, 2021

For the third time in 10 days, SpaceX is readying a Falcon 9 rocket for launch Sunday from Florida’s Space Coast with another 60 Starlink internet satellites. This time, SpaceX aims to extend the record for reusing a Falcon 9 booster to nine flights.

Stacking complete for SLS boosters

March 9, 2021

The twin 177-foot-tall solid-fueled boosters for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System have been stacked inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center to await arrival of the rocket’s cryogenic core stage, which is set for a second engine test on a firing stand in Mississippi later this month.

Next Crew Dragon launch set for April 22

March 5, 2021

NASA and SpaceX have set April 22 as the target launch date for the next Crew Dragon flight to the International Space Station. The four-person crew will be the first to ride a previously-flown Falcon 9 booster and a reused Dragon spacecraft, and a NASA official said this week that the launcher and capsule are in “really good shape” as refurbishment wraps up at Cape Canaveral.