NASA – Spaceflight Now

SLS rocket hauled back to VAB for repairs

February 25, 2026 William Harwood

A 6.6-million-pound Apollo-era crawler-transporter rolled up the ramp to pad 38B on Tuesday and was positioned directly under the 3.5-million-pound Space Launch System rocket and its 11.3-million-pound mobile launch platform.

NASA’s Artemis 2 rocket hit by new problem expected to bump moonshot into early April

February 21, 2026 William Harwood

Engineers ran into problems repressurizing the Artemis 2 moon rocket’s upper stage helium tanks overnight Friday, a problem that will require rolling the huge rocket off the launch pad and back to its processing hangar for troubleshooting. The work will push the already delayed mission from March to at least early April, officials said Saturday.

Moon mission fueling test concludes with no major problems

February 20, 2026 William Harwood

The practice countdown began Tuesday night, kicking off a carefully choreographed series of steps to ready the world’s most powerful operational rocket for what amounted to a simulated launch Thursday at 8:42 p.m. EST. Controllers then carried out additional tests to make sure the team can recycle, hold and restart an actual launch countdown as needed to handle unexpected problems.

Independent report sharply criticizes NASA management, Boeing for troubled Starliner flight

February 19, 2026 William Harwood

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said NASA will continue working with Boeing to make the Starliner a viable crew transport vehicle, adding that “sustained crew and cargo access to low Earth orbit will remain essential, and America benefits from competition and redundancy.”

NASA to attempt second full fueling test of its Space Launch System rocket

February 17, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The operation comes a week after NASA conducted a so-called ‘confidence test’ on Feb. 12, which was the process of loading some liquid hydrogen on the rocket’s core stage.

Replacement crew docks at space station, boosts crew back to seven

February 15, 2026 William Harwood

The Crew Dragon docked at the space-facing port of the lab’s forward Harmony module at 3:15 p.m. EST, 34 hours after launch Friday from the Kennedy Space Center atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

‘Very lucky day’: NASA, SpaceX ace astronaut launch to the space station on Friday the 13th

February 14, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

This was the first time that the space agency happened to launch a crewed mission to the International Space Station on a Friday the 13th. The Crew-12 mission took flight onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 UTC).

Weather delays NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 flight to the International Space Station

February 9, 2026 Will Robinson-Smith

The launch is now targeting no earlier than Friday, Feb. 13, for the launch of Crew-12. Liftoff will be at 5:15 a.m. EST (1015 UTC).

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.

NASA waves off February launch for Artemis II moon mission; now targeting early March

February 3, 2026 William Harwood

Artemis 2 commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, in pre-flight medical quarantine at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, had hope to fly to Florida Tuesday to begin final preparations for launch. Instead, they will remain in Houston and rejoin family, friends and co-workers.