Reusability
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Falcon 9 rocket test-fired ahead of station cargo launch
SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Friday evening, igniting nine Merlin engines for several seconds while hold-down restraints kept the launcher on the ground. The company also confirmed the rocket is scheduled for takeoff Wednesday on a space station resupply mission, three days later than previously planned.
Video: Falcon 9 fires up engines for static fire test (members only)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired its nine first stage engines for a brief hold-down firing Friday at Cape Canaveral, passing a key milestone before launch July 24 with a Dragon space station resupply ship.
Live coverage: Falcon 9 ignited for test-firing ahead of launch next week
After several delays earlier this week, SpaceX conducted a hold-down test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Friday evening in a key test before launch next week on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
SpaceX wins NASA contract to launch X-ray telescope on reused rocket
NASA has selected a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket -- flying with a reused first stage booster -- to launch the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer mission from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in April 2021, bypassing Northrop Grumman's air-launched Pegasus rocket for the task.
Newly-released videos show SpaceX payload fairing coming back to Earth
New videos released Wednesday by SpaceX show the payload fairing from the company's Falcon Heavy rocket plunging back into the atmosphere after launch June 25, trailing a wake of haunting blue super-heated plasma before unfurling a parafoil and landing in the net of an offshore recovery ship.
Barring a surprise, SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy flight is planned in late 2020
After two successful Falcon Heavy missions in less than 11 weeks, launch fans will likely have to wait until late 2020 for SpaceX's next Falcon Heavy flight, barring a surprise mission for an unannounced customer.
More photos from SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy night launch
The predawn launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center of a Falcon Heavy rocket June 25 was the first nighttime liftoff of SpaceX's heavy-lifter, the most powerful launcher currently operational anywhere in the world. The Falcon Heavy's two side boosters returned to Cape Canaveral less than nine minutes later.
Photos: Falcon Heavy lights up Florida’s Space Coast
The world's most powerful operational rocket flashed to life at 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT) Tuesday and climbed into a moonlit summer sky from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the same site where the Apollo 11 astronauts left Earth for their historic moon landing nearly 50 years ago.
Falcon Heavy launches on military-led rideshare mission, boat catches fairing
SpaceX's third Falcon Heavy rocket took off from the Kennedy Space Center in a predawn launch Tuesday, delivering two dozen research and weather observation spacecraft into orbit on a marathon three-and-a-half mission for the U.S. Air Force. The mission included the successful landing of the Falcon Heavy's two side boosters back at Cape Canaveral, and a SpaceX recovery boat netted part of the rocket's payload fairing for the first time.
Watch a video replay of the Falcon Heavy’s first night launch
This video replay shows the liftoff of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with 5.1 million pounds of thrust, followed by the nearby landing of the launcher's twin side boosters nine minutes later. The rocket's center core missed a landing attempt on SpaceX's offshore drone ship.