Small Explorers – Spaceflight Now

May 26, 2026

Breaking News

[ May 24, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites on Memorial Day Falcon 9
[ May 23, 2026 ] Musk praises “epic” Super Heavy-Starship launch Mission Reports
[ May 21, 2026 ] Launch preview: SpaceX tries again for first launch of its Starship Version 3 rocket Mission Reports
[ May 20, 2026 ] SpaceX’s sunrise Starlink launch adds 29 satellites to low Earth orbit megaconstellation Falcon 9
[ May 20, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg SFB Falcon 9

SpaceX wins NASA contract to launch X-ray telescope on reused rocket

July 8, 2019 Stephen Clark

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.

NASA selects missions to observe the sun and its impact on Earth

June 26, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected two satellite missions for launch on the same rocket in 2022 to investigate the origins of the solar wind and explore the interaction between magnetic fields around Earth with those from the sun.