Small Explorers – Spaceflight Now

October 2, 2026

Breaking News

[ October 1, 2026 ] Falcon Heavy flies its first mission for U.S. spy satellite agency Falcon Heavy
[ October 1, 2026 ] Fresh crew takes off for six-month stay aboard space station Falcon 9
[ October 1, 2026 ] NASA, SpaceX launch next crewed mission to the International Space Station Falcon 9
[ September 29, 2026 ] NASA plans unpiloted Starliner test flight at end of year News
[ September 28, 2026 ] Starship returns to Earth; rocket splashes down north of Hawaii after three-hour flight Mission Reports

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.