Small Explorers – Spaceflight Now

July 5, 2026

Breaking News

[ July 4, 2026 ] Semiconductor manufacturing test bed flies alongside Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 launch Falcon 9
[ July 1, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB Falcon 9
[ June 30, 2026 ] Astronauts ‘operate’ on space station’s broken robot arm Mission Reports
[ June 30, 2026 ] Blue Origin outlines return to flight logistics for its New Glenn rockets Moon Base
[ June 28, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 7.5-ton SiriusXM satellite as part of constellation refresh 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.