SpaceX – Spaceflight Now

Next SpaceX launch will wait for improved ocean conditions

September 18, 2020

The launch of SpaceX’s next 60 Starlink satellites will wait for better weather and sea conditions after currents were too strong for the company’s rocket landing platform to hold position in the Atlantic Ocean for a launch attempt Thursday.

Live coverage: SpaceX grounds launch to wait for better recovery weather

September 17, 2020

SpaceX scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch attempt Thursday, citing an issue associated with the planned recovery of the rocket’s first stage or payload fairing in the Atlantic Ocean. Officials later said the mission would be grounded to await improved weather in downrange recovery area in the Atlantic Ocean.

Up and down with a Falcon 9 booster

September 16, 2020

SpaceX has released video from an Aug. 30 launch captured by a camera mounted aboard the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, showing the booster’s climb into space from Cape Canaveral and a fiery return to the Florida spaceport, where SpaceX will ready the vehicle for another mission.

SpaceX plans Falcon 9 launch Thursday from Kennedy Space Center

September 16, 2020

Forecasters predict a 60 percent chance of favorable weather for launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to carry more Starlink broadband satellites into orbit.

After second hop, SpaceX preps for next phase of Starship testing

September 9, 2020

After another Starship hop test last week, SpaceX is set to build the first prototype for the next-gen rocket’s huge first stage booster. Meanwhile, testing will commence soon on the Raptor engine model needed for orbital Starship missions.

SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites, beta testing well underway

September 3, 2020

Sixty more satellites launched Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center to join SpaceX’s Starlink fleet, adding coverage to the broadband network as it is already “well into the first phase of testing.”

Live coverage: SpaceX launches another 60 Starlink satellites

September 3, 2020

SpaceX completed another another launch to add to the company’s Starlink broadband network Thursday. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 GMT) Thursday from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Elon Musk offers update on SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket

September 1, 2020

SpaceX founder Elon Musk detailed progress on the company’s next-generation Starship program Monday, saying the huge rocket could “probably” attempt its first launch into Earth orbit next year, and adding that the Starship will fly hundreds of missions before SpaceX puts people on-board.

SpaceX launches first polar orbit mission from Florida in decades

August 31, 2020

Vaulting away from Cape Canaveral on an unusual southerly trajectory, a Falcon 9 rocket dodged stormy weather and successfully placed an Argentine radar observation satellite into an orbit over Earth’s poles Sunday on SpaceX’s 100th launch.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches radar satellite for Argentina

August 30, 2020

SpaceX launched Argentina’s SAOCOM 1B radar observation satellite from Cape Canaveral at 7:18 p.m. EDT (2318 GMT) Sunday. A Falcon 9 rocket headed toward the south on a trajectory hugging the Florida East Coast on the first flight into polar orbit from Cape Canaveral since 1969, and the first stage booster returned to the spaceport for an onshore landing minutes after liftoff.