December 18, 2025
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Breaking News
  • [ December 17, 2025 ] SpaceX flies Starlink mission using Falcon 9 booster flying for a 30th time Falcon 9
  • [ December 16, 2025 ] SpaceX launches Wednesday morning Starlink mission from Kennedy Space Center Falcon 9
  • [ December 15, 2025 ] Rocket Lab Electron rocket aborts liftoff at engine ignition Electron
  • [ December 15, 2025 ] ULA Atlas 5 launch puts Amazon’s 180th broadband satellite in low Earth orbit Atlas 5
  • [ December 14, 2025 ] Falcon 9 launch of 29 Starlink satellites from the Kennedy Space Center delayed to Wednesday Falcon 9

SS-520

Mission Reports

Souped-up sounding rocket lifts off from Japan with tiny satellite

February 2, 2018 Stephen Clark

A modified sounding rocket originally designed to loft science instruments on high-altitude suborbital arcs blasted off Saturday from the Uchinoura Space Center in southern Japan and soared into orbit to become the world’s smallest satellite launcher.

News

Experimental flight of Japanese sounding rocket falls short of orbit

January 16, 2017 Stephen Clark

A small research rocket launched from Japan fell into the Pacific Ocean on Saturday after attempting to send a student-built CubeSat into orbit, Japanese officials said.

News

Launch of experimental Japanese rocket scrubbed

January 10, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch of an experimental fin-stabilized Japanese rocket with a shoebox-sized CubeSat was scrubbed Tuesday, pushing back a test flight to demonstrate how companies and institutions can inexpensively put small satellites in space.

News Headlines

  • SpaceX flies Starlink mission using Falcon 9 booster flying for a 30th time
    December 17, 2025
  • SpaceX launches Wednesday morning Starlink mission from Kennedy Space Center
    December 16, 2025
  • Rocket Lab Electron rocket aborts liftoff at engine ignition
    December 15, 2025
  • ULA Atlas 5 launch puts Amazon’s 180th broadband satellite in low Earth orbit
    December 15, 2025
  • Falcon 9 launch of 29 Starlink satellites from the Kennedy Space Center delayed to Wednesday
    December 14, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 100th Falcon 9 rocket from Florida in 2025
    December 14, 2025
  • SpaceX completes 550th booster landing amid Saturday night Falcon 9 flight
    December 13, 2025
  • Blue Origin halfway through 4-flight certification to allow launch of national security missions
    December 13, 2025
  • Study: Current, future megaconstellations risk space-based astronomy
    December 12, 2025
  • SpaceX breaks launch pad turnaround record with flight of Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    December 11, 2025
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