USSF-36 – Spaceflight Now

August 15, 2026

Breaking News

[ August 14, 2026 ] NASA Administrator ‘extremely confident’ in Artemis 3 mission in 2027 Artemis
[ August 12, 2026 ] Mike Fincke, a 30-year astronaut with experience across four spacecraft, retires from NASA News
[ August 11, 2026 ] Firefly Aerospace pushes debut of Alpha Block 2 rocket to the fourth quarter of 2026 Alpha
[ August 11, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB Falcon 9
[ August 10, 2026 ] Window for 2026 launch debut of Rocket Lab’s Neutron rocket ‘is narrowing’ as development continues Neutron

SpaceX launches Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane to demo laser communications, quantum navigation

August 22, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

The uncrewed spacecraft will operate in low Earth orbit for an unspecified amount of time. This is the eighth launch of an X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle since its first flight in 2010.

Launch preview: SpaceX to launch X-37B military spaceplane on Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center

August 20, 2025 Will Robinson-Smith

This will be the eighth flight of the X-37B and the third time that it will be launched by SpaceX. The Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at 11:50 p.m. EDT (0350 UTC).

ULA, SpaceX split military launch contract awards

March 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Space Force announced Tuesday that it awarded $384 million in contracts to United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, giving each company two missions to launch military satellites in 2023.