Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX is now targeting no earlier than Tuesday, May 19, for the long awaited debut of the third major iteration of its Starship-Super Heavy rocket.” The mission will test a host of changes made to both the launch vehicle and the launch infrastructure as SpaceX prepares to support the Artemis 3 mission.
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Tag: SpaceX
SpaceX Launches New Wave of NRO Reconnaissance Satellites
Spaceflight Now reports, “The National Reconnaissance Office flew its 13th mission supporting an intelligence-gathering constellation it calls the “proliferated architecture” on Monday night. As with the first dozen missions, this batch of satellites (of an undisclosed quantity) flew to orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission, dubbed NROL-172, launched from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Liftoff happened at 7:13:50 p.m. PDT (10:13:50 p.m. EDT / 0213:50 UTC), nearly four hours after the opening of the window.”
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SpaceX Falcon 9 launches NROL-172 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. (Launch occurs at 30:26 mark)
Spaceflight Now: YouTube
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Starship V3 Booster Roars to Life in Major SpaceX Test
SPACE reports that SpaceX just took a big step toward its next Starship test flight, firing up all 33 engines of the vehicle’s Super Heavy on the pad in Texas.
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SpaceX Sends South Korean Imaging Satellite, 44 More Payloads to Orbit on Falcon 9
Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX launched 45 payloads on an overnight rideshare mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Station early Sunday morning. The mission, dubbed CAS500-2, is named for the primary payload called Compact Advanced Satellite 500-2 from the Korea Aerospace Industries, Ltd. (KAI). It’s the second of two satellites that KAI calls Phase 1 of its CAS500 program, which is designed for ‘precision ground-based observation.'”
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Spaceflight Now; YouTube
Falcon Heavy Returns to Flight with ViaSat-3 Mission
Space News reports, “A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launched the third and final terabit-class ViaSat-3 broadband satellite toward geostationary orbit April 29, putting Viasat on course to finish a constellation more than a decade in the making. The first flight of a Falcon Heavy in more than 18 months lifted off at 10:13 a.m. Eastern from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, with its two side boosters returning to nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station about eight minutes later for reuse.”
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Falcon Heavy launches from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, April 29, at 10:13 a.m. ET. (Launch occurs at the 25:11 mark)
The Launch Pad; YouTube
SpaceX Plans Falcon Heavy Return Featuring Side Booster Landings
Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX is preparing to launch its first Falcon Heavy rocket in more than a year and a half. The Monday morning flight of the triple booster rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center will feature the landing of the two side boosters at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.”
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SpaceX Launches Two Starlink Missions 19 Hours Apart
SPACE reports, “SpaceX began and ended the day with Starlink launches. The company sent two Falcon 9 rockets soaring, first from Florida before sunrise on Tuesday (April 14), and then from California after sunset the same day (by local time zone). Both launches were successful, according to SpaceX”
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on April 14. (Launch occurs at the 0:13 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube
Watch: SpaceX Launches Cygnus XL Cargo Ship to Resupply ISS Crew
SPACE reports, “A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soared into a blue sky over Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:41 a.m. EDT (1141 GMT) on Saturday, sending Northrop Grumman’s ‘Cygnus XL’ resupply freighter toward the International Space Station (ISS).”
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SpaceX launches Cygnus XL cargo ship to ISS from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday at 7:41 a.m. EDT (Launch at the 00:12 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube
SpaceX Secures SDA-4 Launch Task Order from U.S. Space Force
Defense Daily reports, “SpaceX has received a more than $178 million task order from U.S. Space Force’s Systems Command (SSC) for two National Security Space Launch Phase 3, Lane 1 launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., for the Space Development Agency-4 (SDA-4) mission in fiscal 2027. The latter includes ‘dozens of missile tracking satellites’ by Sierra Space, SSC said on Tuesday.”
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Falcon 9 Launches 119 Payloads into Orbit on Transporter-16 Mission
Via Satellite reports, “SpaceX launched 119 payloads into Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) at 4:02 a.m. PT on Transporter-16, a dedicated smallsat rideshare mission, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday morning. The mission was the first stage booster’s 12thflight. It landed vertically on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean after releasing its payloads.”
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Video
SpaceX launches 119 payloads on Transporter-16 mission. (Launch occurs at the 0:10 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube