Tag: to launch

SpaceX Stands Down Both Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 Launches

The Orlando Sentinel  reports that SpaceX “is standing down from attempting to launch its powerhouse Falcon Heavy for now, citing the need for ‘systems checkouts’ while weather would have been an issue the next couple of days.” It has already “delayed a Falcon 9 launch as well.” After delaying a Sunday attempt “to launch Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A because of weather and then scrubbing a Monday night attempt less than an hour before its planned liftoff because of a ‘ground side issue,’ SpaceX had announced it would try again Wednesday.” But late Tuesday, “it called off those plans.” USSF-52 is a mission “to send up the Space Force’s secretive mini shuttle, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle built by Boeing, on what would be the spacecraft’s seventh trip to orbit.” The classified missions “have sent it on longer and longer duration flights each time, having spent nearly 909 days in space the last time around.” Weather was also the reason “it called off both a late Tuesday attempt and a planned Wednesday attempt to launch a Falcon 9 from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on another Starlink mission.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch of X-37B Space Plane Delayed

SPACE reported that a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket “is poised to launch the X-37B space plane for the US Space Force on Monday evening (Dec. 11) after a one-day delay due to weather, and you can likely watch the action live.” Liftoff of the Falcon Heavy “is scheduled to occur from Launch Complex-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, during a 10-minute window that opens at 8:14 p.m. EST (0114 GMT Dec. 12).” The upcoming launch “will be the seventh launch to date for the reusable X-37B space plane its first-ever ride on a Falcon Heavy, which could have consequences for its coming orbital mission.” Five of the six X-37B launches “to date have employed United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets, with one other using a SpaceX Falcon 9.”
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA SpaceX Crew-8 Mission to Launch Friday

Flying Magazine reports, “NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 mission is set to launch via a Falcon 9 rocket Friday, ferrying three space agency astronauts and a Roscosmos cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS).” The four Crew-8 members are “NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.” The targeted launch time is 12:04 a.m. EST Friday, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Full Story (Flying Magazine)

NASA Set to Launch Multiple Rockets During April 8 Total Solar Eclipse

SPACE reports, “NASA’s Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path (APEP) mission — named for the Egyptian god of darkness and enemy of the sun god, Ra — will launch the three sounding rockets back into the moon’s shadow during the April 8 total solar eclipse. The goal is to study potential disturbances in the ionosphere during a solar eclipse.” Launch is scheduled between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Full Story (SPACE)

US Spaceplane to Return to Orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy

FlightGlobal reports that the secretive “spaceplane” operated by the US Space Force (USSF) “will return to orbit for its seventh long-endurance mission, this time aboard the world’s largest commercial rocket.” The USSF “announced the Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) will launch on 7 December from Cape Canaveral, Florida for the ultra-long endurance spacecraft’s seventh mission.” The announcement “comes almost exactly one year after the X-37B landed from its sixth flight mission in November 2022.” That flight, which “launched in May 2020, lasted 908 days and carried a solar energy experiment for the US Navy and a satellite for the US Air Force Academy.” The goal “of the latest orbital flight, dubbed X-37B Mission 7 or OTV-7, is to experiment with new space technologies aimed at furthering the ‘safe, stable, and secure operations in space for all users,’ the USSF says.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)

Russia to Launch Another Soyuz Craft to Rescue ISS Crew

Reuters reports that Russia said Wednesday that “it would launch another Soyuz spacecraft next month to bring home two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut from the International Space Station after their original capsule was struck by a micrometeoroid and started leaking last month.” The leak came from “a tiny puncture – less than 1 millimetre wide – on the external cooling system of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule, one of two return capsules docked to the ISS that can bring crew members home.” Russia said a new capsule, Soyuz MS-23, “would be sent up on Feb. 20 to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22, which will be brought back to Earth empty.” Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and U.S. astronaut Francisco Rubio “had been due to end their mission in March but will now extend it by a few more months and return aboard the MS-23.”
Full Story (Reuters)

SpaceX to Launch OneWeb Satellites on Monday

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports SpaceX “is set for its second Space Coast launch of the year mission to send up more internet satellites for competitor OneWeb” on Monday after “a Sunday attempt was tabled so SpaceX could ‘complete prelaunch processing,’ the company posted on its Twitter account,” although the “vehicle and spacecraft are healthy.” The launch “was set to be the company’s 200th…since 2010, but may end up being the 201st with the delay as a Starlink launch is also on tap for Monday night, but from California,” and Space Launch Delta 45′s weather squadron “predicts better than 90% chance for good conditions” for the second attempt.
Full Story (Orlando (FL) Sentinel)

SpaceX’s Starship to Launch Private Moon Rover in 2026

SPACE reported that Astrolab has secured an agreement with SpaceX to launch its Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) rover on one of SpaceX’s Starship moon missions. The mission could occur as early as 2026. FLEX would be the largest rover ever to operate on the moon’s surface. The rover would be able to carry two astronauts and could alternately be remote-controlled. Astrolab built FLEX “within NASA’s requirements for the agency’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) specifications, and hopes to have an entire FLEX fleet roving the moon’s surface as part of the Artemis program.”
Full Story (SPACE)

NASA to Launch Two More Mini-Helicopters to Mars to Help Return Samples

The AP reports that NASA “is launching two more mini helicopters to Mars in its effort to return Martian rocks and soil samples to Earth.” Under the plan, “NASA’s Perseverance rover will do double duty and transport the cache to the rocket that will launch them off the red planet a decade from now.” The rover “already has gathered 11 samples with more rock drilling planned.” The most recent sample “holds the greatest promise of containing possible evidence of ancient Martian life, said Arizona State University’s Meenakshi Wadhwa, chief scientist for the retrieval effort.” The planned mini helicopters “will be modeled after NASA’s successful Ingenuity, which has made 29 flights since arriving with Perseverance at Mars early last year.”
Full Story (Associated Press)

SpaceX Plans to Launch Starship Up to 25 Times in 2025

Gizmodo reports, “SpaceX has big plans for its Starship rocket. After a groundbreaking test flight, in which the landing tower caught the booster, the company’s founder and CEO Elon Musk wants to see the megarocket fly up to 25 times next year, working its way up to a launch rate of 100 flights per year, and eventually a Starship launching on a daily basis.
Full Story (Gizmodo)

NASA Plans to Launch PUNCH Mission February 27

SPACE reports, “On Feb. 27, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, NASA plans to launch the sun-studying PUNCH mission to low Earth orbit. It will ride alongside the agency’s SPHEREx observatory, which is sort of like a wide-angle version of the James Webb Space Telescope, as part of the agency’s Launch Services Program that works to make space missions more cost efficient.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Firefly Alpha Selected to Launch Earth Science SmallSat Mission for NASA

Space News reports, “NASA selected Firefly Aerospace to launch a trio of Earth science smallsats that will study the formation of storms. The agency said March 4 that it awarded a task order through its Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract to Firefly to launch the three-satellite Investigation of Convective Updrafts (INCUS) mission. NASA did not disclose the value of the task order, a practice it has followed on other VADR awards. The INCUS satellites will launch on a Firefly Alpha rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.”
Full Story (Space News)

Joby and Virgin Atlantic to Launch Air Taxi in UK

Aerotime reports, “In a groundbreaking move set to launch air taxi services in the UK, Joby Aviation has announced a strategic partnership with Virgin Atlantic. The new partnership, which was unveiled on March 15, 2025, marks a significant step toward launching zero-emission, high-speed air taxi services across the country. According to the United States venture-backed aviation company, the new air taxi service will initially connect key Virgin Atlantic hubs, including London Heathrow (LHR) and Manchester Airport (MAN), with regional cities.”
Full Story (Aerotime)

Amazon’s Second Batch of Kuiper Internet Satellites Targeted for June 13 Launch on Atlas V

SPACE reports, “Amazon’s second fleet of internet satellites now has a target launch date. The stack of 27 satellites, part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation, is scheduled to launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket next Friday (June 13). Liftoff of the mission, known as Kuiper 2, is set for 2:29 p.m. EDT (1829 GMT), from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, ULA announced.”
Full Story (SPACE)

ULA to Launch Amazon’s Second Batch of Kuiper Internet Satellites

SPACE reports, “United Launch Alliance (ULA) is set to launch Amazon’s second group of satellites for its Kuiper internet satellite constellation today (June 16), and you can watch the action live. The 27 satellites, riding atop a ULA Atlas V rocket, are scheduled to lift off at 1:25 p.m. EDT (1725 GMT) today from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.”
Full Story (SPACE)