Launch

A collection of 135 posts

Launch

SpaceX Delivers Three More BlueBird Satellites to Orbit for AST SpaceMobile

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched three of AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird Block 2 satellites into low Earth orbit before dawn on Wednesday, adding satellites numbered 11, 12, and 13 to the company's direct-to-device constellation. The mission marks the latest step in building out a network

Launch

SpaceX Sets IFT-14 for Late August With First Operational Starlinks and Ship Catch Attempt

SpaceX will fly the next Starship test, IFT-14, as soon as the end of August, deploying operational Starlink Version 3 satellites into orbit for the first time and attempting to catch the Starship upper stage back at Starbase, Texas. Company officials confirmed the plan during SpaceX's first

Launch

Discarded Falcon 9 Upper Stage Strikes the Moon at 5,400mph

A four-tonne piece of a spent SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that had drifted in space since last year is believed to have crashed into the Moon on Wednesday, gouging out a new lunar crater. The unintentional collision posed no danger to Earth, and NASA and SpaceX said they are

Launch

SpaceX Recovers Intact Ship 40 From Indian Ocean as Ship 41 Readies for Engine Testing

SpaceX is recovering the intact Ship 40 from the Indian Ocean after the vehicle executed a soft landing on Flight 13, marking the first time a Starship upper stage has survived splashdown rather than being destroyed. At the same time, teams are preparing Ship 41 for engine testing at Massey&

Markets

Rocketdyne Returns as Standalone Space Company After $845 Million Sale

Rocketdyne is again an independent company as AE Industrial Partners completed its purchase of L3Harris Technologies' space propulsion, power and electronics units on August 4. The deal separates a 1,300-person space supplier from the missile businesses L3Harris plans to keep, and revives one of the best-known

Launch

Rocket Factory Augsburg Halts UK Launch Debut After Pad Test Reveals Vehicle Issue

German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg has paused its first orbital launch attempt after discovering a problem with its RFA One rocket during testing on the launch pad at the U.K.'s SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland, Scotland. The company announced on July 28 that it found "an issue

Launch

SpaceX Targets Pecan Island for Third US Launch Site

SpaceX is planning to build a new launch facility along an 18-mile stretch of coastal south Louisiana known as Pecan Island, a source close to the deal confirmed. The move would give the company a third domestic launch site alongside its existing operations in Texas and Florida. The confirmation

Launch

China Sends TJS-27 Pair Into New Orbit, Orbits First Third-Generation Tianlian Relay

China launched a pair of classified satellites, TJS-27A and TJS-27B, into an orbital regime not previously used by the series, while separately orbiting the first of a new generation of data relay satellites. The two missions, hours apart on July 29, marked China's 52nd and 53rd

Launch

SpaceX Rebuilds Starbase Pad 1 While Block 3 Starships Fly From Pad 2

SpaceX has begun flying Starship Block 3 vehicles from the newly designed Pad 2 at Starbase in Texas, while crews simultaneously retrofit the original Pad 1 to bring it up to the same specification. The parallel effort allows SpaceX to upgrade its ground infrastructure without pausing its flight cadence, with

Launch

SpaceX Reaches 90th Orbital Launch of 2026 With Latest Starlink Mission

SpaceX launched its 90th orbital mission of 2026 on Friday night, sending another 24 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The milestone came just seven months into the year, with liftoff set for 7:59 p.m. PDT from

Launch

Blue Origin Rebuilds LC-36 Around New Operations Concept, Turns to Stennis for Second-Stage Testing

Two months after a New Glenn first stage exploded during a hotfire test at Launch Complex 36, Blue Origin is rebuilding its Florida launch site around an entirely new concept of operations while pursuing testing alternatives for the rocket's second stage. CEO Dave Limp continues to post construction

Launch

ArianeGroup Restarts Themis Test Campaign With Cryogenic Rehearsal in Sweden

ArianeGroup has completed a wet dress rehearsal of its Themis reusable booster demonstrator at the Esrange Space Centre in Sweden, the first substantive update on the vehicle's test campaign in more than ten months. The rehearsal, conducted on 23 July, moves the program toward its first low-altitude

Launch

Spent Falcon 9 Stage Set to Strike the Moon on August 5, Offering a Live Test for Impact Science

A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage is on course to slam into the lunar surface on August 5, near the Einstein and Bell craters on the western lunar limb. Researchers say the high-speed collision could produce an ejecta plume briefly bright enough to be seen from Earth through

Markets

Rocket Lab Books Three More Electron Launches for Japan's iQPS, Third Deal in Under a Year

Rocket Lab has signed a multi-launch contract with the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS) for three new dedicated Electron missions, the company announced July 30. The agreement marks the third multi-launch booking on Electron by iQPS in less than a year and brings the total

Launch

Roman Space Telescope Set for August 30 Falcon Heavy Launch, Eight Months Ahead of Schedule

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off at 7:20 a.m. on August 30 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The 42-foot-long observatory is designed to image more than 50 times as much sky in

Defense

Rocket Lab Wins $266 Million Space Force Deal for 12 Suborbital Launches, Anchored by New Alaska Site

Rocket Lab has won a $266 million U.S. Space Force contract to conduct 12 suborbital launches over the next three years, with options for six additional missions. The USSF award is the largest launch contract in Rocket Lab's history and will establish a new company launch location

Launch

Classified NRO Payload and Chinese Triple-Header Fill a Busy Launch Week

A classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite is set to launch from Cape Canaveral this week alongside three Chinese orbital missions, all scheduled within days of each other. The overlapping manifest illustrates the pace at which both the U.S. intelligence community and China are moving hardware to orbit. The week

Markets

Rocket Lab Wins $266 Million Space Force Deal, Adds Alaska Launch Site

Rocket Lab will build a new launch site in Kodiak, Alaska, under a $266 million U.S. Space Force contract for up to 18 suborbital missions, the company's largest launch award to date. The deal expands Rocket Lab's role in military launch services as the Pentagon

Launch

SpaceX Sets Sights on First Starship Upper Stage Tower Catch for Flight 14

SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk announced on July 25, 2026, that the company will attempt to catch the Starship upper stage with its launch tower arms on the upcoming Flight 14 mission. The move, revealed within hours of Flight 13's ocean splashdown, would mark the first time

Launch

SpaceX Declines Falcon 9 Bookings Beyond 2028 to Steer Customers Toward Starship

SpaceX has begun turning away satellite operators seeking dedicated Falcon 9 launches beyond 2028, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on July 23. The move deliberately constrains the company's most reliable and profitable rocket in order to push customers toward Starship, a vehicle that has not yet

Launch

SpaceX Targets July 23 for Second Flight of Moon-Bound Starship V3

SpaceX is now targeting Thursday, July 23, for the 13th test flight of Starship after scrubbing its first attempt on July 16. It will be only the second launch of the vehicle's V3 configuration, the version selected to fly astronauts to the Moon for NASA's Artemis

Launch

Relativity Space Commits to Thousands of Jobs at Cape Canaveral by 2034

Relativity Space plans a major expansion of its Cape Canaveral operations, with Space Florida officials announcing the company intends to add thousands of high-paying jobs by 2034. The commitment positions the 3D-printing-focused launch company as a growing employer in Florida's space corridor. Space Florida officials

Launch

Orienspace Completes Third Gravity-1 Sea Launch, Placing Nine Satellites in Orbit

Chinese commercial launch firm Orienspace conducted the third flight of its Gravity-1 solid rocket on July 22, lifting off from waters off Shanghai and successfully placing nine satellites into orbit. The mission marked the vehicle's third flight overall and was carried out from a sea-launch platform

Launch

Northrop Grumman Launches Robotic Servicing Vehicle Toward Geosynchronous Orbit

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday carrying Northrop Grumman's Mission Robotic Vehicle and three Mission Extension Pods, a mission built to prolong the working lives of multiple satellites already in geosynchronous orbit. The launch marks one of the first

Launch

NASA Sets August 30 Launch for Roman Space Telescope on Falcon Heavy

NASA has opened media accreditation for the launches of its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the SpaceX Crew-13 mission, both targeting liftoff in the coming months. The Roman observatory is slated to launch no earlier than 7:20 a.m. EDT on Sunday, August 30, aboard a SpaceX