Tag: Falcon 9
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SpaceX launches NASA, NOAA missions exploring the impacts of the Sun
The Falcon 9 carrying NASA’s IMAP mission transits the disk of the Sun seconds after lifting off from Kennedy Space Center. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now. Update: Launch occurred at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 UTC). With successful payload deployments complete about 1.5 hours after liftoff. A trio of Sun-studying, marquee missions for both NASA and the…
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U.S. Launches Three Spacecraft Aboard Falcon 9 to Boost Space Weather Monitoring
The United States launched three spacecraft on Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to improve monitoring of solar activity and its effects on technology, astronauts, and infrastructure on Earth. The launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center sent the probes on a journey toward the Lagrange 1 point, around 1.5 million kilometers from the sun,…
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NASA, SpaceX launch IMAP and rideshare payloads to study space weather at L1
NASA and SpaceX successfully launched the agency’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) from Florida on Wednesday morning. Joining IMAP on its way to Lagrange Point 1 are two additional rideshare payloads: NOAA’s Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) and the joint NASA/University of Illinois Carruthers Geocorona Observatory. Liftoff took place on Wednesday, Sept. 24,…
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NRO, SpaceX launch reconnaissance satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB
A Falcon 9 rocket launches the NROL-48 mission from Vandenberg on Sept. 22, 2025. Image: SpaceX. The National Reconnaissance Office sent its 11th batch of small, reconnaissance satellites into low Earth orbit Monday morning. These are believed to be Starshield satellites, a government variant of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, though the NRO hasn’t confirmed this. The…
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SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on Sunday sunrise Falcon 9 flight
A so-called ‘jellyfish effect’ could be seen by launch viewers as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage plume was illuminated by the light of sunrise. The Starlink 10-27 mission launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sept. 21, 2025. Image: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now Update Sept. 21,…
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SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites from California following back-to-back weather scrubs
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Starlink 17-12 mission on Sept. 19, 2025. Image: SpaceX Update Sept. 19, 3 p.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed deployment of the satellites. Update Sept. 18, 12:09 p.m. EDT: SpaceX scrubbed the mission and is targeting launch…
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Launch Roundup: Starlink, NRO, and New Shepard missions
Another busy week of launches has arrived, with SpaceX dominating the launch manifest with four missions for the week. Three of these missions saw new batches of Starlink internet satellites launched into the company’s Starlink constellation, with the fourth mission launching a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Blue Origin finally launched its uncrewed NS-35…
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Northrop Grumman’s 1st Cygnus XL spacecraft launches on cargo run to the space station
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sept. 14, 2025, to begin the NG-23 mission. This was the first launch of a Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL spacecraft. Image: John Pisani / Spaceflight Now Northrop Grumman’s first Cygnus XL vehicle was jettisoned on…
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Launch preview: SpaceX to launch new, improved Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL resupply ship to the space station
Technicians use a crane to lift Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft’s pressurized cargo module out of the shipping container on Thursday, July 10, 2025, inside the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The new extended Cygnus capsule, scheduled to launch no earlier than Sept. 14, 2025, will carry supplies, food, and…
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SpaceX launches Cygnus XL to ISS on CRS NG-23 mission
Just days after the Progress MS-32 cargo ship launched to the International Space Station from Kazakhstan, SpaceX launched the first flight of a stretched Northrop Grumman Cygnus XL cargo ship to the Station for an additional delivery of supplies. The Cygnus XL cargo ship, named S.S. William C. “Willie” McCool after the pilot of Columbia…