Tag: Falcon 9
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX launches 400th orbital flight; Blue Origin, China launch missions
Blue Origin tested its second human-rated New Shepard capsule this week, which had been delayed twice since the start of the month. The week has also seen two launches from China while a fourth flight of the Japanese H3 rocket carrying a communications satellite for the Japanese military has now been delayed until next week.…
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SpaceX launches final Gen. 1 OneWeb satellites on 100th orbital flight of 2024
The final two satellites in a batch of 20 OneWeb Gen. 1 satellites are deployed at the tail end of the OneWeb Launch #20 mission. Image: SpaceX SpaceX completed its 100th orbital launch of the year for its Falcon family of rockets late Saturday night in California. It reach this first-time milestone by launching OneWeb’s…
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SpaceX prevails over ULA, wins military launch contracts worth $733 million
The US Space Force’s Space Systems Command announced Friday it has ordered nine launches from SpaceX in the first batch of dozens of missions the military will buy in a new phase of competition for lucrative national security launch contracts. The nine launches are divided into two fixed-price “task orders” that Space Systems Command opened…
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SpaceX launches 20 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches across the sky on the Starlink 8-19 mission, as seen in this streak shot from across the Indian River Lagoon. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update Oct. 17, 4:38 p.m. EDT: SpaceX is moving to their 24-hour backup date for the launch and is targeting liftoff no earlier the Friday, Oct.…
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SpaceX notches 100th launch of 2024 with Starlink mission on Falcon 9 rocket
File: A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch a Starlink mission. Image: SpaceX Update 2:31 a.m. EDT: SpaceX launched the Starlink 10-10 mission at 2:10 a.m. EDT (0610 UTC). SpaceX broke its own record for number of orbital launches performed by one company, which it set at 96 in 2023. The Starlink 10-10 mission…
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Launch Roundup: Europa Clipper launches, Starlink launches return
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) recent decision to clear SpaceX’s Falcon 9 for a return to all flights paved the way for a busy week of launches. Before Falcon 9 returned to flying regular Starlink missions, though, a Falcon Heavy launch with NASA’s Europa Clipper mission started the week off. Following Europa Clipper’s launch, SpaceX…
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SpaceX navigates Q3 anomalies, starting ambitious Q4 goals
SpaceX’s record-breaking streak of successful launches and landings ended during the third quarter of 2024, having suffered a failure during launch with Falcon 9’s second stage and a Falcon 9 first stage landing failure. More recently, a third issue arose during the disposal of a Falcon 9 second stage after it had successfully completed its…
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Dragon receives long-planned propulsive landing upgrade after years of development
SpaceX announced a new capability for the Dragon spacecraft on Sept. 27 in the unlikely event of a parachute failure. Dragon now has built-in redundancy to propulsively land using its SuperDraco thrusters, saving the vehicle and potential crew from a rough landing or imminent danger. SpaceX introduced the concept of a propulsive landing Dragon over…
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Launch Roundup: Starship flies, booster caught
SpaceX flew the Starship-Super Heavy on Sunday, Oct. 13. This was the fifth test flight of the full Starship-Super Heavy stack and the first attempt at catching the booster. On Friday, Oct. 11, SpaceX Falcon 9 missions were released from the hold imposed on them while an investigation into the anomaly with the second stage…
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SpaceX launches Europe’s Hera asteroid mission ahead of Hurricane Milton
Two years ago, a NASA spacecraft smashed into a small asteroid millions of miles from Earth to test a technique that could one day prove useful to deflect an object off a collision course with Earth. The European Space Agency launched a follow-up mission Monday to go back to the crash site and see the…