SpaceX is launching a rocket today – no, not the Falcon Heavy, that’s still targeting February 6, but a Falcon 9 carrying a satellite bound for Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). The mission, GovSat-1, is set to take place during a launch window which opens today at 4:25 PM EST (1:25 PM PST) and closes at 6:46 PM EST (3:46 PM PST). The payload is a government satellite comissioned… Read More
Category: falcon
SpaceX sets historic first Falcon Heavy launch for February 6
SpaceX has set February 6 as the target for its Falcon Heavy launch, the first ever test flight of the new, high-capacity rocket that the company is building to allow it to send nearly three times as much payload per mission into orbit. SpaceX CE…
View More SpaceX sets historic first Falcon Heavy launch for February 6SpaceX can’t test launch Falcon Heavy while government is shut down
SpaceX is impacted by the ongoing U.S. Government shutdown – which is bad news both for its pending Falcon Heavy test flight, as well as for its other missions, which include imminent ISS resupply and commercial satellite launches. The Verge has confirmed that SpaceX’s dependence on U.S. Air Force support for launch operations at Cape Canaveral has held up any potential launch… Read More
SpaceX to run a static test fire of Falcon Heavy this week
SpaceX is planning to perform a static test fire of its massive Falcon Heavy rocket later this week, the company revealed today in a statement from company President and COO Gwynne Shotwell. Now that the rocket is vertical on launchpad LC-39A, a static test fire to ensure the rocket’s 27 Merlin engines are in good working order and ready for the full, inaugural test launch targeting… Read More
SpaceX apparently lost the classified Zuma payload from latest launch
SpaceX’s latest rocket may have launched successfully – but the mission didn’t end as a win. The Zuma payload it was carrying, a mysterious classified piece of cargo for the U.S. government believed to be a spy satellite, was lost after it failed to separate from the second stage of the rocket after the first stage of the Falcon 9 separated as planned and returned to Earth.… Read More
SpaceX successfully launches top-secret Zuma spacecraft
SpaceX has successfully launched its first mission of 2018, after capping a record year last year in 2017 with 18 total launches. The first launch this year carried a special payload – Zuma, a secretive spacecraft commissioned by the U.S. government for an undisclosed mission. SpaceX launched Zuma from its SLC-40 launch facility at Cape Canaveral in Florida, which was used instead of… Read More
Watch SpaceX launch the mysterious Zuma spacecraft live here
SpaceX will attempt its first launch of 2018 later today, with a two-hour launch window opening at 8 PM EST (5 PM PST), with a backup launch window set for tomorrow at the same time. The launch was originally planned for late last year, but was pushed due to SpaceX wanted to review data related to fairing used in the launch.
The payload for the launch is the ‘Zuma’ spacecraft, a… Read More
SpaceX targets January 5 launch for mystery Zuma payload
SpaceX is launching Zuma, a mystery spacecraft operated by the U.S. government for purposes unknown, thanks to it being very classified. The launch was supposed to take place last year, with a November date for the flight, but it was scrubbed, reset and then scrubbed again with no firm timeline for a follow up attempt. Zuma is now set to take off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral tentatively… Read More
SpaceX shows off its Falcon Heavy rocket vertical on the launchpad
SpaceX is getting ready for its first ever test flight of the Falcon Heavy, it’s heavy-duty rocket aimed at propelling large cargo loads into low Earth orbit. The rocket uses three Falcon 9 boosters combined for maximum load capacity when leaving Earth’s atmosphere, and it’s looking to do its first test launch within the next few weeks from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The… Read More
SpaceX caps a record year with 18th successful launch of 2017
SpaceX has completed its 18th launch in 2017, marking a record year for the private space company. It’s the most rockets SpaceX has launched in a single year, beating its previous best by ten missions. The launch today was for client Iridium, delivering 10 satellites to low Earth orbit for its Iridium NEXT communications constellation. This is the fourth such mission that SpaceX has… Read More
Elon Musk really will launch a Tesla Roadster on the first Falcon Heavy rocket
Elon Musk shared images on his Instagram account today of the payload being loaded up on the first Falcon Heavy rocket that will ever launch – and it’s a red Tesla Roadster. The SpaceX CEO previously said that he’d be launching exactly that on the spaceship, but then suggested he was joking – before the whole thing was confirmed again by SpaceX, and now made really… Read More
Watch SpaceX’s last Falcon 9 rocket launch for 2017
SpaceX is launching its last mission of 2017 later today, with a planned launch window of 5:27 PM PST (8:27 PM EST). The mission is for client Iridium, and will send a fourth set of 10 satellites into low Earth orbit for Iridium’s NEXT constellation, which will eventually consist of 75 satellites launched by SpaceX in total.
SpaceX is launching the Falcon 9 for Iridium-4 from… Read More