SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket on a critical 13th test flight late Friday, but there was no triskaidekaphobia on this mission.

The July 24 test launch, Space's Starship Flight 13 mission, sent a towering rocket the size of a 40-story skyscraper into space from South Texas, returned its massive Booster to Earth, and then — in a feat perhaps none saw coming — gently landed its Starship upper stage in the Indian Ocean, where it tipped over to float belly up on the sea.

"Starship is intact, floating in the ocean and transmitting telemetry!" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X.

"That is a first," SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot added in live commentary as a drone beamed stunning views of Starship bobbing in the waves. "That is the softest splashdown we have ever had with Starship in the Indian Ocean."

The splashdown capped what appeared to be a mostly successful test flight of SpaceX's biggest Starship ever. With a mighty roar, Starship Flight 13 lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase, Texas launch site at 6:51 p.m. EDT (2251 GMT) on a test flight that lasted just over one hour.

It was only the second flight of the company's new Starship Version 3 design, or V3, and SpaceX was hoping for a better outing than its first attempt in May. During that previous test, the Starship Flight 12 mission, the massive Super Heavy first-stage Booster suffered engine problems after stage separation and failed to make a water landing in the Gulf of Mexico. It crashed instead.

Lucky Flight 13

Friday's Starship Flight 13 mission fared a bit better.

SpaceX initially tried to launch Flight 13 on July 16, but the rocket aborted the try at the last second due to engine issues. SpaceX replaced some first-stage Raptor engines in time for a July 23 launch attempt, but waved off due to weather, setting the stage for Friday's successful liftoff.

Minutes into the flight, the Super Heavy Booster successfully separated from its Ship upper stage, aced a flip maneuver and returned to Earth. There was a problem during the landing burn. Only five engines appeared to fire when 13 were required to slow the Booster to landing speed. It hit the Gulf waters harder than planned, its camera views cutting out.

"It didn't look like we lit all 13 engines that we were planning for that initial landing burn," Huot said. "We were targeting a softer splashdown and, as you saw, it came in with quite a bit of velocity."

Starlink V3 makes a debut

Despite the Booster's rough landing, there were clear successes on Starship Flight 13.

While sailing on its suborbital trajectory, Flight 13's Ship upper stage deployed 20 next-generation Starlink Version 3 internet satellites — large, flat satellites equipped with laser communications links and expansive solar arrays that will replace SpaceX's current Starlink internet megaconstellation.

Starship is designed to launch 60 Starlink V3 satellites at a time, spitting them out through a slit-like payload bay door like a giant PEZ candy dispenser. All 20 Starlink V3 satellites deployed smoothly, with the last two switching on flashlights and looking back at their Ship carrier before floating off into orbital darkness. The satellites did not stay in space. They fell to Earth and burned up (by design) due to their suborbital flight path.

The Ship upper stage (which SpaceX also refers to as Starship) then reignited one of its six Raptor engines to test a critical engine relight capability that will allow future Starships to enter and leave orbit. The burn went off without a hitch — a milestone since SpaceX had not always performed the burn if a test didn't go smoothly.

Then it was time for reentry, with cameras beaming back stunning views of Starship wrapped in super-hot plasma as it fell back to Earth. The spacecraft executed a three-engine burn to flip over into a vertical landing position, but did shift down to two engines, then one before it toppled over to rest on the waves.

The sight of a floating Starship triggered a cacophony of cheers from SpaceX teams at Starbase and its Hawthorne, California rocket factory in the company's livestream. After all, Starships usually explode after they tip over.

"This is just the first time we've put a Starship into the water," SpaceX's Dan Huot said during live commentary. He called it SpaceX's "softest splashdown" ever. "This is a dream scenario for this team that's trying to get this heat shield data."

The heat shield isn't the only thing SpaceX's recovery team will be looking at.

Live views from Starship showed its six engines intact along with its flaps and other systems. Teams will be poring over what they can retrieve from the sea to help improve future Starship upgrades.

SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable launch system, a 407-foot-tall (124 meters) megarocket capable of taking Starlink fleets to orbit as easily as it lands NASA astronauts on the moon. That part is key.

NASA has tapped SpaceX's Starship to land its Artemis IV astronauts on the moon in 2028, but SpaceX has yet to ever complete an entire Earth orbit with Starship after 13 test flights and three years of launches. It's been a decade since Elon Musk first unveiled what SpaceX now calls Starship during a 2016 speech.

Over the next two years, SpaceX must not only send a Starship into orbit. The company also aims to return a Ship to Earth to catch it in the "chopsticks" of its Mechazilla launch pad at Starbase. (The company has already done so with its Super Heavy Booster stages.)

SpaceX also must successfully demonstrate in-space Starship refueling, complete an orbital tanker version of Starship, and finish a crewed lander version complete with a life support system that can keep astronauts alive on the moon. That's a lot on the Starship to-do list and NASA is watching.

"Congrats on getting Flight 13 underway," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote on X after the launch. "Excited for what will be learned from this mission. When Starship comes online, its capabilities will be game-changing, not least of which will be ensuring we never give up the Moon again!" In a lunar coincidence, Friday's launch coincided with the 57th anniversary of the Apollo 11 astronauts' return to Earth after their historic moon landing flight.

But for now, SpaceX is clearly celebrating.

"I'm a little over the moon right now," Huot said. "Wow. Lucky number 13. Hell of a great day for Starship."

NASA is shaking things up for its next mission to research the sun.

The six satellites of NASA's Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE) mission are poised to launch to Earth orbit soon, to serve as an early warning system for incoming solar storms. They were originally slated to lift off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket but have now been assigned a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, according to a NASA mission update.

SunRISE will fly to space as part of a rideshare mission sponsored by the U.S. Space Force's (USSF's) Space Systems Command (SSC). Though it's not stated specifically in the NASA release, that may be a hint as to why the mission's rocket was changed. On its most recent launch, USSF-87, Vulcan experienced an anomaly in one of its solid rocket boosters — the second such incident to occur during the rocket's four launches to date.

Vulcan succeeded in delivering the USSF-87 payload to its designated orbit on that launch, but the recurrence of the booster issue during ascent prompted the Space Force to pause national security launches on Vulcan until it could be addressed. Which mission SunRISE will be manifested on has not yet been released, but SSC has already shifted other launches between Vulcan and SpaceX's Falcon 9, so NASA's change in rockets for SunRISE could indicate either that the mission has been remanifested on a different SSC rideshare, or that another SSC mission has been shifted from Vulcan entirely.

SunRISE is a heliophysics study under the NASA Science Mission Directorate's "missions of opportunity" umbrella and is part of the Explorers Program run by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. It consists of six small satellites, each about the size of a mailbox. The mini-constellation's mission is led by scientists at the University of Michigan and will be managed out of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

The half-dozen smallsats will be delivered to an orbit about 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) above Earth — just above a geostationary parking altitude — and fly in a giant 10-mile (16-km) "X" formation, each extending its roughly 10-foot (2.5-meter) antenna booms to act as a single large radio telescope to track solar radio bursts. These kinds of bursts travel faster than the energetic particles from a solar storm, and precede their arrival when shot towards Earth.

Powerful solar storms, like the one that hit Earth in January, are capable of disrupting or disabling satellites by interfering with onboard electronics, sensitive instruments and communications systems. If a storm is severe enough, it can pose a radiation threat to astronauts in orbit and even airborne passengers flying near Earth's poles, where the planet's magnetic field is weaker.

SunRISE will help researchers better understand the behavior of incoming solar radio bursts, but the mission won't serve as an alert system by itself. Instead, scientists will use data collected by the spacecraft to improve prediction models for impending space weather, which in turn could lead to mitigation plans to better thwart the effects of such solar events on orbital infrastructure.

Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's heavy-lift launch vehicle, capable of launching up to 58,860 pounds (26,700 kg) to geostationary transfer orbit. It's a triple-booster rocket that consists of three modified Falcon 9 first stages, and has launched 12 times since it debuted in 2018. Four of those have delivered national security payloads to orbit, with the most recent of those, USSF-52, launching in December 2023. Falcon Heavy's most recent flight overall occurred this past April, when it sent the Viasat-3 F3 telecom satellite to orbit.

Falcon Heavy's next mission will lift off with NASA's Nancy Roman Space Telescope, currently set for no earlier than Aug. 30. SunRISE is scheduled to launch later this year, but a more specific launch window has not yet been announced.

The fight continues against SpaceX's controversial South Texas land swap.

That deal, which the company made with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), gives SpaceX 727 acres (294 hectares) of public land that's currently part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. In exchange, the company hands over 683 acres (276 hectares) of its territory in the area, not all of it contiguous, to the USFWS.

Last month, a coalition of conservation and tribal groups sued the USFWS over the swap, saying it degrades the refuge and violates multiple laws, including the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997. And yesterday (July 20), those groups filed an emergency injunction, asking a federal judge to stop the exchange until the courts can rule on the ongoing case.

"Federal officials are racing to fork over America's public lands to one of wealthiest corporations on Earth before the courts can even weigh in," Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement yesterday (July 20).

"This refuge is one of the last places left for the public to enjoy nature in the Rio Grande Valley," Jordahl added. "Why should Texans be forced to surrender even more of their public lands to a trillion-dollar corporation? The court has to intervene now, because once these refuge lands are transferred to SpaceX, they’re gone forever."

The land set to be transferred to SpaceX is near Starbase, the manufacturing and launch hub for the company's Starship megarocket. SpaceX sees Starship as transformational; it's the biggest and most powerful launcher ever built, and it's designed to be fully and rapidly reusable.

Starship remains in the development-and-testing phase. It has flown 12 suborbital test flights to date, all of them from Starbase, and is gearing up for Flight 13 this Thursday (July 23).

These launches pose a threat to the wildlife that the 90,000-acre (36,420 hectares) refuge was established to protect, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation nonprofit based in Tucson, Arizona.

"A 2024 study found that, after one launch, every single monitored shorebird nest near the launch site suffered egg damage or loss," the organization said in yesterday's statement. "Instead of taking any enforcement actions or working with SpaceX to reduce or eliminate its harm to the refuge, the Service [USFWS] is now citing the resulting degradation as justification for handing the public land to SpaceX."

Some of the land being transferred to SpaceX is part of the Palmito Ranch Battlefield National Historic Landmark, where the final battle of the Civil War was fought. This means the swap also violates the National Historic Preservation Act, according to the Center or Biological Diversity.

The Center or Biological Diversity and its partners also take issue with how the land deal was made.

"The proposed land exchange was first made public in March, but records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show internal agency planning began as early as April 2025," yesterday's statement reads. "In those discussions with the regional director of the Service, the agency developed 'the most expedited schedule possible' for completing a land transfer and recommended hiring additional staff to meet what they described as an 'optimum timeframe.'"

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the USFWS are the Center for Biological Diversity, Save RGV, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Inc., and the South Texas Environmental Justice Network.

Twenty-four Starlink satellites reached low Earth orbit on Tuesday (July 21), a day later than originally scheduled due to a last-second rocket engine abort.

SpaceX at first tried to launch the broadband internet relay units on a Falcon 9 rocket on Monday morning (July 20), but an unexpected engine cutoff at the point of ignition scrubbed the day's attempt. The company did not provide a reason for the abort.

By Tuesday, whatever the problem was had been addressed and the Falcon 9 was ready to fly. It liftoff off at 10:49 a.m. EDT (1449 GMT; 7:49 a.m. PDT local time) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. About an hour later, after a normal ascent, the new Starlink batch (Group 17-39) were deployed into their intended orbit.

"Deployment of 24 Starlink satellites confirmed," SpaceX posted on social media.

The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage, Booster 1082, completed its 23rd mission by touching down atop the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

The Starlink network provides worldwide access to the internet, especially to areas where other means of connection are not possible. The megaconstellation also enables in-flight wifi and direct-to-cell services for select providers.

Tuesday's Starlink launch was SpaceX's 85th Falcon 9 launch of the year. SpaceX experienced a similar but unrelated last-second abort on its first attempt at launching its 13th test flight of its Starship megarocket on Thursday (July 16). That flight has now been rescheduled for Thursday (July 23).

Orion is getting an upgrade on Artemis III, and the astronauts aboard are getting WiFi (sort of).

NASA is partnering with SpaceX to equip the Orion spacecraft for Artemis III with a pair of Starlink mini laser terminals, designed to operate on SpaceX's existing Starlink network. The two panels will be installed on Orion's exterior, and will augment the spacecraft's existing communications systems.

The added capability is expected to provide a greater data capacity from Orion to NASA's mission control in Houston, which may include high-definition live video from orbit. The mission is currently scheduled for the second half of 2027, and will also include another sizable contribution from SpaceX: a Starship rocket.

SpaceX currently operates more than 10,000 Starlink spacecraft in LEO, which provide satellite internet coverage across nearly the entire globe to commercially-available wireless terminals about the size of a laptop. Combined, those more than 10,000 and counting satellites are equipped with over 25,000 lasers currently in operation in LEO to maintain the network's interconnectedness, according to a NASA update.

The company previously demonstrated the Starlink constellation's use as a communication relay network during the privately funded Fram2 mission that launched the first human into a polar orbit around Earth in 2025. SpaceX frequently utilizes its high-data capabilities to stream high-definition live views of its Falcon 9 and Starship rocket launches from orbit.

Artemis III is the third in a program of NASA missions with the goal of returning astronauts to the moon and establishing a permanent base on its surface. Artemis III is designed as a practice run for NASA's Orion capsule to rendezvous and dock with the program's commercial lunar lander vehicles, Starship, and Blue Origin's Blue Moon spacecraft, in low Earth orbit (LEO). That's a lot closer to home compared to the Artemis II mission that NASA launched in April of this year.

Artemis II was Orion's first flight with astronauts onboard, and flew a 10-day mission around the far side of the moon. NASA used laser communications during Artemis II as well, using terminals on Orion and ground stations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in California and White Sands Complex in New Mexico to transmit data loads too big for the agency's Near Space and Deep Space radio networks. With flight sticking to LEO during Artemis III, communication limitations become a lot easier to surmount.

If all goes according to plan during Artemis III, NASA has scheduled the first Artemis moon landing on the following mission, Artemis IV. NASA is targeting 2028 to launch Artemis IV, and has selected Starship as the lunar lander that will return astronauts to the lunar surface.

SpaceX launched a trailblazing satellite-servicing mission today (July 21).

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 5:15 p.m. EDT (2115 GMT).

SpaceX called today's launch MRV-MEV, because it's sending up a Mission Robotic Vehicle and three Mission Extension Pods (MEPs). These spacecraft will be operated by SpaceLogistics, a subsidiary of Virginia-based aerospace giant Northrop Grumman.

MRV-MEV is headed to geostationary orbit (GEO), 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth. At this altitude, orbital speed matches the velocity of our planet's rotation, allowing spacecraft to "hover" over the same patch of ground continuously. For this reason, GEO is a popular destination for spy, communications and weather satellites.

The new mission will work to extend the lives of such satellites. The MRV is equipped with two 10-foot-long (3 meters) robotic arms, a system developed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) with the help of the Naval Research Laboratory. The spacecraft will use those arms to attach the MEPs — the first three ever to launch — to three separate satellites in GEO.

"Once installed, the MEP uses electric propulsion to provide orbit control and momentum unloading for a client satellite," Northrop Grumman wrote in an MEP fact sheet. "The MEP is controlled by the customer via a self-contained C- or Ku-band telemetry and command system, and [is] capable of providing up to eight years of life extension for a typical 2,000 kg satellite in GEO."

The Australian satellite operator Optus booked one of the MEPs, and Intelsat hired out the other two, according to Tech Times.

The MRV and MEPs will reach GEO separately. When it's rendezvous time, the robotic-armed spacecraft will grab an MEP and ferry it over to its client satellite, Tech Times reported. The MRV will then remain in GEO after it has installed the third MEP, waiting for other such "satellite jetpacks" to reach orbit.

In addition to installing MEPs, the MRV "can relocate, inspect, repair and upgrade spacecraft while in orbit," Northrop Grumman's website states.

"MRV includes a Northrop Grumman-developed Passive Refueling Module (PRM), the first refueling interface standard approved by the U.S. Space Force, which enables MRV to be refueled in orbit," it adds. "With advanced robotics technology and Northrop Grumman's proven experience in satellite servicing, the mission delivers an unprecedented capability and new class of system that can continuously evolve to support novel or increasingly advanced missions for our nation, making assets in space more resilient."

That "proven experience in satellite servicing" consists of two previous Northrop Grumman projects. Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1) — the first-ever commercial satellite-servicing spacecraft — launched in October 2019 and successfully rendezvoused with its target in GEO (the communications satellite Intelsat 901) four months later. MEV-2 launched in August 2020 and docked with Intelsat 10-02 the following April.

Neither MEV-1 nor MEV-2 used Mission Extension Pods, however. Each of those previous efforts employed a single servicing craft, which made its way to the target satellite, docked and performed life-extension duties on its own.

All went according to plan during the launch: The Falcon 9's upper stage deployed the MRV 35.5 minutes after liftoff and the three MEPs at 10-minute intervals after that, according to SpaceX.

In a departure from most Falcon 9 missions, there was not a first-stage landing today.

"Due to the additional performance needed to launch these payloads to geosynchronous transfer orbit, this will be the 32nd and final flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, and 27 Starlink missions," SpaceX's MRV-MEP mission description reads.

SpaceX's rocket-reuse record is 36 flights, set earlier this month during a Falcon 9 launch of the company's Starlink internet satellites.

MEV-MEP was SpaceX's second launch of the day. The company also sent 24 Starlink craft to orbit atop a Falcon 9 from California this morning.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 5:23 p.m. ET with news of successful liftoff. It was then updated again at 11:05 a.m. ET on July 22 with news of successful payload deployment, and to note DARPA's key role in this mission.

SpaceX has pushed the next launch of its Starship megarocket back a few more days.

Elon Musk's company is now targeting Thursday (July 23) for Flight 13 of Starship, the giant, fully reusable vehicle it's developing to help get people to the moon and Mars, among other spaceflight tasks.

If all goes to plan, the 408-foot-tall (124.4 meters) Starship will lift off from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas on Thursday during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local Texas time). You can watch the action live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX.

It will be the second launch attempt for Starship Flight 13. The first came last Thursday (July 16) and ended in an abort, which occurred just as the giant rocket's 33 first-stage Raptor engines were firing up.

"To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week," Musk said on July 16 via X, the social media platform he owns.

SpaceX first targeted today (July 20) for Flight 13's second try. On Sunday (July 19), however, the company announced that it had pushed that date back to no earlier than Thursday.

Flight 13 will be the second launch of Starship Version 3 (V3), the latest, most advanced iteration of the megarocket. V3 is the variant that will land astronauts on the moon for NASA's Artemis program and fly SpaceX's first Mars missions, if all goes to plan.

The plan for the upcoming suborbital launch is similar to that of Flight 12, which lifted off on May 22. Starship's Super Heavy first stage will aim to steer itself back to Earth for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, while the Ship upper stage will do the same halfway around the world, off the coast of Western Australia.

SpaceX accomplished the latter objective on Flight 12 but not the former; Super Heavy suffered engine issues during its return to Earth and ended up hitting the Gulf waters hard.

Flight 13 will do a few new things, however. For example, it will carry 20 of SpaceX's next-gen Starlink V3 internet satellites, which have never flown to space before. SpaceX plans to build a constellation of 100,000 Starlink V3 spacecraft in low Earth orbit over the coming years, and Starship will do all of the heavy lifting.

These 20 Starlinks won't stay aloft for long, however. Since Ship is flying on a suborbital trajectory, the satellites will come back to Earth relatively quickly — about 20 minutes after deployment, according to SpaceX's Flight 13 mission description.

Starship debuted in April 2023. All of its test flights to date have been suborbital.

That's two last-second launch aborts in a row for SpaceX.

One of the company's Falcon 9 rockets tried to loft 24 Starlink internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California this morning (July 20), but the attempt was aborted just as the first-stage engines started firing up.

Something similar happened on Thursday afternoon (July 16), when SpaceX attempted to launch the 13th test flight of its Starship megarocket.

The two events likely have little in common other than a proximity in time. They involved two very different vehicles, after all: The workhorse Falcon 9 is the most reliable and active rocket on the planet; it has already launched 84 times this year, with zero failures.

Starship, on the other hand, remains in the development-and-testing phase. SpaceX has high hopes for the giant vehicle, which combines full reusability with unprecedented brawn. (It's the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built.)

The two vehicles are also powered by different engines. The Falcon 9's first stage employs nine Merlin 1Ds, whereas Starship's Super Heavy booster uses 33 next-gen Raptors.

SpaceX decided to swap out two of those Raptors ahead of the next Flight 13 launch attempt, which is scheduled for Thursday afternoon (July 23).

The Vandenberg Starlink launch, meanwhile, is back on the docket for Tuesday morning (July 21). It's scheduled to lift off during a nearly four-hour window that opens at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT; 7 a.m. local California time), according to a SpaceX mission description.

NASA has never flown a mission like Artemis III, and it's shaping up to become one of the most elaborate spaceflights in history.

NASA has provided more details about the Artemis III flight scheduled for next year, and, if all goes according to plan, the objectives the astronauts will be checking off their list will contain more than a few "firsts" for the Artemis program and human spaceflight overall. That includes the first crewed NASA mission to rendezvous and dock with two separate designed to carry crews of their own.

Artemis is NASA's next-generation program to return astronauts to the surface of the moon. Artemis III is designed as a test run for NASA's Orion spacecraft in which it will dock and perform operations with the program's two commercial lunar landers — SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon. The mission will launch a crew of four aboard Orion on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket into Earth orbit, where the capsule will rendezvous with each lander separately over the course of about two weeks. Their success will set the stage for a crewed moon landing on Artemis IV, but NASA must first master the complicated demands of Artemis III in order to confidently set its sights on the lunar surface.

"Artemis III will be a highly choreographed dance with a demanding launch sequence across multiple launch pads and equally demanding mission operations for our ground and flight crews, making it one of the most complex and ambitious missions NASA has ever undertaken," said Artemis Program Manager Jeremy Parsons in a NASA update on July 15.

Only one mission in the course of human spaceflight has flown astronauts to rendezvous with multiple spacecraft capable of supporting crews of their own: Soyuz T-15 in 1986, which launched cosmonaut Leonid Kizim to the Salyut 7 space station, and then flew him to, what was at the time, the Soviet Union's MIR space station.

America's space program has come close to such a milestone. NASA's Gemini 10 mission in 1966 launched NASA astronauts John Young and Michael Collins to rendezvous and dock with the uncrewed Agena 10 probe. After undocking, they flew their Gemini capsule to rendezvous with Agena 8, but did not dock with the probe. Two shuttle missions, STS-72 and STS-51A, also managed to rendezvous with separate satellites during their missions, but none of these required the complex coordination and multiple launch vehicles lined up to pull off Artemis III.

Orion, Blue Moon and Starship are all designed to launch on different rockets from different launch pads at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), which will all require cross-agency and commercial collaboration for range availability, resource use constraints like nitrogen gas availability across the various ranges and the alignment of several other overlapping hierarchies of infrastructure in order to ensure Artemis is successful.

Blue Moon will launch on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket from Space Launch Complex-36 (SLC-36), which it leases from the Space Force at CCSFS. Blue Moon is the first of the three spacecraft set to make it to orbit, and is capable of remaining in space for up to 30 days, according to the NASA update. That will give Blue Origin and NASA an opportunity to confirm the lander's condition and functionality before committing the Artemis III crew and Orion to launch and join it on orbit.

SLS will be next to get off the ground, lifting off from KSC's Launch Complex-39B carrying the Orion spacecraft. Orion will rendezvous with Blue Moon in low Earth orbit (LEO), and will spend about two days docked with the lander. Part of the purpose of Artemis III is to give both lunar lander providers the chance to mature their designs based on actual in-flight data, so neither the Blue Moon nor Starship that fly on the mission will be the spacecrafts' final, landing-capable versions.

Blue Origin will launch the Blue Moon Mark 2 (Mk2), a graduated design of the company's smaller Mk1 cargo lander, which was scheduled to launch a demonstration mission this year. That may be delayed, however, due to an explosion of one of the company's New Glenn rockets during an engine test at SLC-36 in May. With repairs now well underway, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp has voiced confidence that New Glenn will return to flight by the end of 2026.

Completing that Mk1 mission this year will be just as critical to NASA's moon plans as the launch of Blue Moon Mk2 will be during Artemis III. Among the list of requirements each lander must meet in order for NASA to certify the vehicles to land astronauts on the moon, successfully demonstrating an uncrewed lunar landing is of chief importance.

"SpaceX and Blue Origin have put forward a list of aggressive objectives and goals intended to complement upcoming uncrewed demonstration missions at the moon so that we can gain both understanding and confidence in the spacecraft and launch vehicles prior to a crewed landing," said NASA's Steve Creech, Artemis' Human Landing System program manager, in the mission update.

Once Orion docks with Blue Moon on Artemis III, two of the mission's astronauts will be able to board the lander to test out its environmental control systems, avionics and the interoperability between the two spacecraft in flight. A test article EVA (extravehicular activity) spacesuit designed to mirror what astronauts will wear during future excursions across the lunar surface will launch aboard the Artemis III Blue Moon, and provide engineers data about how the suit will interact within the lander's crew cabin.

Starship won't launch until after Orion and Blue Moon have undocked. SpaceX is currently constructing two Starship towers on Florida's Space Coast, one at KSC's LC-39A, and another at SLC-37, but it's not yet clear which pad will support Artemis III. NASA contracted SpaceX to design a lunar lander version of the spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the surface of the moon on Artemis IV, but SpaceX has that and more in mind for the massive vehicle.

SpaceX has performed test flights of its Super Heavy booster and Ship upper stage, collectively known as Starship, since 2023. The rocket is designed to be fully reusable, and will provide SpaceX a big upgrade from the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. Once operational, SpaceX says Starship will be capable of delivering more than 100 tons to LEO. But SpaceX is still chasing that operational status.

Despite its dozen launches to space, and counting, Starship is still very much in a developmental stage, and has yet to meet many of NASA's requirements to fly a crewed lunar landing. SpaceX introduced the "Version 3" (V3) Starship on its Flight-12 launch in May, and intends to fly the same design when it launches Starship on Artemis III, with a docking adapter for connecting with Orion. For the astronauts, that means no crew cabin to enter. Instead, Orion and Starship will test communications and maneuvering systems between both vehicles.

Starship's V3 upgrade includes hardware that will be needed for an actual moon landing mission, like docking ports to perform propellant transfers in space — Starship requires refueling from tanker Ships on orbit in order to fly beyond LEO, and NASA estimates at least 15 Starship refueling launches will be needed for Artemis IV. Transferring and storing those cryogenic fuels in space is another capability Starship (and Blue Moon) needs to demonstrate before it can perform crewed lunar landings.

For Artemis III, though, Starship and Blue Moon will each only require one launch to get the job done, and NASA wants to give them ample room to do so. "All three rockets will have more launch opportunities than are available for a lunar mission and will be able to reach the designated mission altitude in a single launch," the NASA update said.

Orion and the Artemis III crew will stay docked with Starship for about a day before detaching to begin preparations for their return to Earth. Similar to the return of Artemis II in April, the Artemis III astronauts will target a parachute-assisted splashdown aboard Orion in the Pacific Ocean, off the United States' West Coast.

Successful operations with both landers on Artemis III would pave the way for NASA's lunar landing plans on Artemis IV, currently scheduled for 2028. Barring any development delays or complications during Artemis III, Starship is the vehicle NASA has selected to carry out the Artemis IV moon landing, the first return of astronauts to the lunar surface in more than half a century.

The costs of space launch have fallen 96% in the past six decades and have the potential to plummet by nearly as much by 2040, a new study finds.

However, such an improvement might get hampered by a number of challenges, such as the rise of space debris in orbit or a single company monopolizing commercial space launch, researchers added.

Although previous analyses of space launch suggested that costs had dropped over time, one major problem with these prior studies was that they "considered the cost of the rockets, but not how much they launched during their lifetimes," study co-author Francesco Nicoli, an associate professor of political economy at the Politecnico University of Turin in Italy, told Space.com. This meant this earlier work failed to accurately track the average costs of reaching space.

In the new study, the researchers developed the largest dataset of rocket launches to date, covering 4,405 launches from 1960 to 2025. This included more than 330 different rocket configurations devised by developers in the United States, Russia, China, India, Europe, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Israel, Iran, South Korea and Ukraine.

The investigators found that, in 2024 U.S. dollars, the average cost of sending 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) to orbit dropped from $87,023 in 1960 to $3,868 in 2025 — a decrease of 96%.

All in all, the rate at which the space-launch industry learned to reduce costs was among the fastest recorded in any industry to date, the investigators noted. They calculated that each time the cumulative payload of the entire space-launch industry doubled, the average cost of sending 2.2 pounds (1 kg) to orbit decreased by 21.2%.

This learning rate exceeds that seen with solar panels, "a technology that is now frequently taken as the benchmark for cost reduction," study co-author Alessio Terzi, an assistant professor of public policy at the University of Cambridge in England, told Space.com.

The researchers suggested two major causes behind this drop in costs. "First, the end of the Cold War and the shift to so-called 'New Space,' meaning the use of space for commercial purpose, seems to have accelerated the rate of learning — in the Cold War era, countries launched with their national launchers no matter the cost," Terzi said. "Second, our data shows an acceleration in the learning rate of space since the launch of the Falcon 9 of SpaceX, and the advent of reusability at scale."

Assuming this trend holds, the investigators estimated the average cost of space launch would fall to $1,600 per 2.2 pounds (1 kg) by 2030 and $300 by 2040. "There is still significant scope for further cost reductions going forward," Terzi said.

Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results. There are at least three factors that could slow or reverse this cost trajectory, the researchers said.

First, space junk poses a growing problem for the launch industry. Space debris is typically zipping at speeds of about 16,800 mph (27,000 km/h), and so can inflict massive damage on anything in orbit. The problem space junk poses gets worse when collisions spawn even more debris, eventually cluttering space with high-speed shrapnel, a scenario nicknamed the "Kessler syndrome" after NASA scientist Donald Kessler, who predicted it in 1978.

Second, at the global level, SpaceX is currently responsible for roughly 75% of the total payload sent to orbit. The investigators noted there are strong economic incentives for a would-be monopolist to charge higher prices to potential clients. This in turn would reduce the total payload sent to orbit, slowing the future evolution of average launch costs.

Finally, the current climate of increasing geopolitical tensions is likely to make governments around the world cautious when it comes to depending too heavily on a single U.S. company for space launch. This may bring back Cold War dynamics, as nations pursue independent access to orbit, even if this means using more expensive home-based rocket technology, the researchers said.

All in all, "there is a strong feeling, perhaps exemplified by the recent record-breaking mega-IPO of SpaceX, that space is at a structural break point — a moment where trends are accelerating," Terzi said. "Forecasting at moments of structural break is very hard in general, and therefore also in our case."

The scientists detailed their findings July 14 in the journal PNAS Nexus.

Japan has succeeded in the first-ever flight test of its RV-X experimental reusable rocket prototype.

The launch — or hop, considering its duration and distance — took place at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Noshiro test facility on July 11 and lasted about 40 seconds. The 24-foot-tall (7.3 meters) test vehicle, powered by a single engine, rose just over 33 feet (10 m) in the air and traveled a horizontal distance of approximately 50 feet (15 m) across the site's concrete pad before touching down softly on the side opposite its liftoff point.

The short test flight went exactly as planned and puts JAXA and its partners one step closer to the development of a technological spaceflight achievement only ever accomplished by a small handful of orbital rockets — SpaceX's Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship, Blue Origin's New Glenn and, most recently, China's Long March 10B.

JAXA's RV-X is being developed and operated in conjunction with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and is a precursor vehicle to a single-stage reusable flight experiment project called CALLISTO. CALLISTO is a joint venture involving JAXA, France's space agency CNES and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to design and build a single-stage rocket capable of vertical launch, landing, refurbishment and reuse. That vehicle will itself be a pathfinder rocket as JAXA seeks its own entry into the cost-saving playing field of reusable launch services.

Japan's most advanced rocket in operation, the H3, was introduced in 2023 but wasn't designed for reusability. The H3 is more efficient and cost-effective than its H-2A predecessor, which was retired last year. But two of the new rocket's eight launches have not been fully successful, and it falls short in its cost-effectiveness compared to more advanced reusable rocket stages. So JAXA is hard at work on the H3's future replacement.

"Reusable rockets require consideration of operational feasibility," JAXA's website says. "By repeatedly verifying maintenance, operation, vehicle movement and launch pad setup using an actual experimental vehicle in preparation for flight tests, we were able to establish operational procedures that will contribute to the repeated operation of future rockets."

The test, and the RV-X vehicle itself, slightly resemble a similar flight article from SpaceX's early Starship development days. The "Starhopper" Starship prototype was compared to a water tower during its first "hopper" test in 2019. The first time the stumpy, three-legged, steel Starhopper jumped off the ground at SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas, it flew about 65 feet (20 m) straight up and back down.

Starhopper's success paved the way for higher jumps for longer durations as SpaceX honed Starship's early design, and the same is planned for RV-X. Now that JAXA's test rocket has completed its first 33-foot (10 m) hop, Japan's space agency is looking higher, too. RV-X's next launch is expected to fly as high as 330 feet (100 m), with another lateral crossover and hover included in its flight before landing.

Update for 12:15 p.m. ET on July 20: SpaceX is now targeting Monday (July 23) for the launch of Starship Flight 13, during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).

Starship wasn't quite ready to fly today (July 16).

SpaceX tried to launch the Starship megarocket on its 13th test flight today but couldn't quite pull it off. Something went wrong just as the giant vehicle's 33 first-stage Raptor engines started to fire up, and an abort was triggered.

"We'll take some time, dig into what triggered that abort once the booster was igniting to launch, and then we'll figure out what our path forward is going to be," SpaceX's Dan Huot said during the company's launch webcast today.

It didn't take long for SpaceX to narrow in on the root cause and address it.

"To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week," company founder and CEO Elon Musk said this evening via X, the social media platform he owns.

Starship Flight 13 will fly from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas. Today's attempt occurred at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local time), right at the beginning of a 90-minute launch window.

Flight 13 will be the second test launch of Starship Version 3 (V3), an upgraded variant of the megarocket designed to get it up to operational status.

V3's first jaunt, Flight 12 on May 22, was mostly successful, but there were a few issues. For example, Starship's Super Heavy first stage didn't steer itself back for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico as planned, and the Ship upper stage wasn't able to relight one of its Raptor engines in space.

Starship V3 will get a second chance on Flight 13, whose goals are similar to those of Flight 12: Get Super Heavy down on target in the Gulf and send Ship most of the way around the world, for a controlled splashdown of its own off the coast of Western Australia. (Ship pulled that off on Flight 12.)

There are a few new objectives, however.

The most notable is the payload suite flying on Flight 13 — 20 of SpaceX's next-gen Starlink V3 internet satellites. The company wants to build a constellation of 100,000 Starlink V3 spacecraft in low Earth orbit using Starship, and Flight 13 will mark the satellites' first-ever trip to space.

They won't stay up there, however; the spacecraft will be deployed on Ship's suborbital trajectory and will crash back to Earth after about 20 minutes, according to SpaceX.

Six of the 20 Starlinks going up on Flight 13 will be equipped with cameras, to image Ship's heat shield. SpaceX did this with a couple of V2 Starlinks on Flight 12 as well.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:38 p.m. ET on July 16 with information from an Elon Musk X post.

Starship is about to take to the skies on a bold new test flight of the world's most powerful rocket.

After several days of testing, SpaceX has stacked and readied its massive Starship rocket for its 13th test flight. The company tried to launch on Thursday (July 16), but that attempt was aborted at the last second. SpaceX is now targeting Thursday (July 23), during a 90-minute launch window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT), from pad 2 at SpaceX's facility in Starbase, Texas.

Both stages had been in their respective Starbase hangars for final checkouts following successful engine tests. Booster 40, the Super Heavy first stage launching on Starship Flight 13, was returned to the pad on Wednesday (July 15). Ship 40, the mission's upper-stage spacecraft, was rolled from the hangar beginning on Wednesday evening. The rocket was stacked overnight, according to a SpaceX post on X, and now awaits prelaunch procedures ahead of the beginning of Flight 13's launch countdown.

Flight 13 will launch the second "Version 3" (V3) Starship, a new iteration featuring extensive design upgrades to help mature the rocket toward clearing the vehicle for official operation. Compared to its Version 2 predecessor, V3 is taller, carries more propellant, and has lost significant mass around its engine section due to upgraded avionics systems. V3 is also equipped with 33 of SpaceX's upgraded Raptor 3 engines on Super Heavy, and another six (three sea-level, three vacuum-optimized) Raptor 3s on Ship.

Starship is designed for full reusability, with both Super Heavy and Ship capable of returning to their launch site for landing and refurbishment, which means making sure there's enough fuel in the tank to make the journey back. One critical upgrade for Starship V3 involves the propellant transfer docking ports that have been added to Ship's dorsal side (opposite the heat-shield tiles on its belly, or ventral side). Ship uses the majority of its fuel getting to space and will therefore require propellant transfers from various refueling flights in order to fly beyond low Earth orbit.

NASA is eyeing the development progress of Starship very closely, with a vested interest in the spacecraft's yet-unproven ability to transfer and maintain the types of cryogenic fuels that power its Raptor 3s. NASA has contracted SpaceX to design a lunar lander version of Starship to return astronauts to the moon as a part of the agency's Artemis program, and effectively managing its onboard propellants is one of the requirements on NASA's checklist to certify the vehicle to fly with crews.

SpaceX plans to complete such a demonstration later this year in preparation for Artemis III, targeted for mid-to-late 2027, which will fly a crew of four aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft to dock with Ship in Earth orbit ahead of the program's first moon landing mission on Artemis IV in 2028. NASA contracted Blue Origin's Blue Moon spacecraft as an additional Artemis lander, which will also launch to Earth orbit for docking operations with Orion during Artemis III.

Starship's readiness to fly those future missions will largely be determined by the rocket's performance on Flight 13, and its subsequent test launches in the coming months. The launch aims to smooth over a few rough patches that the vehicle ran into during V3's debut on the mostly successful Flight 12, which occurred on May 22. Those hiccups included Super Heavy failing to steer itself back to Earth for a controlled splashdown and Ship not relighting one of its Raptor engines in space as planned.

If all goes according to plan on Flight 13, Super Heavy will perform a boostback burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Ship will carry on with a suborbital trajectory, and is expected to release 20 Starlink V3 satellites — the first of the upgraded Starlinks to fly to space. Six of those spacecraft are equipped with cameras to inspect Ship's heat-shield tiles during flight. The satellites, though, will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Ship, and are expected to burn up during reentry through Earth's atmosphere. Ship is scheduled to perform a landing burn and soft splashdown of its own a little more than an hour after liftoff, and will meet a watery demise in the Indian Ocean.

Live coverage of Starship Flight 13 will begin about 30 minutes prior to liftoff, and can be streamed here on Space.com or directly on SpaceX's website and social media channels.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m. ET on July 17 with the new target launch date of July 20, then again at 12:15 p.m. ET on July 20 with the new target date of July 23.

Starship isn't the only SpaceX rocket flying today.

A Falcon 9 rocket launched from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base today (July 16), carrying 21 satellites for the U.S. military's advanced new "Tranche 1 Transport Layer" (T1TL) constellation to orbit.

Liftoff took place at 4:32 p.m. EDT (2032 GMT; 1:32 p.m. local California time).

SpaceX's Starship megarocket — the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built — is slated to make its 13th test flight a few hours later. It will lift off from the company's Starbase site in South Texas during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local Texas time).

SpaceX will stream that mission live, and Space.com will carry the feed. Coverage will begin about half an hour before launch.

Today's Falcon 9 flight helps assemble the T1TL, a network in low Earth orbit (LEO) that will be operated by the U.S. Space Force's Space Development Agency (SDA).

The T1TL "will provide global communications access and deliver persistent regional encrypted connectivity in support of warfighter missions around the globe," SDA officials wrote in a explainer.

The T1TL will eventually consist of 126 satellites, which will be built by York Space Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Sixty-three of the spacecraft have now launched to date, on three Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg — one last September, another last October and today.

These 126 spacecraft will be part of a larger LEO network that the SDA calls the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The PWSA is "a proliferated constellation of hundreds of optically linked small satellites, in low-Earth orbit (LEO), delivering capability at speed to the warfighter," SDA officials wrote in a Tranche 1 fact sheet.

"SDA leverages spiral development to deploy and proliferate new capability into a new generation of the PWSA every two years, called a 'tranche,' to continually increase capability used by the warfighter," they added.

Everything went according to plan today, at least during the mission's early stages. The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff for a landing in the Pacific Ocean, on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You." According to a SpaceX mission description, it was the fourth flight for this particular booster, which is designated 1103.

The Falcon 9's upper stage continued hauling the 21 satellites to LEO. We don't know when or exactly where they'll be deployed; the SpaceX mission description doesn't provide that information, and the company cut off its launch webcast shortly after booster landing at the request of the SDA.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 4:44 p.m. ET on July 16 with news of successful launch and booster landing.

Editor's note: SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test mission succesfully launched at 6:51 p.m. EDT. READ OUR WRAP and see launch videos and photos. You can see our blow-by-blow coverage here.

SpaceX's Starship megarocket will take to the skies again on Friday (July 24), and you can watch the thundering action live.

Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, is scheduled to lift off from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas on Friday during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local Texas time). It will be Starship's 13th flight overall and its second mission of 2026. SpaceX originally tried to launch Flight 13 on July 16, but that attempt was aborted at the last second when several engines did not ignite as planned. A July 23 launch try was delayed 24 hours due to bad weather.

You can watch Starship Flight 13 live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX; coverage will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff. Follow our Starship live blog for updates and other news about the test flight.

A potentially revolutionary rocket

Starship consists of a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage vehicle known (somewhat confusingly) as Starship, or simply Ship. Both elements are made of stainless steel and are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable.

The stacked vehicle stands more than 400 feet (122 meters) tall and can carry more than 110 tons (100 metric tons) to Earth orbit. SpaceX thinks Starship's combination of power and reusability will revolutionize spaceflight, allowing humanity to settle the moon and Mars, among other bold exploration feats.

Starship debuted in April 2023 and has flown 11 more suborbital flights since, most recently on May 22. That Flight 12 test was the first mission for Starship Version 3 (V3), an advanced iteration of the megarocket that was many months in the making. (Flight 11, the last launch of Starship V2, lifted off in October 2025.)

Starship V3 will be the first operational variant of the vehicle. It will fly on NASA's Artemis III mission to Earth orbit in 2027, for example, and land the agency's Artemis IV astronauts on the moon a year later, if all goes to plan.

Starship V3 performed quite well during its launch debut in May. During Flight 12, Ship successfully deployed 22 payloads via its "PEZ dispenser" slit — 20 dummy versions of SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites and two actual Starlinks equipped with imaging sensors — and came back to Earth in one piece, splashing down as planned off the coast of Western Australia.

There were a few hiccups, however. Super Heavy suffered engine issues during its return to Earth, for instance, and ended up crashing in the Gulf of Mexico rather than making a controlled splashdown there.

SpaceX will run it back on Flight 13, shooting mostly for the same objectives that Flight 12 targeted — with a few notable exceptions.

The plan for Starship Flight 13

Eventually, SpaceX plans to return both Super Heavy and Ship directly to the launch pad after liftoff, catching each with the "chopstick" arms attached to Starbase's two launch towers. (Starship will also fly from Florida and perhaps other places as well in the coming years; these future pads will have chopstick arms, too.) This strategy will allow each vehicle to fly multiple times per day, according to the company.

SpaceX has caught Super Heavy three times to date, but it's been a while; the last such snag came on Flight 8 in March 2025. And the company has never tried a chopsticks catch with Ship.

Those trends will continue on Flight 13. If all goes to plan, Super Heavy will steer its way to a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico (which the Trump administration has renamed the Gulf of America) about seven minutes after launch.

"The booster’s primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America," SpaceX wrote in a Flight 13 mission description. "There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight."

Ship will again target a splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia, which will occur about 65 minutes after launch. And the vehicle will again deploy some objects into suborbital space — but here's where Flight 13 will break new ground.

Those objects will be 20 V3 Starlink satellites — next-gen versions of the broadband spacecraft, which will "greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds," SpaceX wrote in the mission description.

Eventually, SpaceX wants to operate up to 100,000 V3 Starlinks in low Earth orbit — a bold plan, considering that the current megaconstellation, the largest such network ever assembled, contains "only" about 10,800 spacecraft.

The Starlink V3 plan will require thousands of launches — a load that's beyond even the capabilities of SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which flew 165 times in 2025. (Adding to the difficulty: Starship V3 satellites are considerably heavier than their predecessors. Each one will apparently weigh around 4,400 pounds, or 2,000 kilograms.)

The 20 Starlink V3 satellites "will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers," SpaceX wrote in the Flight 13 description. "The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment."

Six of the 20 spacecraft are equipped with cameras, which they will use to scan and study Ship's heat-shield tiles. SpaceX wants to gather more data about the heat-shield system before it attempts to bring Ship back to the launch pad for a chopsticks catch.

And SpaceX won't just passively observe the heat shield during Flight 13; it will conduct some experiments as well.

For example, the shield "will have load-sensing tiles to take measurements as the vehicle experiences higher dynamic pressure on ascent than previous flights, putting added stress on the tile attachments in exchange for increased payload-to-orbit capability," the mission description reads.

So there will indeed be some new things to look out for during Flight 13. And watching the world's biggest and brawniest rocket lift off is a treat no matter what sort of mission it's flying, so be sure to tune in!

Editor's note: This story was updated at 4:10 a.m. ET on July 20 with the new target launch date of July 23. It was updated on July 23 with the weather delay and new launch date of July 24.

Editor's note: SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test mission succesfully launched at 6:51 p.m. EDT. READ OUR WRAP and see launch videos and photos. You can see our blow-by-blow coverage here.

SpaceX is just one day away from its first Starship test flight of the summer, and if you're hoping to watch the world's largest rocket lift off, you'll need to know where and when to tune in. But don't worry — we've got you covered.

The next Starship test flight, called Flight 13 (SpaceX doesn't appear to be superstitious), is scheduled to launch from the company's test site in Starbase, Texas near Boca Chica Beach no earlier than Friday, July 24. Liftoff is set for 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). The launch was delayed by an abort on July 16, and then by bad weather on July 23.

As its name suggests, the upcoming flight will be the 13th test launch overall of SpaceX's Starship megarocket. It will be the second such flight this year, after the May 22 launch of Starship Flight 12. SpaceX is designing Starship, which stands more than 400 feet (121 meters) tall, to be a fully reusable rocket capable of launching missions to the moon, Mars or beyond.

NASA picked Starship to land its Artemis IV astronauts on the moon by 2028, and SpaceX has sold at least one Starship passenger flight to Mars as well. But before SpaceX can carry astronauts to other worlds with Starship, it has to complete a series of suborbital flights and, eventually, reach Earth orbit for in-flight fueling tests, docking demonstrations and more.

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 is a suborbital test that will be the second flight of SpaceX's new V3 Starship. Below you'll find details on what time Flight 13 will launch, what the mission will do and a full timeline for the mission.

What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch?

SpaceX is currently targeting the launch of Starship Flight 13 for no earlier than 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT) on Friday, July 24. The company originally tried to lift off on Thursday, July 16, but that attempt was aborted at the last second when several engines failed to ignite as planned. After swapping out some engines, SpaceX announced a July 23 launch date for Flight 13, only to postpone the flight just hours before liftoff due to bad weather over the launch site.

So now the launch is set for July 24, but the exact timing of the launch could change.

That's because SpaceX has a 90-minute window in which to launch Flight 13 from Starbase Pad 2. Liftoff could occur anytime between 6:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. EDT (2245 to 0015 GMT). SpaceX's launch webcast will begin 30 minutes before liftoff, but it could start a bit earlier. On July 23, for example, the livestream was set to begin at 6:12 p.m. EDT, about 33 minutes before flight.

SpaceX also has at least one more backup, so the launch could slip a bit if needed. In that case, it would likely lift off at the same time — 6:45 p.m. EDT — and have a 90-minute window, as on the coming attempt.

Related: Read our SpaceX Starship and Super Heavy guide for a detailed look

Can I watch SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch?

Yes, you'll be able to watch SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch online, but you'll have your pick on where to watch.

SpaceX will provide its own livestream of the launch via its X account and the official Flight 13 mission page. If everything is on time, that livestream will begin at about 6:15 p.m. EDT (2215 GMT) — 30 minutes before the planned Flight 13 liftoff.

Space.com will simulcast the SpaceX Flight 13 launch webcast on this page, as well as an our homepage and YouTube channel.

A prelaunch show

Now, if you need to get your Starship Flight 13 fix earlier than SpaceX's stream, a good place to look is the NASASpaceflight show: Its livestream will start several hours before liftoff.

The NASASpaceflight launch webcast will begin on July 24 at 4:00 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT). NASASpaceflight has a wealth of cameras installed around SpaceX's Starbase test facility, and the company will share up-close views and live commentary for many preflight activities.

In-person launch options

While SpaceX does not have an official Starship launch viewing site, there are several places where you can see the launch in person around the Starbase area.

For first-time spectators, I recommend watching Starship launch from near the Cameron County Amphitheater at Isla Blanca Park on South Padre Island, which is just across the bay from Starbase. The rocky beaches around the amphitheater offer a clear line of sight of the Starship launch pad, and there are often spectators on boats out of nearby Port Isabel offering a picturesque view. It's about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the launch site, and the park has bathrooms.

The traffic getting to South Padre Island (if you're not staying at a hotel on the island) can be heavy on launch days, so another option is watching from the shore in Port Isabel, which is home to Hopper Haus, a SpaceX-themed bar and grill that I can confirm makes awesome burgers.

There is also a shoreline stretch of Highway 48 between Brownsville and Port Isabel, from 6 to 8 miles (10 to 13 km) from the launch site, where you can pull up for the day to watch the launch. It's just the side of the highway, so you won't find amenities like bathrooms there. You can learn more about that at the site SpaceLaunchSchedule.com.

If you're looking for a more rustic experience (and have cash for a $200 ticket, though kids under 17 are $40), you can camp at the Rocket Ranch, which is 3.8 miles (6.1 km) from the Starbase launch site, and camp there for one day and night. It has two viewing locations available, one at an "Outpost" and the other on the campground itself. The Outpost location is the closest and has "unmatched media service," so you can stay connected. Larger four-day camping packages are also available. The ticket includes bus transportation from the ranch campground to a viewing site and back for one launch attempt. I've actually never visited this ranch, but I wanted to include it so you know it's an option.

Be sure to read the full Rocket Ranch FAQ so you know what to expect.

How long is SpaceX's Starship Flight 13?

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight will last just over 1 hour and 5 minutes and should follow the same mission profile as the company's last test, Flight 12, in May. This will be the second flight of SpaceX's new Starship Version 3, or V3.

During Flight 12, the giant Super Heavy booster stage failed to return to Earth properly for a controlled landing and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico (which the Trump Administration has renamed the Gulf of America). Instead, the booster crashed into the ocean.

"The booster’s primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America," SpaceX wrote in a mission overview. "There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight."

Starship Flight 13 will launch from SpaceX's new Pad 2 at Starbase, which the company upgraded with shorter, faster "chopsticks" — capture arms that can catch returning Starship Super Heavy boosters and Ship upper stages during landing, as well as lift vehicles into place on the pad for launch. Check out our full overview on how SpaceX changed Starship for V3 here.

SpaceX will not try to reach orbit with Starship Flight 13 or return its Ship back to Earth for a capture at the launch pad. Instead, both vehicles aim to make controlled descent and water landings, before falling over and sliding into the sea.

While the Super Heavy booster will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Boca Chica, the Ship upper stage will follow a suborbital trajectory for a target splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia.

During the flight, the Ship vehicle will attempt to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the company's newer and larger satellite-internet units, but they won't reach orbit. They will follow Starship's suborbital trajectory back down to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.

Six of the Starlink V3 satellites are equipped with cameras to record live views of Starship and its heat shield and beam them back to Earth for analysis.

"For the first time, Starship will carry V3 Starlink satellites to space, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. As part of this initial test, Starship is planned to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers," SpaceX wrote in the mission overview. "The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment."

What if Starship Flight 13 can't launch?

If SpaceX can't launch Starship Flight 13 on July 24, the company has at least on e more backup opportunities. So, if bad weather or another technical issue delay launch again, SpaceX could try again in the coming days.

According to officials with the town of Starbase, Texas, which is home to SpaceX's Starship launch site, a backup launch date on Saturday, July 25 is available through at least 9 p.m. local time, with beaches closed on that day.

Whichever date SpaceX launches Starship Flight 13, you will be able to follow the mission on Space.com. Be sure to return to Space.com on launch day for complete Starship Flight 13 coverage.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m. ET on July 17 with the new target launch date of July 20, then again at 12:10 p.m. ET on July 20 with the new launch date of July 23. It was updated on July 23 with the weather delay and new launch date of July 24.

SpaceX reached a milestone with its latest Starlink launch, sending the satellites into orbit on its 600th flight of a flight-proven booster.

The sexacentennial launch came on the second of two Falcon 9 missions that lifted off less than eight hours apart overnight from Monday to Tuesday (July 13 to July 14). The first flight, with Starlink batch 15-14, launched at 9:28 p.m. EDT (0128 GMT or 6:28 p.m. PDT local time) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The second flight, with Starlink group 10-45, followed at 5:10 a.m. EDT (0910 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Both launches successfully deployed their payloads — 27 and 29 Starlink satellites, respectively — into their intended orbits, as confirmed by SpaceX.

Both flights also successfully recovered their Falcon 9 first stage boosters. B1093, launched from Florida, completed its 15th flight. B1080, launched from California, achieved its 28th mission. The record for a single Falcon 9 first stage's re-flight stands at 36 launches.

The addition of 56 more Starlink satellites to SpaceX's megaconstellation brought the total active number of broadband internet relay units to 10,839, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell.

In addition to Tuesday's launch being the 600th launch of a flight-proven Falcon 9 stage, SpaceX now stands at 83 Falcon 9 missions this year to date.

Editor's note: SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test mission succesfully launched at 6:51 p.m. EDT. READ OUR WRAP and see launch videos and photos. You can see our blow-by-blow coverage here.

SpaceX's next Starship test flight aims to achieve a major milestone by deploying 20 upgraded Starlink satellites, marking the first Starlink Version 3s to deploy in space.

Liftoff for the spacecraft’s upcoming 13th test flight was originally scheduled for Thursday (July 16) from the company's Starbase facility in South Texas. That attempt was aborted at the last second, however; SpaceX is now targeting today (July 24), during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local Texas time).

You can watch the launch live on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, beginning 30 minutes before liftoff. Follow our Starship live blog for more mission updates.

The mission follows a nearly two-month pause after Flight 12 ended with the loss of the Super Heavy booster during its return to the Gulf after stage separation. After reviewing the anomaly and SpaceX's corrective actions, the Federal Aviation Administration cleared the company to resume Starship launches.

“The upcoming flight will aim to complete similar objectives targeted on the previous flight test, which debuted the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, while also carrying next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time,” SpaceX officials said in a statement announcing the test flight.

As with previous flights, Flight 13's primary goal is to gather engineering data while testing upgrades to the world's most powerful rocket. Here's what to watch for:

The mission will begin with all 33 Raptor 3 engines igniting on the Super Heavy booster, generating up to 18 million pounds (about 8,200 metric tons) of thrust at liftoff. About 2.5 minutes later, the booster will separate from the Starship upper stage and begin its return toward the Gulf of Mexico for a controlled splashdown rather than a launch tower catch. SpaceX is continuing to refine its booster recovery procedures following Flight 12's landing burn failure.

One of Flight 13's biggest milestones will come after stage separation, when Starship is expected to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites for the first time. The satellites are designed to test Starship's payload deployment capabilities and will intentionally reenter Earth's atmosphere after completing the demonstration rather than remain in orbit.

The flight will also continue testing SpaceX's upgraded Starship vehicle, including improvements to its propulsion system, avionics and overall performance. Engineers will closely monitor the rocket throughout ascent to evaluate how the latest design performs under flight conditions.

After completing its satellite deployment, Starship will continue along a suborbital trajectory before reentering Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean. The spacecraft's descent will provide additional data on its heat shield, flight controls and guidance systems before ending with a planned splashdown roughly an hour after launch.

While Flight 13 remains another developmental mission, it represents an important step toward making Starship an operational launch vehicle. Successfully deploying Starlink satellites would demonstrate the rocket's ability to begin carrying real payloads while continuing to advance SpaceX's goal of building a fully reusable system for missions to Earth orbit, the moon and eventually Mars.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m. ET on July 17 with the new target launch date of July 20, then again at 12:15 p.m. ET on July 20 with the new target date of July 23. It was updated on July 23 with the weather delay and new launch date of July 24.

SpaceX's massive Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket, successfully launched on a critical test flight Friday, July 24, at 6:51 p.m. EDT (2251 GMT) from Starbase, Texas. The mission was scrubbed at the very end of the countdown during an attempt July 16. A planned July 23 launch was delayed by weather.

You can see our blow-by-blow updates on the Starship V3 (short for Version 3) rocket, including its test flight goals, system upgrades and more. Flight 13 is the 13th test launch of the Starship vehicle since 2023.

Launch photos + video | Starship V3 upgrades explained | SpaceX

SpaceX targeting July 16 for Starship Flight 13

The next Starship launch has arrived!

SpaceX is targeting no earlier than July 16 for the next launch of its massive Starship rocket, the company announced on in a post on X. Flight 13 will be the second launch of the vehicle's Version 3 configuration and will be similar in profile to Flight 12. It will be the second launch for Starship "Version 3" (V3), a bigger, more powerful upgrade from previous Starship designs, and will come a little less than two months after V3's debut.

A 90-minute launch window will begin on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). A livestream of the mission will begin about 30 minutes prior to liftoff and stream on the company's mission page, profile on X and here on Space.com.

Full story: SpaceX targets July 16 for Starship Flight 13, reveals what went wrong on previous launch

Super Heavy booster moved back to hangar

Following a static fire engine test last Friday (July 10), SpaceX has lowered the Flight 13 Super Heavy, Booster 20, from the launch stand and transported the stage back to its hangar at the company's Starbase, Texas, facility.

The booster will roll back to the pad in the next day or so, along with Ship 40, the Flight 13 Starship upper stage. The pair will be stacked a Starbase's pad 2, where it's expected the rocket will undergo at least one additional engine test prior to launch.

SpaceX is still targeting July 16 for liftoff of Starship's 13th test flight, scheduled to get off the ground during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).

Read how this launch will deploy SpaceX's first batch up upgraded Starlink Version 3 satellites into space.

How to watch SpaceX launch Starship Flight 13 on July 16

SpaceX readying Starship to launch in just over 24 hours

Starship's next big test launch is just a day away.

SpaceX has transported Booster 20, the Super Heavy first stage for the massive launch vehicle, back to pad 2 at the company's Starbase facility in Texas. If all goes according to plan, that will be its last relocation before launch, currently scheduled for tomorrow (July 15) during a 90-minute launch window beginning at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).

Ship 40, Starship's upper stage for Flight 13, will be trasnported to the pad today, and stacked on Super Heavy for a full wet dress rehearsal to confirm the vehicle's readiness ahead of tomorrow's launch attempt.

What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch on July 16? (Full mission timeline)

Starship stacked, awaiting launch countdown

SpaceX's massive Starship rocket is stacked and ready for this evening's Flight 13 launch. Booster 20, the Super Heavy vehicle supporting the mission, was rolled back to Starbase's pad 2 yesterday, with the upper stage Ship 40 joining the booster overnight, when the two were stacked for (hopefully) the final time before liftoff.

SpaceX is progressing toward a 90-minute launch window that opens today (July 16) at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). The mission can be streamed live here on Space.com, or directly via SpaceX on the Flight 13 website and the company's X account. Read our full mission breakdown for a complete mission profile:

SpaceX will launch Starship, the world's largest rocket, on critical Flight 13 test today. Here's what to expect.

SpaceX stacks Starship overnight (video)

SpaceX has released photos and video of last night's Starship stacking. Super Heavy 20 was rolled back to pad 2 yesterday (July 15), with Ship 40 following its trail after sunset. Both recently completed static test fires of the Raptor 3 engines, followed by final prelaunch checkouts back at their respective hangars.

Now that both have been transported to the launch pad and stacked, SpaceX is preparing the rocket and ground infrastructure for liftoff.

The Flight 13 launch window opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT), and will last for up to 90 minutes.

Starship Flight 13 on track for launch

SpaceX is moving ahead today with Starship Flight 13, according to a post on the company's social media page. Beach and road closures around Starbase close to the public this afternoon around 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT), clearing all but essential personnel from the surrounding facility.

A 90-minute launch window will open at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT), with several opportunities for teams to reset if liftoff doesn't occur at the top of the window. SpaceX's livestream is expected to begin about 30 minutes before launch, and will be simulcast here on Space.com.

SpaceX stacks massive Starship rocket ahead of today's Flight 13 test launch (video)

SpaceX Straship Flight 13 launch stream is live

Live coverage has begun for SpaceX's Starship Flight 13! You can watch the action and follow along with live updates here, and on the Space.com homepage. SpaceX's direct stream is available on the company's website.

Liftoff is currently set for 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT), with a launch window that extends to 8:15 p.m. EDT (0015 GMT, July 17).

Super Heavy booster propellant load had begun

SpaceX has begun loading cryogenic fuel into the Super Heavy booster at Starbase's pad 2. Starship uses a mixture of liquid methane and liquix oxygen, together known as "methalox," to power both Super Heavy and Ship stages of Starship.

SpaceX not tracking any issues

SpaceX is fueling Starship for Flight 13 right now, and is not tracking any issues as the opening of the launch window approaches. The day began with a 90% probability of favorable launch conditions, according the SpaceX livestream host Dan Huot, who is voicing confidence in the success of today's mission.

According to SpaceX commentators, success on today's mission will open the door for "near future orbital flights" and the first-ever attempt to catch Starship's Ship upper stage using the launch tower at Starbase's pad 2.

Barring any delays in fueling or weather constraints, Starship is scheduled to lift off at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). The launch window extends for 90 minutes.

T-1 minute to launch!

SpaceX has entered the terminal count for Starship! Just one minute to go until Starship Flight 13 liftoff! Let's go!

SCRUB

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 is scrubbed for the day.

At T-0, the rocket's automated flight computer initiated a hold and abort call. It isn't immediately clear what caused the abort, but its execution so far into the countdown means a scrub for the day. "We did trigger a hold on the booster that aborted our liftoff as we were starting to light those Raptor engines," SpaceX livestream host Dan Huot said.

"At this point," Huot said as the coverage ended, "they're going to get into [propellant] offload. We're gonna get all the methane, all the oxygen off the vehicle, and then we'll figure out next steps."

A new launch date for Starship Flight 13 has not been determined.

SpaceX assessing new launch date

Following the last-second scrub of last night's Starship Flight 13 launch, SpaceX stood down from Thursday's launch attempt.

It was not immediately clear what caused the automated abort, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted to social media shortly after the launch was called off, saying a failure of a few of Straship's Raptor 3 engines failed to light at ignition. "Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days," Musk said in a post.

He clarified later yesterday evening, saying, "To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week."

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test launch aborts at last second (video)

SpaceX targeting July 20 for Starship Flight 13 test launch

We have a new (tentative) launch date: After a last-second abort scuttled SpaceX's first attempt to launch Starship Flight 13 yesterday (July 17), the company is now targeting no earlier than Monday (July 20) for the liftoff. The 90-minute launch window opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT; 5:45 p.m. local time).

You can watch the launch here at Space.com when the time comes and learn about the mission in our Flight 13 preview.

Yesterday's abort was triggered when several of the 33 Raptor engines on Starship's first-stage booster failed to ignite as planned, according to SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. "To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced," Musk said via X, the social media platform he owns, shortly after yesterday's abort.

July 20 is a very meaningful date in spaceflight history, by the way. Apollo 11 landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, and NASA's robotic Viking 1 lander touched down on Mars exactly seven years later.

SpaceX targets Starship launch on July 23

After their assessment over the weekend, destacking Ship and Super Heavy vehicles, rolling them back to the hangar, and swapping out some of Super Heavy's Raptor 3 engines, SpaceX is not targeting later this week for the Flight 13 launch of its massive Starship rocket.

SpaceX Starship Flight-13's next launch attempt is scheduled for Thursday, July 23, according to a company social media post .

Booster 20 undergoing tests at the pad

SpaceX is on track for Starship's Flight 13 tomorrow (July 23), and is progressing toward the mission's 90-minute launch window that begins at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).

Booster 20 returned to the launch pad at Starbase and is undergoing testing today (July 22), ahead of tomorrow's launch attempt. At least three of the Raptor 3 engines on the rocket stage were swapped out after the first Flight 13 launch attempt, which was aborted at T-0 when four engines failed to ignite.

Thanks to livestreams setup at Starbase, available through coverage provided by NASA Space Flight (NSF) and on the NSF YouTube channel, it appears that Booster 20 is undergoing a fueling test and possible hot fire this afteroon, which, if successful, will pave the way for Ship 40's arrival at the pad and the two vehicles' stacking before Thursday's launch.

How to watch SpaceX launch Starship Flight 13 on July 23

SpaceX completes Super Heavy testing, targets July 23 for Starship Flight 13

Starship Flight 13 is still on for tomorrow (July 23), weather permitting.

At its Starbase site today (July 22), SpaceX wrapped up testing with the Super Heavy first stage that will conduct Flight 13. And things went well, according to the company.

"Additional preflight testing on Super Heavy complete. Now starting preparations to launch Starship as soon as tomorrow, Thursday, July 23. Weather is currently a significant watch item for launch," SpaceX said today in a post on X, the social media platform owned by company founder and CEO Elon Musk.

Liftoff is scheduled during a 90-minute window tomorrow that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX.

SpaceX first tried to launch Starship Flight 13 last Thursday (July 16), but the vehicle experienced an abort just after attempting to ignite Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines. SpaceX swapped out two of those Raptors, then conducted today's "additional testing" to make sure everything is good to go.

SpaceX's towering Starship ready for Flight 13 test launch

Hey, Space Fans! It's launch day once again for SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight, with liftoff currently set for 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).

Just like last week, we'll have a livestream from SpaceX live on this page starting at about 6:12 p.m. EDT (2212 GMT). SpaceX has a 90-minute window for today's launch once more. You can see our full preview of SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 for details on what to expect.

SpaceX attempted to launch Starship Flight 13 on July 16, but the rocket aborted its launch at the last second when several of its 33 first stage Raptor engines did not ignite as planned. SpaceX stood down for a week to replace a few suspect engines and here we are again.

Today's Starship test flight will last just over an hour, but will not enter orbit. Instead, Starship and Super Heavy will follow similar flight profiles of the most recent SpaceX test flights, with the Super Heavy first stage making a controlled landing and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico while the Ship upper stage makes a similar water landing in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia.

One new thing to watch for on this flight are SpaceX's Starlink Version 3, or Starlink V3, satellites. This mission is carrying 20 of the Starlink V3 internet satellites and will deploy them from its PEZ dispenser-like payload bay door. Six of the satellites carry high-resolution cameras to beam live views of Starship's heat shield and exterior back to Earth. All 20 carry solar arrays and laser links to try and connect with the Starlink network, but will deorbit on the same flight path as Starship, SpaceX has said.

So be sure to join us this evening for Starship Flight 13. In the meantime, here's some stunning sunset photos from last night as shared by SpaceX:

STARSHIP DELAY! Bad weather pushes SpaceX Flight 13 launch to July 24

SpaceX just pushed the planned launch of its Starship Flight 13 test flight back at least 24 hours, to no earlier than Friday, July 24, due to weather concerns.

The Starship test flight is now scheduled to launch Friday at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT), with a livestream beginning at about 6:12 p.m. EDT (2212 GMT).

"Now targeting Friday, July 24 for Starship’s thirteenth flight test, due to weather," SpaceX wrote in an update on social media. "A key objective for the flight test is to get clear imagery from the ground of Starship’s heatshield as it flies at a higher dynamic pressure during ascent, which won't be possible with today's weather conditions. Visibility is forecast to be ideal for a Friday attempt."

You'll be able to watch the launch live on this page at launch time.

It's launch day (again) for SpaceX Starship Flight 13

SpaceX says it's ready once more to try and launch its next Starship test flight from Starbase, Texas, with liftoff on track for 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT) today, July 24.

This will be Starship's 13th test flight, and while we're not superstitious here (neither is SpaceX as they're also prepping their Crew-13 astronaut launch for NASA) the mission has had a run of bad luck.

On July 16, when SpaceX first attempted to launch the flight, the megarocket aborted the liftoff when several engines failed to ignite. SpaceX ultimately replaced at least two of Super Heavy booster's Raptor engines in a bid to try again on July 23. But yesterday's launch try was called off before it began because if bad weather over the South Texas launch site.

SpaceX wants clear skies and clear visibility to be able to see Starship's launch and (hopefully) the Super Heavy booster's return to Earth for a controlled landing and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

And so, here we are, Space Fans. Waiting once more for SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch. It should be sight to behold (Starship is the world's largest and most powerful rocket). SpaceX will need to greatly ramp up its flight rate in order not only to put Starship in orbit, but also return it to Earth for a land landing, reuse and in-orbit refueling to make it ready to land Artemis IV astronauts on the moon by 2028.

Here's fun space history note: Starship Flight 13's original July 16 launch date was on the 57th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch for NASA's first-ever crewed moon landing mission. Today's launch date, July 24, is the 57th anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew's return to Earth in 1969.

SpaceX 'on track' for Starship Flight 13 test launch

SpaceX is just over 1 hour away from the planned launch of its Starship Flight 13 test mission and all systems appear to be go.

"On track for Starship’s 13th flight test later today – the 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT. Live coverage starts ~30 minutes before launch," SpaceX wrote in an X post about an hour ago.

You'll be able to watch the launch here at about 6:15 p.m. EDT (2215 GMT), as well as on SpaceX's X account and the company's dedicated Starship Flight 13 mission page.

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 livestream underway

It's official! SpaceX live stream is underway for today's Starship Flight 13 test flight.

Today's test flight is scheduled to launch at 6:45 p.m. EDT, though it will be 5:45 p.m. local time at Starship's Starbase, Texas launch site.

SpaceX has a 90-minute window to launch the mission, so it could occur anytime between 6:45 p.m. EDT and 8:15 p.m. EDT. Tune in now!

NEW LAUNCH TIME: Starship Flight 13 liftoff @ 6:51 pm ET

SpaceX has pushed a bit into its 90-minute launch window for Starship Flight 13.

Liftoff is now set for 6:51 p.m. EDT (2251 GMT), a 6-minute slip. Starbase is launching out of Starbase, Texas, so local time at launch will be 5:51 p.m. CDT.

''Things are looking really good at the moment," SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said.

"We slipped a little bit into our window as we waited for some last couple of things to settle out," Huot added. "We are targeting a liftoff at 5:51 p.m. Central Time. Weather today, you can see we've got blue skies."

Fueling underway for SpaceX Starship Flight 13

Fueling is well underway for SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight.

SpaceX flight controllers are adding super cold liquid oxygen on the Ship and Booster first, then will load liquid methane to the Booster and Ship to complete the process.

T-10 Minutes and counting to Starship Flight 13 launch

SpaceX is now less than 10 minutes from Starship Flight 13's launch at 6:51 p.m. ET. Fueling began 35 minutes before liftoff and will continue until three minutes before launch.

"Not tracking any issues for launch today," SpaceX's Dan Huot says.

T-5 minutes to launch: SpaceXer turned NASA astronaut sees Starbase from space

Anil Menon, a former SpaceX engineer who is now a NASA astronaut, has shared a view of SpaceX's Starbase, Texas launch site for Starship Flight 13 from his perch on the International Space Station. He launched to the ISS last week. His wife Anna Menon, is also a NASA astronaut and flew on the Polaris Dawn private spaceflight as a SpaceX astronaut.

"Our view of Starbase from space! Here's to a successful launch," Anil Menon wrote on X. "Send it!"

Starship Flight 13 Fueled for launch

We're now at T-3 minutes and counting. Starship and its Super Heavy booster should be fueled for launch. Fueling began 35 minutes before liftoff.

LIFTOFF! SpaceX launches Starship Flight 13 into space

With a mighty roar, SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 megarocket fired up its 33 first-stage Booster engines to begin the trip to space.

The towering 407-foot rocket will fly a suborbital trajectory, with neither vehicle to be recovered. Today's flight should last just over 1 hour.

Starship Flight 13 Stage Separation, Booster backburn complete

STAGE SEPARATION: SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Super Heavy booster successfully separated in a hot-staging event from its Ship upper stage, aced a flip around and 5-engine burn to begin its trip back to Earth. The Booster on Flight 12 failed its flip, so this was a big milestone for Flight 13.

The Ship upper stage has all six engines firing and on its way to space.

Starship Flight 13 Booster appears to crash in Gulf during landing

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Booster did not appear to light all 13 engines as planned for its landing burn in the Gulf of Mexico and seems to have slammed into the Gulf harder than planned.

"Just looking at the booster real quick, it didn't look like we lit all 13 engines that we were planning for that initial land and burn," SpaceX Dan Huot. "We were targeting a softer splash on it, and as you saw, it came in with quite a bit of velocity."

Starship Flight 13 Ship deploys Starlink V3 satellites

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Ship is now tackling its next major test in today's flight: The release of 20 new Starlink Version 3 satellites. They are the first Starlink V3 satellites to fly in space.

Six of the Starlink V3s carry cameras to beam live views of Starship back to Earth.

Watch it again: Starship Flight 13 launch

If you're just joining us and missed the SpaceX Starship Flight 13 launch. Here's a quick replay.

You can see the mission live in the YouTube feed above as the Fligth 13 Ship deploys Starlink V3 satellites into space.

Starship deploys all 20 Starlink V3 satellites

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight continues on track, with all 20 Starlink V3 satellites deployed. The last two of the Starlinks used flashlights and cameras to observe Ship as they floated in orbital darkness.

Ship is now in a coast phase for the next 27 minutes or so before it will attempt to relight one of its six Raptor engines as part of a maneuvering test.

Here's another look at launch, by the way.

Starship ignites single Raptor engine in maneuver test

SpaceX reports its Starship upper stage's single-Raptor engine relight was a success. They in-space engine relight will be a critical maneuver for entering and leaving orbit on future Starship flights.

Starship upper stage begins reentry

Starship's Ship 40 upper stage is now beginning its reentry for its return to Earth, SpaceX says.

What SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 reentry looks like

SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight is now well into the reentry phase.

This is typically when a space mission would have loss of signal, or LOS, because of the plasma build-up around the spacecraft. SpaceX's Starship is beaming signals back to Earth via Starlink internet satellites, showing stunning live views.

Starship Ship passes peak heating, entry Max Q

SpaceX reports its Starship Flight 13 Ship has pushed through the region of peak heating, as well as the phase of maximum dynamic pressure, during its reentry for the return to Earth.

Ship 40 will return to Earth for a planned landing and splashdown in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia. A SpaceX recovery team is awaiting the landing, and has deployed camera-toting buys to try and capture views of the landing.

SPLASHDOWN! SpaceX Starship Flight 13 makes 'softest splashdown' ever

Splashdown! SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Ship has "landed" in the Indian Ocean after a smooth flight, ending with a spectacular water landing as the spacecraft tipped gently over to float on the sea. READ OUR WRAP STORY HERE.

"This is just the first time we've put a Starship into the water," SpaceX's Dan Huot said during live commentary. He called it SpaceX's "softest splashdown" ever. "This is a dream scenario for this team that's trying to get this heat shield data."

"I'm a little over the moon right now," Huot said. "Wow. Lucky number 13. Hell of a great day for Starship."

That's going to be a wrap for our live commentary of SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test mission. We'll have a wrap story posted shortly and thanks so much for watching along with us.

We'll see you next time for SpaceX's Starship Flight 14. In the meantime, here are all our videos from today's launch.

Update for 12:15 p.m. ET on July 20: The July 16 launch attempt was aborted. SpaceX is now targeting Thursday (July 23) for the launch of Starship Flight 13, during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).

SpaceX is targeting this week for the next launch of its massive Starship vehicle.

Following engine tests on both Starship stages in the last two weeks — igniting all six Raptor 3s on the "Ship" upper stage and all 33 Raptor 3s on the "Super Heavy" first stage — SpaceX is proceeding with the launch of Starship Flight 13, which is scheduled for no earlier than Thursday (July 16), according to a July 11 SpaceX social media post.

It will be the second launch for Starship "Version 3" (V3), a bigger, more powerful upgrade from previous Starship designs, and will come a little less than two months after V3's debut on Flight 12. To validate those upgrades, SpaceX didn't add any major objectives to Starship Flight 12 that hadn't already been proven on the spacecraft's previous V2 configuration. But the new design didn't quite check all the necessary boxes last time around, so Flight 13 will largely attempt an improved outcome of the same mission.

Though still in its development phase, Starship is designed for full reusability. Unlike SpaceX's Falcon 9 first-stage booster, which is equipped with legs capable of touching the rocket down on coastal landing zones or one of the company's droneships at sea, both Ship and Super Heavy are designed for a return directly to the launch site, where chopstick-like arms on the "Mechazilla" tower catch the stages out of mid-air.

SpaceX has yet to attempt such a recovery with Ship but has succeeded in doing so with Super Heavy three times so far. Two of those caught boosters were then reflown on subsequent launches. When flying the new V3 hardware during Flight 12, though, SpaceX opted for Super Heavy to perform a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, rather than risk launch pad infrastructure on an unproven vehicle, but Super Heavy didn't make it to the planned touchdown zone.

According to a new SpaceX analysis, a sequence change in Ship's engines, which ignite before the two rocket halves physically detach in a maneuver known as "hot staging," led to a 90-degree error in Super Heavy's orientation after separation. Super Heavy's boostback burn was also cut short when five of its 33 engines failed to relight. SpaceX says it has introduced a modified startup sequence for Ship and hardware updates to Super Heavy to address the orientation anomaly and ignition issues, respectively, "along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment."

Ship ran into a bit of trouble during Flight 12 but also managed to pull off some firsts. One of the spacecraft's three vacuum-optimized Raptors was lost 40 seconds after stage separation, but it still reached its designated suborbital trajectory, demonstrating its "engine out" capabilities, according to the SpaceX update. The loss did, however, prevent Ship's in-space engine relight attempt. SpaceX traced the failure to "interconnected causes" and has introduced a number of fixes for the upcoming Flight 13, "with additional reliability improvements planned in upcoming versions of the Raptor engine."

Flight 12 also featured the first deployment of two of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites equipped with cameras for inspecting Ship's heatshield tiles and exterior conditions while in space. They were deployed with several Starlink V3 mass simulators, a payload that's getting an upgrade of its own for Flight 13.

Stowed inside Ship's payload bay for Flight 13 are the first functional Starlink V3 satellites that Starship will deliver to space. SpaceX plans to eventually launch perhaps 100,000 of the upgraded version of its internet satellite constellation spacecraft, which it says will increase the capacity and speed of its wireless network services. SpaceX is including 20 Starlink V3 satellites aboard Flight 13, which will be released for functionality testing while in space. Six of those will be outfitted with cameras for the same type of heatshield inspection performed during Flight 12. Ultimately, due to Starship's suborbital trajectory on this launch, all of these satellites are expected to burn up in Earth's atmosphere about 20 minutes after they are deployed.

For Flight 13, Super Heavy's main objectives will be the successful launch and separation from the Ship upper stage, a complete boostback burn and a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to the deployment of Ship's 20 Starlink V3 payloads, SpaceX is also planning the in-space relight of one of the spacecraft's Raptor engines, followed by the successful descent and soft splashdown of the stage in the Indian Ocean.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the closure of its investigation into SpaceX's Flight 12 mishaps this morning (July 13), approving the compnay's corrective actions and clearing the way for Flight 13.

SpaceX is targeting the launch of Flight 13 during a 90-minute window beginning on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). A livestream of the mission will begin about 30 minutes prior to liftoff and stream on the company's mission page, profile on X and here on Space.com.

If everything goes smoothly, it's very likely that SpaceX will attempt the first Starship V3 recovery back at its Starbase, Texas, launch site for either Super Heavy or both stages on the following mission, Flight 14, but there are a number of other technical achievements Starship has left on its checklist before the vehicle can become fully operational. Those include launching into a stable orbit, demonstrating successful rendezvous and docking with other spacecraft, and conquering the technological hurdle of transferring and maintaining cryogenic fuels for long-term use in zero-g.

SpaceX is hoping to accomplish all that within the year — quite a tight timeline. NASA has contracted Starship as one of two lunar lander vehicles to deliver astronauts to the surface of the moon on the agency's Artemis program missions and is expecting a crew-capable version to be ready by 2028 for Artemis IV. The company plans to fly a boilerplate Starship V3 equipped with a docking adapter for NASA's Artemis III mission in 2027, which will launch astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft for rendezvous operations demonstrations with Starship, as well as Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander, in low Earth orbit.

The first of perhaps tens of thousands of sunlight-directing space mirrors just got cleared for liftoff.

California-based startup Reflect Orbital just got a license from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch and operate its first demonstration satellite, a spacecraft that will unfurl a reflective surface that measures about 60 feet (18 meters) on a side.

That satellite, called Eärendil-1 is targeted to fly later this year. And it could be the first of many: Reflect Orbital aims to operate 50,000 or more such mirror-craft in low Earth orbit by 2035, beaming reflected sunlight down to a variety of customers on the surface.

"We're grateful to the FCC for recognizing the importance of testing novel technologies in space," Ben Nowack, Reflect Orbital's co-founder and CEO, said in an emailed statement on Friday (July 10).

"This license is the first step toward rigorously testing our technology's efficacy and the safeguards we have developed," he added. "We're excited to demonstrate how our technology works and to introduce transformative, clean technology the world urgently needs."

That technology could aid a variety of industries and endeavors, according to Reflect Orbital.

"Imagine the endless possibilities when sunlight is not limited by geography or time of day," the company's website reads. "A search-and-rescue team locates a missing person in minutes. A city has safer, evenly lit streets without the carbon emissions. Construction projects complete in half the time with teams able to work through the night safely."

The planned mirror constellation will also boost the productivity of solar arrays on Earth, allowing them to take more of the electricity-generating load from polluting options such as fossil fuels, according to the company.

Not everybody is thrilled about Reflect Orbital's plans, however. Satellite megaconstellations in general are controversial. Some folks object to how they're changing the night sky, for example, and others worry that deorbiting huge numbers of satellites will pollute Earth's atmosphere with heavy metals.

There are some specific concerns about Reflect Orbital's plans as well — namely, that it will introduce a new type of light pollution for people and ecosystems to deal with.

"The beam reflected by these satellites is very intense, four times brighter than the full moon, and they will be flying multiple satellites in a formation," John Barentine, an astronomer at the Silverado Hills Observatory in Tucson, Arizona and a consultant at Dark Sky Consulting, previously told Space.com.

"That will have an effect on wildlife in the directly illuminated area, but also, through atmospheric scattering, on the surrounding areas as well," he added.

Reflect Orbital stresses that it will do its best to minimize such potential impacts.

"We design for safety in three ways: 1) the light is contained within the spot, 2) the light can be turned off quickly and at any time so that none of it reaches the Earth, and 3) we can intentionally avoid sensitive areas like research observatories or protected habitats," the company's website states.

"The light is not bright enough to start fires or harm eyes, even when viewed through a telescope, and cannot be concentrated past maximum natural sunlight irradiance," it adds.

A SpaceX rocket just inched closer to the record books.

A Falcon 9 vehicle lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California tonight (July 10) at 11:01 p.m. EDT (8:01 p.m. local time; 0301 GMT on July 11), carrying 29 of SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO).

It was the 35th flight for this rocket's first stage, a booster designated B1071. The SpaceX record is 36, set just a few days ago by B1067 on another Starlink mission.

And, there will likely be more flights for B1071 down the road. The booster came back to Earth for a touchdown tonight as planned, landing in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" about 8.5 minutes after launch.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the 29 Starlink satellites aloft. They're scheduled to be deployed in LEO about 62 minutes after launch.

The Starlink megaconstellation currently consists of more than 10,700 active satellites, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell. The network is growing all the time, however, and it could eventually get very large indeed; SpaceX recently applied for approval to operate 100,000 of the spacecraft in LEO.

Tonight's launch was the 81st Falcon 9 mission of 2026. About 80% of them have been Starlink flights.

It looks like SpaceX's next Starship flight is on the horizon, and it may lift off sooner than you might think.

SpaceX today (July 10) completed a brief static fire of the Starship Super Heavy booster tapped to launch the 13th test flight of the massive, mega-lift vehicle.

Booster 20 — the latest Super Heavy to roll off the assembly line — was transported to the pad at SpaceX's Starbase, Texas, facility yesterday (July 9) and hoisted onto its support stand using the launch tower's stalwart "Mechazilla" chopstick arms. By early Friday, SpaceX began preparations leading up to the prelaunch engine test, including closing Boca Chica beach around 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) and transferring fuel to the pad's tank farm ahead of loading propellant onto the vehicle.

This is the second "Version 3" (V3) booster to reach the pad at Starbase for testing, and is equipped with 33 of SpaceX's upgraded Raptor 3 engines. Those engines ignited in a blazing heat on Friday just before 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), and underwent a roughly 25-second burn simulating on the launch stand the duration and flight conditions for an actual launch.

The successful completion of Booster 20's static test fire paves the way for Starship's upcoming test launch, Flight 13. That could launch as early as Wednesday (July 15), according to a notice from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Compared to Version 2 (V2), Starship V3 packs a much stronger punch. The rocket was upgraded with enhanced avionics to reduce mass and increase launch capacity, a taller fuel tank with a larger volume, and equipment for transferring propellant between spacecraft, which will be needed to fulfill many of the missions Starship is being designed to carry out.

A handful of those missions will be for NASA's Artemis program, and the agency's plans to return to the moon. Starship is one of two lunar landers currently contracted to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface, so, its success and timely demonstration of the technologies needed to do so are coming under a microscope as the timeline for those missions shrinks.

Flight 13 will follow the same basic timeline as Flight 12, which lifted off in May with mixed success. Flight 12 was the first launch of Starship V3, and prompted SpaceX to fly a slightly more conservative mission than many previous tests, which have built on previous successes with increasingly expanding goals. Starship's last flight sent the vehicle's upper stage, Ship, on a suborbital trajectory with a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX ran into some issues, though, when the rocket's Super Heavy booster (Booster 19) failed to maneuver itself for a soft ocean splashdown of its own. Ship (Ship 39) also ran into an engine anomaly that caused SpaceX to forgo the stage's in-space engine relight demonstration.

Ship 40 and Booster 20, the Starship vehicles that will fly on Flight 13, will follow the same set of mission objectives to shake out the remainder of kinks in Starship V3. Spacex hopes the mission will pave the way for further technology demonstration tests the vehicle needs to complete before reaching full operational status. That includes the retrieval of both stages back at their Starbase launch pad, for refurbishment and reuse on future flights.

Starship is designed to be fully reusable, and capable of delivering over 100 tons to low Earth orbit. Once the rocket begins regularly delivering payloads, Ship and Super Heavy will be able to both return to Starbase to be caught by the Mechazilla arms on both of the site's two launch towers. SpaceX has succeeded in a handful of V2 Super Heavy catches during its previous flight tests, and managed to launch two of those recovered boosters on subsequent missions, but has not yet attempted to do the same with a Ship upper stage.

That's because landing Ship is much different than landing Super Heavy. SpaceX has a lot of practice landing and reflying rocket boosters. The company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket launches several times a month, and is routinely recovered, refurbished and reflown within a short few weeks. A batch of Starlink satellites recently launched on one of SpaceX's most-flown Falcon 9 boosters, which broke a reflight record as it touched down for the 36th time after delivering its payloads to orbit. Though it lacks the landing legs of Falcon 9, Super Heavy's descent back to Earth is very similar to a Falcon 9 booster, and therefore less complex an engineering question to have to solve compared to Starship's upper stage.

Ship drops through the atmosphere belly-first, allowing the black, hexagonal heat shield tiles that cover half the vehicle to absorb the blazing temperatures of reentry. Fins near the spacecraft's nose and base control its orientation and attitude, which remains mostly horizontal during its freefall. To an extent, Ship's descent profile is not very unlike the space shuttles, except for its actual touchdown, which differs significantly.

As Ship's altitude decreases toward sea level, the vehicle performs a "flip and burn" maneuver that swings the whole stage upright and arrests its descent for a soft touchdown — eventually back at the Starbase pad on future launches, but once again in the Indian Ocean for Starship's upcoming mission.

Flight 13 will give SpaceX a chance to demonstrate that descent profile again using Ship 40, while also working through the booster and engine issues encountered during Flight 12. If all goes according to plan, the launch will bring Starship V3 closer to more ambitious tests, including orbital insertion, propellant transfer and the recovery of both stages back at Starbase.

Is it a space jellyfish? Is it an alien? No, it's the aftermath of a SpaceX rocket launch!

What is it?

Have you ever looked up and thought, "Why is there a giant glowing jellyfish cloud in the sky?" If so, chances are that you've seen the remnants of a rocket launch, and not a surprise alien visitor.

In the early hours of July 9, SpaceX launched 29 of its Starlink broadband satellites from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to low Earth orbit. It was the rocket's 36th flight, a record.

The rocket lifted off at 5:25 a.m. EDT (0925 GMT), and the scene it painted in the dark early-morning sky looks truly out of this world. But there is a practical, Earthly explanation.

When a Falcon 9 rocket takes off, its engines expel water vapor and carbon dioxide. As it climbs higher into the sky, the temperature drops and the water vapor quickly freezes, forming ice crystals that trail behind the rocket in the spectacular plume we're seeing here. And this view is made more colorful and striking by the sunlight of early morning.

Why is it incredible?

While this photograph's beauty speaks for itself, it is also a colorful example of how real scientific moments can spark the imagination.

Do you think it looks like a jellyfish? I think it looks like a comb jelly, which isn't actually a jellyfish but rather a different type of transparent, squishy invertebrate that drifts through the ocean. It could also look like a glowing football or even a mythological monster.

Whatever you think it looks like, while we have a real scientific explanation for why this rocket launch was followed by a giant, glowing, uniquely shaped cloud, it's still fun to use our imagination.

China just notched a huge spaceflight milestone.

The nation has recovered a rocket during an orbital launch for the first time ever, pulling off the feat during the Long March 10B's maiden liftoff on Friday (July 10). And that recovery was unique: The rocket's first stage nestled softly into a net-like structure carried by a ship at sea.

"This mission marks my country's first successful controlled recovery of a launch vehicle and the world's first network-based recovery of a launch vehicle," the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced via social media shortly after the launch. (Translation by Google.) "It signifies a historic breakthrough for my country in the field of reusable rocket technology and will lay a solid foundation for accelerating the improvement of my country's space access capabilities."

The Long March 10B is a two-stage rocket that stands about 207 feet (63 meters) tall, according to the state-owned CASC, the main contractor for China's space program.

The vehicle's first stage burns kerosene and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellants, whereas the second stage uses LOX and liquid methane. In reusable mode, the Long March 10B can loft about 16 tons of payload to low Earth orbit.

And the rocket flew with a payload on its debut liftoff — a satellite that successfully reached "its predetermined orbit," according to the CASC update. That post did not provide any details about the spacecraft or its orbit. It did give a brief rundown of the first-stage recovery, however.

"Approximately 6 minutes after the first and second stages separated, the first stage returned vertically and was successfully recovered at a sea-based recovery platform using a net system," CASC officials wrote, noting that launch occurred from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site on Friday at 12:15 a.m. EDT (0415 GMT; 12:15 p.m. Beijing time.) "The launch and first-stage recovery missions were a complete success."

China plans to refly the first stage by the end of the year, they added.

Until now, vertical landings of orbital-class rockets had been performed only by SpaceX, which does them on a regular basis. Indeed, Elon Musk's company has landed orbital rockets more than 600 times to date.

Such extensive reuse has allowed SpaceX to fly more cheaply and efficiently than its competitors and dominate the launch market — something that China is working hard to emulate.

The Long March 10B's "reusable configuration significantly reduces launch costs, offering advantages of large payload capacity and high cost-effectiveness," CASC officials wrote in the post-launch update.

Other partially reusable Chinese rockets are in the works as well, including CASC's Long March 12A and the Zhuque-3, a vehicle built and operated by the Beijing-based company Landspace. Both of those rockets debuted this past December, with similar results: They reached orbit as planned, but their first stages didn't stick the landing.

The Chinese companies CAS Space, Galactic Energy and Deep Blue Aerospace are developing reusable vehicles of their own — Kinetica-2, Pallas-1 and Nebula 1, respectively. So, before too long, Chinese rockets could be returning to Earth with a frequency that rivals SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9.

SpaceX is nothing if not ambitious.

Elon Musk's company just filed an application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate a 100,000-member constellation of "Gen3" satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).

This will presumably be an updated version of SpaceX's Starlink broadband network, according to astronomer and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, who reported the news via X today (July 9).

The new plan would dramatically expand Starlink's already extensive orbital footprint. SpaceX currently operates nearly 10,800 of the internet spacecraft in LEO and has FCC approval for about 4,000 more.

And each individual Gen3 satellite will be considerably larger than its predecessors. According to McDowell, SpaceX's FCC application states that each one will weigh 4,400 to 5,500 pounds (2,000 to 2,500 kilograms) and cover an area of 3,230 to 4,300 square feet (300 to 400 square meters) with its solar arrays extended.

For perspective: The Starlink satellite version that SpaceX is launching these days, known as the V2 Mini, weighs about 1,760 pounds (800 kg) and covers about 1,250 square feet (116 square meters), according to SpaceflightNow.

SpaceX launches V2 Minis aboard its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, generally in fleets of 29 satellites apiece. The Gen3 is so big, however, that it will probably need to fly on Starship, the giant, super-heavy-lift rocket that SpaceX is developing to help get people to the moon and Mars, among other tasks.

Starlink Gen3 isn't even the biggest satellite assemblage that SpaceX is cooking up: The company also aims to build a million-strong AI megaconstellation called Starmind.

"Launching a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization, one that can harness the sun's full power, while supporting AI-driven applications for billions of people today and ensuring humanity's multi-planetary future," Musk wrote in a February 2026 update about the planned AI constellation.

A number of other companies, including Amazon and Blue Origin, are also building out large constellations in LEO, or plan to do so in the near future.

A variety of people and organizations have objected to how crowded Earth orbit is becoming, voicing concerns about the effects on astronomical observations, wildlife, Earth's atmosphere and humanity's enjoyment of the night sky, among other issues.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched for a record-breaking 36th time early Thursday morning (July 9).

The Falcon 9 lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday at 5:25 a.m. EDT (0925 GMT), carrying 29 of the company's Starlink broadband satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO).

This particular booster, known as 1067, had already completed 35 orbital missions, more than any other SpaceX rocket in history. The overall record is held by NASA's space shuttle Discovery, which flew to orbit and back 39 times.

Thursday's flight extended Booster 1067's company record. The rocket returned to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, landing on the SpaceX drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, hauled the 29 Starlink satellites to LEO and deployed them there 63.5 minutes after launch as planned.

Thursday's launch was the 80th Falcon 9 mission of the year already. About 80% of the rocket's 2026 flights have been devoted to building out Starlink, by far the largest satellite network ever assembled.

The megaconstellation currently consists of more than 10,700 active satellites, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell. And, as Thursday's launch shows, that number is growing all the time.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 5:40 a.m. ET with news of successful rocket launch and landing.

ispace is expanding its already extensive moon plans to include SpaceX's Starship megarocket.

The Tokyo-based company announced today (July 8) that it has booked 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of cargo capacity on Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, for a moon mission that could launch as soon as 2030. The deal is worth $50 million, according to Tokyo Brief.

"We are very pleased to be able to offer the new Lunar Access Integration service utilizing Starship's payload space through our collaboration with SpaceX," ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said in a statement today. "High-capacity, relatively low-cost lunar transport, such as that provided by Starship, is essential to realizing the sustainable lunar economy that ispace aims to create."

As that quote suggests, ispace may become a regular Starship customer over the years, using the giant vehicle to carry its new "Mobile Cargo System" to the lunar surface. The MCS is a pallet-like flat rover capable of transporting up to 1,100 pounds (500 kg) across the lunar terrain.

The newly announced Mobile Cargo System moon mission aboard Starship will launch no earlier than 2030, according to ispace. The timeline will depend largely on SpaceX's ability to progress Starship into an operational vehicle. (Starship has flown 12 test flights to date, all of them suborbital.)

ispace has flown with SpaceX before; Falcon 9 rockets launched the Japanese company's robotic HAKUTO-R moon rover in both 2022 and 2025. Both times, HAKUTO-R reached lunar orbit successfully but crashed during its landing attempt.

Starship is SpaceX's super-heavy-lift launch vehicle, which is designed for full reusability and capable of launching up to 150 tons (136 metric tons) to low Earth orbit. The rocket has been in development for a while; SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk first announced the vehicle during the International Astronomical Congress in Mexico in 2016. Expectations for its operational readiness have been an ever-moving goal post.

In 2021, for example, SpaceX was targeting sometime "before 2024" for the spacecraft's first mission to the moon, but development delays have continually pushed that date back. 2024 was also the year NASA originally targeted for the first crewed lunar landing mission of the agency's Artemis program, though that's no longer the plan.

NASA contracted Starship as the lunar lander for that touchdown, which is now slated to take place during Artemis IV in late 2028. Agency officials have cited Starship as part of the reason that Artemis' schedules have slipped.

NASA and ispace aren't the only customers that have signed up for a Starship ride to the moon. For example, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced the #dearMoon project in 2018, booking Starship to fly himself and a handful of artists on what would have been the spacecraft's first crewed mission around the moon. As Starship delays continued to mount, though, Maezawa canceled the flight in 2024.

But momentum is building for Starship moon missions. After all, NASA now has two successful Artemis missions in the books — the uncrewed Artemis I to lunar orbit in late 2022 and the four-person Artemis II flight around the moon this past April. The agency is gearing up for Artemis III, which will test rendezvous and docking operations with NASA's Orion capsule and two crewed lunar landers — Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon — in Earth orbit in mid-2027, if all goes to plan.

So ispace is positioning itself to be a key player in a possible lunar goldrush.

"The emergence of rockets with the capability of transporting large-scale payloads to the moon is expected to accelerate deployment of lunar infrastructure, including power, communications, construction, data and mobility," ispace said in today's statement.

"The establishment of this core infrastructure on the lunar surface will reduce barriers hindering subsequent infrastructure projects, leading to a rapid expansion in the transport of relatively small lunar payloads for purposes such as technology validation, exploration and business development," the company wrote, adding that, as mission demand grows, so too will the payload capacity of its Mobile Cargo System units.

In addition to the new Mobile Cargo System design, ispace is also planning three lunar landing missions with its ULTRA Lander vehicle, which are scheduled for 2028, 2029 and 2030.

A constellation of cubesats fitted with special detectors could sniff out nuclear weapons hidden on satellites launched by adversary nations, according to a new study.

In 2024, rumors began to swirl in military circles that Russia might be developing a space-borne nuclear weapon. At that time, two years into the war in Ukraine, Russia was well aware of how big a lifeline SpaceX's Starlink broadband constellation had been for the Ukrainians. Starlink has not only provided connectivity to ravaged cities and frontline troops but also helped Ukrainians counter-attack the Russian invaders more effectively.

Drones fitted with Starlink terminals could reach much more distant targets than those controlled via conventional radio links. As the Starlink signal is almost impossible to disrupt by jamming, the idea that Russia might consider wiping the megaconstellation out by brute force didn't seem impossible.

Researchers know that a nuclear detonation in orbit would flood the space around Earth with fast, energetic electrons. These particles would destroy most unhardened satellites within range, which would extend to orbits even hundreds of miles away from the explosion.

"It would make the low Earth orbit and very low Earth orbit — where the Starlink satellites are, where many reconnaissance and communications satellites are, and where the International Space Station is — uninhabitable for a long period of time," Areg Danagoulian, an associate professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of the new paper describing the proposed detection method, told Space.com.

"We would essentially not only lose the satellites in those orbits, we would lose those orbits for a few years," he added.

Humankind has already seen the effects of a nuclear explosion in space. In 1962, the U.S. detonated a 1.4-megaton hydrogen bomb at an altitude of 240 miles (400 kilometers) above the Pacific Ocean. Radiation from the explosion, known as the Starfish Prime test, destroyed one-third of all satellites in orbit at that time. Admittedly, there weren't that many up there — fewer than 100 — but the impact was far-reaching.

Today, a nuclear detonation in space would be a catastrophe. It would knock out internet-beaming constellations such as Starlink and Amazon Leo, as well as hundreds of Earth-observing satellites that keep an eye on the activity of adversary nations, the changing climate and areas struck by natural disasters.

No reliable way currently exists to detect and defuse a nuclear bomb in space. Danagoulian proposes a constellation of small "9U" cubesats, each one about the size of a large shoebox and each carrying a special detector capable of sensing radiation emitted by unexploded nulear bombs.

He explores a scenario in which Russia launches a suspected space nuke into an orbit with an altitude of 1,200 miles (2,000 km). That number is not random. In 2022, Russia's Kosmos 2553 satellite, orbiting at that exact altitude, triggered suspicions it might be testing components for a future orbital nuclear weapon.

Russia claims the satellite just observes Earth. At that altitude, the satellite passes through the Van Allen belt, a region of intense cosmic radiation trapped by Earth's magnetic field. Most of the belt stretches between altitudes of around 600 miles (1,000 km) to tens of thousands of miles, but in some areas the radiation can reach much closer to Earth's surface.

The interaction between the fissile material inside the nuke and the energetic particles from the radiation belt would create distinct signatures, Danagoulian said, which could help confirm whether a suspicious satellite carries a nuke or not.

"The thermonuclear weapon would contain a significant amount of uranium," Danagoulian said. "The high-energy protons [in the uranium] would break up when another proton is coming in and shred the nuclei. That would knock out a large number of neutrons. This interaction turns that device into a very intense neutron source that otherwise would not be there."

The process is known as proton-induced neutron spallation, which essentially means the ejection of fragments from material triggered by impacts of protons.

The detector satellite Danagoulian proposes would have to be able to get quite close to the suspect spacecraft — a few kilometers. The inspector spacecraft would carry a sensor combining two types of detectors. At the heart of the device is a neutron scintillator, which detects all incoming neutrons and protons. Around it is a "cage of diamond" detector that detects only neutrons — not protons. Such a set-up helps filter out the particles present in the environment naturally, said Danagoulian. In addition, by using two "planes of neutron detectors," the sensor can determine the direction from which the neutrons arrived.

"If the external diamond detector triggers and gives a signal, you can ignore the particle, because it's most likely a proton and not a neutron," said Danagoulian. "Once you identify those neutrons, by having those two detections, you can back project and find out where the neutron came from."

Danagoulian says such a nuke sniffer would have to be launched into an orbit aligned with that of the suspicious satellite and creep up as close as 2.5 miles (4 km) from it. It would then take about a week to gather enough measurements to confirm whether the object is hiding a nuke or not. A constellation of 10 such satellites could reduce the process to mere hours, Danagoulian said.

If a nuke were detected, the military could then try to jam the satellite's communications link from the ground, making it impossible for the adversary to remotely detonate the bomb. There is currently no technology available to safely defuse a nuclear weapon in space.

The United Nations Outer Space Treaty, which provides the legal foundation for humankind's use of outer space, bans the use of nuclear weapons in orbit. However, the treaty has no means to ensure compliance.

Other approaches to nuke detection in space have been explored, including maneuverable X-ray satellites, but those would be quite a bit more complex and expensive.

Danagoulian also suggests that high-grade radiation hardening could improve satellites' chances of surviving a nuclear winter in space.

The paper was published online in the journal Nature today (July 8).

The former head of NASA is questioning the agency's plans to return astronauts to the moon, asking whether the crewed landers selected for the Artemis program are the right vehicles to get the job done.

Jim Bridenstine, who served as NASA administrator during President Donald Trump's first term, joined Space.com's Tariq Malik and co-host Rod Pyle on the This Week in Space podcast on June 12 to discuss his recently appointed position as CEO of Quantum Space and current events in the space industry. During the show, Bridenstine voiced skepticism about the architecture of NASA's Artemis moon landers, both of which are trailing in development compared to the Orion spacecraft with which they're being designed to fly.

"The architecture is extraordinarily complicated," Bridenstine said. He compared the Artemis plan unfavorably to NASA's approach during the Apollo program, which he argued was much less complex.

"They designed that thing to be as simple as you could possibly make it, and because of that they were able to land on the moon eight years after John F. Kennedy declared that we were doing it," Bridenstine said of the Apollo architecture.

NASA has contracted both SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon to be the crewed lunar landers for the Artemis program, and plans to use one of them to perform the first Artemis moon landing in 2028, on the Artemis 4 mission. That's a tight timeline for SpaceX and Blue Origin, whose spacecraft have faced ongoing delays in their development.

Neither lander has managed to make it to orbit yet, and both have a number of qualification tests to accomplish before NASA will certify the vehicles to fly with astronauts aboard, including uncrewed lunar landing demonstrations. For some development perspective, Bridenstine brought up NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which, though also severely delayed for years leading up to its debut, managed a completely successful mission right out of the gate. "The first time SLS launched, it was rated for crew, and it was ready to go to the moon on the first launch. That's hard to do, and yet it did it," he said.

"This is the challenge," Bridenstine said. "We still don't have a lander, and without a lander, you can't land on the moon. It's really that simple, and I worry that over time that's going to come back and bite us."

During NASA's Apollo missions to the lunar surface in the 1960s and '70s, the Saturn V rocket launched the astronauts aboard their return capsule, with their moon landing vehicle stowed beneath. In contrast, NASA's Artemis missions, which launch Orion on SLS, require separate launches on different launch vehicles to get the moon landers off Earth.

"The genius of Apollo was its simplicity," Bridenstine said.

The architecture for the Artemis missions is much more complex. Starship and Blue Moon will both require refueling flights in order to land astronauts on the lunar surface and then launch them back to orbit around the moon to rendezvous with Orion. The exact number of refueling flights for each lander is unknown, but a recent report from NASA's Office of Inspector General estimated Starship will need at least 15 additional launches to replenish its tanks enough for a full lunar landing mission.

Ahead of the planned Artemis 4 landing, NASA will launch a practice run with Orion and both of the two landers in low Earth orbit (LEO) in mid-to-late 2027. That mission, Artemis 3, will see the astronauts rendezvous and dock with both landers over the course of about two weeks. According to NASA's current plan, Artemis 3 astronauts will have the opportunity to board Blue Moon during their mission, but Starship will fly with a docking adapter only, and not a functional crew cabin — a likely sign of Starship's development progress, and what NASA expects of the spacecraft's capabilities within the next year.

NASA had previously tapped Starship as the lunar lander for Artemis 4, but its performance, as well as Blue Moon's, during Artemis 3 could possibly spur a change in that decision. The agency already voiced dissatisfaction with Starship's development last year, when it announced the possible reopening of the Artemis 3 lander contract due to SpaceX delays. "They're behind," Sean Duffy, who was then NASA's acting administrator, said at the time. "They've pushed their timelines out, and we're in a race against China."

Bridenstine voiced a similar sentiment. "Whatever it takes to build a lander soonest is what we ought to be doing as a country," he said.

The world's first commercially built nuclear-powered satellite has reached orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability) satellite, built by Florida-based company City Labs, launched to space early this morning (July 7) on SpaceX's Transporter-17 rideshare mission.

Transporter-17's Falcon 9 rocket, which was carrying a total of 81 payloads, lifted off early this morning from the SpaceX pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and began delivering its payloads to their various orbits about 50 minutes later.

BOHR is a novel cubesat demonstration mission from City Labs, which is testing out its proprietary "NanoTritium" betavoltaic micropower source in space for the first time. Similar to how spacecraft like NASA's Voyager probes' radioisotope thermoelectric generators produce power from the heat emitted from their plutonium cores, City Lab's NanoTritium device harnesses the beta particles emitted from the radioactive decay of tritium, which can be converted directly to electricity using a semiconductor.

“This is a historic step for commercial nuclear power in space,” said City Labs CEO Peter Cabauy in a statement.

BOHR is designed as a pathfinder mission to test the feasibility of City Labs' new technology, which is meant to provide continuous power to spacecraft without a reliance on solar energy. Though its tritium core isn't actually BOHR's power source — the cubesat is still dependent on solar power for general operations — City Labs' technology could help introduce new vehicles capable of exploring places that current spacecraft can't operate for long periods of time, like permanently shadowed regions at the moon's poles.

The moon's south pole, specifically, has come into focus as the target region for NASA's Artemis lunar landing missions. An abundance of water ice there, and its potential for extraction as a resource, makes the lunar south pole particularly suited to support long-term habitation of the moon, and NASA is actively funding the development of nuclear reactor technology to support that goal.

"City Labs’ BOHR arrives as the first commercial answer to that challenge," the company said in a statement. Though the cubesat's NanoTritium power source cannot produce nearly enough energy to power something like a moon base, City Labs sees its application scaling to eventually be able to do so.

One benefit of using tritium as the basis for a power system is the low radiation levels it emits. "City Labs’ tritium-based power systems… are engineered for safe handling, transportation, and integration within standard commercial launch environments," the company stated.

BOHR, and City Labs' tritium development, was funded under a Department of Defense contract. It's also the first nuclear-powered mission to be greenlit under the Federal Aviation Administration's nuclear launch approval under Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum-20, which was issued in 2019.

City Labs hopes the success of this mission will pave the way for more nuclear-powered spacecraft to support national defense as well as private space missions in the future.

"BOHR demonstrates that safe, compact, and regulatory-approved nuclear power systems are ready for routine commercial deployment," Cabauy said.

SpaceX launched a passel of satellites to orbit early Tuesday morning (July 7).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 81 payloads lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Tuesday at 3:12 a.m. EDT (0712 GMT; 12:12 a.m. local California time), kicking off a mission SpaceX called Transporter-17.

As that name suggests, Transporter-17 was the 17th flight of SpaceX's Transporter rideshare program. The company operates another rideshare series as well, called Bandwagon, which has launched four missions to date.

The 20 Transporter and Bandwagon missions that flew before Transporter-17 sent more than 1,800 payloads to Earth orbit. Transporter-1 lofted 143 of those back in January 2021, which remains the global single-launch record.

The 81 payloads that went up on Transporter-17 included "cubesats, microsats, hosted payloads and orbital transfer vehicles carrying eight of those payloads to be deployed at a later time," SpaceX wrote in a mission description.

Perhaps the biggest satellite riding the Falcon 9 on Tuesday was CAS500-4, a South Korean Earth-observation craft that tips the scales at about 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms).

The satellite, whose name is short for "Compact Advanced Satellite 500-4," is the fourth member of a planned five-satellite CAS500 fleet in low Earth orbit (LEO). CAS500-4 will help the South Korean government monitor crops and forests, among other tasks.

The first stage of the Transporter-17 Falcon 9 landed about 8.5 minutes after launch on the SpaceX droneship "Of Course I Still Love You," which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean. It was the 11th flight for this particular booster, according to the company's Transporter-17 mission description.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the 81 payloads to LEO, where they'll be deployed starting about 50.5 minutes after launch. CAS500-4 won't be released until nearly 2.5 hours after liftoff.

Transporter-17 was the 79th Falcon 9 launch of 2026. Nearly 80% of this year's missions have been devoted to building out Starlink, SpaceX's giant broadband constellation in LEO.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 3:25 a.m. ET on July 7 with news of successful launch and rocket landing.

Humanity has likely dreamed of flight since the very beginning, marveling at birds soaring overhead and trying to puzzle out their seemingly magical secret.

We made some halting steps over the centuries — getting kites aloft in ancient China, for example, and drawing up ambitious but unrealized flying machines during the Renaissance — but our boots were still firmly rooted on the ground when the United States of America was born on July 4, 1776.

Things changed just a few years later, however. In November 1783, a hot-air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers carried two men on a 25-minute flight over Paris, beginning our species' exploration of the heavens.

Another 120 years passed before we managed to fly with a powered, heavier-than-air craft, a milestone notched by the Wright brothers in North Carolina on Dec. 17, 1903. Remarkably, it took us less than half that long to make the jump from the sky to the final frontier, which cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin did for the first time on April 12, 1961.

Eight years later, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon — a remarkable achievement that was the climactic moment of the Cold War space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Over the next three and a half years, five more Apollo missions landed on Earth's nearest neighbor, leaving behind flags, footprints and defunct machinery. Now, more than half a century later, our species is gearing up to go back — but this time, in a much different way.

NASA wants to build a base near the moon's south pole over the next decade or so, an ambitious project the agency is undertaking via its Artemis program. And this is not an end in itself; NASA believes the knowledge gained from establishing such an outpost will help humanity make the next giant leap — to Mars.

The ball is rolling on Artemis, with two successful missions already in the books. Artemis I launched an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit and back in late 2022, and Artemis II sent four astronauts on a loop around the moon this past April. Next up is Artemis III, which will test docking procedures with one or both of the Artemis program's lunar landers (SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon) in Earth orbit in 2027. If all goes well with that flight, Artemis IV will put astronauts down near the lunar south pole, possibly as soon as 2028. (That timeline is far from guaranteed, however, as much development work remains. For example, neither Starship nor Blue Moon has yet reached Earth orbit or been cleared to carry humans.)

This is all happening in the context of a new space race, this time with China. The nation plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 and has been ticking boxes that keep this timeline within reach. And China aims to build a base of its own — also near the moon's south pole, which is thought to be rich in water ice — in collaboration with Russia and other partners.

What does all of this mean for the United States? Well, the nation came of age industrially after the Wright brothers' historic flight and has been a leader in aerospace tech and exploration ever since. The U.S. can accomplish amazing things in the final frontier, especially when pushed by a rival, so the years just after its 250th birthday may be quite eventful indeed. Stay tuned!

SpaceX grew its Starlink network by 24 more satellites on Wednesday evening (July 1) with a launch from California.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the two dozen new relay spacecraft (Group 17-46) lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:58 p.m. EDT (0258 GMT on July 2 or 7:58 p.m. PDT local time). About an hour later, SpaceX confirmed the satellites were successfully deployed in low Earth orbit.

The Falcon 9's first stage (Booster 1100) completed its seventh flight to space and back, landing on the drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

SpaceX's Starlink megaconstellation now totals more than 10,700 active satellites, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell. The service supports connectively around the globe, as well as in-flight and direct-to-cell services.

Wednesday's launch was SpaceX's 79th Falcon 9 liftoff of the year.

Less than a week after its last test, SpaceX's latest Starship spacecraft went back to the stand for engine checkouts ahead of a coming test flight.

The upper stage for SpaceX's giant Starship rocket, referred to simply as "Ship" — Ship 40, in this case — underwent a static-fire test of all six of its Raptor engines at the company's Massey site in Starbase, Texas. Ship 40 is in line for the 13th test flight of a fully stacked Starship, which is expected within the next month or so.

SpaceX posted a video of the engine test to its X account on Thursday (July 2), showing several angles of the ignition sequence and all six engines (Ship is equipped with three sea-level and three vacuum-optimized Raptors) firing to simulate flight-like conditions on the vehicle.

Ship 40 conducted its first-ever static fire last week, lighting a single Raptor for about 15 seconds. This more recent test involved all six Raptors and lasted a full minute, according to SpaceX.

Ship 40 will take part in the second "Version 3" (V3) Starship launch; SpaceX debuted the updated rocket prototype during a test flight on May 22. That mission went smoothly, for the most part, but it wasn't a complete success; the rocket's Super Heavy booster failed to maneuver its way to a soft ocean splashdown as planned. So the upcoming Flight 13 will likely mirror much of the flight path and mission objectives as Flight 12, including relighting one of Ship's Raptor engines in space.

Starship is SpaceX's super-heavy lift rocket, designed for seamless landing and reuse. The more capable V3 stands 408 feet (124.4 meters) tall — about 5 feet (1.5 m) taller than V2 — and is the biggest, most powerful rocket ever to fly.

Once development is complete and the vehicle is fully operational, SpaceX has big plans for the rocket, including the expansion of its Starlink satellite-internet network in low Earth orbit and landing NASA astronauts on the moon as a part of the Artemis program. The spacecraft will also be capable of delivering heavier payloads to orbit than any other rocket in history.

The success of this most recent engine test puts SpaceX one step closer to Starship Flight 13. Next steps ahead of that launch will include rolling the mission's Super Heavy booster to the pad at Starbase for engine tests of its own. Super Heavy sports 33 Raptor engines at its business end, which produce nearly 20 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. Should Super Heavy's static fire tests go smoothly, Flight 13 could happen as early as August.

If the number of satellites in Earth's orbit exceeds 100,000, humanity may lose its ability to study the universe from the planet's surface.

That's the conclusion of a study conducted by astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) which warns that if existing plans to deploy a million orbiting data centers and tens of thousands sun-reflecting mirrors were to come to fruition, the world's most cutting-edge astronomical telescopes may as well be mothballed.

"We can reach conditions where basically, there is no point in operating the telescopes anymore because all the data will be corrupted. All. 100 percent," Olivier Hainaut, the director of operations at ESO and lead author of the study, told Space.com.

Hainaut used computer modelling to understand the effect of varying numbers of satellites of different brightness levels on astronomical observations. The modelling showed that if 100,000 satellites were to orbit the planet and all were barely visible to the naked eye, astronomy could cope. If those satellites were brighter, however, around magnitude 7 or below in astronomical terms, astronomical research would become more difficult and costly.

Satellites affect the sky in two ways. Firstly, the sunlight they reflect increases the overall brightness of the sky, creating light pollution. Second, brighter satellites also create streaks in telescope images that mar observations.

"If you increase the light pollution, it means that you will see fewer natural stars and you will see more of these satellites," said Hainaut . "For telescopes that means increasing exposure times. If you have a 10 percent increase in light pollution, you have to increase all the exposure times by 10 percent. It scales directly. For a 100 percent increase in light pollution, you have to increase all the exposures by 100 percent."

The exposure time increases mean that less science gets done and every observation becomes more expensive. The International Astronomical Union says that an increase in light pollution by more than 10 percent compared to natural dark sky conditions is an astronomy killer.

As light pollution has spread with urban development over the past two centuries, astronomers have increasingly been retreating into ever more remote locations. Many of the world's most expensive telescopes, including the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the ESO's Very Large Telescope and Extremely Large Telescope, are located in Chile's Atacama Desert where the night sky is still nearly perfectly dark.

But while it is possible to retreat from the city lights, there will be no escape from satellite light pollution, Hainaut warns. You may be visiting a tiny village in Africa, camping in the Australian outback, or on an expedition to Antarctica or the Amazon rain forest, and your sky would still be brightened by the satellites.

"What they propose would make our observations close to impossible"

What is worse, if plans to launch thousands of sun-reflecting mirrors, as proposed by the U.S. company Reflect Orbital, were to come to fruition, the sky would transform completely.

Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, Reflect Orbital's vision is to deliver light on demand to solar power plants at night and to illuminate warzones and areas struck by natural disasters. The company has applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch a demonstration space mirror into orbit later this year.

The satellite, called Eärendil-1, is 59 by 59 feet (18 by 18 meters) in size, and should be the first in a constellation of 50,000, if things were to go according to Reflect Orbital's plan. "Reflect Orbital is really bad," said Hainaut.

"What they propose would make our observations close to impossible.
These are super bright satellites."

Astronomers have calculated that each Reflect Orbital space mirror would be brighter than the full moon if observed from the area where its beam is aiming. But the satellites would be visible regardless of where their beams are aiming to everybody around the world.

"Even outside the beam, the satellite will appear brighter than the planet Venus, which is the brightest object in the night sky after the moon," said Hainaut. "If they were to launch 50,000 of these space mirrors, there would be many hundred or even a few thousand of these super bright objects visible to observers anywhere on Earth."

Reflect Orbital, meanwhile, says that they have been engaging with the astronomy community throughout the company's development and that the company is currently commissioning independent, third-party research on the impacts of their satellites.

"Every spot of light we deliver will be requested, approved and contained," a company spokesperson told Space.com. "We will only provide redirected sunlight when it is signed off by the appropriate authorities in the relevant jurisdiction."

Today, in areas with relatively low levels of light pollution, one can only see a few hundred bright stars in the sky. That means there would be more satellites than stars visible in the sky anywhere in the world with the full Reflect Orbital constellation in orbit. The constellation would also brighten the night sky by up to 300 percent, Hanuit calculated.

"If you increase the light pollution, it means that you will see fewer natural stars," said Hainaut. "And you will see more of these satellites."

Hainaut said that SpaceX's planned orbital data centers, despite the fact that they feature 230-foot-wide (70 m) solar panels, would be much dimmer and about as visible as Starlink satellites.

"From the available information, we see that these satellites have been optimized to minimize the impact as seen from the ground," Hainaut said. "The reflective surfaces are tilted away from Earth and the satellite itself is very narrow, pointing to Earth with its small end."

Still, overall, satellites operated by all operators around the world should remain below 100,000 satellites combined if astronomy is not to suffer, scientists caution. SpaceX is currently awaiting FCC's decision on its application to launch one million orbital data centers.

Currently, some 14,000 satellites orbit the planet.

"For astronomy, this would obviously be catastrophic."

Robert Massey, the Deputy Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society, said Hainaut's findings were "not hugely surprising."

"For astronomy, this would obviously be catastrophic," Massey told Space.com. "It's very difficult to imagine how you could mitigate that on this scale. But I am also concerned about the public impact. The public has not signed up for having an entirely transformed sky."

Massey pointed out that based on the international law governing space activities, it is perfectly legal for a U.S. organization to be single-handedly deciding on something that would impact the entire world.

"If it's agreed by the FCC, this will be deeply regrettable," Massey said. "This will say that we are in a world where large corporations can determine the view of the sky above our heads, just as they can transform the environment on Earth. But the transformation of the environment on Earth is subject to pretty tight regulations."

The Trump administration has been taking steps to reduce the burden for satellite operators to prove their projects will have no negative environmental impacts. Currently, no environmental review has to be undertaken by the FCC or private companies before satellite applications go for approval.

Betty Kioko, an institutional affairs adviser at ESO, said the United Nations Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967, states that the responsibility for space launches is with the nation states where those space objects are registered. She, however, added that the Treaty requires states to use space "for the common good of humankind."

"We now have to wait for the FCC to decide, because ultimately, the Outer Space Treaty was written at a time before we envisioned access to space by private entities."

ESO is among hundreds of organizations from around the world that have filed objections to the SpaceX and Reflect Orbital applications.

The study has been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Editor's note: This story was updated on July 2 to include comments from a Reflect Orbital spokesperson.

It's unclear when Boeing will be able to send more astronauts to the International Space Station, a new NASA audit warns.

Technical issues with Boeing Starliner's spacecraft, across two uncrewed flights and a two-astronaut test mission known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), come under scrutiny in a new report about NASA's Commercial Crew Program from the agency's Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

"Many of these [Starliner] issues are related to three longstanding technical challenges that have prevented Boeing from obtaining the human-rating certification — helium leaks, propulsion systems failures and parachute anomalies," states the OIG report, which was released today (June 30).

"The helium leaks and propulsion systems failures remain unresolved as of March 2026, and NASA is uncertain as to when this testing will be completed or human-rating certification for the Starliner will be obtained," the report adds.

The NASA OIG performed the audit to evaluate the performance of both companies that NASA contracted to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The auditor found that NASA will need to purchase more flights from those vendors, SpaceX and Boeing, "to continue to fully crew the ISS through 2030," and offered feedback on how the two companies have been doing so far.

SpaceX has been flying astronauts successfully since 2020 and is readying to send its 13th operational crewed mission (known as Crew-13) to the orbiting complex in September. Boeing, however, has just one astronaut flight under its belt — CFT, which launched in June 2024 and encountered multiple problems, resulting in NASA having to bring the two astronauts back home on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule instead of Starliner.

Starliner has therefore not been certified to fly astronauts yet. The company has decided that the capsule's next mission will be uncrewed, and there is not yet a launch date for it.

NASA ultimately reclassified Starliner's first crewed flight as a Type A mishap, the most serious type in human spaceflight, in February 2026. The fact that it took 21 months for the agency to do so is concerning, according to both the OIG and the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel for NASA.

OIG said "ambiguity" in NASA requirements for a Type A mishap led to this gap, which also induced "delays, increased costs and potential performance and safety issues on future flights," according to the new report.

The authors added that underperformance on CFT can be traced to NASA's overconfidence in the spacecraft design, "unrealistic launch and flight test schedules" made by Boeing and accepted by NASA, and "pressure to adhere to this aggressive schedule." And these issues were compounded by NASA not exercising "data rights," which would have let the agency look at "flight-simulation-training failures" that likely would have helped with crew safety ahead of launch.

"Going forward, NASA's ongoing workforce constraints may further hinder oversight, resolution of technical issues, and flight certification schedules," the OIG report states, alluding to effects that the auditor foresees from budget-related workforce cutbacks at NASA.

The bulk of the report discusses Starliner, but SpaceX also had "a variety of its own technical challenges" in the earlier days of the Dragon program, OIG noted. That said, SpaceX has helped NASA deal with Boeing's delays, while collecting "$17 million in additional costs to accelerate spaceflights originally planned for the Starliner," the OIG noted.

NASA concurred with all of OIG's recommendations to the agency going forward, which are:

• Delay payments to Boeing until Starliner's human-rating certification completes;
• Create a schedule with Boeing for the next Starliner flights;
• Document and resolve all of the CFT issues in "NASA's mishap information system" and update the schedule for Starliner with these issues in mind;
• Make private company flight-simulation testing on hardware and software changes accessible to NASA;
• Make NASA's mishap-classification requirements more clear;
• Prioritize NASA hiring efforts to focus on "critical skillsets" related to commercial crew and to the expected decommissioning of the ISS.

SpaceX launched 24 more of its Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on Sunday (June 28), continuing to expand its broadband internet relay network.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the new batch (Group 17-40) launched from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff took place at 12:09 p.m. EDT (1609 GMT or 9:09 a.m. PDT local time).

The Starlink satellites reached orbit about nine minutes after leaving the ground and were on track to be deployed by the Falcon 9 upper stage about an hour later.

The rocket's first stage (Booster 1088) completed its 17th flight, touching down on the autonomous droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" positioned in the Pacific Ocean.

The 24 satellites increased the total number of active relays in the Starlink network to more than 10,700, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell. The Starlink service provides access to the internet to people around the world, as well to in-flight wifi and cell-to-satellite service providers.

Sunday's launch was SpaceX's 75th Falcon 9 mission in 2026.

SpaceX launched a big SiriusXM radio satellite to orbit from Florida's Space Coast on Sunday night (June 28).

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with the 15,400-pound (7,000 kilograms) SXM-11 spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Sunday at 10:25 p.m. EDT (0225 GMT on June 29).

The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth for a landing about 8.5 minutes after launch as planned, touching down in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas."

According to a SpaceX mission description, it was the 17th flight for this particular booster, which is designated B1085.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying SXM-11 to an elliptical geosynchronous transfer orbit, where it was deployed on schedule, 34.5 minutes after liftoff.

SXM-11 will now circularize its distant path around our planet and join SiriusXM's satellite-radio fleet, which currently consists of seven spacecraft.

SpaceX has now launched four of those spacecraft to date. The others were SXM-8 in June 2021, SXM-9 in December 2024 and SXM-10 in June 2025, all of which also rode to orbit on Falcon 9 rockets.

SpaceX has launched 76 Falcon 9 missions so far in 2026. The vast majority of those flights — nearly 80% of them — have been dedicated to building out the company's Starlink broadband megaconstellation in low Earth orbit.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:30 a.m. ET on June 28 with news of successful launch, rocket landing and satellite deployment.

About a month has passed since the first launch of SpaceX's "Version 3" Starship rocket, and the spaceflight company has already begun testing on its next such vehicle.

SpaceX recently transported Ship 40, the upper stage in line to launch Starship's upcoming Flight 13 demonstration mission, to the Massey test site at its facilities in Starbase, Texas. Secured at its base, Starship performed a full-duration burn of one of its central Raptor 3 engines that lasted about 15 seconds.

The test, called a static fire, is meant to confirm that the spacecraft's engines are in working order ahead of an actual launch. SpaceX posted a video of the test on X today (June 26). The Ship upper stage is equipped with six Raptor 3 engines — three sea-level engines, and three configured for optimized flight in the vacuum of space. The vehicle uses all six during ascent, but only a single sea-level engine during the final phase of its landing burn.

Starship is SpaceX's super-heavy lift rocket, designed to be completely reusable. Its most recent test flight launched on May 22, completing a mostly successful demonstration of the vehicle's upgraded V3 hardware. At 408 feet (124.4 meters) tall, Starship V3 is the biggest, most powerful iteration of the launch vehicle to date, and is the first to sport SpaceX's new Raptor 3 engines.

Despite a few malfunctions during the V3 debut last month, including failure of the rocket's Super Heavy booster to maneuver its way to a soft ocean splashdown as planned, SpaceX deemed the launch a successful test of the upgraded vehicle's new systems. In addition to the full outfit of Raptor 3s, V3 is equipped with enhanced aerodynamic grid fins, refined thermal protections, an increased fuel capacity and docking nodes to facilitate propellant transfer in space.

That last capability is especially critical for Starship's success. Ship is capable of reaching low Earth orbit (LEO) using its onboard fuel, after Super Heavy lofts the stage through Earth's atmosphere, but once there, it can't fly much farther. (Note: Starship hasn't actually reached orbit yet. All of its launches to date have been suborbital.) To fly beyond LEO, Ship requires refueling from additional Starship launches designed to top off its tanks, a critical function of the giant spacecraft that SpaceX has yet to demonstrate, but that's expected to change this year.

SpaceX has been contracted by NASA to provide Ship as the lander to deliver astronauts to the moon as a part of the agency's Artemis program. To get there, NASA says the spacecraft will require at least 15 refueling flights. The first of those landing missions, Artemis 4, is scheduled for late 2028. Ship is also scheduled to launch as part of Artemis 3, during which astronauts aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft will dock with the lander to practice maneuvers with the mated vehicles, but is not expected to require refueling flights for that mission.

The recent static fire with Ship 40 means SpaceX is progressing toward Starship's next full flight campaign, which will feature engine tests with all six of Ship 40's Raptors and all 33 of Super Heavy's. The company hasn't yet released any details about the upcoming Flight 13, but the company will likely attempt to launch the mission before the end of the summer.

Earth's moon is due for a human-made impact this August courtesy of a spent SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage.

The Falcon 9 upper stage is left over from the launch that sent Firefly's Blue Ghost-1 lander to the moon on Jan. 15, 2025 by way of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Also sent moonward on that flight was the Hakuto-R Mission 2, called Resilience, a robotic lunar lander developed by the Japanese company ispace.

This striking event is expected to occur close to Einstein Crater near the moon's western limb and could be visible by ground and space-based telescopes. Varying forecasts have sparked debate on whether or not we'll be able to see the rocket body slam into the moon on Aug. 5, and, if so, how both citizen scientists and astronomers can best observe it it.

'This wonderful environment of the moon'

The consequences of this rocket mission's leftover hardware is on target for a "limb shot," meaning it could strike the far western edge of the moon. Another possible impact site is Bell Crater, just out of sight on the moon's far side.

Earlier this month, NASA's Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) hosted a discussion with experts regarding the approaching impact. Taking part in the meeting of moon-watching specialists was Brian Day, SSERVI's lead for citizen science and community development.

"One of the things that is really important here with this impact that is coming up is it serves as a reminder to us that the moon is a dynamic environment. We think of it as being static. It is not. It is being whacked. It is changing," Day said.

Citizen scientists can actually get involved to help understand the dynamic environment of the moon thanks to the Impact Flash! program, said Day.

"And that can be done either with instrumentation you have in your own backyard or you can use ours in orbit around the moon," Day added. "This impact is a great reminder of this wonderful environment of the moon."

Moon viewing maybe

But will the impact be visible from Earth? Any assured answer is in a hedge-your-bet, yes/no mind bender.

"I've gone from 'probably' to 'probably not,' and more recently, to 'maybe,'" said Bill Gray of Project Pluto, creator of a telescope-tracking application used worldwide by professional and amateur astronomers alike to keep tabs on asteroids, comets, and other near-Earth objects.

It was Gray's work with Project Pluto that got the word out about the roughly four metric ton Falcon 9 upper stage intersection with the moon at over two kilometers a second. In September 2025, his software for computing orbits analyzed the observations and projected an impact with the moon on Aug. 5, 2026.

"Even though we have tracked it since launch, our idea of when and where it's going to hit are currently fuzzy by minutes and dozens of kilometers," Gray said. "But we will refine that and get an idea of where it's going to hit."

Out on a limb

"I think it's going to be very subtle. I think it's going to be very, very hard to see, if not impossible. But there's always a chance," said William Cooke, program manager of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Cooke quickly added that, along with a rapid-fire impact flash, the upper stage impact will kick up huge amounts of lunar regolith, the dust that coats the surface of the moon.

"It will excavate that out of the crater and this may create a plume that will be illuminated by the sun," Cooke said. "So, it's not only important to look for the impact flash, but if this occurs close enough to the limb, you may be able to see that plume of material rising, and that would be significant as well."

Time and inclination

Still, concerning the spotting of that over-the-limb plume, it remains a guessing game.

How much material might be lofted, and how high will it go? Given the moon's one-sixth gravity, how long will it take for that material to fall back onto the lunar surface?

"So, no good feeling for how long the plume will be up there," Cooke said.

Putting aside all the unknowns, it is Cooke's view that "if you've got the time and the inclination, it might be worth a look."

Regarding the possibility of seeing the ejecta plume, Gray of Project Pluto, later told Space.com he agreed. "We pretty much shrugged about this and said "we dunno' and we should look and see if we can observe it."

On-location orbiters

Speaking of time and inclination, there is an on-location witness to the before and after results from the rocket stage plummeting into the moon.

Brent Garry is the project scientist for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. LRO will be passing over the projected crash site about seven days prior to the impact and about seven days after the impact, Garry said.

"After the impact we might have a little bit more knowledge of where it is. We can do some additional targeting about a week after the impact and get some targeting over where the site is," said Garry.

Different observers

This event emphasizes that when you're looking for impact flashes on the moon, either anthropogenic or natural, there's a need for as many observers as possible, said SSERVO's Day.

"Because these flashes are so short, they can very much mimic a cosmic ray impact on your detector and just be a sudden blip," said Day.

What really helps researcher's distinguish between cosmic ray impacts and actual flashes on the moon is to have different observers in different locations observing that flash at the same time, Day said.

"And if you see that, if you have that coincidence of events," Day said, "that's one of the reasons why we like to have as many people looking as possible."

Once again, SpaceX has looked to the stars for naming inspiration.

Elon Musk confirmed on Tuesday (June 23) that SpaceX will call its planned AI satellite megaconstellation "Starmind".

The choice should come as no surprise, as it continues the company's long-running stellar naming theme. Here's a rundown:

• Starship: SpaceX's next-generation launch vehicle, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. Starship is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, a breakthrough that Musk thinks will make Mars settlement economically feasible
• Starbase: The company's facility in South Texas, which serves as Starship's manufacturing and launch hub. In May 2025, Starbase became an incorporated city.
• Starlink: SpaceX's broadband network in low Earth orbit. Starlink is by far the biggest satellite constellation ever assembled; it currently consists of nearly 10,700 active units, and the number is growing all the time.
• Stargaze: SpaceX's space situational awareness system, which uses Starlink satellites to monitor traffic in low Earth orbit.
• Starshield: A modified version of the Starlink satellite that flies national security missions for the U.S. government, focusing on Earth observation, communications and payload-hosting tasks.
• Starfall: SpaceX's newly unveiled uncrewed return capsule, which is designed to carry materials from orbit safely down to Earth.
• Starfactory: The huge Starship production facility at Starbase, which covers about 1 million square feet (93,000 square meters).

Starmind is perhaps the most ambitious of all of these stellar projects. If everything goes according to plan, the megaconstellation will be about 100 times bigger than the current version of Starlink.

"By directly harnessing near-constant solar power with little operating or maintenance costs, these satellites will transform our ability to scale compute," Musk wrote in a February 2026 update about the company's planned AI network.

"It's always sunny in space!" he added. "Launching a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization, one that can harness the sun's full power, while supporting AI-driven applications for billions of people today and ensuring humanity's multi-planetary future."

The "star" theme has apparently supplanted a previous SpaceX nomenclature convention. The company named its original rocket line "Falcon" after the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo's ship in the "Star Wars" universe, then followed this same birds-of-prey theme for the vehicles' engines ("Merlin" and "Kestrel"). The company's next-gen engine, the one that gets Starship off the ground, still follows this older custom: it's called "Raptor."

NASA's plan to return astronauts to the moon and bolster a rapidly growing commercial space industry is facing an infrastructure obstacle.

A new report from NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) warns that launch facilities at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia are approaching capacity as demand accelerates across the agency and the private sector. Support infrastructure — such as roads, electricity, and gas and fuel pipelines that laid the foundation for KSC's network of launch pads built to support the Apollo program in the 1960s — are being increasingly stretched by the demands of NASA's Artemis missions, SpaceX, Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance (ULA) and other users.

"Based on current launch projections, Kennedy and Wallops are expected to operate near capacity in the 2028 to 2029 time frame," states the report, which was released on Monday (June 22). Though it credits NASA for already taking steps to address these issues, agency officials estimate it will take at least $1 billion to complete all the necessary upgrades, of which only $250 million was provided as part of NASA's funds allocated in last year's 2025 H.R.1 reconciliation bill.

On Florida's Space Coast, the assessment encompasses launch facilities at KSC as well as Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), which saw an increase of NASA-supported launches from 31 in 2020 to 109 in 2025, according to the report. Wallops, where there are fewer and smaller launch pads, doesn't traditionally see as many missions compared to KSC. But the Virginia site has experienced an even sharper jump, percentage-wise, over the same timeframe — from three launches in 2020 to 17 in 2025 (a 467% rise). By 2030, NASA expects traffic at both sites to increase by another 150% or so. And NASA officials told auditors that raw launch counts don't fully capture the strain on infrastructure, because launch campaigns require days or weeks of support activity before liftoff.

The report outlines launch infrastructure shortcomings at both facilities, but notes that Wallops' challenges have been partially mitigated by recent upgrades across its seven active launch sites. Wallops generally hosts small and medium-lift launch vehicles, like Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket and Rocket Lab's Electron, but has taken steps to support Rocket Lab's upcoming Neutron, as well as Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket, which is expected to launch from the site sometime this year.

The major launch pads in question at KSC and CCSFS include Launch Complex-39A (LC-39A) and LC-39B, used by SpaceX and NASA, respectively; Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40), also used by SpaceX; SLC-41, used by ULA's Atlas and Vulcan rockets; and SLC-36, used by Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.

SpaceX has transitioned to launching its Falcon 9 rocket primarily from SLC-40 and has reserved LC-39A for Falcon Heavy launches while construction of the first Florida launch tower for its Starship rocket is underway at the same pad. SpaceX hopes to start launching Starship from this pad before the end of 2026.

The company also has plans for a second Space Coast pad for Starship, at SLC-37. Once Starship, which is still under development at SpaceX's Starbase, Texas, facility, becomes fully operational, the company expects up to 44 launches a year from KSC, with an additional 76 launches per year projected from SLC-37 at CCSFS. That equals about one Starship launch every eight days for LC-39A, but a higher cadence will be needed to successfully support NASA's Artemis program.

Artemis missions utilize NASA's Orion spacecraft to transport astronauts from the Earth to the moon, and the agency has contracted Starship, as well as Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander, to be the program's crewed lunar landers. All of these vehicles require heavy-lift rockets.

Orion launches on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from LC-39B. For Artemis 4, currently scheduled for 2028, NASA plans to dock Orion with Starship in Earth orbit, and use Starship to propel the two spacecraft to orbit around the moon. Starship will then undock from Orion, carry a set of astronauts down to the lunar surface, and then launch them back to orbit around the moon to rendezvous and dock again with Orion.

To accomplish this, Starship will require at least 15 refueling flights to top off its tanks before its initial burn for the moon, which would fly in addition to the company's projected eight-day launch cadence, according to the report.

Growing demand for heavy-lift rockets is also increasing pressure to find additional launch sites. Blue Moon is designed to launch on New Glenn, and will also require refueling launches to reach the moon. Setting aside the fact that New Glenn recently exploded during a fueling test that severely damaged SLC-36, the report indicates that Blue Origin officials have told NASA that the pad alone may not provide sufficient long-term capacity and resiliency for the company's future plans, and noted that the constraints have already forced the company to delay launches.

Much of the infrastructure between KSC and CCSFS facilities is considered "common-use," the report says, which puts added stress on available resources shared across different launch providers. That includes a massive electrical grid; 231 miles (372 kilometers) of roadway, much of which was paved in the 1960s without consideration for the weight and frequency of super heavy rocket stages being transported to and from launch pads; and more than 40 miles (64 km) of gaseous pipeline supporting nitrogen (GN2) and helium distribution, which is unable to supply high-flow operations from multiple users in its current state.

"This issue created a major scheduling challenge during preparation for the New Glenn-1 mission that launched in January 2025," the report says. It also anticipates further Artemis mission launch constraints if the issue is not addressed.

Artemis 3, targeted for 2027, will require launches of SLS, New Glenn and multiple Starships all within a small handful of days. The mission will see both private landers — if they're both ready — rendezvous with Orion to practice docking maneuvers in low Earth orbit over the course of about two weeks, but the OIG report calls the feasibility of those back-to-back launches into question.

"Kennedy will be unable to provide GN2 for future Space Launch System launches for Artemis from LC 39B while simultaneously supporting Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle launching from Space Launch Complex 36 at CCSFS," the report says. It projects a possible one- to two-month blackout period of GN2 availability as a result of future SLS launches.

The report further found that NASA has struggled to maintain and modernize its launch infrastructure, partially due to declining maintenance budgets and poor funding structures that prevent an equitable recoupment of costs from commercial providers leasing the launch facilities. "Significant statutory funding barriers prevent the Agency from receiving money directly from commercial partners for use of the Agency’s launch infrastructure," the report says. And, as it currently stands, any commercial investment in NASA's infrastructure is deducted from the agency's budget appropriation, in addition to being a violation of the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits the agency from spending federal funds without Congressional approval.

Ultimately, the report recommends prioritizing improvements to NASA's transportation networks, utility systems and resource distribution infrastructure while exploring additional funding mechanisms to support future upgrades. It also suggests three key action items for the space agency:

1. Perform an assessment and create a mitigation strategy to address roadway degradation caused by the increased traffic from heavy-lift launch vehicle transportation and commercial providers.
2. Prioritize the allocation of available funds for the maintenance of common-use launch infrastructure, including roads, electricity distribution, and gaseous pipelines and resource reserves.
3. Explore alternative funding mechanisms and evaluate commercial partnership policies to charge an "Other Approved Indirect Rate" to contribute to upgrades necessary to maintain the aforementioned infrastructure.

"While NASA’s goal is to renew — replace, repair, or upgrade — its infrastructure every 66 years, the current renewal rate, based on the available budget, is over 260 years," the report says.

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink satellites from California's central coast on Wednesday night (June 24).

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday at 11:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 p.m. local time; 0330 GMT on June 25), carrying 24 of the broadband spacecraft to low Earth orbit (LEO).

The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after launch as planned, touching down in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You."

According to a company mission description, it was the 25th flight for this particular booster, which is known as B1081.

The rocket's upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the 24 satellites to LEO. The spacecraft were deployed there on schedule, just under 62 minutes into flight, according to SpaceX.

Wednesday's launch was the 74th Falcon 9 liftoff of the year, and the 59th of 2026 devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation. Starlink is by far the biggest satellite network ever assembled; it currently consists of nearly 10,700 active units, and the number goes up all the time.

SpaceX has launched two non-Falcon 9 missions this year as well. On April 29, a Falcon Heavy lofted the Viasat-3 F3 telecom satellite. And the company's Starship megarocket launched on its 12th-ever test flight on May 22.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:40 a.m. ET on June 25 with news of successful launch, rocket landing and satellite deployment.

SpaceX just launched a brand-new return capsule that it has been developing in the dark.

That vehicle, called Starfall, lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket this morning (June 23), on a test mission designed to show that it can fly in a controlled fashion and survive the fiery trip down through Earth's atmosphere.

The demonstration flight may have caught some space fans by surprise, for SpaceX has revealed little about Starfall to date. And that air of secrecy extended through today's launch; the company cut off its webcast about 10 minutes after liftoff, a practice usually associated with national security missions.

SpaceX provided a very brief overview of Starfall today, saying via X that the new vehicle "will enable affordable, routine access to the microgravity environment for scientific research and in-space manufacturing."

Details about the vehicle are harder to come by — but we have some, thanks to an environmental assessment published by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last month. That report looked at the potential environmental impact of two Starfall demonstration reentries, one or both of which was set in motion by today's launch. (It's unclear how many Starfall vehicles the Falcon 9 lofted on this initial flight.)

According to the FAA document, Starfall is a disk-shaped spacecraft that stands about 2.5 feet (0.75 meters) tall, with a diameter of 10.2 feet (3.1 m). It weighs roughly 4,600 pounds (2,100 kilograms) and can carry about 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg) of payload. The vehicle can launch on both the workhorse Falcon 9 and Starship, the megarocket SpaceX is developing to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, among other tasks.

Starfall consists of two parts: an aluminum "top plate" that weighs about 3,090 pounds (1,400 kg) and a detachable carbon-fiber heat shield. Cargo rides in the top plate, which features a payload bay 8.2 feet long, 4.9 feet wide and 1.6 feet tall (2.5 by 1.5 by 0.5 m).

For comparison, SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which routinely flies people and cargo to and from the International Space Station, stands about 14.7 feet (4.5 m) tall, with a diameter of 13.0 feet (4.0 m). Dragon can haul about 13,230 pounds (6,000 kg) to low Earth orbit and bring 6,600 pounds (3,000 kg) back down, according to its SpaceX specifications page.

Starfall is not capable of carrying astronauts. And, in another departure from Dragon, the newly debuted return vehicle does not have a traditional propulsion system.

It has only "an attitude control system which uses compressed inert gas (for example, compressed nitrogen gas) to perform small attitude control maneuvers, such as pointing the capsule's heat shield in the correct direction to safely reenter Earth's atmosphere," the FAA's assessment reads.

"Capsules do not have the ability to de-orbit themselves and can only control their attitude," it adds. "Individual capsules would reenter Earth's atmosphere on a pre-planned trajectory and splash down with the assistance of parachutes."

That splashdown — at least of the first two Starfall vehicles — will take place in the open Pacific Ocean, about 700 nautical miles (1,300 kilometers) off the west coast of the United States. Starfall, and its cargo, will then be collected by recovery boats.

SpaceX has two main goals for Starfall, according to the FAA document. The vehicle will "enable point-to-point delivery of critical cargo through space on rapid timelines" and also "create a self-sustaining commercial in-space manufacturing market by offering access to microgravity and vacuum, loiter on orbit, and safe return from orbit as a service at scale."

SpaceX isn't alone in pursuing these opportunities. For example, the California-based company Varda Space has already launched and landed five of its 650-pound (300 kg) "W-series" spacecraft, which are designed to be both orbital mini-factories and return capsules.

And another California outfit, Outpost Space, is developing a line of "CarryAll" return vehicles that can get very large payloads — those weighing up to 22,000 pounds (10,000 kg) — down from space with pinpoint accuracy, within 80 feet (25 m) of a target anywhere on Earth.

The CarryAll Block 3 will be a "flagship vehicle for in-space manufacturing and warehousing, Earth return, military resilience and humanitarian aid," Outpost's website states.

So SpaceX is not breaking new ground with Starfall. But the company is poised to play a leading role in the nascent Earth-return field, thanks to its launch dominance and vertical integration.

The Falcon 9 flew a whopping 165 times in 2025, after all, and SpaceX envisions launching Starship thousands of times per year when that massive rocket comes fully online. So it shouldn't be too difficult for SpaceX to send hundreds of Starfall vehicles up and then back down again, delivering space-made pharmaceuticals and other high-value goods to customers around the world.

SpaceX's Cargo Dragon capsule shines in the sunlight over Earth as it departs from the International Space Station in a new image snapped from onboard the station.

What is it?

Peering through the window of the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Jessica Meir snapped a striking photo as she watched a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule depart from the station.

With sunbeams gleaming downward, reflecting off of the spacecraft's hull, the Dragon can be seen backing away from the station mere moments after undocking from the port on the station's Harmony module. The undocking is so recent that you can clearly see both the docking port and the hatch of the Dragon where the two connected.

The Dragon disconnected from the space station on June 16, and just one day later, parachuted into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California where it was retrieved, chock-full of cargo and finished science experiments.

Why is it incredible?

The space station has been in orbit since 1998 and continuously occupied since November, 2000. With decades of work in orbit, it can be easy to take for granted the incredible transport system that supports cutting-edge research hundreds of miles above Earth's surface.

The work done on the station is impressive, but this system is just as mind-boggling. In addition to launching and returning astronauts who perform critical maintenance and repair work on the station on top of their research duties, cargo missions keep the station stocked.

From food and clothing to medical equipment and intricate science experiments, these missions are essential for both keeping astronauts safe and healthy on station as well as continuing the progression of science in-orbit. This back-and-forth between Earth and the space station is an impressive feat, and this photo shows the system fully in-motion.

SpaceX's newest spaceflight tech has to launched to the final frontier for the first time.

The company's Starfall capsule took to the skies on its debut mission today (June 23), following SpaceX's application with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for two reentry vehicle landings. The mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:52 a.m. EDT (1052 GMT).

Starfall is a cargo transportation vehicle designed to carry payloads to low Earth orbit (LEO) and beyond, aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, and also return materials safely back to Earth. The platform isn't designed to fly human passengers; it's geared toward the support of research or other payloads that require retrieval after a stint in space, such as pharmaceuticals and other products of orbital manufacturing.

The concept has already been put into practice by Varda Space, which has landed five of its 3-foot-wide (0.9 meters), roughly 650-pound (300 kilograms) conical "W-series" capsules to date, one of which returned a payload for the U.S. Air Force after more than eight weeks on orbit. Starfall is more than three times as large, measuring 10 feet (3.1 m) across and 2.5 feet (0.75 m) tall. The SpaceX vehicle can carry up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg) of payload.

Starfall has two primary sections, which separate after reentry: a top plate for payload storage and attitude control components, and a carbon fiber heat shield that stores compressed gas to power attitude control maneuvers needed for precise reentries and landings, heat shield jettison and parachute deployment, according to SpaceX's FAA filing.

SpaceX plans to launch Starfall on suborbital missions, in addition to the longer-term stretches it will be able to spend in LEO. The capsule lacks a propulsion system and is incapable of deorbiting itself. The FAA document is unclear about how this will be accomplished, but it's likely that this launch will use Falcon 9's second stage to bring the demo capsule back to Earth.

In the event that Starfall experiences some sort of issue in space or during reentry, SpaceX has designed the spacecraft for safe expendability. "Capsules use nonhazardous inert cold gas (nitrogen) for attitude control and contain no liquid propellants or hazardous substances. All pressurized systems would be vented prior to splashdown, therefore, no propellants would be released into the ocean," the company says in the FAA document.

SpaceX has not yet specified how long it plans to keep the test Starfall vehicle in orbit on this debut mission, and did not broadcast views of the Falcon 9 second stage after separation from the rocket's booster. When the Starfall payload returns, SpaceX is targeting an area in the Pacific Ocean for splashdown, about 700 nautical miles (1,300 km) off the United States West Coast.

On the opposite side of the U.S., the Falcon 9 rocket that launched the Starfall demo mission headed for a return in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the 29th flight for this particular booster, tail number 1078, whose previous experience includes NASA's Crew-6 launch to the International Space Station, a Space Force mission and 23 Starlink launches, among others. Following stage separation, about 2.5 minutes after liftoff, Booster 1078 fine-tune its trajectory for a landing burn and touchdown on the SpaceX autonomous droneship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" downrange in the Atlantic, touching down about T+9 minutes.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 7:10 a.m. EDT to reflect the successful launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Starfall demonstration mission.

SpaceX just notched a remarkable launch-dominance milestone.

Elon Musk's company has now lofted more spacecraft than the rest of humanity combined — and its lead is likely to grow over the coming months and years.

Investor and former space-industry executive Christian Keil highlighted the achievement in a June 12 X post, which noted that SpaceX had launched 15,262 satellites as of that date. The combined total for all other companies and organizations since the dawn of the space age in 1957 was 15,138, according to Keil.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. The company was not an instant success; its first three launches, with the homegrown Falcon 1 rocket, were failures. SpaceX finally broke through with a Falcon 1 success in 2008. A fourth straight failure probably would have been the end of the company, Musk has said.

SpaceX soon moved on to the Falcon 9 rocket, which debuted in 2010 and remains the company's workhorse; it flew a whopping 165 times in 2025.

Most of those launches — nearly 75% of them, in fact — were devoted to building out Starlink, the broadband megaconstellation SpaceX has assembled in low Earth orbit (LEO).

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of objects that SpaceX has launched to date are Starlink satellites. As of June 18, the company has sent 12,318 of the internet spacecraft to LEO, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

That number will continue growing far into the future, as Starlink could someday have 40,000 or more satellites.

And SpaceX is dreaming even bigger than that. Musk recently announced that he wants to operate a million data centers in space, as part of SpaceX's transition from a pure launch concern to a company focused heavily on artificial intelligence.

These spacecraft will be lofted by SpaceX's Starship megarocket, which is still in the test flight phase. Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, and it's designed to be fully and rapidly reusable.

SpaceX has teased a future that features thousands of Starship flights every year as the company helps humanity settle the moon and Mars, among other ambitious tasks. So, it's safe to say that SpaceX doesn't plan to relinquish its launch lead anytime soon.

SpaceX added 24 satellites to its Starlink megaconstellation on Sunday (June 21) with a launch from California.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 12:39 p.m. EDT (1639 GMT or 9:39 a.m. PDT local time) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base. SpaceX confirmed deployment of the Starlink batch (Group 17-28) about an hour after their launch.

The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage (Booster 1063) completed its 33rd launch by landing on the autonomous droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" stationed in the Pacific Ocean. The stage is just two flights shy of the current Falcon 9 reuse record of 35 launches.

The Starlink network now has more than 10,600 active satellites, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell. The service provides worldwide internet access, as well as inflight wifi and direct to cell connections for select providers.

Sunday;s launch was SpaceX's 72nd Falcon 9 mission of the year out of a total history 655 missions.

SpaceX launched the latest batch of spy satellites for the U.S. government early Friday morning (June 19).

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday, at 4:50 a.m. EDT (0850 GMT; 1:50 a.m. local California time).

The launch kicked off a mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) called NROL-179.

The NRO operates the United States' fleet of spy satellites. NROL-179 was the 14th mission dedicated to building out a new part of that fleet — a network the NRO calls its "proliferated architecture."

"To stay ahead of the competition and ensure it can continue to operate in a heightened threat environment, the NRO is modernizing its architecture in space and on the ground — delivering more capability faster with increased resilience," agency officials wrote in the NROL-179 press kit.

"A greater number of satellites — large and small, government and commercial, in multiple orbits — will deliver an order of magnitude more signals and images than is available today," they added.

SpaceX and Northrop Grumman build the "proliferated architecture" satellites. Information about the spacecraft is hard to come by; the NRO has not released details about their activities or orbits.

All of these satellites have reached orbit atop Falcon 9s flying out of Vandenberg, on California's central coast, with the first such mission launching in May 2024.

To plan, the Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth a little less than eight minutes after liftoff on Friday, touching down at Vandenberg's Landing Zone 4. It was the third flight for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.

NROL-179 was the 71st Falcon 9 mission of 2026. Fifty-seven of the rocket's launches this year to date have been devoted to building out SpaceX's Starlink broadband megaconstellation in low Earth orbit.

Editor's note: This story was updated on June 19 with news of successful launch.