Over the weekend, SpaceX launched their second Falcon 9 of June and this time it wasn’t another batch of Starlink satellites. Read below to view pictures and videos of the launch of the newest SiriusXM satellite captured by our team of photographers.
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Blue Origin is gearing up to launch their first crewed New Shepard rocket in July and we now have the first two confirmed passengers, which some of you probably saw coming.
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SpaceX will launch a new Sirius XM satellite into Geostationary Transfer Orbit that will provide satellite radio to their customers. The launch SXM-8 comes after SXM-7, which was launched back in January, failed after being inserted into the correct orbit. While a replacement for that satellite is needed, this satellite will replace the aging XM-4 satellite which was launched back in 2006 and provides coverage for most of North America.
Date: Sunday, June 6th, 12:26 a.m. EDT
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This week SpaceX is planning on launching their next Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station, this time it will be an uncrewed cargo resupply of food, equipment, and new science experiments.
Date: Thursday, June 3rd, 1:29 p.m. EDT
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The live blog has begun below.
It’s that time of year where the President’s budget requests to congress are being released. This means we are expecting a speech from the NASA administrator to go over this year’s NASA goals today.
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If you don’t know Tim Dodd, he is a man on a mission to educate the public about space exploration through fun, well-researched, deep-dive videos. Today he’s raising money for charity.
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The development of the launch infrastructure never ends in Starbase, Texas where a piece of Starship’s future orbital launch pad was just installed. Meanwhile, Starship SN15 seems to get ready to be moved back to the manufacturing facility.
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SpaceX’s third custom-made Falcon 9 recovery robot called Octograbber was seen leaving a SpaceX facility in Cocoa, Florida.
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SpaceX completed their 100th successful launch since their last inflight failure back in 2015. This also marked their 16th flight this year and 4th in a single calendar month. Experience the launch with photos and videos taken by our team.
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Today the two defense contractors announced they will team up to develop the next lunar rover for NASA’s Artemis program.
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May 26th, 3:46 p.m. EDT: SpaceX has deployed the 60 Starlink satellites that endured the ride to space this afternoon. This batch will finish up the first shell of satellites needed to provide high-speed internet around the globe.
Later today, SpaceX will attempt to launch another batch of 60 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. This will be their 4th mission of May again tying their record for most launches in a calendar month.
Date: Wednesday, May 26th, 2:59 PM EDT
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On Sunday we saw new images of what will become SpaceX’s third droneship. The eventually named “A Shortfall of Gravitas” seems to be trending well on the construction timeline.
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Earlier this month we broke the news that SpaceX-related construction has started on the Marmac 302 barge in Port Fourchon, Louisiana. New images show more construction has been completed.
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We haven’t received a formal update on Starship’s development since the 2019 event in front of the Mk1 prototype. This week Elon Musk promised to give us one this year.
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RGV Aerial Photography released panoramic images of the manufacturing and launch sites that SpaceX has been using down in Starbase, Texas.
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On Tuesday United Launch Alliance launch their first Atlas V rocket of the year. This mission carried with it a missile detection satellite called SBIRS GEO 5 for the United States Space Force.
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SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission was their first operational flight of the Commercial Crew Program. This mission returned to Earth beginning of this month.
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May 18th, 2:19 PM EDT: The SBIRS GEO 5 satellite has been deployed from the Centaur upper stage.
A few weeks ago, ULA conducted their first launch for 2021 with a launch of a Delta IV Heavy for the National Reconnaissance Office. Next week, ULA plans to launch the first Atlas V rocket of the year carrying a payload for the US Space Force.
Date: Monday, May 18th, 1:37 PM EDT
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Late last week, Rocket Lab launched its 20th Electron mission and their second Electron to be recovered. While the mission failed during the second stage burn, the first stage’s secondary mission seems successful.
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SpaceX is planning to launch their third operational mission for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program later this year and NASA has added the fourth and final seat to the flight.
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May 15th, 7:35 PM EDT: SpaceX successfully launched and deployed all payloads on the Starlink V.10 L26 mission.
Earlier this week we saw the first 10th flown booster take off from Cape Canaveral, finally hitting the milestone Elon Musk set out. This week another high flight number booster will take off with more Starlink Satellites.
Date: Saturday, May 15th, 6:58 PM EDT
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Last week, we saw SpaceX launch their 5th Starship prototype rocket. This time, instead of exploding on or above the pad, it stuck the landing.
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For each launch, SpaceX must obtain permission from the FCC to use certain radio frequencies. In those filings, we can find details about the launch. Then tend to be the same for each Falcon 9 launch, but for Starship, we get to have a peek into the plans for the orbital launch attempt.
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SpaceX shared a 1-minute recap video of the flight of Starship SN15, showing views of the launch and landing that only SpaceX can provide.
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