Launch

Sunday afternoon, SpaceX delayed the launch of its 10th Starship rocket from Starbase. This flight is an important launch for SpaceX to get right, with many implications for both the company and NASA.

Last week, SpaceX got back to moving forward with a successful static fire of Ship 37, the upper stage segment for Starship Flight 10. This took a while to put together due to the loss of Massey’s post Ship 36 explosion, but now that it’s complete, it finally feels like there is life again at Starbase.

Yesterday, SpaceX was forced to scrub its launch of NASA’s Crew-11 mission to the ISS due to a rather nasty cloud that rolled over the launch pad. Today, SpaceX will reattempt; however, the chances of good launch weather have gotten worse, and that may be the theme for the rest of the weekend.

Today, at 12:09 P.M. ET, SpaceX will launch the next rotation of four astronauts to the International Space Station. The mission will be more than just delivering new crew members; the Crew-11 mission will see some differences that show just how the ISS program is changing.

This week Elon Musk shared his patented vague timeline announcements for future Starship launches, “launching again in ~3 weeks.” Can SpaceX do it after Ship 36’s and Massey’s destruction? When will Starship Flight 10 actually fly?

The SpaceX Falcon 9 just hit a major launch milestone over the weekend with its 500th successful launch. While most companies would have maybe made a bigger deal out of the milestone, it was just another day for SpaceX, and the payload it flew left the mission in a veil of secrecy for a little bit.

SpaceX’s final Crew Dragon to roll out of the factory floor has officially arrived at the International Space Station after a successful launch with the crew of Axiom-4. With that, it brings SpaceX’s total to five crew-capable Dragon spacecraft for government and commercial use.

In a last-minute announcement, SpaceX, NASA, and Axiom Space are attempting to launch Axiom-4, the company’s fourth private astronaut mission to the ISS for about two weeks. The launch is set for 2:31 A.M. ET from LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Earlier this week, SpaceX suffered a major setback again in its Starship development program with the total loss of Ship 36. In good news, the potential failure of the COPV that is in Starship will not affect Falcon 9’s historic launch cadence.

ULA is set to attempt its second launch of Amazon Kuiper satellites from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This will be Amazon’s second batch of operational satellites to be deployed as well, finally hitting a stride in getting its constellation of internet-providing satellites out there.

This week, the FAA approved SpaceX‘s request to increase its Starship launch limit from Starbase from five launches to 25. A great step towards full operation, but will SpaceX even reach that goal this year?

Monday, Amazon launched its first batch of operational Project Kuiper satellites as it begins the build-out of its satellite internet constellation. However, the start has been delayed, and reports show the company might not meet the FCC deadline that is fast approaching.

SpaceX announced that its Starship Flight 9 mission will see the rocket’s first taste of reusability with the booster from Flight 7. The company also announced that a vast majority of the Raptor engines that flew on the booster will return for flight as well.

Read more: Starship Flight 9: SpaceX shows off Ship 35 heading for testing

Last week, the US Space Force announced it had certified ULA‘s Vulcan rocket for use on national security space launches, a major win for the company’s bottom line. However, the multi-month delay means Vulcan will not be ULA’s next launch, but the company still has big plans for this year.

Monday evening, SpaceX’s “Fram2” lifted off successfully from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission marked the first human spaceflight to fly in a true polar orbit, passing directly over both the North and South Poles. The mission name references the historic Norwegian ship Fram, which was used during polar expeditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The crew of FRAM2, the first crewed spaceflight to fly over Earth’s poles, is set and ready to launch as soon as a week from today. The four crew members completed their training at SpaceX‘s Hawthorne offices and are now off to Cape Canaveral to enter quarantine before launch.

For the last couple of years, SpaceX has been shaving hours off its booster turnaround timelines. This has turned months-long turnarounds into weeks; last week, SpaceX finally got that timeline down to just nine days! The company also just recently broke a launch pad turnaround timeline as well.

We’re soon closing the chapter on the first quarter of 2025, and so far the only companies in the headlines for launches have been SpaceX and Rocket Lab, with other companies like Firefly soon to follow. However, SpaceX’s supposed competitor has been nowhere, still waiting on final work from the Space Force that its Vulcan rocket is cleared to launch the missions it was contracted to do. So when might ULA, Vulcan, or Atlas finally launch next?

Over the weekend and yesterday, NASA and SpaceX successfully rotated out Crew-9 for Crew-10 at the International Space Station. The crew members included former Starliner crew members, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.