Third Time’s the Charm for Starship IFT-9

Third Time’s the Charm for Starship IFT-9

Ship 35 and Super Heavy Booster 14-2 being prepared for stacking in preparation for IFT-9. Image by Richard P Gallagher | FMN

Boca Chica, Texas – SpaceX is set to launch its ninth Starship integrated flight test (IFT-9) no earlier than May 27, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. CT from the Starbase facility in South Texas. This mission, featuring the Block 2 Starship (Ship 35) and a reused Super Heavy Booster (Booster 14-2), aims to address issues from the explosive failures of Flights 7 and 8 while testing new objectives for the reusable launch vehicle. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved license modifications for the flight on May 15, 2025, though the Flight 8 mishap investigation remains ongoing.

Elon Musk Confirms Starship Flight 9 Scheduled For Next Week

Elon Musk Confirms Starship Flight 9 Scheduled For Next Week

Starship fueling during IFT-1. Photo-Chris Leymarie, FMN

SpaceX CEO Elon Must posted on X yesterday that he plans to give a talk explaining the game plan for Starbase and the company’s plans to go to Mars next week ahead of Starship’s 9th flight. This confirms that Starship is slated to fly next week! Up to this point, SpaceX has not officially listed a Starship launch date, only that final checks are in progress.

F-35

New F-47 to Redefine Air Dominance

The U.S. Air Force has taken a monumental leap in military aviation with the Boeing F-47, the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet, selected as the cornerstone of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. Announced on March 21, 2025, by President Donald Trump alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin, the F-47 promises to reshape air superiority with unmatched stealth, speed, and technological innovation.

F-35
F-35 Photographed at Sun n Fun Expo. Photo: Richard P Gallagher | FMN
A Soviet-Era Russian Probe Set To Crash Back To Earth This Week

A Soviet-Era Russian Probe Set To Crash Back To Earth This Week

After more than five decades in orbit, a relic from the first space race is making an unexpected return. Kosmos 482, a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1972 on a failed mission to Venus, is projected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere between May 8 and May 11, 2025. Experts are closely monitoring its descent, as the probe’s durable construction raises the possibility that parts of it could survive reentry and reach the Earth’s surface.

The lander has a titanium shell and shielding that could allow it to withstand reentry through Earth’s atmosphere. That seems almost likely, given that the descent module of Kosmos 482 was made to travel through Venus’s atmosphere all the way to the surface of Earth’s “evil twin.” If it survives intact, it could slam into the ground at speeds up to 150 mph. While chances are rated as low as being struck by lightning, there is a higher than zero chance that the spacecraft could land on Florida.

New NASA Budget Proposal Will Hit The Space Coast Region Hard

New NASA Budget Proposal Will Hit The Space Coast Region Hard

Hard times for the Space Coast’s local economy might be ahead.

The Administration’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget includes a 24.3% reduction in NASA’s funding, decreasing the agency’s budget from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion. This so-called “skinny” budget blueprint is a high level one short of full details, which will be forthcoming. After that, Congress will take up and begin debate on a budget bill.

This proposed significant cut threatens to eliminate key programs and could result in substantial job losses at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), a cornerstone of the Space Coast’s economy, and that will have ripple effects that everyone who lives in the region will feel.

Atlas Kuiper KA-01

ULA Launches 27 Project Kuiper Satellites Aboard Atlas V

Summer is nearly back on the Space Coast, with warm temperatures and a persistent threat of rain in the afternoon and evenings — typical weather here, and it will stay this way for several months. That being said, Atlas V was able to beat the weather last night and launched at the opening of its window, with liftoff at 7:01 PM ET after an apparently quiet countdown, save for some concerns about the energy potential of a nearby anvil cloud (Cumulonimbus incus) lingering near the launch pad before dissipating.

Atlas Kuiper KA-01
Atlas Kuiper KA-01 lifting off on April 28, 2025. Photo: Chris Leymarie, Florida Media Now
Florida Legislature Considering Bill To Allow Homeowners To Shoot Down Drones

Florida Legislature Considering Bill To Allow Homeowners To Shoot Down Drones

Florida lawmakers are weighing a new bill that would give homeowners the right to use “reasonable force” against drones flying over their property—a move likely triggered by a spike in unexplained drone sightings last year centered around New Jersey. That “reasonable force” might involve shooting the drone out of the air under some circumstances.

File photo of a typical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, commonly known as “drones”
Wikimedia Commons