ULA Atlas rocket

ULA Prepares for Atlas V Launch as SpaceX Takes Over GPS Satellite Mission

A ULA Atlas rocket with four sold rocket boosters at LC-41 on 8-28-23 carrying NROL-107. Image by Richard P. Gallagher | FMN

Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, United Launch Alliance (ULA) is set to launch an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying the first batch of production satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet constellation. Another ULA rocket, the Vulcan, will not be launching a previously assigned military GPS satellite. It has been reassigned to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, marking the second such change in recent months. Here’s what you need to know about these developments in the world of spaceflight.

τ Coronae Borealis

Astronomers Say Star Will Go Nova Soon

τ Coronae Borealis going nova.
Visualization courtesy NASA

Astronomers worldwide are eagerly anticipating a rare celestial event: a star exploding. Even better, the explosion and its remnants will be visible to the naked eye, and it will be visible from Florida.

The event centers around T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), a binary star system located approximately 3,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Corona Borealis. This system, comprising a white dwarf and a red giant, is expected to undergo a nova outburst in the very near future.

Atlas V to Launch Heaviest Payload Yet with Amazon’s Project Kuiper Satellites on April 9

Atlas V to Launch Heaviest Payload Yet with Amazon’s Project Kuiper Satellites on April 9

Amazon is set to launch its first 27 production satellites for Project Kuiper aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket on April 9, 2025. The launch is scheduled for noon EDT from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with a three-hour launch window.

Atlas V lifts off. Credit: United Launch Alliance/Ben Cooper
Credit: United Launch Alliance / Ben Cooper

NROL-69 Launch … Who Is The NRO Anyway?

Certain aspects of today’s launch of NROL-69 from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station were well understood … the name of the payload (NROL-69 aka Hummingbird), the launch time, the Falcon 9 booster, the launch site – Launch Complex 40. But many other aspects that the geekier side of us wants to know … the eventual positioning of the spacecraft, spacecraft dimensions and mass, the purpose of the spacecraft, orbit, design life, etc. aren’t available. Here’s why –

The classified NROL-69 mission launched from KSC this afternoon on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN
The classified NROL-69 mission launched from KSC this afternoon on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Photo: Charles Boyer / FMN
SpaceX's Gigafactory

Mini-Starship or Bust? Experts Clash Over SpaceX’s Future

March 19, 2025 – SpaceX’s Starship program, critical to NASA’s lunar goals and Elon Musk’s Martian dreams, is at a crossroads, with experts offering starkly contrasting visions. While one leading engineer champions a smaller “Mini-Starship” to expedite human landings on the Moon and Mars, critics slam Starship for its repeated failures as evidence of a doomed design. 

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore

Boeing CFT Astronauts Set To Return to Earth Tomorrow

It’s finally time for NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to come home! If everything goes according to plan, one of the most talked about journeys in American spaceflight will come to an end with a splashdown tomorrow evening somewhere off the coast of Florida.

Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore
Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore Photo: NASA
Crew 10 Rises To Orbit, On Its Way To ISS

Crew 10 Rises To Orbit, On Its Way To ISS

It was a good day to have a good day here in Florida, and that’s exactly what NASA, SpaceX and Crew-10 had today at Kennedy Space Center. Falcon 9 lifted off carrying three astronauts and one cosmonaut towards orbit and the International Space Station just as the sun was starting to set in the west. Some seven and a half minutes later, SpaceX booster B1090 completed its duty for the day by landing at LZ-1 in Cape Canaveral, 8.8 miles south of LC-39A.