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2026 promises to be the most transformative year in American spaceflight since the Apollo era. From Artemis II astronauts circling the Moon to the first commercial space stations, here’s what’s coming.
Astrobotic has announced that its Griffin-1 lunar mission is now targeting July 2026, a shift that gives engineers time to complete propulsion integration and qualify the lander’s engines. Their update, published today, also outlines steady progress on systems from tanks to software as the company prepares to deliver multiple payloads to the Moon’s south-polar Nobile region.
With this news, any chance of a Falcon Heavy launch from Kennedy Space Center in 2025 is now kaput.
NASA and SpaceX began Europa Clipper’s journey to Jupiter and its moon Europa aboard a Falcon Heavy this afternoon from Kennedy Space Center. Launch was at 12:06 PM EDT under blue skies and pleasant temperatures.
In the sci-fi classic “2010: The Year We Make Contact”, a manned mission headed to Europa received an ominous warning from alien monoliths, “All these worlds are yours except Europa – attempt no landing there.“NASA is very likely hoping this bit of science fiction stays that way as they prepare to launch a new mission to explore Jupiter’s icy moon.
The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared SpaceX to resume Falcon 9 launches.
This Valentines Day, SpaceX is setting hearts aflutter with not one, but two rocket launches. The Falcon 9 rockets are scheduled to take off from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX is gearing up for another try at launching the delay-plagued Falcon Heavy X-37B mission.
The US Space Force said this morning that the Dec. 13th USSF-52 mission launch attempt aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy has again been scrubbed.
FMN Photos by Mark Stone and Charles Boyer
UPDATE #2 : The USSF-52 launch has now been pushed to Wednesday night, the 13th. Weather forecast is not good, so stay on top of this one! Starlink still on for tonight…for now.
UPDATE: after a disappointing “Double Scrub” on the 11th, both launches have been rescheduled for same times tonight, Dec. 12th. Weather for the Falcon Heavy is 80% “go”, and 65% “go” for the Starlink mission, according to the SLD-45 Weather Squadron’s latest forecast.
SpaceX said in a Tweet at 8:50 this morning that the Falcon Heavy Mission, USSF-52, will be delayed until tomorrow, Dec. 11th.
Are we in for a light show when Falcon Heavy launches? It’s quite possible!
