Falcon 9 Archives - SlashGear

SpaceX successfully launches 60 new Starlink satellites with its 14th mission

Shane McGlaun | May 9, 2021

SpaceX has been placing satellites in orbit to grow its constellation of Starlink satellites for a while now, and the service is available in beta for users in many areas. Early Sunday morning, May 9, 2021, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket into orbit packed with 60 Starlink satellites. The launch went off without a hitch, and SpaceX successfully recovered the first stage rocket on its drone ship at sea.

Pressure vessel from exploding Falcon 9 winds up in a homeowners yard

Shane McGlaun | Apr 3, 2021

Last weekend we talked briefly about a SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage that had a problem in orbit and was unable to push itself back into the earth's atmosphere as planned. Eventually, the second stage of the rocket reentered the atmosphere but did so over the western United States rather than the ocean. Its reentry resulted in a spectacular light show in the skies over parts of Washington state. At the time, it was believed that most of the rocket burned up in the atmosphere, but some could've landed in the area of the US Canadian border in the Rocky Mountains.

SpaceX scrubs satellite launch attempt minutes before liftoff

Shane McGlaun | Jan 23, 2021

SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of 143 satellites aboard today. However, only a few minutes before the rocket was supposed to lift off, the launch was canceled. There was no problem with the rocket or the payload. The launch was scrubbed due to poor weather conditions at Cape Canaveral.

SpaceX will send IM/NASA ice drill to the moon

Chris Burns | Jan 14, 2021

Intuitive Machines (IM) has chosen SpaceX and the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket for its second moon mission. At present, both of the Intuitive Machines missions headed to the moon in the next three years will be launched by SpaceX. This will be the Intuitive Machines IM-2 Polar Mission, and will bring the IM Nova-C lander to the moon, where it'll deploy the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment (PRIME-1) drill by December 2022.

SpaceX outlines plan to catch Falcon Super Heavy booster for reuse

Shane McGlaun | Dec 31, 2020

One way SpaceX works to make placing satellites and other objects into orbit cheaper is by landing and reusing its Falcon 9 booster rockets. It has a long history of successfully landing the first stage boosters, both on land and on drone ships in the ocean. SpaceX is now outlining its plan to capture and reuse the Falcon Super Heavy booster that will be used to push Starship and larger payloads into space.

SpaceX successfully places GPS III satellite into orbit

Shane McGlaun | Nov 8, 2020

SpaceX has been forced to scrub some of its launches recently due to weather and other issues with equipment. On Thursday, November 5, at 6:24 PM EST, SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket placing the GPS III Space Vehicle 04 into orbit. The launch occurred at the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

SpaceX commercial crew mission delayed to investigate Falcon 9 engine issue

Shane McGlaun | Oct 11, 2020

NASA has announced that it has delayed the commercial crew mission slated for the first half of November to give SpaceX time to investigate an engine issue that happened during a recent Falcon 9 launch attempt. NASA announced the delay yesterday, October 10, only weeks ahead of the planned October 31 launch at Kennedy Space Center.