logo
Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, Axiom, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral

Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, Axiom, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral

Yahoo01-05-2025
During the first four months of the year, 36 orbital rockets took flight from Florida's Space Coast. That equates to a record-breaking pace that would erase last year's record of 93 annual liftoffs.
In fact? Space Force officials now project this year's final total may reach 107 launches.
Will a new record materialize? Stay tuned. The upcoming May launch schedule at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will feature an array of SpaceX Starlink missions and the SpaceX-Axiom Space Ax-4 crewed launch.
In the near future: NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 mission, United Launch Alliance's USSF-106 national security mission and Blue Origin's next New Glenn rocket liftoff.
Following are the latest missions coming up from the Cape. All launches are listed in Eastern Standard Time. But be aware: Dates and times routinely change for a wide variety of reasons.
For the latest mission updates and space news, visit floridatoday.com/space. For questions or comments, email FLORIDA TODAY Space Reporter Rick Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com.
Cape Canaveral: Rocket launches in Florida: Here's an updating list of all 2025 missions from Cape Canaveral
Mission: SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket and deploy 28 Starlink broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Launch window: 9:51 p.m. Thursday to 1:51 a.m. Friday
Location: Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Sonic booms: No.
Trajectory: Southeast.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Mission: SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket on another mission deploying Starlink broadband satellites, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows.
Launch window: 4:48 a.m. to 9:29 a.m.
Location: TBA.
Sonic booms: No.
Trajectory: Southeast.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Mission: SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket on another mission deploying Starlink broadband satellites, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warning indicates.
Launch window: 8:48 p.m. to 1:19 a.m. Tuesday.
Location: TBA.
Sonic booms: No.
Trajectory: TBA.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Mission: The Space Force's Space Systems Command will launch a GPS III satellite atop a Falcon 9 rocket — this mission was swapped out from a ULA Vulcan rocket.
Launch window: TBA.
Location: Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Trajectory: TBA.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts two hours before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Mission: Axiom Space's fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Launch: 1:03 p.m.
Location: Pad 39A.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts two hours before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Mission: NASA and SpaceX will team up to send four crew members for a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station.
Launch: TBA.
Location: TBA.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts two hours before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Mission: Equipped with four solid rocket boosters, ULA's third Vulcan rocket will take flight on the Space Force's USSF-106 national security mission into geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth.
Launch: TBA.
Location: Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Sonic booms: No.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts two hours before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Mission: Blue Origin will launch its powerhouse New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This first launch will send NASA's ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
Launch window: TBA.
Location: Launch Complex 36.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Mission: Sierra Space will launch its uncrewed Dream Chaser space plane atop a ULA Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Launch window: TBA.
Location: Launch Complex 41.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts two hours minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Rocket launch schedule: May missions from Cape Canaveral, Florida
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Scientists may have solved a chemistry mystery about Jupiter's ocean moon Europa
Scientists may have solved a chemistry mystery about Jupiter's ocean moon Europa

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Scientists may have solved a chemistry mystery about Jupiter's ocean moon Europa

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A long-standing mystery about the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on Jupiter's icy ocean moon Europa may be closer to being solved. Hydrogen peroxide forms as a byproduct when energetic particles break apart water molecules, leading to the recombination of OH radicals — highly reactive molecules with unpaired electrons. H2O2 was first observed on Europa by the Galileo Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, a scientific instrument aboard NASA's Galileo Jupiter orbiter that was designed to study the composition and surface features of the gas giant's moons and atmosphere using infrared light. Later, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) noticed elevated levels of hydrogen peroxide in unexpected areas on the Jovian satellite. Lab studies predicted that higher concentrations of hydrogen peroxide would be found in Europa's colder polar regions — but JWST observations showed the opposite, detecting higher levels in the moon's warmer equatorial regions. These areas, known as chaos terrains, are marked by broken blocks of surface ice that appear to have shifted, drifted and refrozen. "Europa's peroxide distribution does not follow the temperature dependence predicted for pure water ice," wrote the team in their paper. Lab studies consistently show that colder ice has more H2O2, while warmer ice has less. In a new study, scientists report that they have noticed higher levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the chaos terrains alongside elevated levels of H2O2. This is probably the result of CO2 escaping Europa's subsurface ocean through cracks in the ice, the researchers say. The team therefore wondered if the presence of CO2 might be changing the ice's chemistry. "Could the presence of CO2 drive the enhanced peroxide production in Europa's chaos regions, signaling a surface composition more conducive to the formation of this radiolytic oxidant?" they wrote in their paper. "Supporting this hypothesis are preliminary experiments on irradiated H2O-CO2 ice mixtures that show increased H2O2 yields compared to pure water ice." To find a definitive answer, they "simulated the surface environment of Europa inside a vacuum chamber by depositing water ice mixed with CO2," Bereket Mamo, a graduate student at The University of Texas at San Antonio and a contractor with the Southwest Research Institute, said in a statement. "We then irradiated this ice mixture with energetic electrons to see how the peroxide production changed." The experiment confirmed what the team had suspected: Even small amounts of CO2 in water ice can greatly boost hydrogen peroxide production at temperatures similar to those on Europa's surface, helping to explain the unexpected JWST observations. This occurs because CO2 molecules behave as "molecular scavengers," grabbing hold of any stray electrons produced when radiation hits the water ice. By capturing these electrons, the CO2 helps protect hydrogen peroxide from being broken apart by further impacts or reactions. Related Stories: — Europa: A guide to Jupiter's icy ocean moon — 'Chaos' reigns beneath the ice of Jupiter moon Europa, James Webb Space Telescope reveals — Europa Clipper: A complete guide to NASA's astrobiology mission "Synthesis of oxidants like hydrogen peroxide on Europa's surface is important from an astrobiological point of view," said study co-author Richard Cartwright, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "In fact, an entire NASA mission, the Europa Clipper, is en route to the Jovian system right now to explore the icy moon and help us understand Europa's habitability. "Our experiments provide clues to better understand JWST Europa observations and serve as a prelude to upcoming close-range investigations by Europa Clipper and ESA's [the European Space Agency] JUICE spacecraft," Cartwright added. The new study was published in the Planetary Science Journal on Monday (July 21). Solve the daily Crossword

SpaceX launches 24 satellites to polar areas to boost internet access
SpaceX launches 24 satellites to polar areas to boost internet access

UPI

time2 hours ago

  • UPI

SpaceX launches 24 satellites to polar areas to boost internet access

1 of 2 | SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc, Calif. Photo courtesy of SpaceX July 27 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday night from Vandenberg Space Force Base near Lompoc, Calif. The mission put 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. It will deploy the satellites into a polar orbit to boost internet service in polar regions. The Starlink 17-2 mission launched from Space Launch Complex 4 East at 9:31 p.m. PDT. The Falcon 9 ship with tail number B1075 took its 19th trip to space, including 16 Starlink missions. About 8 1/2 minutes after liftoff, the ship landed on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You," in the Pacific Ocean. It was the 142nd landing for this vessel and the 481st booster landing for SpaceX. There are more than 8,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, according to astronomer Jonathan McDowell. On Thursday, Starlink users reported a rare full network outage of internet service. It began at 4 p.m. About 2 1/2 hours later, SpaceX announced most service had been restored. Then, 1 1/2 hours later, full service was back, Starlink reported.

SpaceX is getting into the cosmic manufacturing business
SpaceX is getting into the cosmic manufacturing business

The Hill

time3 hours ago

  • The Hill

SpaceX is getting into the cosmic manufacturing business

Having revolutionized the space launch system and space-based telecommunications, SpaceX has fixed on a new industry to conquer. Elon Musk's company is developing a business called Starfall which will facilitate space-based manufacturing. SpaceX's approach is something of a departure from other companies such as Vast and Axiom which envision private space stations serviced by spacecraft such as the Crew Dragon. The Starship would take a number of capsules outfitted as miniature labs or factories to low Earth orbit. After a period of research into high valued products such as pharmaceuticals or computer chips or their outright manufacture, the capsules would return to Earth independently. SpaceX is already in talks with potential customers for Starfall. The company envisions the new business beginning at the end of the current decade. A recent piece in Forbes has an excellent rundown about the state of play in regards to space manufacturing. Experiments on the International Space Station by companies such as Merck and Redwire have shown the promise of products that use the unique properties of the space environment, including microgravity, hard vacuum and even radiation is very real. The question is, when will the promise become reality: decades from now, or sooner? The author of the Forbes article thinks that a space manufacturing sector is decades away, say in the time of our grandchildren. A number of companies building private space stations are betting that the time will come much sooner, perhaps as early as the 2030s. What kind of products might be created in space that can't be manufactured on Earth? Redwire, a space manufacturing and infrastructure company first founded in 2020 and most famous for deploying a 3D printer on the International Space Station, has a few ideas. Pharmaceuticals, particularly in regards to 'uniform crystal production and formulation' important for developing new drugs. Tissue bioprinting, which could lead to the production of transplantable organs derived from a patient's stem cells. Manufactured products, including fiber optics, laser components and turbomachine parts. The timing of the Starfall business is interesting in that the International Space Station is scheduled to end its operational life by 2030. Companies like Redwire will be able to switch over to the SpaceX-derived business seamlessly to continue their research and perhaps start making things for paying customers. Starfall will have several competitors in the space manufacturing game. Vast Aerospace is likely to be the first out the gate with its Haven-1 space station, a small-scale facility capable of hosting four astronauts for 30-day stays. Haven-1's launch has been pushed back to May 2026. Haven-1 could be followed by Haven-2, a much larger facility to be built between 2028 and 2032. Axiom Space is planning a space station, starting no earlier than 2027 with construction to conclude in the early 2030s. Axion has already mounted four private space missions to the International Space Station. Orbital Reef is a joint venture between Blue Origin and Sierra Space. The facility is not only designed to facilitate research and space manufacturing, but tourism as well. Operations may begin in 2027 or later. Starlab is a commercial space station envisioned by Starlab Space and is planned for launch no earlier than 2028. It will consist of a service module and a habitat/laboratory module. Starlab will specifically not cater to the space tourism market. It should be noted that however each of these and perhaps other commercial space stations come to fruition, SpaceX is likely to make money on them, as well. The company currently possesses the only commercial means to send people to and from low Earth orbit in the form of the Crew Dragon. NASA and Boeing are trying to fix the problems with the Starliner, a long, difficult and expensive process. How fast the process of space-based manufacturing proceeds is an open question. Blue Origin's Jeff Bezos dreams of a time in which all heavy industry moves off planet, leaving Earth relatively free of pollution and human-caused climate change. That development, if it happens at all, is likely to take many decades if not centuries. SpaceX was at the center of the first two commercial space industries, space launch with its Falcon family of rockets and telecommunications with its Starlink system. Whether the company decides to build its own space station based on the Starship or just stick with Starfall, it is likely to also be at the center of the next great space commercial development, the manufacture of products in low Earth orbit. No wonder Musk is the richest man on the planet.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store