As 2024 came to a close, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket streaked into the pre-dawn skies over Florida’s Space Coast on Dec. 31 marking the 93rd liftoff of the year. It broke the record of 72 set the year before and shattered the mark of 57 in 2022. During the peak of NASA’s Gemini Program, the previous record was 33 launched in 1966 during the lead up to the Apollo lunar landing effort.
On Sept. 28, 2024, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia. Launching the Crew Dragon with two unoccupied seats is part of the agency’s decision to return the Boeing Crew Flight Test Starliner spacecraft uncrewed demonstrating the flexibility of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off on March 3, 2024, with three Americans and one Russian for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Ongoing research aboard the orbital laboratory is designed to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. What is learned in orbit also will help NASA prepare for long-term operations on and around the Moon and eventual exploration of Mars.
Four astronaut specialists, four space agencies, four nations launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for a long-term mission aboard the International Space Station. It’s an effort emblematic of America’s growing effort to involve global participation in space exploration. The Crew-7 commander is NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli. Joining her are European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov of Russia.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has launched another diverse crew of astronauts for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. The company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off into the pre-dawn sky from Launch Complex 39A at NASA‘s Kennedy Space Center on March 2, 2023. The Crew-6 mission includes two NASA astronauts: mission commander Stephen Bowen and pilot Woody Hoburg. They were joined by mission specialists Sultan Alneyadi of the United Arab Emirates and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev of Russia.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft lifted off with a multi-national group of specialists for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Ongoing research aboard the orbital laboratory is designed to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. What is learned in orbit will help NASA prepare for long-term operations on and around the Moon and eventual exploration of Mars.
Marianna Triplett was working at the Pentagon, continuing the effort to transfer millions of men and women back to civilian life after they served in the military during World War II. One day during 1948, a U.S. Army general called her into his office and said he wanted to transfer her to Florida to assist with a “hush-hush secret program.” The new effort building Cape Canaveral Space Force Station would lead to some of the most historic achievements of the decades to come.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3:52 a.m. EDT on the morning of April 27, 2022, boosting the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. NASA’s Crew-4 astronauts plan to spend six months conducting research to improve life on Earth. Their work also will aid agency preparations for exploration beyond Earth.
On Aug. 14, 2017, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft was launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It was a commercial resupply mission delivering supplies to the International Space Station. Four days later, the agency’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M lifted off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Well before the final Space Shuttle touched down in 2011, the burgeoning commercial space industry was expressing interest in expanding business pursuits in space. At the same time, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center found itself in a unique position. For over 30 years most of the center’s resources were dedicated for the expressed purpose of supporting the Space Shuttle Program. Now Kennedy was left with excess facilities and capacity with no program requirements or funding.