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CLEVELAND — For weeks, as their play-in fate became as much of a reality as that of the Cavaliers being the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, all the Miami Heat wanted was an opportunity to get to Cleveland.

Now the question is whether they can get back.

Far more competitive than in Sunday night’s opener of this best-of-seven Eastern Conference opening-round series, the Heat this time fought to the finish in a 121-112 loss Wednesday night to the Cavaliers at Rocket Arena.

Still, the Heat only make it back to the shores of Lake Erie for a Game 5 next Wednesday if they win one of the next two games at Kaseya Center.

“Now we just have to figure out how to get it over the top,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s going to take more. It’s going to take us collectively digging deeper.”

With the Cavaliers setting an NBA record with 11 3-pointers in the second period and the Heat initially unable to get any offensive consistency beyond what would turn into the 33 points of Tyler Herro, it seemed like more of the same for  Spoelstra’s team as in Sunday night’s 121-100 series-opening loss.

But then the fight returned, just as it did during the play-in round.

This time, though, too little, too late.

The Heat also got 18 points from Davion Mitchell and 17 from Haywood Highsmith, but not nearly the needed offense from Bam Adebayo, who finished with 11 points, albeit also with 14 rebounds and nine assists.

For the Cavaliers, whose offense again was aided by Heat turnovers, there was ample scoring diversity, led by the 30 points of Donovan Mitchell.

Game 3 is 1 p.m. Saturday at Kaseya Center, with Game 4 on Monday night at Kaseya Center, at either 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., depending on if Grizzlies-Thunder is a sweep.

“We’ll get to work,” Spoelstra said. “We have a couple of days and we’ve just got to figure it out.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Wednesday night’s game:

1. Game flow: The Heat raced to an early nine-point lead before the Cavaliers surged back to a 25-24 lead at the end of the opening period. From there, the Cavaliers converted a volley of 3-pointers to move to a 19-point second-period lead before going into halftime up 68-51.

The Cavaliers’ 43 points in the second quarter were their high for any quarter in a playoff game since scoring 49 against the Golden State Warriors in the first quarter on June 9, 2017 in the NBA Finals, when LeBron James still was with the team.

The Cavaliers’ 11 second-quarter 3-pointers were an NBA record for 3-pointers in a playoff period.

“There were four of those that we defended really well and we closed out and we contested, and they made those,” Spoelstra said of those 11 3-pointers. “I think those last four, we were discouraged.

“This team, they can make shots.”

But from there, including down 19 late in the third, the Heat then closed within 93-80 going into the fourth.

2. Closing time:  A Highsmith 3-pointer then drew the Heat within 99-91 with 7:29 to play, similar to the Heat’s feistiness early in Sunday’s fourth quarter, with a Mitchell 3-pointer drawing the Heat within 101-97 with 5:47 left.

“We had more consecutive stops,” Spoelstra said, “and for us that creates momentum.”

Later, a Herro transition layup drew the Heat within 101-99 with 4:25 to play. The Heat then also got within two with 3:11 to play on a Herro jumper.

“It doesn’t ever matter how you get there,” Spoelstra said. “At the end of the day it’s a two-point game and we had our opportunities.”

But a Donovan Mitchell 3-pointer later put Cleveland up 110-103 with 1:52 to play, providing too much of a late hurdle.

“Just getting stops down the stretch that was the deciding factor,” Adebayo said of the Heat’s comeback. “That was what brought us getting close to almost getting this win.”

Andrew Wiggins, who endured a miserable 10-point, one-rebound game, did not play in the fourth quarter.

“I thought about it, actually put him at the scorers’ table to with six to go,” Spoelstra said, “and everybody in the group wanted to push on through.”

3. Doing his part: Herro was up to a game-high 15 points at halftime, a stage when no other Heat starter had more than five.

Herro then moved to 22 points with 8;04 left in the third period, when he converted his fourth 3-pointer, at a stage no teammate had more than nine points.

He stood with 27 points through three periods, with no other starter with more than Wiggins’ 10 at that stage.

“Tyler was really good,” Spoelstra said.

But Herro said still more is needed.

“We lost the game,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any moral victories. But you can take some positives from this and try to carry it over to Game 3.”

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4. New look: After downplaying potential major adjustments during his pregame media session, Spoelstra did just that with his lineup.

After starting Alec Burks in both play-in wins last week and Sunday’s opener of this series, Spoelstra this time turned to Mitchell in a starting lineup that also included Herro, Adebayo, Wiggins and Kel’el Ware, who was a non-factor, closing with seven points and four rebounds.

The Heat entered 2-6 with that lineup, one that saw action amid the Heat’s late-season 10-game losing streak.

“Wanted to be able to organize ourselves offensively a little bit better at the start, with Tyler off the ball,” Spoelstra said of starting Mitchell.

Rotation tinkering was almost immediately required, with Mitchell and Wiggins each called for two first-quarter fouls.

Mitchell then came alive late, just as he did in Sunday night’s fourth quarter.

He said he was not surprised by the start.

“He’s trusted me all season,” Mitchell said of Spoelstra. “Even if he didn’t start me, he played me starter’s minutes.”

5. Larsson, Jovic, too: Among those injected into the Heat rotation were rookie guard Pelle Larsson and third-year forward Nikola Jovic, their first postseason action of substance.

Larsson entered in the first Heat substitution in the first quarter. Jovic entered midway through the second period.

While Larsson was limited in his minutes and contribution, Jovic’s size and ballhandling proved unexpectedly effective.

Larsson had been out of the rotation since spraining his right ankle during a lifting session 90 minutes before the play-in opening victory over the Chicago Bulls last week.

Jovic had not played rotation minutes since breaking his right hand in the Feb. 23 road loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, with this his second game back.

Jovic closed with 11 points and eight rebounds, Larsson with two points and two rebounds.

“Niko gave us a real big boost offensively,” Spoelstra said. “We just look different when he’s on the floor.”

General Assembly Targets Nursing Home Inspection Backlog  Conduit Street Blog

Today is Wednesday, April 23, the 113th day of 2025. There are 252 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 23, 1971, hundreds of Vietnam War veterans opposed to the conflict protested by tossing their medals and ribbons over a wire fence constructed in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Also on this date:

In 1635, the Boston Latin School, the first public school in what would become the United States, was established.

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In 1898, Spain declared war on the United States, which responded in kind two days later.

In 1940, over 200 people trapped inside a dance hall died in the Rhythm Club Fire in Natchez, Mississippi, one of the deadliest nightclub fires in U.S. history.

In 1988, a federal ban on smoking during domestic airline flights of two hours or less (accounting for 80% of all U.S. flights) went into effect.

In 1993, labor leader Cesar Chavez died in San Luis, Arizona, at age 66.

In 2005, the recently created video-sharing website YouTube uploaded its first clip, “Me at the Zoo,” which showed YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo.

In 2007, Boris Yeltsin, Russia’s first popularly elected president, died in Moscow at age 76.

In 2018, a man plowed a rental van into crowds of pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10 people and leaving 16 others hurt. (Alek Minassian was later convicted of 10 counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison.)

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Lee Majors is 86.
• Actor Blair Brown is 79.
• Actor Joyce DeWitt is 76.
• Filmmaker-author Michael Moore is 71.
• Actor Judy Davis is 70.
• Actor Valerie Bertinelli is 65.
• Actor-comedian George Lopez is 64.
• Actor Melina Kanakaredes (kah-nah-kah-REE’-deez) is 58.
• Actor-wrestler John Cena is 48.
• Retired MLB All-Star Andruw Jones is 48.
• Comedian-TV host John Oliver is 48.
• Actor Kal Penn is 48.
• Actor-model Jaime King is 46.
• Singer Taio Cruz is 45.
• Actor Dev Patel is 35.
• Model Gigi Hadid is 30.
• Olympic snowboarding gold medalist Chloe Kim is 25.
• Prince Louis of Wales is 7.

Finally, accompanied again by his dangling mouthpiece, he shuffled the puck back and forth in front of Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, as if performing hockey’s version of the three-card Monte.

He acted in so doing like he had all the time in the world — like he’d waited more than two months for this moment and wasn’t going to rush putting the puck through Vasilevskiy’s legs into the net.

Welcome back, Matthew Tkachuk.

Welcome back, playoff hockey.

Good to see you defending Stanley Cup champs, too, as the Florida Panthers brushed aside any health concerns or recent trends by drubbing the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of this first-round series, 6-2.

“It was just nice to be out there again,” said Tkachuk, who had two goals and an assist after only being cleared to play before the game. “Been missing it again the past two months. Just terrible, not being able to play. Didn’t know if this was possible so I’m very grateful.”

It was all back in a big way Tuesday for everyone to see. The full Panthers arsenal. The playoff intensity. There was the opportunism as Sam Bennett bunted in the first goal, and the depth as Nate Schmidt scored two goals.

There was the physicality as Carter Verhaeghe knocked Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak temporarily out of the game, and the moments where goalie Sergei Bobrovsky changed the night like his early stop on Tampa’s Brandon Hagel.

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Finally, there was Tkachuk on the ice again. Looking the same as always. The energy. The smarts. The night couldn’t have been scripted any better with his two goals and the easy win meaning he only played 11 minutes and 43 seconds (and Bennett only 11:50) to not over-tax his body.

Tkachuk hadn’t played in a Panthers game since Feb. 8 due to his groin injury suffered while playing for the U.S. team in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. It wasn’t certain he’d be ready Tuesday considering he hadn’t practiced hard until the last few days.

How would he play, too?

Could he return after months away and be his normally abnormal self?

The Panthers aren’t the Panthers without him. Not really. It’s not just the tangible stuff like how they were 31-19-2 and average 3.3 goals with him this season and 16-12-2 and averaged 2.5 goals without him.

Those numbers are why when coach Paul Maurice had a simple answer at season’s end when asked why the Panthers averaged the fewest goals in the league since the  4 Nations Face-Off.

Tkachuk, he said, was, “worth about a goal a game.”

Finally, they had him back in the lineup, too. It took Tkachuk half a period to remind everyone what he brought. He sent the NHL’s top scorer, Nikita Kucherov, a did-you-miss-me message with a loud hit and took a roughing penalty in the process.

If it wasn’t a flagrant penalty as roughing goes, it also wasn’t the optimal way to announce his return. Tampa’s fifth-ranked power play used that penalty to tie the game, 1-1.

It was as close as the night got. Sam Reinhart tipped in a shot to make it, 2-1, in the first period. Then Schmidt scored his first goal and, as if on cue, Tkachuk put his by Vasilevskiy just 14 seconds later.

Later in the second period, there was Tkachuk again taking an odd-angle shot that ba-da-binged off a skate or two into the net. You want style points, go to the Olympics.

That’s what he is for us,” Maurice said. “He’s got an incredible set of hands, got an incredible gift for the emotional needs of a game, when you need a hit, when you need a big play. He’s been great for us.

You want efficiency, watch what the Panthers did in Game 1. They got those six goals on 16 shots. Vasilevskiy was second in goalie wins and fourth in save percentage in the NHL this season, too.

Not Tuesday. Not in Game 1. The Panthers are 8-1 when winning the first game of playoff series. For that matter, Tampa Bay is 13-3 when winning the first game of series, too.

So, no one was discounting Tuesday’s win. The question now is if the Panthers are as greedy as a year ago on their Stanley Cup run. They didn’t just win games. They went on three-game win streaks in each of their four playoff series.

Can they repeat that on their way to a repeat?

No need to get ahead of anything. What mattered Tuesday night was Tkachuk was back for the Panthers, and the Panthers looked back to making a strong defense of their title.

Welcome back, playoff hockey.

TAMPA — Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk had been sidelined since the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament in February. He missed Florida’s final 25 games of the regular season.

But the star of the Panthers’ Stanley Cup title run last year returned to the ice Tuesday night and wasted no time getting back into the action, scoring twice in Florida’s 6-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the first round at Amalie Arena.

“The main thing was just being back and being back with the guys and being able to compete with them and just being around them again,” Tkachuk said. “It’s been a long two months. Some good days, some bad days. So many highs and lows. I’ve just got a ton of people to thank for getting me to this point, and it was nice to play out there for them, too. It was just great to be back out with the guys.

Tkachuk’s first goal was the second in quick succession in the second period. The Panthers entered the period up 2-1, and defenseman Nate Schmidt extended the lead to 3-1 when he cleaned up a rebound and put it in the back of the net.

The Lightning challenged the goal for goaltender interference, but Schmidt’s score stood. The Panthers earned a power play for the failed challenge, and Tkachuk made Tampa Bay pay with a power-play goal 14 seconds later.

The Lightning entered the postseason with the NHL’s top offense, but it was the Panthers who got a flurry of goals in the series opener. Florida got on the board first, as rookie Mackie Samoskevich found Sam Bennett in front of Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, and the second-line center re-directed the puck in mid-air past the veteran Lightning goaltender for the first goal of the playoffs.

Tampa Bay struck back later in the first period. Tkachuk took a penalty for roughing, and near the end of the power play, Lightning forward Jake Guentzel corralled a rebound right next to the net and snuck it past Sergei Bobrovsky’s foot to tie the game with 7:39 left in the first period.

Sam Reinhart, who scored the winning goal in Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final, put the Panthers back ahead. Reinhart deflected a shot from Dmitry Kulikov into the net in the final minute of the first quarter.

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• Panthers hold off on Matthew Tkachuk decision on eve of Game 1
• Despite winning Stanley Cup, Panthers still hungry for title repeat

After Schmidt and Tkachuk gave the Panthers some breathing room, the scoring barrage continued with Tkachuk’s second power-play goal 9:44 into the second period, putting Florida up 5-1 about 30 minutes into the game.

“(Tkachuk is) not really a guy you can put a label on, right?” Schmidt said. “Because he’s such a unicorn of a player.”

Tampa Bay got a goal back with a second-period goal by Brayden Point, but Schmidt scored his second of the game on a third-period power play that extended the Panthers’ lead back to four on the team’s third power-play goal of the night.

Although the Panthers got a resounding victory in Game 1, Maurice cautioned about reading too much into the win.

“I don’t mean to be a downer here, but (I am) not a huge believer in momentum,” Maurice said. “Really not. Puck drops — that’s your opportunity to change momentum. That’s going to happen at the opening face-off. Both teams will look at the game and find things they can do better. Some would be just special teams. But there isn’t an established identity to the series yet. … It’ll be a complete reset by both teams for the next one.”

By ALANIS THAMES

MIAMI — Agustín Ramírez walked, doubled twice and singled in his second major league game to help the Miami Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Ramírez went 2 for 3 in his MLB debut on Monday, and his five hits are the most in the first two MLB games by a Marlins player.

Xavier Edwards singled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh — a two-out dribbler to Reds reliever Graham Ashcraft. A throwing error by Ashcraft (0-2) allowed Otto Lopez to score from second.

The Marlins won their third straight game and will go for the series sweep of the Reds on Wednesday.

Lake Bachar (1-0) picked up his first major league win after striking out two in a scoreless seventh. Calvin Faucher pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.

TJ Friedl singled and had a run-scoring double for the Reds, who fell to 2-5 in one-run games.

Reds starter Nick Martinez allowed one run and struck out four in 5 1/3 innings. Marlins starter Edward Cabrera gave up three runs and struck out seven in five innings.

Cincinnati’s Noelvi Marte hit his second homer of the season, a 431-foot solo shot off Cabrera, in the third.

Key moment

Martinez was relieved by Ashcraft in the sixth after giving up a two-out infield singled to Eric Wagaman, followed by Ramírez’s run-scoring double to make it 3-2.

Key stat

With the win, the Marlins improved to 8-7 at home and 11-12 overall. Miami didn’t win its 10th game of the season until May 5 last year.

Up next

Reds RHP Brady Singer (3-0, 3.38) will start the final game of the series against Marlins RHP Sandy Alcantara (2-1, 7.27) on Wednesday afternoon.

TAMPA — The Florida Panthers have been without their biggest star for months, but he is returning at just the right moment.

Winger Matthew Tkachuk, who has been sidelined with a lower-body injury since the 4 Nations Face Off in February, played in Game 1 of Florida’s first-round playoff series against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. The Panthers activated him from the long-term injured reserve before the game, and he was listed on the league’s online roster report. He warmed up with the team before the game.

“We can’t wait to see him back,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said last week. “He’s a special, special player and special man.”

Tkachuk was a star during the Panthers’ run to the Stanley Cup last year, and he was a key contributor before his injury this season.

Although he missed the final 25 games of the regular season, he still ended the season with 22 goals, 35 assists and 57 points.

Tkachuk has been a crucial player during Florida’s past two playoff runs. He has 46 postseason points with the Panthers, which is third in franchise history. His 17 playoff goals are fourth in franchise history, and his 29 postseason assists are second in franchise history.

“Matthew’s strength, the obvious is his hands, but his emotional understanding of the game, when the team needs a bark, when it needs a funny line, when it needs a hit,” coach Paul Maurice said. “Whatever it needs, he has a great understanding. He just rarely makes a mistake on that. He can sense the game incredibly well, and those guys are very, very valuable on the road.”

The man everyone is waiting for. pic.twitter.com/CR60rWUuHa

— Adam Lichtenstein (@ABLichtenstein) April 23, 2025

General Daily Insight for April 23, 2025

Insecurities are ready for release! The emotional Moon first enters free-flowing Pisces, helping us embrace our intuitive and imaginative sides. This energy also encourages emotional bonding with others. Luna aligns with the confident Sun to boost our inner security as well, helping us trust ourselves more deeply. However, the Sun then clashes with intense Pluto at 1:10 am EDT, testing our newfound confidence and determination to create a better future. Stay firm in your desire for improvement, both personally and for everyone around you.

Aries

March 21 – April 19

You’re trying to trust the right people. While there are those around you who want the best for you, they may not always show up when needed due to inconsistency or unclear communication. They might not let you know when they can’t follow through — or may be unprepared when they do. Although it could be uncomfortable, it’s important to communicate your specific expectations and the consequences if they can’t deliver. Be honest about what you need from them to avoid misunderstandings.

Taurus

April 20 – May 20

Leadership may be testing your strength. You might feel ready for anything, but someone in a position of authority could push you beyond your known limits with a project or responsibility. This is an opportunity to show your growth and willingness to challenge yourself! Avoid shying away from new responsibilities, even if they seem unfamiliar. Embracing these challenges now will help you in the long run and demonstrate your potential. Don’t be afraid to step up, even if it feels overwhelming at first.

Gemini

May 21 – June 20

Your intuition for leadership is strong. You may instinctively know what the group needs to create harmony, even if they don’t understand it yet. This doesn’t mean you need to control or boss others around, but you can lead by example. Helping everyone reach a positive conclusion today can earn you their confidence and boost your confidence. Tapping into your inner leader will not only make the present situation better, but can open doors to future leadership opportunities. Be the guide they need.

Cancer

June 21 – July 22

People around you may be acting in intense ways. There could be those engaging in deep conversations, obsessive desires, or emotional investigations, which are all draining in their own ways. While such self-expression can be cathartic, it may need to be reined in at times. It’s okay to set boundaries, even if others are pushing you to share or engage more than you’re comfortable with. Trust your instincts and protect your emotional well-being by honoring your need for space and distance when necessary.

Leo

July 23 – August 22

You may feel like you’re going against the grain today. The people around you might want to go in one direction, while you’re drawn to a different path, potentially leaving you as the odd one out. Although it may feel isolating, sometimes you need to let others take the lead — especially if their choices don’t push past anyone’s boundaries (including yours, of course). Stay open-minded and consider their perspective for the time being. Save your ideas for a future meet-up.

Virgo

August 23 – September 22

Consistent self-betterment might be starting to pay off. Others may comment on any noticeable positive changes, but you could still feel as though you haven’t reached your ideal goal or achieved everything you want. While it’s understandable to feel this way, remember that you’re on the right path. Small victories should still be celebrated for the progress they represent, even when your end goal is incomplete. Rome wasn’t built in a day — keep moving forward, knowing that you’re growing at your own pace.

Libra

September 23 – October 22

Your imagination can transform dull tasks into something much more fun. You might find ways to gamify chores by setting up rewards for completing them or turning them into a competition between those around you. When you make work feel more like play, you can avoid procrastination and make quicker progress. Finding creative ways to approach tasks will help you stay engaged and accomplish more than you expected. Lean into fun and see how much easier things become when you take a lighthearted approach.

Scorpio

October 23 – November 21

You may feel torn between two directions at present. People from your past could encourage you to stay on a familiar path, while new connections are urging you to try something completely different. The old path probably feels safe, but it could lead to stagnation. On the other hand, the updated path comes with unfamiliar risks, but offers growth and fresh experiences. You’re capable of carving a way forward. You don’t have to follow either of their suggestions — forge your own path instead.

Sagittarius

November 22 – December 21

You’re making your home a place you want to be. Lately, you might have been avoiding home in favor of going out or working, which has left your living space cluttered or unorganized. Make a point of carving out time to rearrange things until they’re more welcoming. This doesn’t just need to be a place where you sleep — it should be somewhere that brings you comfort and peace. Creating an environment you love will make everything else that much easier to handle.

Capricorn

December 22 – January 19

The words of others can encourage you to continue pursuing something new. Whether it’s a hobby you’ve had for ages or a project you’ve recently taken up, people in your life are noticing your passion and talent. While their feedback motivates you, it may also bring some worries about whether your next efforts will be as well-received. Instead of spiraling about future outcomes, continue to do what you love. Staying true to yourself is the best path forward, regardless of external validation.

Aquarius

January 20 – February 18

You’re learning to trust yourself the way you once trusted someone else. When you look up to someone, acting without their influence or advice could seem terrifying. No matter what, though, you’ve got to live your life as you want to live it. You are on the right path for you, not anyone else. Even if you aren’t as successful as others, you’re moving in that direction. Have confidence in your abilities! You can follow in their footsteps while moving with your unique style.

Pisces

February 19 – March 20

Let your love for others flow freely! As you build faith in yourself, you’ll find that you’re able to express your love through actions, whether it’s helping others or contributing to a cause you care about. You may have hesitated in the past, believing your efforts wouldn’t make a difference, but now you see that every little bit counts. Big or small, your contribution matters. Nourish your soul and support others simultaneously by looking for a way to give back.

TALLAHASSEE — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has filed a lawsuit alleging that the operator of Snapchat is violating a high-profile 2024 law aimed at keeping children off some social-media platforms.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Santa Rosa County circuit court, came after a federal judge last month rejected a request by tech-industry groups for an injunction to block the law. In a federal-court filing Monday, attorneys for the state said Uthmeier “expects that additional investigations and enforcement actions will commence soon.”

The law (HB 3) seeks to prevent children under age 16 from opening social-media accounts on platforms that meet certain criteria — though it would allow parents to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts. Children under 14 could not open accounts.

Supporters of the law have said it targets addictive features of social-media platforms — a key argument in the lawsuit that Uthmeier filed Monday against Snap Inc., which operates Snapchat.

“Despite being subject to HB 3, Snap contracts with and provides accounts to Florida users who it knows are younger than 14,” the lawsuit said. “It also fails to seek parental consent before contracting with and providing accounts to Florida users who it knows are 14 or 15 years old. Snap is openly and knowingly violating HB 3, and each violation constitutes an unfair and deceptive trade practice under FDUTPA (a state law known as the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act).”

The social-media law, which was one of the biggest issues of the 2024 legislative session, did not name platforms that would be affected but included a definition of such platforms, with criteria related to such things as algorithms, addictive features and allowing users to view the content or activities of other users.

The tech-industry groups NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association filed a federal lawsuit last year alleging the law violates First Amendment rights. The groups have said in a federal-court filing that it could affect Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, all of which are members of at least one of the groups.

The lawsuit filed Monday in Santa Rosa County alleges that Snapchat meets criteria, such as having addictive features, that make it subject to the age restrictions in the law. For example, the lawsuit said Snapchat uses “push notifications” that appear on users’ phone screens when they are not using the platform.

“Push notifications exploit users’ natural tendency to seek and attend to environmental feedback, serving as distractors that monopolize attention,” the lawsuit said. “Young users are especially sensitive to these triggers and less able to control their response and resist reopening the app. Snapchat sends push notifications to users, regardless of age, frequently and at all hours of the day and night.”

As another example, the lawsuit pointed to Snapchat messages disappearing after certain amounts of time.

“The disappearing nature of Snapchat content contributes to the app’s harm to young people,” the lawsuit said. “This aspect of Snapchat encourages users to open the app and keep coming back to it constantly, and it preys on minor users who are especially sensitive to a fear of missing content.”

The lawsuit seeks an order to stop Snapchat’s alleged violations of the law and penalties up to $50,000 for each violation.

After the industry groups filed the federal-court challenge last year, the state agreed to delay enforcing the law until Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled on the groups’ request for a preliminary injunction. Walker on March 13 turned down the injunction request, saying the groups had not shown they had legal standing to challenge the law.

The groups filed a revised version of the challenge March 28 and are again seeking a preliminary injunction.

“While states certainly have a legitimate interest in protecting minors who use such services, restricting the ability of minors (and adults) to access them altogether is not a narrowly tailored means of advancing any such interest,” the groups’ attorneys argued in one court document. “In a nation that values the First Amendment, the preferred response is to let parents decide what speech and mediums their minor children may access — including by utilizing the many available tools to monitor their activities on the internet. Like similar laws that have preceded it, HB 3 violates the First Amendment.”

The state’s federal-court filing Monday said Uthmeier notified the groups after Walker’s March 13 injunction ruling that he could move forward with enforcement of the law.

By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s border czar joined New York City’s mayor on Tuesday to tout new federal charges against 27 people accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members and associates.

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The joint announcement is the latest example of the close ties between Mayor Eric Adams and the Trump administration, which recently dropped federal corruption charges against the Democrat so he could better focus on the Republican president’s immigration priorities. Adams is now running for reelection as an independent.

Trump, in his nationwide immigration crackdown, has labeled Tren de Aragua an invading force as he invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a little-used authority from 1798 that allows the president to deport any noncitizen during wartime.

“Every member of TDA should be on the run,” declared Thomas Homan, Trump’s border czar, referring to the initials of the gang, which originated in Venezuela more than a decade ago and has been linked to a series of kidnappings, extortion and other crimes throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Adams’ administration recently announced that it would let federal immigration officials operate at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex — and Homan used the news briefing to take a swipe at a City Council lawsuit seeking to stop the plan.

“This is what collaboration looks like,” he said. “I never asked the city or the NYPD to be immigration officers. I asked them to work with us on significant public safety threats and national security threats, and that’s what we’re committed to doing.”

A New York judge ordered city officials on Monday to temporarily halt the plan, which would let Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies establish offices at the massive lockup, until an April 25 hearing on the suit.

Adams said Tuesday’s announcement showed he remains “unapologetic” in his desire to rid the city’s streets of violent immigrant gangs.

“The question that we must answer is whose side are you on?” the Democrat said. “Are you on the side of those who are carrying these illegal guns, wreaking havoc, sex trafficking, harming innocent people regardless of their documentation, or are you on the side of hardworking New Yorkers and Americans? I’m clear on which side I’m on.”

Manhattan prosecutors say the case is the first to bring federal racketeering charges, which were famously used to bring down the Mafia, against the Venezuelan street gang. The more than two dozen accused also face charges including sex trafficking, drug trafficking, robbery, and firearms possession.

Prosecutors said those arrested smuggled young women from Venezuela into Peru and the U.S. The women, who they referred to as “multadas,” paid off their debts through prostitution and were threatened with violence and death.

The gang members also committed armed robberies and smuggled illegal drugs, including a substance called “tusi” that contains ketamine, prosecutors said.

Of the 27 charged, 21 are in custody, including five arrested Monday and Tuesday in operations in New York and elsewhere, they said. Six others remain at large.

The charges are broken out into two separate indictments, one for six alleged members of Tren de Aragua and the other charging 19 alleged members of “Anti-Tren,” a splinter faction made up of former Tren members.

Among those named in Tuesday’s indictment was Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, who was among those arrested back in January in the Bronx during some of the Trump administration’s first efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement in the city.

Authorities say the 26-year-old was part of a group of heavily armed men seen in a now-viral video forcing their way into an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, raising fears that Tren de Aragua was in control of the rundown complex in the Denver suburbs.

Zambrano-Pacheco’s lawyer didn’t immediately comment Tuesday.

FILE – New York City Mayor Eric Adams appears before a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.,File)

Adams rejected the notion that many of those apprehended by immigration and law enforcement officials in recent months are otherwise law-abiding people.

“The American dream is not armed robbery. The American dream is not discharging guns. The American dream is not shooting at police officers. The American dream is not going into homeless shelters and taking the documentation from innocent people and forcing them into sex trafficking,” he said. “That’s not the American dream, and we’re not going to be a safe harbor for criminals.”

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

By JACQUES BILLEAUD

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona jury has found Lori Vallow Daybell guilty of conspiring to murder her estranged husband, meaning the mother with doomsday religious beliefs faces another life sentence after she was already convicted in Idaho in the killings of her two youngest children and a romantic rival.

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Prosecutors said she conspired with her brother, Alex Cox, in the July 2019 shooting death of Charles Vallow at her home in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler.

She was trying to collect money from his life insurance policy, prosecutors said, and planned to marry her then-boyfriend Chad Daybell, an Idaho author who wrote several religious novels about prophecies and the end of the world.

Jurors deliberated for a total of three hours over two days. Vallow Daybell, who isn’t an attorney but chose to defend herself at trial, sat mostly still as the verdict was read but glanced occasionally at jurors as they were asked to confirm they found her guilty on the single charge.

One of the jurors, Victoria Lewis, told reporters outside the courthouse that Vallow Daybell didn’t do herself any favors by choosing to represent herself.

“Many days she was just smiling and laughing and didn’t seem to take anything very seriously,” Lewis said.

Vallow Daybell told the jury that during the encounter inside the house, Vallow chased her with a bat, and her brother shot him in self-defense after she left the house.

Cox, who also claimed he acted in self-defense, died five months later from what medical examiners said was a blood clot in his lungs.

The trial marked the first of two criminal trials in Arizona for Vallow Daybell. She is scheduled to go on trial again in early June on a charge of conspiring to murder Brandon Boudreaux, the ex-husband of Vallow Daybell’s niece. Boudreaux survived the attempt.

Vallow Daybell will be sentenced in Vallow’s death after her second trial. She is already serving three life sentences in the Idaho case.

Last week at the Arizona trial, Adam Cox, another brother of Vallow Daybell, testified on behalf of the prosecution, telling jurors that he had no doubt that his siblings were behind Vallow’s death.

Adam Cox said the killing happened just before he and Vallow were planning an intervention to bring his sister back into the mainstream of their shared faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He testified that before Vallow’s death, his sister had told people her husband was no longer living and that a zombie was living inside his body.

Four months before he died, Vallow filed for divorce from Vallow Daybell, saying she had become infatuated with near-death experiences and had claimed to have lived numerous lives on other planets. He alleged she threatened to ruin him financially and kill him. He sought a voluntary mental health evaluation of his wife.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal review of helicopter safety concerns launched after the deadly midair collision in Washington, D.C., has identified a rash of concerns about the potential conflicts between air tour helicopters and planes at the Las Vegas airport.

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The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that it imposed new restrictions on helicopter flights around Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas that have already cut the number of collision alerts planes were receiving by 30% over the last three weeks.

The FAA said in the wake of the collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter in January that it planned to use artificial intelligence to dig into the millions of reports it collects to assess other places with busy helicopter traffic, including Boston, New York, Baltimore-Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and along the Gulf Coast.

The FAA’s acting administrator, Chris Rocheleau, said Las Vegas quickly became a concern once the agency dug into the data because agreements with helicopter operators there didn’t clearly define vertical and lateral separation requirements when helicopters were approaching the airport. And air traffic controllers in the tower weren’t issuing traffic advisories between returning helicopters and airplanes.

“We took quick action including exercising positive control over the helicopters and issuing more traffic advisories to pilots,” Rocheleau said. “As a result, the number of traffic alert and collision avoidance system reports decreased by 30 percent in just three weeks.”

Maryland health officials cut nursing home inspection backlog; advocates seek more progress  Baltimore Sun

Maryland health officials cut nursing home inspection backlog; advocates seek more progress  Baltimore Sun

Today is Tuesday, April 22, the 112th day of 2025. There are 253 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 22, 1889, the Oklahoma Land Rush began at noon as thousands of homesteaders staked claims to nearly 1.9 million acres of land that was formerly part of Indian Territory. By the end of the day, the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie were established with as many as 10,000 settlers each.

Also on this date:

In 1915, German forces unleashed its first full-scale use of chlorine gas against Allied troops at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres (EE’-preh) in Belgium during World War I. Thousands of Allied soldiers are believed to have died from the poison gas attacks.

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In 1954, the publicly televised sessions of the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings began.

In 1970, an estimated 20 million Americans participated in gatherings for the first Earth Day, a series of events proposed by Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin to promote environmental protections.

In 1994, Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States and the first to resign from office, died at a New York hospital four days after having a stroke. He was 81.

In 2000, in a dramatic predawn raid, armed immigration agents seized 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the center of a custody dispute, from his relatives’ home in Miami. Elian was reunited with his father at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington.

In 2005, Zacarias Moussaoui (zak-uh-REE’-uhs moo-SOW’-ee) pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom outside Washington, D.C., to conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers to kill Americans. (Moussaoui was sentenced to life in prison in May 2006.)

In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, operated by BP, sank into the Gulf of Mexico two days after a massive explosion that killed 11 workers.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Jack Nicholson is 88.
• Singer Mel Carter is 86.
• Author Janet Evanovich is 82.
• Filmmaker John Waters is 79.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood is 76.
• Singer Peter Frampton is 75.
• Actor-comedian Ryan Stiles is 66.
• Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan is 59.
• Actor Sheryl Lee is 58.
• Actor-talk show host Sherri Shepherd is 58.
• Actor Eric Mabius is 54.
• Entrepreneur Sam Altman is 40.
• Actor Amber Heard is 39.
• Former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch is 39.
• Rapper-singer Machine Gun Kelly is 35.

UCF Athletics Association Inc., has filed a breach of contract lawsuit in Orange County against Core Group Real Estate, LLC and CORE RE HOLDINGS, LP.

The lawsuit claims that the athletic department and CORE LLC entered into a marketing agreement on March 3, 2022, which would designate the company as the “Official Real Estate Partner of UCF Athletics.”

Orlando Business Journal was the first to report the lawsuit.

Under the agreement, the company’s logo would be featured in digital signage at athletic events, as well as in radio advertising, and CORE LLC would receive game-day privileges. The company also would be allowed to use UCF logos and trademarks in advertising.

The marketing deal was set to run through June 30, 2025 and was worth $197,500.

However, CORE LLC failed to make payments and was eventually served with a written notice by UCFAA for delinquent payments on Sept. 17, 2024. Ten days later, the company filed “Articles of Dissolution” with the state because “COMPANY IS DISSOLVING VOLUNTARY [sic] AND WILL NO LONGER BE DOING BUSINESS UNDER THIS ENTITY NAME.”

According to the lawsuit, UCFAA claims that after filling its Articles of Dissolution, CORE LLC and/or CORE LP accepted benefits under the marketing agreement by hosting a corporate tailgate before UCF’s football game against Colorado on Sept. 24, 2024, and using at least 4 tickets for admission to the game.

UCFAA claims that CORE LLC continued to operate, albeit under a new name, as CORE LP to avoid its liabilities. The organization is seeking $136,416.67 in damages, plus attorney’s fees, costs, and pre- and post-judgment interest.

The case is scheduled for a non-jury trial, commencing on Sept.14, 2026, at the Orange County Courthouse. A pre-trial hearing is set for Aug. 12.

Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com

Four people were killed and two were injured in a fiery two-car crash Monday night in Palm Beach County, authorities said.

The crash happened about 9 p.m. in the 5000 block of South Military Trail near Champion Boulevard, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said in a news release.

911 callers reported two cars crashed and that one was on fire, the release said.

One car hit a utility pole, and all four people in the car were killed, Fire Rescue said. They were all pronounced dead at the scene, the release said.

The other car had a fire in the engine compartment, Fire Rescue said.

The two people in that car, which was found in the bushes, were taken to a local hospital, the release said.

Late Monday, Military Trail was closed from Clint Moore Road north to Champion Boulevard.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

No additional details were available late Monday.

A woman armed with large knives was shot and killed by deputies in Deerfield Beach on Monday evening, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

The call came in just after 7 p.m., reporting a “suspicious person” who had multiple large knives in the area of South Federal Highway and Southeast 10th Street, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release late Monday. The woman was armed when deputies arrived, police said.

“At some point, shots were fired,” the news release said. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene by Broward Sheriff’s Fire Rescue.

Details about what led up to the shooting were not released late Monday.

As is standard procedure, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate, as well as the Sheriff’s Office’s Internal Affairs.

The woman was reported to have a machete in the parking lot of the Walgreens at the intersection of South Federal Highway and Southeast 10th Street, according to first responders’ radio communications archived by the site Broadcastify.

Soon afterward, a man said over radio, “Shots fired, shots fired.”

It is at least the seventh officer-involved shooting in South Florida since January.

Earlier this month, multiple Boynton Beach Police officers shot and killed a man who was armed with a machete in the parking lot of Intracoastal Park. He had pulled the machete out on his father during an argument and charged toward officers with it when he was shot, the police department previously said and body-worn camera video showed.

In February, a man was hospitalized after a shootout with a Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy and a Lauderhill Police officer at the Calypso Cay apartments in Lauderhill, and a 39-year-old man was hospitalized after he was shot by deputies in Oakland Park while armed with a knife.

Mental health, drugs and a need for training: Fatal police shootings surged in South Florida during holidays

Fort Lauderdale Police were involved in three shootings in January. An off-duty officer shot a man at a marina and RV park on Jan. 29 after police were called about him making a disturbance. He later died at the hospital.

Earlier in January, an officer shot and killed a man who got out of his car at a gas station, armed with what appeared to be a gun after fleeing an earlier traffic stop.

On Jan. 9, officers shot and killed a man while responding to a call about someone setting a building on fire, according to Fort Lauderdale Police. When officers arrived, the building was actively on fire and the man threw “incendiary devices” at them.

This is a developing story, so check back for updates. Click here to have breaking news alerts sent directly to your inbox.

MIAMI — Max Meyer struck out a career-high 14 in six scoreless innings, pinch-hitter Kyle Stowers had a three-run homer in the seventh and the Miami Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-3 on Monday night.

Meyer struck out the side in the sixth and walked into the dugout to a standing ovation with Miami’s first double-digit strikeout game since last June 1.

Meyer (2-2) allowed five hits and walked none, lowering his ERA to 2.10. His previous strikeout high was eight strikeouts.

Jesús Tinoco got three straight outs for his second save as the Marlins won their second straight following a five-game losing streak.

Nick Lodolo (2-2) allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Jesús Sánchez hit a run-scoring single in the second for his first RBI this season and Ronny Simon following with another run-scoring single.

Eric Wagaman hit his third home run this season for in the fifth, a 407-foot shot just over the glove of leaping center fielder TJ Friedl.

Gavin Lux hit his first home run this season, a two-run drive off Tyler Phillips in the eighth.

Key moment

Agustín Ramírez and Simo got their first major league hits in the second inning. Ramírez had an infield single and later scored on Simon’s single to center. Ramírez followed Stowers’ homer with a double and he took third for his first big league steal.

Key stat

Meyer tied for the third-most strikeouts in Marlins history behind Ricky Nolasco’s 16 against Atlanta on Sept. 30, 2009, and Liván Hernández’s 15 vs. the Braves in Game 5 of the 1997 NL Championship Series.

Up next

Miami RHP Edward Cabrera (0-1, 6.52 ERA), who began the season on the IL with a right middle finger blister, is set to make his third start of the season on Tuesday against Cincinnati RHP Nick Martinez (0-3, 6.00 ERA).

The Space Coast set a new record in 2024 with 93 launches from all providers, building off the 72 orbital missions flown in 2023. With SpaceX’s continued pace, more launches from United Launch Alliance and the debut of Blue Origin’s New Glenn, the Space Force has said it could support as many as 156 launches in 2025.

Check back for the latest information on upcoming launches.

By The Numbers:

2025: 31 Space Coast launch in 2025 (updated April 21) | 21 from Cape Canaveral, 10 from KSC | 30 from SpaceX (30 Falcon 9), 0 from ULA, 1 from Blue Origin (NG-1) | 2 human spaceflights (Crew-10, Fram2)

2024: 93 Space Coast launches in 2024 | 67 from Cape Canaveral, 26 from KSC | 88 from SpaceX (86 Falcon 9, 2 Falcon Heavy), 5 from ULA (2 Vulcan, 1 Delta IV Heavy, 2 Atlas V) | 5 human spaceflights (Axiom Space Ax-3, SpaceX Crew-8, Boeing Crew Flight Test, Polaris Dawn | Crew-9)

2023: 72 Space Coast launches in 2023 | 59 from Cape Canaveral, 13 from KSC | 68 from SpaceX (63 Falcon 9s, 5 Falcon Heavy), 3 from United Launch Alliance (1 Delta IV Heavy, 2 Atlas V), 1 from Relativity Space | 3 human spaceflights (Crew-6, Ax-2, Crew-7)

Details on past launches can be found at the end of file.

MOST RECENT LAUNCH

April 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the CRS-32 resupply mission to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 4:15 a.m. The first-stage booster made its third flight with a recovery landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. This was the fifth flight on the Dragon spacecraft. It will dock with the ISS after a 28-hour flight targeting 8:20 a.m. Tuesday. Read more.

April 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Bandwagon-3 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:48 p.m. On board this mission were ADD’s 425Sat-3, Tomorrow Companies Inc.’s Tomorrow-S7, and Atmos Space Cargo’s PHOENIX re-entry capsule. This was the third flight for the first-stage booster and it made a recovery landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 2. Read more.

UPCOMING: 2025

April 28 (Delayed from April 9, 14): United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 on the Kuiper 1 during a two-hour window from 7-9 p.m. and backup on April 29 during same window. The inaugural launch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper will deliver the first satellites of the constellation into low-Earth orbit. Read more.

TBD, 1st half of 2025 (Delayed from 2024): United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on USSF-106, the rocket’s first Department of Defense mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. Dependent on ULA completing both Certification 1 and Certification 2 flights. Payload is the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 headed to geostationary orbit. Built by L3Harris, it’s funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory and potential replacement technology for GPS. USSF-106 is the 2nd of two NSSF Phase 2 contracts awarded to ULA in 2020 originally targeting a launch by the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022 (FY22). The first, USSF-51, launched in summer 2024, originally slated to be on Vulcan, but moved to Atlas V, and originally to have been launched  by the second quarter of FY22. Combined, the two mission task orders had an original contract value of $337 million.

TBD, 1st half of 2025 (Delayed from 2024): United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on USSF-87, the rocket’s second planned Department of Defense mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. USSF-87 is the one of two NSSF Phase 2 contracts awarded to ULA in 2021 originally targeting a launch by the fourth quarter of FY23 with the other launch, USSF-112 originally targeting a launch by the third quarter of FY23. Combined, the two mission task orders had an original contract value of $225 million.

TBD, by end of 1st quarter 2024: United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur, the rocket’s third planned Department of Defense mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41.

TBD: United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on the first Sierra Space Dream Chaser flight to the International Space Station. Mission slipped into 2025 because ULA needed more Vulcan rocket hardware beyond Cert-2 and the two USSF missions that took priority over the Dream Chaser flight. Read more.

TBD, No earlier than May 2025: Axiom Space was awarded the right to fly Axiom-4. The crew assigned to Ax-4 includes Commander Peggy Whitson, Mission Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Mission Specialist Sławosz Uznański of ESA/Poland, and Mission Specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary. This would be Whitson’s second trip on an Axiom mission to the ISS, and part of NASA’s requirement that former NASA astronaut command commercial mission visits to the ISS. The commercial flight brings four crew for a short stay on the ISS. This mission is targeting a 14-day stay, and will fly up with one of the SpaceX Crew Dragons. The launch date is dependent on spacecraft traffic to the ISS and in-orbit activity planning and constraints that have to be coordinated with NASA.

TBD, No earlier than April 1, 2025 (Delayed from Oct. 13): Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket of the twin spacecraft for ESCAPADE, which stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, for NASA and the University of California Berkeley’s Space Science Laboratory. Was bumped from Oct. 13, 2024 after NASA concerns about New Glenn rocket’s readiness. Read more.

TBD, no earlier than July 2025: SpaceX Crew-11 mission on SpaceX Falcon 9. Crew TBD. Read more.

TBD, no earlier than late 2025: Boeing Starliner-1 on ULA Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 41. NASA astronauts Scott Tingle and Mike Fincke will be commander and pilot, respectively. This Starliner previously flew on Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 mission. Read more.

TBD, no earlier than December 2025: SpaceX Falcon Heavy flying Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. No longer taking the canceled VIPER rover mission. The Griffin lander will demonstrate its ability to land with no official NASA payload, but will touch down on Mons Mouton near the western rim of Nobile crater close to the lunar south pole.

TBD, late 2025: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Intuitive Machines IM-3 mission with Nova-C lander for NASA’s CLPS task order. Also called PRISM to carry four NASA payloads to the Reiner Gamma region of the Moon, as well as a rover, a data relay satellite, and secondary payloads to be determined. Scientific objectives include gaining an understanding of the Reiner Gamma swirl mini-magnetosphere region and its magnetic and plasma properties.

TBD, 2025: Blue Origin New Glenn carrying Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1), a single-launch, lunar cargo lander that remains on the surface. Will fly one scientific instrument awarded under NASA’s CLPS initiative.

UPCOMING: TBD IN 2026

TBD, No later than April 2026: NASA Artemis II mission to send four crew on 10-day orbital mission to the moon from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-B. Read more.

TBD: Early 2026: SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost lander and Elytra Dark orbiting transfer vehicle on Blue Ghost Mission 2 to land on the far side of the moon and take advantage of the radio-quiet environment to deploy an array of antennas, comprising a low-frequency (0.1 to 50 MHz) radio telescope. The telescope will be used to observe the radio sky at frequencies below 50 MHz and will measure the low-frequency foreground of the universe. It will also help evaluate the far side of the moon as a radio-quiet environment, test the hypothesis of the late heavy bombardment of the moon, and test the hypothesis that a major rearrangement of planet distances and the beginning of life on Earth occurred at about the same time. The mission consists of the Blue Ghost lunar lander, the Elytra Dark orbital vehicle, and the Lunar Surface Electromagnetic Explorer Night system (LuSEE Night). Elytra Dark will serve as a transfer vehicle to bring the Blue ghost lander to the moon. Blue Ghost will land on the lunar far side carrying LuSee Night, which will deploy directly from the spacecraft.

TBD, No earlier than May 2026: SpaceX Falcon 9 with Vast Haven-1 uncrewed space station.

TBD, No earlier than June 2026: SpaceX Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon spacecraft with commercial customers for Vast.

TBD, 2026: SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying the Draper Lunar Lander headed for the moon’s Schrödinger basin on the lunar far side. It will carry three NASA-sponsored science payloads to make geophysical measurements as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Draper Laboratories provides the launch and lander and is partnering with ispace with its APEX 1.0 lander which also will deploy relay satellites into orbit in order to allow communication with Earth from the far side of the moon. Schrodinger basin, a large impact crater near the moon’s south pole, shows evidence of geologically recent volcanic activity. The science payload to be landed there includes seismometers, a drill to allow emplacement of heat flow and electrical conductivity probes, and instruments to study the magnetic field and surface weathering.

UPCOMING: TBD IN 2027 and Beyond

TBD, Summer 2027: NASA Artemis III mission to send four crew on lunar landing mission to the moon from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-B. Read more.

TBD, No earlier than 2027: Intuitive Machines on IM-4 mission with Nova-C lander under NASA CLPS initiative with a lander headed to the south pole region of the moon, currently planned for the Mons Mouton region. It will carry a suite of six science payloads, with a total mass of 79 kg, to the surface. These include the Compact Infrared Imaging System, which is an imaging radiometer to make mineralogical and thermophysical measurements on the lunar surface; the Surface and Exosphere Alterations by Landers (SEAL) instrument designed to study the chemical response of the lunar regolith to the lander, as well as to characterize the lunar exosphere at the surface; the Fluxgate Magnetometer (MAG) to characterize the magnetic field of the Moon at low altitudes and on the surface; and a laser retroreflector. It will also carry the Lunar Explorer Instrument for space biology Applications (LEIA) science suite, which will study the biological response of yeast to the lunar environment and measure the radiation levels at the lunar surface. In addition, there is a European Space Agency payload, the Package for Resource Observation and in-situ Prospecting for Exploration, commercial exploration and Transportation (PROSPECT), designed to assess the potential use of resources for human exploration.

TBD: Firefly Aerospace with Blue Ghost lander under NASA CLPS initiative. Will feature an orbital transfer vehicle and rover headed to the Gruithuisen Domes on the moon. The objective is to study the composition and origin of the domes and surroundings. It will have a Sample Acquisition, Morphology Filtering & Probing of Lunar Regolith (SAMPLR) robotic arm. The mission will carry a suite of instruments, the Lunar Vulkan Imaging and Spectroscopy Explorer (Lunar-VISE). Lunar-VISE includes three instruments on the rover, the Visible Near-InfraRed (VNIR) Imaging Camera, the Compact InfraRed Imaging System, and the Gamma Ray and Neutron Spectrometer. It also has two cameras on the lander, the Context Camera and the Descent Camera. It will also carry the Heimdall imaging suite, a Radio-wave Observations at the Lunar Surface of the photoElectron Sheath (ROLSES) radio telescope, the Photovoltaic Investigation on the Lunar Surface (PILS), and the Neutron Measurements at the Lunar Surface (NMLS).

LAUNCHED IN 2025

Jan. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Thuraya-4 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:27 p.m. The first-stage booster made its 20th flight and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Jan. 6: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-71 mission with 24 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 3:43 p.m. The first-stage booster made its 17th flight, having previously launched the Crew-5 human spaceflight and 15 other missions. It made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Jan. 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-11 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 10:27 a.m. The first-stage booster made its third flight with a landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Jan. 10: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-12 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:11 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for a record 25th time with landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

Jan. 13: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-4 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:47 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 15th time with landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Jan. 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 1:11 a.m. with both the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost moon lander on Blue Ghost Mission 1, the third of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions, and the Japanese company ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission-2 lunar lander. Blue Ghost is designed to deliver 10 NASA payloads. Blue Ghost is slated to arrive to the moon 45 days after launch for a 14-day mission on the moon. The ispace lander named Resilience won’t arrive for 4 1/2 months after launch. On board is a micro rover built by ispace called Tenacious as well as several commercial payloads. Read more.

Jan. 16 (Delayed from Jan. 10, 12, 13): First launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on the NG-1 Blue Ring Pathfinder mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 36 at 2:03 a.m. This would be the first of two certification flights for NSSL missions required by the Space Force. Payload will be Blue Origin Blue Ring pathfinder. Originally targeted to be 2nd launch of new rocket. New Glenn’s first launch was planned to be NASA’s Mars-bound ESCAPADE twin satellite mission, but that has been delayed to potentially spring 2025 or later. New debut launch then targeted November, but FAA only gave launch license on Dec. 27, same day as the rocket’s first test hot fire on the pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 36. Jan. 10 and 12 launch windows were waved off because of high seas for booster recovery, and then Jan. 13 attempt scrubbed “to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue” with no new launch date announced. Read more.

Jan. 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 13-1 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 12:24 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 8th time landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

Jan. 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-7 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:05 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 20th time with a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Jan. 29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the SpainSat NG 1 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 8:34 p.m. The first-stage booster made a successful 21st liftoff, but was expended to get the satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Read more.

Feb. 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-3 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:15 a.m. This was the 21st launch for the first-stage booster, which made a  landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

Feb. 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Maxar Digital Globe 3 mission with a pair of satellites headed to min-inclination orbit at 6:13 p.m. This was the fourth launch of the first-stage booster that made a recovery landing on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. It was the first LZ-1 landing of the year after 12 in 2024 and 6 in 2023. Read more.

Feb. 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-9 mission carrying 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:18 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 17th time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

Feb. 11: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-18 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:53 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 18th time and made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

Feb. 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-8 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting at 1:14 a.m, This was a record 26th launch for the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

Feb. 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-12 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:21 p.m. The was the 16th launch of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in Exuma Sound off the coast of the Bahamas. SpaceX has warned that residents in the Bahamas may hear one or more sonic booms during the first-stage landing. Read more.

Feb. 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-14 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:19 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 21st time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Feb. 26: Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:16 p.m. Flying is the company’s second Nova-C lander named Athena featuring NASA’s PRIME-1 drill, to land a drill and mass spectrometer near the south pole of the moon in order to demonstrate the feasibility of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and measure the volatile content of subsurface samples. Also flying is the Lunar Trailblazer, a mission selected under NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program, a small satellite designed to provide an understanding of the form, abundance, and distribution of water on the moon, as well as the lunar water cycle. A secondary payload is the AstroForge Odin spacecraft headed for a a near-Earth asteroid named 2022 OB5. The first-stage booster made its ninth flight landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, marking its 100th booster catch. Read more.

Feb. 26: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-13 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:34 p.m. The first-stage booster flew its debut launch and made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

March 2: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-20 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:24 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the fifth time landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. A fire after landing, though, caused the booster to tumble and be destroyed.

March 12: SpaceX Falcon on the Starlink 12-21 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting 10:35 p.m.  The first-stage booster made its 22nd flight with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic. Read more.

March 14 (delayed from March 12): SpaceX Crew-10 mission on SpaceX Falcon 9 in the Crew Dragon Endurance at 7:03 p.m. Delayed from a planned February launch because of more time needed for a new Crew Dragon from SpaceX, but then the decision to switch to Endurance moved up the mission by about two weeks. The Crew-10 and a planned summer launch of Crew-11 were awarded in lieu of the now-delayed Boeing Starliner-1 mission after issues with 2024’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. Booster flew for the second time with landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Scrubbed March 12 attempt. Read more.

March 15: SpaceX Falcon on the Starlink 12-16 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:35 a.m. The launch came just two days, eight hours, 59 minutes since the previous launch at SLC-40, setting a turnaround record. The first-stage booster flew for the 18th time landing on the Just Read the Instructions droneship.

March 18: SpaceX Falcon on the Starlink 12-25 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 3:57 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 19th time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

March 24: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the classified NROL-69 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:48 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the second time with recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

March 31: SpaceX Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon on the Fram2 private human spaceflight mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A in the Crew Dragon Resilience at 9:46 p.m. It marks the first time humans have flown on a polar orbital mission. Named Fram2 in deference to the ship “Fram” built in Norway that helped explorers get to the Arctic and Antarctica. The crew includes Chinese-born Chun Wang of Malta, an entrepreneur who made a fortune in cryptocurrency and an avid adventurer. Along for the ride will be fellow adventurers Eric Philips of Australia, Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway and Rabea Rogge of Germany. Mikkelsen will take the role of mission commander and Philips the role of pilot. The first-stage booster made its sixth flight with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic. Resilience is on its fourth trip to space and will land off the coast of California. Read more.

March 31 (delayed from March 30) SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-80 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 3:52 p.m. The first-stage booster made its 17th flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

April 5: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-72 mission with 28 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:07 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 19th time landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

April 12 (Delayed from April 11): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 12-17 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A during at 8:54 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 10th time. It previously flew crewed missions Crew-8, Polaris Dawn and IM-2. It made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

April 14: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-73 mission carrying 27 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12 a.m. This marked the fleet-leading 27th launch of the first-stage booster that made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.

LAUNCHED IN 2024

Jan. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Ovzon 3 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:04 p.m. This was the first launch of 2024. The 3,968-pound Ovzon 3 satellite is the first privately funded and developed Swedish geostationary satellite ever to be launched, headed for a geostationary transfer orbit where it will then propel itself to its geostationary orbit over 3-4 months at 59.7 degrees east at 22,236 miles altitude. The first-stage booster flew for the 10th time with a recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Jan. 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-35 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:35 p.m. The first-stage booster made its 16th flight having previously flown on two crewed and two cargo missions to the International Space Station among others. It managed its recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Jan. 8 (Delayed from May 4, Dec. 24-26): First-ever launch of United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on Certification-1 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 2:18 a.m. Primary payload was commercial company Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander headed to the moon. Also flying will be another human remains payload for Celestis Inc., this time brining the ashes of more than 200 people to space including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and actor James Doohan who played “Scotty” on the TV series. Read more.

Jan. 14 (Delayed from Jan. 13): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-37 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 23 Starlink satellites at 8:52 p.m. The first-stage booster flew its 12th mission and with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. This was the fourth launch from the Space Coast in 2024. Read more.

Jan. 18 (Delayed from Jan. 17): SpaceX Falcon 9 with a Crew Dragon Freedom for Axiom Space’s Axiom-3 mission launched at 4:49 p.m. from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A. The crew includes one astronaut each from Italy, Turkey and Sweden while the mission is led by Axiom’s chief astronaut Michael López-Alegría who is making his sixth trip to space. The customers are Italian Air Force Col. Walter Villadei, who will act as pilot. In the two mission specialist roles are Alper Gezeravcı of Turkey and ESA project astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden. All three have served in their respective nations’ air forces. The commercial flight brings four crew for a short stay on the ISS. This mission is targeting a 14-day stay with docking planned for Saturday at 5:15 a.m. The first-stage booster made a landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Jan. 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-38 mission with 23 Starlink satellites at 8:10 p.m. liftoff on a southerly trajectory from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A. The first-stage booster made its 18th flight, with past missions including the crewed flights of Inspiration4 and Ax-1, and had a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Jan. 30: SpaceX Falcon 9 with Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft on the NG-20 mission to resupply the International Space Station at12:07 p.m.. This was the first ISS launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, which SpaceX has been redeveloping to support future crewed missions in addition to KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A. This was the first of at least three SpaceX flights of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft as part of a deal after its 10-year run of launches atop Antares rockets ended with the Aug. 1 launch from Wallops Island, Virginia because of issues with Russian- and Ukrainian-made rocket engines and first stage parts that are being redeveloped with Firefly Aerospace for a future Antares rocket not expected until at least 2025. Following launch, the space station’s Canadarm2 will grapple Cygnus no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 1, and the spacecraft will attach to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading by the Expedition 70 crew. The first-stage booster made its 10th flight and returned for a touchdown at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Feb. 8 (Delayed from Feb. 6, 7): NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol Cloud Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:33 a.m. PACE will advance the assessment of ocean health by measuring the distribution of phytoplankton, tiny plants and algae that sustain the marine food web, as well as clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere. The first-stage booster flying for the fourth time made a recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Feb. 14: A SpaceX Falcon 9 on the USSF-124 mission launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:30 p.m. Payloads included two satellites for the Missile Defense Agency to track hypersonic missiles and four more satellites for the Tranche 0 constellation for the Space Development Agency. The first-stage booster flew for the seventh time with a recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 2. Read more.

Feb. 15 (Delayed from Nov. 14, Jan. 12, Feb. 14): SpaceX Falcon 9 for the Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission with the company’s Nova-C lunar lander Odysseus from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 1:05 a.m. This could end up being the first NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) mission to land on the moon after the failure of Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander. The IM-1 has a suite of six NASA payloads as part of a CLPS delivery and another six privately organized payloads. Landing would take place Feb. 22.Read more.

Feb. 20: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Merah Putih 2 mission, a communications satellite for Telkom Indonesia, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 at 3:11 p.m. into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. This was the 11th launch from the Space Coast in 2023 and 300th successful Falcon 9 launch since its debut in 2010, having only had one mid-launch failure in 2015. This was the 17th launch of the first stage booster, and it made a recovery landing downrange on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Feb. 25 (delayed from Feb. 24): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-39 mission sending up 24 Starlink satellites launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:06 p.m. This was the 12th launch from the Space Coast in 2024. The first-stage booster for the mission flew for the 13th time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

Feb. 29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-40 mission with 23 Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:30 a.m. This was the 13th launch from the Space Coast in 2024. The first-stage booster for the mission flew for the 11h time and made recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

March 3 (delayed from Feb. 22, 28, March 1, 2): SpaceX Crew-8 on Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A  at 10:53 p.m. Bad weather on the ascent corridor took the first three launch options on March 1 and 2 off the table. It’s the eighth SpaceX operational mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Its four crew members are NASA astronauts Commander Matthew Dominick, Pilot Michael Barratt, Mission Specialist Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mission Specialist Alexander Grebenkin. They flew up in the Crew Dragon Endeavour making its fifth trip to space. The first-stage booster made its first flight. The mission had originally been targeting Feb. 22, but that was the target day for the Intuitive Machines attempt to land on the moon, and NASA chose to move the launch to “deconflict” NASA support operations that day. Read more.

March 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-41 mission sending up 23 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:56 p.m. The first stage booster flew for the 13th time and made a recovery landing on the droneship  A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

March 10: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-43 mission sent up 23 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:05 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 11th time with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic. This was the 16th launch from the Space Coast in 2024. Read more.

March 15 (Delayed from March 13, 14): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-44 mission sending up 23 more Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 8:21 p.m. after scrubbing launches on both Wednesday and Thursday with about 2 minutes on the countdown clock. The booster flew for a record-tying 19th time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

March 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the CRS-30 resupply mission with a Cargo Dragon to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:54 p.m. This was the first Dragon launch from SLC-40 since the addition of a crew access arm to support Dragon launches from more than one Space Coast pad and augment normal launches from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A. The first-stage booster made a recovery landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

March 23 (delayed from March 22): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-42 mission sending up 23 more Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 11:09 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for 19th time.

March 25: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-46 mission sending up 23 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:42 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the eighth time and landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship.

March 30: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Eutelsat-36X mission from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 5:52 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 12th time with a landing on the Just Read the Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This was 20th SpaceX launch from the Space Coast in 2024 and 21st among all companies. Read more.

March 30: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-45 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:30 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 18th time with a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

April 5: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-47 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:12 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 14th time landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. It was the 275th recovery of a Falcon 9 booster for SpaceX. Read more.

April 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the the Bandwagon-1 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 7:16 p.m, The first-stage booster flew for the 14th time and made a recovery landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. The 11 satellites on board are flying to a mid-inclination orbit. This is the first of a new type of rideshare program flying to that orbit that augments SpaceX’s Transporter program that flies to SSO. Read more.

April 9 (Delayed from March 28): United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy on the NROL-70 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37 at 12:53 p.m. This was the final Delta IV Heavy rocket launch ever, and last of any Delta rocket, which has been flying for more than 60 years. The Space Force has one more launch on a ULA Atlas V rocket before future missions transition to ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur. Read more.

April 10: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-48 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:40 a.m. The first-stage booster made its second flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

April 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-49 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:40 p.m. The launch set a turnaround record for launches from SLC-40 at two days and 20 hours since the Aug. 10 launch. The previous record was Aug. 3-6, 2023 at three days, 21 hours, 41 minutes. The first-stage booster also flew for a record 20th time making a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

April 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-51 mission with 23 Starlink satellites launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. The first-stage booster made its 12th flight and landed downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

April 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-52 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:40 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the seventh time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

April 23 (Delayed from April 22): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-53 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:17 p.m. This was the 30th Space Coast launch of the year, with all but two coming from SpaceX. It also marked the 300th successful recovery of a first-stage booster among Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. Of note, the launch came 16 minutes ahead of a Rocket Lab launch from New Zealand. Read more.

April 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Galileo L12 mission carrying satellites for the European Commission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 8:34 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for a record-tieng 20th time, but was expended getting the payload to medium-Earth orbit. Read more.

April 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-54 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:08 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 13th time with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

May 2: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-55 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:37 p.m. This was the 19th flight of the first-stage booster, which launched both Crew 3 and Crew 4 human spaceflight missions. It’s recovery landing was on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic.

May 6: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-57 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 2:14 p.m. The first-stage booster for the flight made its 15th trip to space with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic Ocean on SpaceX’s droneship Just Read the Instructions.  Read more.

May 8 (Delayed from May 7): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-56 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 2:42 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the third time having launched Crew-8 and a Starlink mission. It made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

May 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-58 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:53 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 15th time with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

May 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-59 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 8:32 p.m. This marked the 21st flight for the first-stage booster, the most in the booster fleet, having previously flown on human spaceflight missions Inspiration4 and Axiom Space’s Ax-1 among others. It made another recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

May 22: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-62 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 10:35 p.m. This was the eighth flight of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

May 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-63 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 10:45 p.m. This was the 13th flight of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

May 28 (Delayed from May 27): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-60 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 10:24 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 10th time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

May 31: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-64 mission carrying 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 10:37 p.m. The booster flew for the 14th time making a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, a record turnaround for droneship recovery coming less than 84 hours since the previous recovery landing on May 28. Read more.

June 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink g8-5 mission carrying 20 Starlink satellites including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:16 p.m.  This was the 20th flight of the first-stage booster that made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

June 5 (Delayed from June 1, May 6, 17, 21, 25 2024; July 21, 2023; April 22, 2024): Boeing CST-100 Starliner atop United Launch Alliance Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 10:52 a.m. on the Crew Flight Test (CFT) carrying NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams on an eight-day mission to the International Space Station followed by a parachute-and-airbag-assisted ground landing in the desert of the southwestern United States. The May 6 attempt was scrubbed two hours before liftoff because of valve on ULA’s upper Centaur stage that teams continue to investigate. Teams deemed the valve needed to be replaced and the rocket needed to be rolled back from the pad to Boeing’s Vertical Integration Facility. A helium leak in the Starliner capsule further delayed it from a planned May 17 target to May 21 and then May 25. A June 1 attempt scrubbed with less than 4 minutes on the countdown clock. Read more.

June 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-1 mission carrying 22 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:56 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 16th time landing on the droneship  A Shortfall of Gravitas. It also marked the 300th landing of a Falcon 9 booster.

June 20 (Delayed from June 18, 19): SpaceX Falcon 9 on SES 24 mission flying the ASTRA 1P communication satellite for Luxembourg-based communications company SES for TV markets in Germany, Spain and France from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:35 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the ninth time making another recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, the 250th time SpaceX had used a droneship for a successful recovery. Read more.

June 23 (Delayed from June 12,13,14): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 10-2 mission with 22 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:15 p.m. An abort at T-0 on June 14 forced SpaceX to delay its launch nine days and change out the first-stage booster. The new booster made its 11h flight with a landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

June 25: SpaceX Falcon Heavy on its 10th launch ever with payload of the GOES-U satellite for the NOAA from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. The two side boosters returned for a land landing at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station while the center core stage fell into the ocean. Read more.

June 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 10-3 mission with Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:14 a.m. The booster for the flight made a record 22nd launch with a landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

July 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 8-9 mission carrying 20 Starlink satellites including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:55 a.m. This was the 16th flight of the first-stage booster, which was previously on the pad for the Starlink 10-3 mission, but was changed out after an issue when it hit T-0 during a launch attempt. It made a landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic. Read more.

July 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Turksat 6A mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:30 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 15th time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

July 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-9 mission launching 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 1:45 a.m. The first-stage booster made its 17th flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed in the Atlantic. The launch was the first since a California Starlink launch that ended up with a second-stage failure that grounded the Falcon 9. Read more.

July 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-4 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:09 a.m. This was the 14th flight of its first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. This marked the 300th successful reflight of a booster. Read more.

July 30: United Launch Alliance Atlas V on USSF-51 with classified payload from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 6:45 a.m. One of 16 remaining Atlas V rockets for ULA. Read more.

Aug. 2: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-6 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 1:01 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 12th time with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. It was SpaceX’s 50th launch from the Space Coast for the year. Read more.

Aug. 4 (Delayed from Aug. 3): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the NG-21 resupply mission taking up the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft with cargo to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:03 a.m, The first-stage booster flew for the 10th time and made a land recovery at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This was the 2nd time SpaceX has flown the Cygnus spacecraft. Weather led to a scrub of the Aug. 3 attempt, but SpaceX was able to launch despite Tropical Storm Debby churning off Florida’s southwest coast. Read more.

Aug. 10 (Delayed from Aug. 9): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-3 mission with 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:50 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 21st time, one of four boosters with more than 20 flights among the SpaceX fleet. It landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Was scrubbed from Friday because of bad weather in the launch recovery zone in the Atlantic.  Read more.

Aug. 12 (Delayed from Aug. 10, 11): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-7 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 6:37 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 17th time landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Aug. 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Maxar 2 mission flying two of Maxar Techologies’ WorldView Legion Earth-observation satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 lifting off at 9 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 16th time with a recovery at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This was the 199th Falcon 9 launch from SLC-40. Read more.

Aug. 20: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink g10-5 mission carrying 22 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit, launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:20 a.m. This was the first flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Aug. 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 8-6 mission carrying 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting at 3:48 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for a record 23rd time, but did not make a successful landing. Its previous missions included the Inspiration4 and Axiom Space Ax-1 crewed launches. It tipped over during its recovery landing attempt downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. The FAA grounded Falcon 9 pending a SpaceX investigation. Read more.

Aug. 31: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 8-19 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 21 Starlink satellites at 3:43 a.m. Its first-stage booster made its 18th flight and stuck the landing without issue on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Sept. 5 (Delayed from Sept. 4): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 8-11 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:33 a.m. The first-stage booster made its 15th flight with a landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. A Sept. 4 launch attempt was scrubbed because of poor weather conditions downrange for the booster recovery. Read more.

Sept. 10: (Delayed from Aug. 28, Aug. 27, July 31, summer 2023): Polaris Dawn mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 topped with the Crew Dragon Resilience from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A at 5:23 a.m. The private orbital mission will bring billionaire Jared Isaacman to space for a second time after 2021′s Inspiration4 mission. It’s the first of up to three planned Polaris missions, and will feature a tethered spacewalk. Also flying are Scott Poteet, given the title of mission pilot, specialist Sarah Gillis, and specialist and medical officer Anna Menon. Both Gillis and Menon are SpaceX employees. Read more.

Sept. 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the BlueBird mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:52 a.m. on a mission to place five BlueBird satellites for Midland, Texas-based AST SpcaeMobile. The satellites are part of a space-based cellular broadband network in low-Earth orbit to be accessible by everyday smartphones for both commercial and government use across the U.S. and in select global markets. Beta test users will be for AT&T and Verizon. The first-stage booster flew for the 13th time making a return landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This was the 60th Space Coast launch of the year for SpaceX. Read more.

Sept. 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Galileo L-13 mission for the European Commission headed to medium-Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:50 p.m. The payload’s MEO orbital needs required a previous mission to expend its booster back in April, but SpaceX has adjusted design to recover this mission’s booster making its 22nd flight with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

Sept. 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Crew-9 mission flying aboard the Crew Dragon Freedom, flying for its fourth time, on the first human spaceflight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:17 p.m.  Crew was only two to make room for Boeing Starliner CFT crew astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the return flight next February. Commander is NASA astronaut Nick Hague, the first active Space Force member to launch to space on his third launch, and Roscomos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov making his first flight. Original crew members, NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, who was originally slated to be commander but would have been making her first spaceflight, and Stephanie Wilson, a veteran of three space shuttle flights, were pulled from the mission. This is Hague’s third launch, although his first was an aborted Soyuz mission. This is Gorbunov’s first spaceflight. They mission is slated to return with four in February 2025. Of note, this will also be the first human spaceflight from SLC-40 as KSC’s pad will be in preparation for the Europa Clipper launch in October. The first-stage booster made a recovery landing on land at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Oct. 4: United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur on the Cert-2 mission at 7:25 a.m. Originally supposed to fly Sierra Space Dream Chaser test flight, but payload switched to an inert mass simulator because of potential Dream Chaser delays beyond October launch date. Launch was from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. Read more.

Oct. 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch the Hera mission for the European Space Agency (ESA) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:52 a.m. Hera will visit the asteroid Didymos and its moon Dimorphos as part of the NASA/ESA Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) collaboration. The initial mission of the collaboration, the NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will have visited the asteroids earlier and impacted Dimorphos with sufficient momentum to effect a measurable change in its orbit. The first-stage booster flew for a record-tying 23rd time, but it did not attempt a landing as it was expended to get Hera into an interplanetary transfer orbit. Read more.

Oct. 14 (Delayed from Oct. 10): SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 12:06 p.m. on the Europa Clipper mission to travel 1.8 billion miles to investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa to determine whether there are places below Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, that could support life. The mission’s detailed investigation of Europa will help scientists better understand the astrobiological potential for habitable worlds beyond our planet. NASA and SpaceX stood down from Oct. 10 opportunity to allow for Hurricane Milton to pass. The first-stage boosters made their 6th and final flights with no recovery. Read more.

Oct. 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 10-10 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:10 a.m. The booster flew for the 11th time and landed on A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Oct. 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 8-19 mission with 20 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:31 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 17th time landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

Oct. 23 (Delayed from Oct. 22): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-61 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:47 p.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 18th time landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. The mission marked the 72nd from all launch service providers on the Space Coast in 2024, tying the record set in 2023. Read more.

Oct. 26: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 10-8 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:47 p.m. The first-stage booster made its 19th launch with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. It was the record-setting 73rd launch from the Space Coast for the year. Read more.

Oct. 30: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 10-13 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:10 p.m. The first-stage booster for the mission made its 14th launch with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic Ocean on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. This was a record 69th launch for SpaceX from the Space Coast for the year, although not a record for SLC-40, which had 55 launches in 2023, and only 51 so far in 2024.  Read more.

Nov. 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the CRS-31 mission flying up a Cargo Dragon with supplies to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 9:29 p.m. The first-stage booster made its fifth flight (Flew Crew-8, Polaris Dawn, 2 Starlink missions) and with a recovery landing on land back at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. This is fifth flight of the Dragon spacecraft having flown CRS-21, CRS-23, CRS-25 and CRS-28. It has a 13-hour flight to the ISS with plans to dock Nov. 5 at 10:15 a.m. It’s carrying 6,000 pounds of food, supplies and equipment along with new experiments including the solar wind Coronal Diagnostic Experiment, Antarctic moss to observe cosmic radiation and microgravity on plants, a device to test cold welding of metals in microgravity, and an investigation that studies how space impacts different materials. Read more.

Nov. 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-77 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 3:17 p.m. The first-stage booster made its third flight with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

Nov. 11: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Koreasat-6A mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 12:22 p.m. This was the 23rd mission for the first-stage booster, which made a record recovery return to nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. It became the first SpaceX booster to successfully make 23 landings, although two previous boosters launched 23 times. One of those blew up on its landing attempt while another was purposefully expended to get its payload to a higher orbital insertion. Read more.

Nov. 11 (delayed from Nov. 10): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-69 mission with 24 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:28 p.m. The first-stage booster for this mission made its 12th flight and made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. The launch came 4 hours and 6 minutes after the Koreasat-6A mission at neighboring KSC. Read more.

Nov. 14: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-68 mission with 24 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:21 a.m. The first-stage booster for the mission made its 18th flight with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

Nov. 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Optus-X mission to launch a geostationary communication satellite built by Northrop Grumman for the Australian company Optus from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A during window at 5:28 p.m. This was the 16th mission for the first-stage booster, which was used on Crew-5, CRS-28 and NG-20 among other missions, making another recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Nov. 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the GSAT-20 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:31 p.m. The first-stage booster for the mission flew for the 19th time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

Nov. 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-66 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:07 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 20th time and made a recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Nov. 25: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starliner 12-1 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:02 a.m. with 23 Starlink satellites including 12 with Direct to Cell capabilities. The first-stage booster made its 13th flight landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. The booster turnaround from its last flight set a record for SpaceX coming at 13 days 12 hours 44 minutes.

Nov. 26 (Delayed from Nov. 25): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-76 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 11:41 p.m. This was the 15th flight for the first stage booster with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

Nov. 30: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-65 mission with 24 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12 a.m. First-stage booster flew for the 6th time making a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

Dec. 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-70 mission with 24 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:13 a.m. This was the record 24th launch of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. Read more.

Dec. 5: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Sirius XM-9 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 11:10 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 19th time landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, which had its 100th booster landing. The mission was the 3rd in less than 30 hours for SpaceX among its 2 Florida and 1 California launch pads. Read more.

Dec. 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-5 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:12 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the second time having been one of the two used on the GOES-U Falcon Heavy mission. It made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

Dec. 12: Army and Navy hypersonic missile launch test from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 46. Read more.

Dec. 16 (Delayed from Dec. 13): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the RRT-1 mission of a GPS III satellite under a National Security Space Launch contract that switched from United Launch Alliance because of delays in Vulcan rocket certification. Launch occurred from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:52 p.m. This was the fourth launch of the first-stage booster that made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission was one of five awarded in 2023 to ULA under the NSSF Phase 2 task orders worth $566 million, but the individual value was not released by the DOD. SpaceX that year had been awarded three missions worth $280. With the switch, the five years’ worth of orders under NSSF Phase 2 have ULA with 25 missions ordered to SpaceX’s 23 missions, for what was originally targeted to be a 60% to 40% order ration in favor of ULA. Read more.

Dec. 17 (Delayed from Dec. 15): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the mPower-E Mission with two telecom satellites for Luxembourg-based SES from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 5:26 p.m. This was the first launch of the first-stage booster with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. It marked the 90th launch in 2024 from all providers on the Space Coast. Read more.

Dec. 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-2 mission from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 12:35 a.m. First-stage booster made its 14th flight landing on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic.

Dec. 29 (Delayed from Dec. 20, 22): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Astranis MicroGeo mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at midnight. The first-stage booster that had been tapped during the original attempts was discarded for a new booster. The new one flew for the 7th time, having also flown on the Crew-8, Polaris Dawn, CRS-31 and three Starlink missions. It made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic. This was the 92nd launch of the year on the Space Coast. Read more.

Dec. 31 (Delayed from Dec. 30): SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 12-6 mission with 21 Starlink satellites including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-A at 12:39 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 16th time having previously flown the Crew-6 mission among its 15 other flights. It made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. This was the 93rd and final launch of the year on the Space Coast. Read more.

LAUNCHED IN 2023

Jan. 3: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Transporter-6 mission carrying 114 payloads for a variety of customers blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:56 a.m. Read more.

Jan. 9: A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off carrying 40 satellites for OneWeb at 11:50 p.m. Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Read more.

Jan. 15: The fifth-ever flight of SpaceX’s powerhouse Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off at 5:56 p.m. from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A on a mission for the Space Force dubbed USSF-67. Read more.

Jan. 18: A SpaceX Falcon 9 on the GPS III Space Vehicle 06 mission for the Space Force rose through the pink, orange and blue horizon at 7:24 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Read more.

Jan. 26: SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 5-2 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 launched at 4:32 a.m. sending up 56 Starlink satellites. Read more.

Feb. 2: Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-3 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 2:43 a.m. 200th successful flight of Falcon 9 on mission to send up 53 Starlink satellites. Read more.

Feb. 6: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Amazonas-6 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 lifted off at 8:32 p.m. Payload is communications satellite for Hispasat known also as the Amazonas Nexus. Read more.

Feb. 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-4 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 launched 55 Starlink satellites at 12:10 a.m. This set a then-record turnaround between launches from the same pad for SpaceX coming just five days, three hours, and 38 minutes since the Feb. 6 launch. Read more.

Feb. 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Inmarsat’s I-6 F2 satellite launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:59 p.m. The second of six planned communication satellite launches, the first of which came in 2021 with the final coming by 2025. Read more.

Feb. 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-1 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:13 p.m. carrying 21 of the second-generation Starlink satellites. Read more.

March 2: Crew-6 mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9 launching Crew Dragon Endeavour from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39-A at 12:34 a.m. A Feb. 27 attempt was scrubbed with less than three minutes before liftoff. Flying were NASA astronauts mission commander Stephen Bowen and pilot Woody Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Alneyadi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, heading to the International Space Station for around a six-month stay. It’s the sixth SpaceX operational mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Read more.

March 9: A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off carrying 40 satellites for OneWeb launched at 2:13 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. The first-stage booster flew for the 13th time landing at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

March 14: After arrival of Crew-6 and departure of Crew-5 to make room for a cargo Dragon, SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a cargo Dragon spacecraft on CRS-27, the 27th resupply mission to the International Space Station from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A at 8:30 p.m. Read more.

March 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the SES 18 and 19 mission, a pair of communication satellites set to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40. Set a record for SpaceX mission turnaround with launch only four hours and 17 minutes after a Starlink launch from California. Read more.

March 22: Relativity Space Terran-1, a 3D-printed rocket awaiting company’s first-ever launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 16 at 11:25 p.m. While first stage successfully separated, the second stage engine did not get it into orbit. Read more.

March 24: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-5 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 11:43 a.m. carrying 56 Starlink satellites to orbit. The booster made its 10th flight. Read more.

March 29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-10 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launched at 4:01 p.m. The booster making its fourth flight landed on Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

April 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Intelsat 40e mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:30 a.m. Read more.

April 19: SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on Starlink 6-2 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:31 a.m. with 21 Starlink satellites. The first-stage booster made its eighth flight with a recovery on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

April 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the SES 03b mPOWER-B mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 6:12 p.m. Read more.

April 30: SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch of ViaSat-3 Americas’ communications satellite from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39-A at 8:26 p.m. All three boosters were expended, so no sonic boom landings. Also flying were payloads for Astranis Space Technologies and Gravity Space headed for geostationary orbits. It’s the sixth-ever Falcon Heavy launch. The launch pad endured a lightning strike on April 27, but SpaceX said the rocket was healthy for the attempt. Read more.

May 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-6 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with 56 Starlink satellites at 3:31 a.m. The first-stage booster making its eighth flight was recovered once again on the droneship called A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

May 14: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 launnched at 1:03 a.m. Read more.

May 19: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-3 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:19 a.m. carrying 22 second-gen Starlink satellites. The first-stage booster made its fifth flight and landing on droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in Atlantic. Read more.

May 21: Axiom 2 mission with four private passengers launched to the International Space Station for an eight-day visit flying on a SpaceX Falcon 9 topped with Crew Dragon Freedom from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A at 5:37 p.m.  The first-stage booster flew for the first time with a return to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. This is only the second crewed mission from the U.S. in 2023 following March’s Crew-6 mission. The second Axiom Space private mission to the International Space Station following 2022′s Axiom 1 mission. Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is the mission commander with aviator John Shoffner as pilot and two mission specialist seats paid for by the Saudi Space Commission, Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni. Read more.

May 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the ArabSat BADR-8 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:30 a.m. The first-stage booster made its 14th flight with a landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

June 4: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-4 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 22 second-generation Starlink satellites at 8:20 a.m. The first-stage booster made its third flight and was able to land down range on droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. The launch came 13 years to the day since the first Falcon 9 launch in 2010. It was the 229th attempt of a Falcon 9 launch with 228 of the 229 successful. Read more.

June 5 (Delayed from June 3, 4): SpaceX Falcon 9 on CRS-28 launched a cargo Dragon spacecraft, the 28th resupply mission to the International Space Station from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A at at 11:47 a.m. The first-stage booster made its fifth flight and SpaceX recovered it downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. This is the fourth flight of the crew Dragon, which will be bring up nearly 7,000 pounds of supplies, dock to the station 41 hours after launch and remain on the station for three weeks. Read more.

June 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-11 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 53 of the company’s internet satellites at 3:10 a.m.  The first stage booster flew for the ninth time with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

June 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the PSN MSF mission to launch the Satria communications satellite for the Indonesian government and PSN, an Indonesian satellite operator. This satellite will provide broadband internet and communications capability for public use facilities in Indonesia’s rural regions. Liftoff was at 6:21 p.m. with the first-stage booster making its 12th flight and once again landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

June 22: United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy on NROL-68 for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command and the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37B lifted off at 5:18 a.m. This was the second-to-last Delta IV Heavy launch with the final one expected in 2024. Read more.

June 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 5-12 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 carrying 56 Starlink satellites at 11:35 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the ninth time and landed on a droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

July 1: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the ESA Euclid space telescope mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:12 a.m. The European Space Agency telescope is designed to make a 3D map of the universe by looking at billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away across one third of the sky. Read more.

July 9: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-5 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:58 p.m. The booster made a record 16th flight and was recovered again downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

July 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 5-15 mission with 54 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:50 p.m. (early Friday scrubbed 40 seconds before launch, and early Saturday option passed over) Booster made a record-tying 16th fligh landing on droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

July 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-6 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:50 p.m. carrying 22 of its v2 mini Starlink satellites. The booster flew for the sixth time and made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

July 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-7 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:01 a.m. with 22 Starlink satellites. Booster flew for the 15th time including crewed launches Inspiration4 and Ax-1, and made recovery landing on droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. The launch set a record for turnaround time for the company from a single launch pad coming four days, three hours, and 11 minutes since the July 23 launch. The previous record was set from Feb. 6-12 at five days, three hours, and 38 minutes. Read more.

July 28: SpaceX Falcon Heavy from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A that launched a telecom satellite for Hughes Network Systems called the Jupiter 3 EchoStar XXIV at 11:04 p.m. The two side boosters were recovered at Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This was the third Falcon Heavy launch of 2023 and seventh overall. Read more.

Aug. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Intelsat G-37 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1 a.m. The first-stage booster made its sixth flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Read more.

Aug. 6: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-8 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:41 p.m. with 22 Starlink V2 minis. The first-stage booster made its fourth flight with another recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. The turnaround time between the Aug. 3 Intelsat G-37 mission and this mission broke SpaceX’s previous record for time between launches from a single launch pad. Previous record was from July 24-28 with a turnaround of four days, three hours, and 11 minutes. This one came in at three days, 21 hours, 41 minutes. Read more.

Aug. 11: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-9 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:17 a.m. Payload is 22 of the V2 mini Starlink satellites. First-stage booster flew for the ninth time with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. Read more.

Aug. 16: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-10 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 22 of the V2 mini Starlink satellites. The first-stage booster made its 13th flight and SpaceX was able to recover it again on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

Aug. 26: SpaceX Crew-7 mission on a Falcon 9 launching the Crew Dragon Endurance from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39-A lifted off at 3:27 a.m. liftoff. It’s the seventh SpaceX operational mission under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Flying are NASA astronaut and mission commander Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA astronaut and pilot Andreas Mogensen, mission specialist JAXA astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and mission specialist Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. This will be Endurance’s third spaceflight after having been used on the Crew-3 and Crew-5 missions. The launch will use a new first-stage booster. The crew will arrive at 8:50 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 27. with hatch opening about two hours later. It will stay docked about 190 days. Read more.

Aug. 26: SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink 6-11 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:05 p.m. with 22 Starlink satellites. The first stage flew for the third time and landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Aug. 31: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-13 mission carrying 22 of the v2 Starlink minis from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:21 p.m. It was SpaceX’s ninth launch of the calendar month matching the record nine launches it had in May. It was the company’s 60th orbital launch of the year. The first-stage booster flew for the seventh time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. Read more.

Sept. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-12 mission carrying 21 of the v2 Starlink minis from Kennedy Space Center’s Space Launch Complex 39-A at 10:47 p.m. It marked the 62nd SpaceX orbital launch in 2023 besting the 61 launches the company performed in 2022. The first-stage booster on the flight made its 10th launch and was able to make its recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Sept. 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-14 mission carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 took off at 11:12 p.m. The first-stage booster made its seventh flight with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. Read more.

Sept. 10 (delayed from Aug. 29): United Launch Alliance Atlas V on the SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 for the National Reconnaissance Office and Space Force from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 8:47 a.m.. Delayed because of Tropical Storm Idalia. This was the second ULA launch of 2023. SILENTBARKER’s classified mission is to improve space domain awareness to support national security and provide intelligence data to U.S. senior policy makers, the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense. It will provide the capability to search, detect and track objects from space-based sensors for timely custody and event detection. Read more.

Sept. 15: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-16 mission, carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 launching at 11:38 p.m. The first-stage booster for the mission made its fifth flight with a landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. It marked SpaceX’s 65th orbital launch of the year including missions from Canaveral, KSC and California. Read more.

Sept. 19: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-17 mission, carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 launching at 11:38 p.m. This was a record reuse flight for the first-stage booster flying for a 17th time with a recovery landing on the droneship A Short Fall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Sept.23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-18 mission, carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:38 p.m. The first-stage booster made a record-tying 17th flight with a recovery landing down range on droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Sept.29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-19 mission, carrying 22 of its Starlink satellites, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10 p.m. The booster on this flight made its 10th launch having flown on CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19 and five Starlink missions. It made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. This was SpaceX’s 69th launch of the year, its 49th from the Space Coast, 39th from Cape Canaveral and the other 10 from KSC. With only three non-SpaceX flights this year, it was the Space Coast’s 52nd overall. Read more.

Oct. 5: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-21 mission with 22 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:36 a.m.  The booster made its eighth flight with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. This was SpaceX’s 70th launch of the year, its 50th from the Space Coast, 40th from Cape Canaveral. With only three non-SpaceX flights this year, it is the Space Coast’s 53rd overall. Read more.

Oct. 6: United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 2:06 p.m. Payload was Amazon’s two test Project Kuiper satellites that were set to fly on ULA’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket, but switched to one of the nine Atlas rockets Amazon had previously purchased from ULA as Vulcan had been delayed to no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2023. Read more.

Oct. 13 (Delayed from Oct. 12): A SpaceX Falcon Heavy launched NASA’s Psyche probe into space launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39-A at 10:19 a.m. The probe was delayed from 2022, and headed for the asteroid Psyche, using a Mars-gravity assist and not arriving until August 2029. Psyche is a nickel-iron core asteroid that orbits the sun beyond Mars anywhere from 235 million to 309 million miles away. The two side boosters returned for a land landing at Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Read more.

Oct. 13 (Delayed from Oct. 8): SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-22 mission with 22 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:01 p.m. The first-stage booster for the mission is making its 14th flight, and made another recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas down range in the Atlantic. The launch came 8 hours and 42 minutes after the Falcon Heavy launch from nearby KSC earlier in the day. Read more.

Oct. 17: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-23 mission with 22 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:36 p.m. This is the first-stage booster made its 16th flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic. This marked the Space Coasts’ 57th launch of the year, which matched the total it had in 2022. Read more.

Oct. 21: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-24 mission with 23 of its Starlink satellites launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:17 p.m. The first-stage booster made its fourth flight with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. This became the record 58th launch from the Space Coast for the year. Read more.

Oct. 29: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-25 mission with 23 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 7:20 p.m. This was the 59th launch from the Space Coast for the year. The first-stage booster flew for the eighth time and made a  recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed down range in the Atlantic. Read more.

Nov. 3: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-26 mission with 23 of its Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:37 p.m. This was the 60th launch from the Space Coast for the year. The first-stage booster flew for a record 18th time and made a  recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed down range in the Atlantic. Read more.

Nov. 8: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-27 mission with 23 of its Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting 12:05 a.m. The first-stage booster made its 11th flight with a landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic. This was the 61st launch from the Space Coast for the year. Read more.

Nov. 9: SpaceX Falcon 9 with cargo Dragon on the CRS-29 mission to carry supplies to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39-B at 8:28 p.m. It’s the 29th resupply mission for SpaceX with its cargo Dragon filled with 6,500 pounds of supplies for the Expedition 70 crew with an expected arrival to the ISS about 5:20 a.m. Saturday. It includes NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) science experiment to measure atmospheric gravity waves and how it could affect Earth’s climate and the Integrated Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Low-Earth-Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T), a technology demonstration for laser communications among the ISS, an orbiting relay satellite and a ground-based observatory on Earth. The first-stage booster flew for the second time and landed back at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1. Read more.

Nov. 12: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the SES O3b mPOWER mission to medium-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40  at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:08 p.m. First stage made its 9th flight with a recovery landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. Read more.

Nov. 18: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-28 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:05 a.m. with 23 Starlink satellites. First-stage booster flew for the 11th time and landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions This was the 64th launch from the Space Coast in 2023. This launch came hours ahead of the Starship and Super Heavy launch attempt in Texas. Read more.

Nov. 22: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-29 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:47 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the 15th time and landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. This marked the 65th launch from the Space Coast in 2023. Read more.

Nov. 27: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-30 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40at 11:20 p.m. This was a southerly trajectory launch. The booster flew for the 17th time (3rd booster to do so) and landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. It was the 66th launch of the year from the Space Coast, 62nd from SpaceX in Florida, and 87th orbital launch from SpaceX including California missions. Read more.

Dec. 2: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-31 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11 p.m. First stage booster flew for the sixth time and landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas. It marked the 67th launch of the year from the Space Coast, 63rd from SpaceX in Florida, and 89th orbital launch from SpaceX including California missions.

Dec. 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-32 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:07 a.m. The first-stage booster flew for the ninth time with a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed downrange in the Atlantic. This was the 68th launch from the Space Coast in 2023. Read more.

Dec. 18 (Delayed from Dec. 11, 12, 13) SpaceX Falcon 9 on the Starlink 6-34 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 11:01 p.m. Read more.

Dec. 23: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-32 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:33 a.m.  This was a record 19th flight for the first-stage booster having flown previously on Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-11, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3 and 13 Starlink missions. It made a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic. This was the 70th Space Coast launch of the year. Read more.

Dec. 28 (Delayed from Dec. 10, 11, 13): SpaceX Falcon Heavy from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A on USSF-52, the third mission for the Space Force, launching the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle on its seventh trip to space at 8:07 p.m. The side boosters flew for the fifth time, previously used on the Psyche mission, two Space Force missions and one commercial flight with another double land landing at Landing Zone 1 and Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Read more.

Dec. 28: SpaceX Falcon 9 on Starlink 6-36 mission with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting 11:01 p.m. This was the 12th flight for the first-stage booster with a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic. This was a record turnaround among SpaceX launches from Space Coast launch pads at 2 hours and 54 minutes besting October’s double launch that saw a Falcon 9 launch at CCSFS just eight hours, 42 minutes after a Falcon Heavy launch at KSC. Read more.

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