WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force announced Jan. 9 it awarded SpaceX nine national security space launch missions worth $739 million, issuing task orders under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program.

NASA announced that the earliest launch window for Artemis II is Feb. 6, 2026, with 12 more possible dates available from February-April. The Artemis mission, a followup to the Apollo program, hopes to have astronauts back on the moon’s surface by 2027.

SpaceX had targeted 4:59 p.m. Thursday to send up the Falcon 9, but the company moved the Starlink 6-96 mission to a new Friday afternoon launch window.

The 250th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence will also feature the historic Artemis 2 astronaut mission around the moon.

NASA could be sending a crew on the Orion spacecraft out past the moon in less than a month if everything falls into place. But first the agency has to get its rocket to the launch pad. That could as early as next Saturday when the mobile launcher topped with the Space Launch System rocket and Orion could make the four-mile slow roll atop the crawler-transporter 2 from the Vehicle Assembly

For the second time in 2026, a SpaceX rocket is due to blast off from Southern California. Here's where (and what time) you may spot Falcon 9 liftoff

Pandora, the latest in a long portfolio of University of Arizona's space science missions, has cleared its last major milestone on its journey into space. This week, Pandora—a satellite about the size of fridge—was mounted inside the launch vehicle,

Last year delivered doses of drama and excitement in the space business, with a record number of launches, breathtaking vistas of other worlds, and a multitude of breakthroughs and setbacks. 2026 is shaping up to be another thrilling year in the cosmos.