Launch Services Program - NASA

Launch Services Program - NASA
Suggested Searches
Climate Change
Artemis
Expedition 64
Mars perseverance
SpaceX Crew-2
International Space Station
View All Topics A-Z
Missions
Humans in Space
Earth
The Solar System
The Universe
Science
Aeronautics
Technology
Learning Resources
About NASA
News & Events
Multimedia
NASA+
Featured
6 min read
Advancing Earth Observation at NASA Since Release of Earthrise Photo
article
1 day ago
5 min read
NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars
article
2 days ago
2 min read
NASA Wins Two Webby Awards, Five Webby People’s Voice Awards
article
2 days ago
Missions
Search All NASA Missions
A to Z List of Missions
Upcoming Launches and Landings
Spaceships and Rockets
Communicating with Missions
Artemis
James Webb Space Telescope
Hubble Space Telescope
International Space Station
OSIRIS-Rex
Humans in Space
Why Go to Space
Astronauts
Commercial Space
Destinations
Spaceships and Rockets
Living in Space
Earth
Explore Earth Science
Climate Change
Earth, Our Planet
Earth Science in Action
Earth Multimedia
Earth Data
Earth Science Researchers
The Solar System
The Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
The Moon
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Pluto & Dwarf Planets
Asteroids, Comets & Meteors
The Kuiper Belt
The Oort Cloud
Skywatching
The Universe
Exoplanets
The Search for Life in the Universe
Stars
Galaxies
Black Holes
The Big Bang
Dark Energy
Dark Matter
Science
Earth Science
Planetary Science
Astrophysics & Space Science
The Sun & Heliophysics
Biological & Physical Sciences
Lunar Science
Citizen Science
Astromaterials
Aeronautics Research
Human Space Travel Research
Aeronautics
Science in the Air
NASA Aircraft
Flight Research Innovation
Supersonic Flight
Air Traffic Solutions
Green Aviation Tech
Drones & You
Technology
Technology Transfer & Spinoffs
Space Travel Technology
Technology Living in Space
Manufacturing and Materials
Robotics
Science Instruments
Computing
Learning Resources
For Kids and Students
For Educators
For Colleges and Universities
For Professionals
Science for Everyone
Requests for Exhibits, Artifacts, Speakers & Flyovers
STEM Engagement at NASA
About NASA
NASA's Impacts
Centers and Facilities
Directorates
Organizations
People of NASA
Careers
Internships
Our History
Doing Business with NASA
Get Involved
Contact
NASA en Español
Ciencia
Aeronáutica
Ciencias Terrestres
Sistema Solar
Universo
News & Events
News Releases
Recently Published
Video Series on NASA+
Podcasts & Audio
Blogs
Newsletters
Social Media
Media Resources
Events
Upcoming Launches & Landings
Virtual Guest Program
Multimedia
NASA+
Images
NASA Live
NASA Apps
Podcasts
Image of the Day
e-Books
Interactives
STEM Multimedia
NASA Brand & Usage Guidelines
Featured
5 min read
NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars
article
2 days ago
5 min read
NASA on Track for Future Missions with Initial Artemis II Assessments
article
3 days ago
6 min read
NASA’s Hubble Dazzles With Young Stars in Trifid Nebula
article
3 days ago
Highlights
4 min read
Liquid Lifeline: NASA Tech Could Create IV Fluid In Space
article
8 hours ago
5 min read
Artemis II Mission Milestones: An Image and Video Recap
article
2 days ago
12 min read
NASA Answers Your Most Pressing Artemis II Questions
article
3 weeks ago
Highlights
3 min read
Smoke Shrouds Northern Thailand
article
20 hours ago
3 min read
NASA’s 777 Aircraft Returns Home with Science Flights on the Horizon
article
1 day ago
1 min read
Earth Day 2026: Posters and Virtual Backgrounds
article
1 day ago
Highlights
5 min read
NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars
article
2 days ago
1 min read
Amendment 51: C.6 Development and Advancement of Lunar Instrumentation Not Solicited in ROSES-25
article
1 week ago
3 min read
Twin NASA Control Rooms Support Artemis Safety, Success
article
2 weeks ago
Featured
6 min read
NASA’s Hubble Dazzles With Young Stars in Trifid Nebula
article
3 days ago
6 min read
‘Interstellar Glaciers’: NASA’s SPHEREx Maps Vast Galactic Ice Regions
article
1 week ago
5 min read
NASA Finds Young Stars Dim in X-rays Surprisingly Quickly
article
1 week ago
Highlights
4 min read
Liquid Lifeline: NASA Tech Could Create IV Fluid In Space
article
8 hours ago
2 min read
Amendment 55: Step-2 Due Date for B.3 Living With a Star Science
article
8 hours ago
1 min read
ROSES-25 A.11 Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science Correction
article
9 hours ago
Highlights
4 min read
NASA Releases Powerful LAVA Software to US Aerospace Industry
article
8 hours ago
4 min read
NASA, Organ Sharing Network UNOS to Study Faster Organ Transport
article
2 days ago
1 min read
2025-2026 Dream with Us Design Challenge Winners
article
1 week ago
Highlights
4 min read
Liquid Lifeline: NASA Tech Could Create IV Fluid In Space
article
8 hours ago
4 min read
NASA Releases Powerful LAVA Software to US Aerospace Industry
article
8 hours ago
5 min read
NASA’s Curiosity Finds Organic Molecules Never Seen Before on Mars
article
2 days ago
Featured
1 min read
Join the Artemis Mission to the Moon
article
5 months ago
Featured
4 min read
NASA, Organ Sharing Network UNOS to Study Faster Organ Transport
article
2 days ago
2 min read
NASA Wins Two Webby Awards, Five Webby People’s Voice Awards
article
2 days ago
6 min read
Advancing Earth Observation at NASA Since Release of Earthrise Photo
article
1 day ago
Highlights
11 min read
La NASA anuncia la cobertura de la misión lunar Artemis II
article
4 weeks ago
15 min read
Agenda diaria de la misión a la Luna de Artemis II de la NASA
article
1 month ago
6 min read
La NASA refuerza Artemis: añade una misión y perfecciona su arquitectura general
article
2 months ago
Launch Services Program
NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) is responsible for launching rockets delivering spacecraft that observe the Earth, visit other planets and explore the universe – from weather satellites to telescopes to Mars rovers and more.
LSP functions as a broker, matching spacecraft with the best-suited rockets, managing the launch process, providing support from pre-mission planning to post-launch. LSP helps implement NASA’s policy of a mixed-fleet launch strategy, which uses both existing and emerging domestic launch capabilities to assure access to space.
about Launch Services Program
Latest News
More LSP News
Article
5 Min Read
NASA Kennedy Prepares Facility for Roman Space Telescope Arrival
Blog
3 Min Read
NASA CubeSats Advance Space Weather, Tech Research
Blog
3 Min Read
NASA CubeSat Begins Mission to Study Radio Waves in Space
Image Article
1 Min Read
NASA Launches Six CubeSats to International Space Station
3 Min Read
NASA Names Jennifer Lyons Acting Launch Services Program Manager
Article
2 Min Read
NASA’s Pandora Satellite Acquires Signal
Blog
1 Min Read
NASA’s Exoplanet Observing Satellite Separated From Rocket
Blog
1 Min Read
Liftoff of NASA’s Newest Planet-Observing Satellite
Blog
Rockets
Firefly Aerospace Alpha
Firefly’s small-lift rocket, Alpha, is equipped to launch more than 1,000 kg to low Earth orbit. Alpha can be launched at Firefly’s launch facilities at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and new launch capabilities coming soon at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia as early as 2025.
Firefly Aerospace’s “Noise of Summer” launched eight CubeSats for NASA on its Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract in July of 2024.
Firefly Aerospace/Trevor Mahlmann
United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Atlas V uses a standard common core booster, up to five solid rocket boosters (SRBs), a Centaur upper stage in a single- or dual-engine configuration, and one of several sizes of payload fairings. Atlas V is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 30, 2020, at 7:50 a.m. EDT, carrying NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter.
NASA/Tony Gray and Tim Powers
Rocket Lab Electron
Rocket Lab’s Electron is a reusable orbital-class small rocket. Capturing and reflying Electron’s first stage enables higher launch frequency without expanding production and lowers launch costs. Rocket Lab has three launch pads at two launch sites, including two launch pads at a private orbital launch site located in New Zealand and a third pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifts off Launch Complex 1, Pad B, in Māhia, New Zealand on May 8 at 1 p.m. New Zealand time (May 7 at 9 p.m. EDT), carrying two NASA CubeSats designed to study tropical cyclones, including hurricanes and typhoons. NASA’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) CubeSats will provide data on temperature, precipitation, water vapor, and clouds by measuring microwave frequencies, providing insight into storm formation and intensification.
Rocket Lab
SpaceX Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a reusable, two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of people and payloads into Earth orbit and beyond. Falcon 9 is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.
NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission launches at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The TRACERS mission will study magnetic reconnection around Earth — a process in which electrically charged plasmas exchange energy in the atmosphere — to understand how the Sun’s solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere, Earth’s protective magnetic shield.
SpaceX
SpaceX Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy is composed of three reusable Falcon 9 nine-engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. As one of the world’s most powerful operational rockets, Falcon Heavy can lift nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lbs.) to orbit. Falcon Heavy is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, June 25, 2024.
SpaceX
Blue Origin New Glenn
Named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, New Glenn is a single-configuration, heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle with a first stage designed for a minimum of 25 flights. Powered by seven Blue Engine 4 (BE-4) engines, it can carry more than 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit and 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit. New Glenn is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket carrying NASA’s twin ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft launches at 3:55 p.m. EST, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The ESCAPADE mission, built by Rocket Lab, will study how solar wind and plasma interact with Mars’ magnetosphere and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape to prepare for future human missions on Mars.
Blue Origin
Northrop Grumman Pegasus
XL
The three-stage Pegasus rocket is used to deploy small satellites weighing up to 1,000 pounds (453.59 kg) into low-Earth orbit. Pegasus is carried aloft by the Stargazer L-1011 aircraft to approximately 40,000 feet over open ocean, where it is released and free-falls five seconds before igniting its first stage rocket motor. With its unique delta-shaped wing, Pegasus typically delivers satellites into orbit in a little over 10 minutes. Pegasus is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.
The Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, carrying NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) at the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as it prepared for launch in October 2019. The rocket is attached beneath the company’s L-1011 Stargazer aircraft which launches the rocket once in the air.
NASA
SpaceX Starship
SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket – collectively referred to as Starship – represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Starship is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.
SpaceX’s tenth flight test of Starship lifting off on Aug. 26, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. CDT from Starbase, Texas.
SpaceX
United Launch Alliance Vulcan
Vulcan is United Launch Alliance’s next generation rocket available in four standard offering configurations including zero, two, four and six solid rocket booster variants. ULA will launch Vulcan from both Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Vulcan is on NASA’s Launch Services II contract.
United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in preparation for a commercial launch in January 2024.
NASA/Cory S Huston
Launch Sites
Kennedy Space Center
One of two primary launch sites for NASA’s Launch Vehicles.
Located along Florida’s central Atlantic coast between Jacksonville and Miami, our nation’s premiere spaceport is ideal for spacecraft requiring a west-east or equatorial orbit.
View Site
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) spacecraft atop stands vertical at Launch Complex 39A as the sun sets on Monday, Sept. 22, 2025, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The missions will each focus on different effects of the solar wind — the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun — and space weather — the changing conditions in space driven by the Sun — from their origins at the Sun to their farthest reaches billions of miles away at the edge of our solar system.
BAE Systems/Benjamin Fry
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
One of two primary launch sites for NASA’s Launch Vehicles.
Located along Florida’s central Atlantic coast between Jacksonville and Miami, our nation’s premiere spaceport is ideal for spacecraft requiring a west-east or equatorial orbit.
View Site
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with the Lucy spacecraft aboard is seen in this 2 minute and 30 second exposure photograph as it launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lucy will be the first spacecraft to study Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids. Like the mission’s namesake – the fossilized human ancestor, “Lucy,” whose skeleton provided unique insight into humanity’s evolution – Lucy will revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system.
NASA/Bill Ingalls
Vandenberg Space Force Base
One of two primary launch sites for NASA’s Launch Vehicles.
Located along California’s central coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco, Vandenberg is preferred for spacecraft requiring a north-south, or polar, orbit.
Visit Site
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s R5-S7 (Realizing Rapid, Reduced-cost high-Risk Research project Spacecraft 7) CubeSat along with several other satellites as part of the company’s Transporter-15 mission lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:44 a.m. PST Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. The latest in a series of spacecraft, R5-S7 will explore ways to get multiple technology prototypes into low Earth orbit rapidly and at a low cost, accelerating the demonstration of these technologies in orbit and allowing engineers and scientists to more quickly prove them and make them available to NASA missions and other users.
SpaceX
Wallops Flight Facility
Located along the Atlantic Coast on Wallops Island, Virginia.
Operated by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Wallops is NASA’s principal facility for suborbital research programs.
View Site
A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus resupply spacecraft is seen on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, Thursday, October 1, 2020, at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Northrop Grumman’s 14th contracted cargo resupply mission with NASA to the International Space Station will deliver nearly 8,000 pounds of science and research, crew supplies and vehicle hardware to the orbital laboratory and its crew. The CRS-14 Cygnus spacecraft is named after the first female astronaut of Indian descent, Kalpana Chawla.
NASA/Patrick Black
Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein Atoll
An additional Expendable Launch Vehicle launch location in the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific.
The Kwajalein site is located between Hawaii and Australia and is used for missions requiring equatorial orbits and low inclinations.
Visit Site
Orbital Science Corp.’s L-1011 aircraft “Stargazer” flies over the runway on Kwajalein Atoll with the company’s Pegasus rocket slung underneath. Kwajalein is part of the Marshall Islands chain in the Pacific Ocean. It’s also part of the Reagan Test Site and used for launches of NASA, commercial and military missions.
NASA
Additional Launch Sites
Additional launch sites specific to LSP’s VADR launches include Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand; and SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Kodiak Island, located in Alaska, is considered one of the best locations in the world for polar launch operations, providing a wide launch azimuth and unobstructed downrange flight path.
A wet dress rehearsal is underway for Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket at Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand on April 28, 2023. NASA’s Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) CubeSats are secured in the payload fairing atop the rocket.
Rocket Lab
Roman
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be able to block starlight to directly see exoplanets and planet-forming disks, complete a statistical census of planetary systems in our galaxy, and settle essential questions in the areas of dark energy, exoplanets, and infrared astrophysics.
about Roman
Upcoming Missions
Learn more about future missions managed by NASA's Launch Services Program.
More LSP Missions
NEO Surveyor
The Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is the first space telescope specifically designed to hunt asteroids and comets that may be potential hazards to Earth.
COSI
COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) is a wide-field gamma-ray telescope that will study energetic phenomena in the Milky Way and beyond, including the creation and destruction of matter and antimatter and the final stages of the lives of stars.
Dragonfly
Dragonfly, the first-of-its-kind rotorcraft to explore another world, will fly to various locations on Saturn’s moon Titan. The Dragonfly rotorcraft will break the barriers for exploration of other planetary bodies.
Learn More About Launch Services Program
Launch Services Program Awards
View the latest contract award news from Launch Services Program.
Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare
Find out how NASA is enabling greater access to space for science and technology missions through the agency’s VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract.
LSP Launch Archive
Check out detailed information about the spacecraft and launch vehicles that have lofted important scientific missions into Earth's orbit and to the outer reaches of our solar system.
LSP YouTube
Watch videos of past Launch Services Program missions.
Media Resources
Learn more about Launch Services Program.
About
CubeSat Launch Initiative
Since its inception, NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative has launched over 150 CubeSats on more than 40 Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) missions.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch initiative (CSLI) provides low-cost access to space for U.S. educational institutions, informal educational institutions such as museums and science centers, non-profits with an education/outreach component, and NASA centers for early career workforce development. The initiative’s intent is to inspire and develop the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technologists by offering a unique opportunity to conduct scientific research and develop/demonstrate novel technologies in space.
about CubeSat Launch Initiative
Once Launch Services Program pairs CubeSats to a launch, an Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission number is assigned. Pictured is ELaNa 19 / Venture Class CubeSats (CHOMPTT) inside Rocket Lab’s facility, located at Huntington Beach California.
Image credit: NASA
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s R5-S7 (Realizing Rapid, Reduced-cost high-Risk Research project Spacecraft 7) CubeSat along with several other satellites as part of the company’s Transporter-15 mission stands vertical on the launch pad of Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. The latest in a series of spacecraft, R5-S7 will explore ways to get multiple technology prototypes into low Earth orbit rapidly and at a low cost, accelerating the demonstration of these technologies in orbit and allowing engineers and scientists to more quickly prove them and make them available to NASA missions and other users.
SpaceX
A long exposure photo shows two streaks – the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the international Sentinel-6B spacecraft lifting off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 9:21 p.m. PST Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, and the rocket’s first stage returning minutes later to land at Vandenberg’s Landing Zone 4 East. A collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sentinel-6B is designed to measure sea levels down to roughly an inch for about 90% of the world’s oceans.
SpaceX
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket carrying NASA’s twin ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft launches at 3:55 p.m. EST, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The ESCAPADE mission, built by Rocket Lab, will study how solar wind and plasma interact with Mars’ magnetosphere and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape to prepare for future human missions on Mars.
Blue Origin
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe), the agency’s Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Follow On–Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025. The missions will each focus on different effects of the solar wind — the continuous stream of particles emitted by the Sun — and space weather — the changing conditions in space driven by the Sun — from their origins at the Sun to their farthest reaches billions of miles away at the edge of our solar system.
SpaceX
NASA’s TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission launches at 11:13 a.m. PDT (2:13 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The TRACERS mission will study magnetic reconnection around Earth — a process in which electrically charged plasmas exchange energy in the atmosphere — to understand how the Sun’s solar wind interacts with the magnetosphere, Earth’s protective magnetic shield.
SpaceX
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory and PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellites, launches from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. SPHEREx will use its telescope to provide an all-sky spectral survey, creating a 3D map of the entire sky to help scientists investigate the origins of our universe. PUNCH will study origins of the Sun’s outflow of material, or the solar wind, capturing continuous 3D images of the Sun’s corona and the solar wind’s journey into the solar system.
SpaceX
A reflection in the water shows NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft atop SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket at Launch Pad 39A on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of launch to Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa. The spacecraft will complete nearly 50 flybys of Europa to determine if there are conditions suitable for life beyond Earth. Launch is targeting 12:06 p.m. EDT on Monday, Oct. 14, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
SpaceX
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket, carrying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-T (GOES-T), lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on March 1, 2022. Liftoff was at 4:38 p.m. EST. GOES-T is the third satellite in the GOES-R series that will continue to help meteorologists observe and predict local weather events that affect public safety. GOES-T will be renamed GOES-18 once it reaches geostationary orbit. GOES-18 will go into operational service as GOES West to provide critical data for the U.S. West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific Ocean. The launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, America’s multi-user spaceport.
NASA/Kevin O’Connell and Kevin Davis
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket that will carry the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft is seen at Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft onboard is seen as it is rolled to the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Psyche mission, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s Psyche spacecraft will travel to a metal-rich asteroid by the same name orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter to study it’s composition. The spacecraft also carries the agency’s Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration, which will test laser communications beyond the Moon. Photo Credit: (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, successfully lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:33 a.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 8. PACE is NASA’s newest earth-observing satellite that will help increase our understanding of Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and climate by delivering hyperspectral observations of microscopic marine organisms called phytoplankton, as well new data on clouds and aerosols.
SpaceX
Meet Our Team
More Biographies
Jennifer W. Lyons
Jenny Lyons is the program manager of the Launch Services Program at Kennedy.
Jorge L. Piquero
Jorge Piquero is the Senior Technical Integration Manager of the Launch Services Program at Kennedy.
Denton K. Gibson
Denton Gibson is launch director of the Launch Services Program at Kennedy.
@NASAKennedy
@NASA
@NASAKennedy
@NASA
@NASA
@NASAKennedy
@company/NASA
Keep Exploring
Discover More Topics From NASA
Missions
Humans in Space
Earth & Climate
Solar System
Was this page helpful?