Latest news with #DeltaIVHeavy
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
ULA's retired Delta IV launch tower demolished as SpaceX eyes Cape Canaveral site for Starship
With SpaceX champing at the bit to begin construction of a new Starship launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, demolition began Thursday to remove structures used by the previous tenant, United Launch Alliance. ULA used Space Launch Complex 37 for its Delta IV class of rockets, but the last Delta IV Heavy mission flew in April 2024 and ULA gave up its lease on the site. A video posted to X by journalist Michael Seeley shows the moment the Mobile Service Tower emblazoned with ULA's logo toppled over after a fiery explosion that also took out two lightning towers and a fixed umbilical tower. The site was previously used for eight Saturn 1 and 1B launches in the 1960s in support of the Apollo program. It then became home for what was initially Boeing Delta IV rockets starting in 2002. Boeing teamed up with Lockheed Martin to form ULA in 2006. Unlike other launch sites across Cape Canaveral and nearby Kennedy Space Center that feature rockets rolled out to their pads, Delta IV rockets were stood up within the protective Mobile Service Tower that would roll away from the pad ahead of launch. From 2002-2024, SLC-37 hosted 35 Delta IV rocket launches. That infrastructure turned to rubble, though, under the demolition work overseen by SpaceX and Space Force. SpaceX now awaits final results of an Environmental Impact Statement run by the Department of the Air Force expected to be published this fall. The EIS could clear the path for SpaceX to complete its own launch infrastructure for one of two planned Space Coast sites for its in-development Starship and Super Heavy rocket. The other would be at KSC's Launch Complex 39-A, where SpaceX already has a pad for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches. The Federal Aviation Administration is running its own EIS for the KSC Starship site. Together, the two Starship pads could support as many as 120 launches per year, with up to twice as many landings. The Super Heavy booster returns to the tower minutes after launch to be captured by swiveling arms known as 'chopsticks' while the upper stage is designed to make a vertical landing at the end of its orbital missions. For now, SpaceX has only performed suborbital test flights of the massive rocket from its Texas site, Starbase, but the company has stated it would like to have its first operational flight from the Space Coast by the end of 2025. SpaceX also continues to fly Falcon 9 rockets from Space Launch Complex 40. ULA meanwhile has refocused its attention to its other Space Coast launch site set up for its Atlas V and new Vulcan rockets at Space Launch Complex 41. _____
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX rocket launch in Florida falls on Friday the 13th: What time does Falcon 9 lift off?
A rocket launch from Florida could potentially blast off on Friday the 13th. SpaceX is set to launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit on June 13 from Cape Canaveral. Below is more information about the SpaceX rocket launch in Florida and suggestions on where to watch them from here. Rocket launch tally: Here's a list of all 2025 missions from Cape Canaveral, Florida (psst, there's a lot) For questions or comments, email FLORIDA TODAY Space Reporter Rick Neale at rneale@ or Space Reporter Brooke Edwards at bedwards@ For more space news from the USA TODAY Network, visit Tom Cruise and untitled SpaceX project: 'Mission: Impossible' star who lives in Florida may shoot a film in outer space Mission: SpaceX will launch a batch of broadband satellites for the ever-expanding Starlink constellation in low-Earth orbit, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows. Launch window: 7:45 a.m. to 12:16 p.m. EDT Friday, June 13, 2025 Launch location: Launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida Sonic booms: No Trajectory: Southeast Live coverage starts 90 minutes before liftoff at : You can watch live rocket launch coverage from USA TODAY Network's Space Team, which consists of FLORIDA TODAY space reporters Rick Neale and Brooke Edwards and visuals journalists Craig Bailey, Malcolm Denemark and Tim Shortt. Our Space Team will provide up-to-the-minute updates in a mobile-friendly live blog, complete with a countdown clock, at starting 90 minutes before liftoff. You can download the free FLORIDA TODAY app, which is available in the App Store or Google Play, or type into your browser. Shown is the National Weather Service-Melbourne radar, which shows conditions in real-time for the Space Coast, Brevard County, Orlando and other parts of Florida. The current date and time show up on the bottom right of this radar embed; otherwise, you may need to clear your cache. Weather permitting and depending on cloud cover, some rocket launches from the Space Coast can be visible in Palm Beach County. When there's a launch window in the middle of the night or very early morning, with a southeast trajectory, there's an opportunity for unique photos. Some examples include United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy rocket launch and SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. From Cape Canaveral, Florida, to West Palm Beach, Florida, it's about 150 miles. What the views look like: Rocket launches from Cape Canaveral spotted in West Palm Beach Rocket launches from Cape Canaveral can often be seen from Palm Beach County, and it can be as easy as walking out of your house and looking north. Try to get away from any obstructions, such as trees, tall buildings, and bright lights. Obviously, cloud cover can also get in the way. If the forecast is for clear skies and you want a better view, some good places to watch the rocket launch from Palm Beach County include: : 14775 U.S. 1, Juno Beach : Downtown West Palm Beach, 620 South Flagler Drive : 300 block of South Ocean Boulevard : If you don't know, this is the island that connects Palm Beach and West Palm Beach on Southern Boulevard (near Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private club known as the Winter White House or Southern White House). There's a bridge with a pedestrian walkway over Bingham Island, on Southern Boulevard. : 10 South Ocean Blvd., Lake Worth Beach : 10216 Lee Road, Boynton Beach : 400 N. State Road A1A, Boca Raton This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: SpaceX rocket launch in Florida on Friday the 13th: When is liftoff?
Gizmodo
2 days ago
- Science
- Gizmodo
SpaceX Is Taking Over a Competitor's Launchpad to Ramp Up Starship Flights
A little over a year ago, United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched its final Delta IV Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-37 (SLC-37). It was the end of an era for the heavy-lift rocket and the historic launchpad that helped it reach the skies. This week, SLC-37 will be demolished and repurposed for Starship, further cementing SpaceX's lead over its biggest rival. Federal agencies, led by the Department of the Air Force, approved SpaceX's proposal to take over SLC-37 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, deciding that the company's launchpad addition would not have a significant negative impact on its industry competitors, Ars Technica reported. Ground crews are expected to begin disassembling the launchpad, removing structures used by the Delta IV rocket to make way for two 600-foot-tall (180-meter) launch integration towers for Starship. SLC-37 was built in the 1960s to support the Apollo program. The launchpad, one of the largest at Cape Canaveral, hosted Saturn I and Saturn IB through the 1960s, and Delta IV from 2002 until the rocket retired last year. Since then, the launchpad has sat vacant, with SpaceX applying to take it over in early 2024. SpaceX wants to use SLC-37 for launch and landing operations of its fully reusable Starship-Super Heavy system. The company currently relies on its launch mount at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, to test its Starship rocket. The move shows that SpaceX is looking to expand launch operations of its megarocket to Florida's Space Coast. It also signifies the company's major advantage as an industry leader, taking over a prime spot at Cape Canaveral. SpaceX's expansion is concerning for other players in the industry. Last year, Blue Origin issued a public comment to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), suggesting that the regulatory body limit the number of launches of SpaceX's Starship rocket from Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida out of concern for the surrounding area. SpaceX's takeover of a military launchpad also comes at a time when the company's founder, Elon Musk, is beefing with the U.S. administration. After Musk departed from his position in the government and ended his toxic relationship with Donald Trump, the messy breakup led to the president threatening to cancel SpaceX's government contracts. The federal government is, however, overly reliant on SpaceX as an industry leader with the most reliable rocket, the Falcon 9, and the only U.S.-owned spacecraft capable of delivering astronauts to the International Space Station. It's clear by now that the government can't easily part ways with SpaceX, as it hands over more launch structures to the company.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX plans up to 76 Starship launches annually from old Delta IV launch site
The first of two Environmental Impact Statements around SpaceX plans for Starship launch sites on Florida's Space Coast was released last week, and it lays out the company's plans to fly as many as 76 times a year from Cape Canaveral Space Station. The Department of the Air Force owns the property at Space Launch Complex 37 that was most recently used by United Launch Alliance, but was shut down after the final launch of ULA's last Delta IV Heavy rocket in 2024. The Air Force has been taking the lead for the EIS on the site while the Federal Aviation Administration has its own EIS in the works for a Starship launch site at neighboring Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A, where SpaceX plans to perform as many as 44 Starship launches a year. The 120 combined potential launches would swell SpaceX's already prodigious pace. With its existing Falcon rockets added to the total, the company could easily make more than 200 launches from the Space Coast in a single year. While the former ULA site was always an option, SpaceX had also eyed a brand new launch complex at Canaveral known as SLC-50, but the just-released draft EIS took that off the board citing it as potentially more harmful environmentally and archeologically, since the proposed site is currently undeveloped green space. 'The development of SLC-50 is less ideal than the redevelopment of an existing SLC,' the report reads. 'Additionally, leveraging existing infrastructure would increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.' The final version of the EIS is expected to be released in fall. But first, a series of in-person meetings, as well as one virtual presentation, are slated during a comment period for the draft EIS that's open from June 13-July 28. The three public meetings will be on Tuesday, July 8, from 4-7 p.m. at the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum in Titusville, on Wednesday, July 9 from 4-7 p.m. at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral, and on Thursday, July 10 from 4-7 p.m. at the Dr. Joe Lee Smith Recreation Center in Cocoa. The virtual hearing will be from July 15-28 at a link that will be posted at the dedicated website for the Cape Canaveral EIS at The draft EIS outlines the potential effect of launches and landings of Starship, which is the most powerful rocket to have ever made it to space. For now, SpaceX has launched it only on suborbital test missions from its Texas site Starbase. The first two test launches of 2025 ended with the Starship's upper stage disintegrating in a spectacle that could be seen from South Florida, Bahamas and the Caribbean. The most recent fared better, but still saw the Starship spin out of control on its path halfway across the world. But already SpaceX is in the midst of a $1.8 billion infrastructure project on the Space Coast to build out a Starship factory and support what it hopes will be both the launch site at Cape Canaveral and one at KSC. SpaceX most recently declared it is aiming for its first Starship launch from the Space Coat before the end of the year, but that would be subject to the acceptance of the EIS and then approval to launch from the FAA. For now, Starship is grounded until SpaceX submits the results of its investigation into the latest Starship mishap. Within the Air Force EIS for the Canaveral site, it outlined SpaceX's intentions not only to launch as many as 76 times, but potentially to have twice as many landings: 76 for the powerful Super Heavy booster that would return minutes after launch, and 76 for the returning upper stage, which depending on its mission could return within hours, or even potentially years after launch. SpaceX would build out two launch pads and two landing pads among the new infrastructure. Half of the launches would be at night, and some of the return landings could still take place offshore as happens with most of the booster landings for Falcon 9 launches using droneships stationed in the Atlantic. While the Air Force is taking the lead, the EIS also includes input from the FAA, NASA, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. The EIS looks at not only environmental, but social, economic, historic and cultural impacts. For each of 68 potential impacts, the draft EIS concluded that there would at worst be no impact or no significant impact. 'The only known potential significant cumulative effect is associated with noise,' the EIS reads. 'Given the increased launch activity on CCSFS and KSC, community annoyance may increase in the surrounding areas.' Sonic booms from returning boosters and upper stages would become more common, and potentially louder than those currently heard along the Space Coast from the smaller Falcon 9 boosters. Some other impacts could be mitigated, especially involving endangered and threatened species that could be found at the site during construction. 'Southeastern beach mouse habitat permanently lost during construction would be mitigated by providing funding to offset the loss of habitat at an offsite location in accordance with an agreement with the USFWS,' the statement reads as an example. There's a special note saying if tricolored bats are found roosting at the site, they would be allowed to leave before demolition begins. There are also mitigation plans for Florida scrub jays, eastern indigo snakes, gopher tortoises and bald eagles. The report also noted the construction and operation of Starship launches from Canaveral would benefit the area economically. And it stated the Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45 unit, which oversees launch operations at both KSC and Canaveral, would be relied on to ensure that SpaceX competitors would not be shoved to the side. 'SLD 45 would aim to reduce scheduling conflicts between launch providers and will develop mitigation strategies to reduce impacts from conflicts,' the report stated. The goal of the EIS from the Air Force and Space Force point of view was to ensure SpaceX could launch its new rocket as part of the Department of Defense's Assured Access to Space program. 'The (proposed launch site) would increase the space launch mission capability of the U.S. DOD, NASA, and other federal and commercial customers and enhance the resilience and capacity of the nation's space launch infrastructure, while promoting a robust and competitive national space industry,' the report stated. -----------
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
SpaceX Starship plans call for up to 76 launches from old Delta IV launch site
The first of two Environmental Impact Statements around SpaceX plans for Starship launch sites on the Space Coast was released last week, and it lays out the company's plans to fly as many as 76 times a year from Cape Canaveral Space Station. The Department of the Air Force owns the property at Space Launch Complex 37 that was most recently used by United Launch Alliance, but was shut down after the final launch of ULA's last Delta IV Heavy rocket in 2024. The Air Force has been taking the lead for the EIS on the site while the Federal Aviation Administration has its own EIS in the works for a Starship launch site at neighboring Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A, where SpaceX plans to perform as many as 44 Starship launches a year. The 120 combined potential launches would swell SpaceX's already prodigious pace. With its existing Falcon rockets added to the total, the company could easily make more than 200 launches from the Space Coast in a single year. While the former ULA site was always an option, SpaceX had also eyed a brand new launch complex at Canaveral known as SLC-50, but the just-released draft EIS took that off the board citing it as potentially more harmful environmentally and archeologically, since the proposed site is currently undeveloped green space. 'The development of SLC-50 is less ideal than the redevelopment of an existing SLC,' the report reads. 'Additionally, leveraging existing infrastructure would increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.' The final version of the EIS is expected to be released in fall. But first, a series of in-person meetings, as well as one virtual presentation, are slated during a comment period for the draft EIS that's open from June 13-July 28. The three public meetings will be on Tuesday, July 8, from 4-7 p.m. at the American Police Hall of Fame and Museum in Titusville, on Wednesday, July 9 from 4-7 p.m. at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral, and on Thursday, July 10 from 4-7 p.m. at the Dr. Joe Lee Smith Recreation Center in Cocoa. The virtual hearing will be from July 15-28 at a link that will be posted at the dedicated website for the Cape Canaveral EIS at The draft EIS outlines the potential effect of launches and landings of Starship, which is the most powerful rocket to have ever made it to space. For now, SpaceX has launched it only on suborbital test missions from its Texas site Starbase. The first two test launches of 2025 ended with the Starship's upper stage disintegrating in a spectacle that could be seen from South Florida, Bahamas and the Caribbean. The most recent fared better, but still saw the Starship spin out of control on its path halfway across the world. But already SpaceX is in the midst of a $1.8 billion infrastructure project on the Space Coast to build out a Starship factory and support what it hopes will be both the launch site at Cape Canaveral and one at KSC. SpaceX most recently declared it is aiming for its first Starship launch from the Space Coat before the end of the year, but that would be subject to the acceptance of the EIS and then approval to launch from the FAA. For now, Starship is grounded until SpaceX submits the results of its investigation into the latest Starship mishap. Within the Air Force EIS for the Canaveral site, it outlined SpaceX's intentions not only to launch as many as 76 times, but potentially to have twice as many landings: 76 for the powerful Super Heavy booster that would return minutes after launch, and 76 for the returning upper stage, which depending on its mission could return within hours, or even potentially years after launch. SpaceX would build out two launch pads and two landing pads among the new infrastructure. Half of the launches would be at night, and some of the return landings could still take place offshore as happens with most of the booster landings for Falcon 9 launches using droneships stationed in the Atlantic. While the Air Force is taking the lead, the EIS also includes input from the FAA, NASA, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service. The EIS looks at not only environmental, but social, economic, historic and cultural impacts. For each of 68 potential impacts, the draft EIS concluded that there would at worst be no impact or no significant impact. 'The only known potential significant cumulative effect is associated with noise,' the EIS reads. 'Given the increased launch activity on CCSFS and KSC, community annoyance may increase in the surrounding areas.' Sonic booms from returning boosters and upper stages would become more common, and potentially louder than those currently heard along the Space Coast from the smaller Falcon 9 boosters. Some other impacts could be mitigated, especially involving endangered and threatened species that could be found at the site during construction. 'Southeastern beach mouse habitat permanently lost during construction would be mitigated by providing funding to offset the loss of habitat at an offsite location in accordance with an agreement with the USFWS,' the statement reads as an example. There's a special note saying if tricolored bats are found roosting at the site, they would be allowed to leave before demolition begins. There are also mitigation plans for Florida scrub jays, eastern indigo snakes, gopher tortoises and bald eagles. The report also noted the construction and operation of Starship launches from Canaveral would benefit the area economically. And it stated the Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45 unit, which oversees launch operations at both KSC and Canaveral, would be relied on to ensure that SpaceX competitors would not be shoved to the side. 'SLD 45 would aim to reduce scheduling conflicts between launch providers and will develop mitigation strategies to reduce impacts from conflicts,' the report stated. The goal of the EIS from the Air Force and Space Force point of view was to ensure SpaceX could launch its new rocket as part of the Department of Defense's Assured Access to Space program. 'The (proposed launch site) would increase the space launch mission capability of the U.S. DOD, NASA, and other federal and commercial customers and enhance the resilience and capacity of the nation's space launch infrastructure, while promoting a robust and competitive national space industry,' the report stated.
