SpaceFlight Now

• SpaceX closes out October with Halloween eve Falcon 9 launch, 700th Falcon 9 launch to date

  The Starlink 15-18 mission will add another 27 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to SpaceX’s megaconstellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 9:04 p.m. PDT (12:04 a.m. EDT / 0404 UTC).

• Turkey aims for first Moon-orbiting mission in 2027

  This is the first of a pair of Turkish flights to the Moon. The first will be an orbiter with several scientific instruments and the second will be a lander.

• As it happened: spacewalkers install new solar array

  NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk are performing a spacewalk to install the 7th of 8 ISS Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA) to upgrade the orbiting outpost's power system.

• Spacewalking astronauts unfurl upgraded solar array to boost space station power

  NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk successfully installed and unfurled the seventh of eight new solar panels designed to power the outpost through its retirement in 2030.

• United Launch Alliance announces mid-November return to flight for Vulcan rocket

  The anticipated launch will be the first for the heavy-lift rocket since a mid-flight nozzle failure on a solid rocket booster. The rocket will carry 40 Amazon Leo satellites to orbit.