SpaceX launched their 101st Falcon 9 mission of 2025 last night from Kennedy Space Center when the company sent the Boeing X-37 space plane to low Earth orbit on a classified mission. Liftoff was at 11:50 PM EDT, shortly after the opening of the launch window.
SpaceX and NASA are set to send supplies to ISS overnight aboard Cargo Dragon. Liftoff is set for 2:45:36 AM ET in an instantaneous window. And it will be a quick trip once in orbit: after an approximate 28-hour flight, Dragon will dock with the orbiting outpost on Monday, August 25, around 7:30 AM ET.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Mission | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Dragon CRS-2 SpX-33 — Go for Launch! |
| Organization | SpaceX |
| Location | Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 |
| Pad | Space Launch Complex 40 |
| Status | Go for Launch |
| Status Info | Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources. |
| Window Opens | Sunday, 08/24/2025 2:45:36 AM |
| Window Closes | Sunday, 08/24/2025 2:45:36 AM |
| Destination | Low Earth Orbit |
| Mission Description |
33rd commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX.
The flight will be conducted under the second Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA.
Cargo Dragon 2 brings supplies and payloads, including critical materials to directly support science and research investigations that occur onboard the orbiting laboratory. |
As of 10:00 AM Saturday August 23, 2025. Launch times are subject to change or cancellation at any time. Consult SpaceX.com for more information.
Along with the usual gamut of food, gear, and crew supplies, CRS-33 will deliver a range of scientific experiments to the International Space Station. These include stem cells that promote bone formation, aimed at studying how to prevent bone loss in space. Dragon will also carry materials for 3D printing medical implants—research that could lead to better treatments for nerve damage back on Earth.
Another item on the launch manifest for CRS-33 is roughly 1500 tortillas. They are a staple food aboard Station — convenient, quick, and quite handy to bundle up other food items…breakfast, lunch or dinner. They are a crumb-free condensed item, making the humble tortilla one of the most likely foods humans will carry to Mars and beyond.
Other payloads include bioprinted liver tissue for examining how blood vessels form in microgravity, and tools for printing metal cubes in orbit.
Cargo Dragon will also conduct a reboost test to help maintain the station’s altitude. The boost system, housed in Dragon’s trunk, features its own propellant setup and uses a pair of Draco engines powered by existing hardware.
Starting in September 2025, the system will carry out a series of burns to demonstrate its ability to sustain the lab’s orbit. This follows Dragon’s first successful test of the reboost function on November 8, 2024, during NASA’s 31st commercial resupply mission with SpaceX.
Cargo Dragon is expected to stay docked at the station through December after which it will return to Earth off of the coast of California.
This will be the seventh flight of first stage B1090, which will be supporting this mission. Previously, B1090 launched O3b mPOWER-E, Crew-10, Bandwagon-3, O3b mPOWER-D, and two Starlink missions. Following stage separation, it will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas, located downrange off the South Carolina coast. There will not be a sonic boom on the Space Coast after the launch.
The 45th Weather Squadron of Space Launch Delta 45 released their Launch Mission Execution Forecast yesterday afternoon, and it calls for a 70% chance of acceptable weather, with watch items being the usual summer items: cumulus clouds and nearby lightning.
Northeast, on the usual ISS route.
B1090 will touch down off the South Carolina coast aboard ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: CRS-33. This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about twenty minutes before liftoff.
For official updates regarding launch times, SpaceX.com is the best source of information. Starlink launch times change from time to time, and the company generally updates their website within minutes of the decision to change the launch time. This is very handy if none of the streaming options on YouTube have started their broadcasts.
Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
Next Space Flight an app for iOS and Android phones, has a real-time countdown clock that is accurate to a second, give or take. The app is free. Search the App Store or Google Play. They are also on the web: nextspaceflight.com.
The best free options are available for spectators: Jetty Park, the Banana River Bridge on FL 528 W or the southern Titusville parks on Washington Avenue / US-1 are your best bets. Don’t forget bug spray.
SpaceX, NASA and the Crew 11 astronauts beat the clouds and rain showers and launched before summer showers washed over Kennedy Space Center today, but just barely. With dark skies and rain rapidly advancing from the south, liftoff of SpaceX’s 18th crewed flight was at 11:43 AM ET from venerable Launch Complex 39A. Crew 11’s four astronauts are now on their way to the International Space Station after today’s launch, with an expected arrival time at the orbital outpost around 3 AM ET tomorrow, August 2.
Tempus fugit, a lot of clocks say: “time is fleeting.” For a facility as established and enduring as Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, it might seem like forever since the first rocket launched from here. Time has flown and so have thousands of rockets and missiles from America’s premier spaceport. Truth is, CCSFS has been open “only” 75 years, but it continues to have a bright future not only today but also for the long-term future.
SpaceX is set to launch Falcon 9 and the SES-operated O3b mPower satellites this evening from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. Liftoff is set for 05:12 PM ET, with a two hour window extending to 07:12 PM ET.
Official weather forecasts have given the mission a 50/50 chance for acceptable weather, with roughly a 25% chance of thunderstorms in the launch area during the launch window. Keep in mind that acceptable conditions consider more than just rain, it also includes thunderstorm activity in the launch area as well as the lightning potential in the immediate vicinity of the rocket. To learn more about launch commit criteria, click here.
Boeing’s 9th and 10th O3b mPOWER satellites—launched in partnership with SES—will bolster the company’s push to deliver global connectivity from space. Leveraging Boeing’s fully software-defined payload technology, these satellites can dynamically allocate power to match user demand.
Today will mark the sixth mission for Falcon 9 first stage booster B1096, and after completing its share of the mission, the booster will touch down offshore on ASDS ‘Just Read The Instructions.’
The 45th Weather Squadron of Space Launch Delta 45 of the US Space Force gives a 50% chance for weather to be acceptable during the launch window:
ESE, as is typical for equatorial orbits:
SpaceCoastLaunchCalendar.com will have a livestream of the launch if you’re not able to watch the launch in person: Livestream
SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: O3B MPower Mission. This will also be available on the X platform. Coverage starts about fifteen minutes before liftoff.
Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link
For official updates regarding launch times, SpaceX.com is the best source of information. Starlink launch times change from time to time, and the company generally updates their website within minutes of the decision to change the launch time. This is very handy if none of the streaming options on YouTube have started their broadcasts.
Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
Next Space Flight an app for iOS and Android phones, has a real-time countdown clock that is accurate to a second, give or take. The app is free. Search the App Store or Google Play. They are also on the web: nextspaceflight.com.
The best free options are available for spectators: Northern Titusville parks on Washington Avenue / US-1 are your best bets: Space View Park, Sands Park, Rotary Riverfront Park.
The Space Bar will be open through the launch window. New York New York in Titusville will be open to roughly 7 PM, and is a great place to watch as well. Restaurants in Port Canaveral, specifically Gators Dockside, Fishlips and Grills Seafood should have good views after the rocket clears obstructions.
After several delays, Axiom 4 is on its way to the International Space Station. The corporate mission, commanded by NASA veteran Peggy Whitson, lifted off at 2:31 AM Eastern Time from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon.
In addition to Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, an officer in the Indian Air Force and astronaut with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists include Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, a project astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA) representing Poland, and Tibor Kapu from Hungary. Notably, this mission marks the first time astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary will visit the ISS, representing each nation’s first government-sponsored human spaceflight in over 40 years.
It was a typical summer’s day here on the Space Coast: at first, sunny and warm, humid with an ever-present threat of a thunderstorm lingering off in the distance.
An hour and a half before today’s launch, while the countdown clock was ticking towards T-0, the skies made good on their threat of a thunderstorm, with plenty of lightning strikes and heavy showers near Space Launch Complex 40, where the GPS III-7 satellite, also known as SV-08, waited atop Falcon 9 for liftoff just before the end of the launch window at 1:38 PM Eastern Time.
SpaceX launched their 49th mission of 2025 this evening from Cape Canaveral when the company sent the Starlink 6-74 mission to low Earth orbit aboard Falcon 9. Liftoff was at 9:52 PM EDT, right at the opening of the launch window.
After staging, Booster B1069 concluded its shift for the evening when it touched down on ASDS ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’, SpaceX’s automated drone ship. This was the booster’s 23rd flight, making it one of the greybeards in SpaceX’s fleet.
At 10:53 PM ET, SpaceX announced successful payload deployment, completing another successful mission for the company. This was their 475th mission.
28 Starlink satellites.
Another group of Starlink satellites are scheduled to launch NET Sunday evening:
| Mission | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Starlink Group 12-23 |
|---|---|
| Organization | SpaceX |
| Location | Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 |
| Pad | Space Launch Complex 40 |
| Status | To Be Confirmed |
| Status Info | Awaiting official confirmation – current date is known with some certainty. |
| Window Opens | Sunday, 04/27/2025 10:04:00 PM EDT |
| Window Closes | Monday, 04/28/2025 2:04:00 AM EDT |
| Destination | Low Earth Orbit |
| Mission Description | A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project for a space-based Internet communication system. |
Summer thunderstorms have yet to arrive on the Space Coast this year, but there were rumbles and roars a-plenty yesterday on the Eastern Range. First, in the wee hours, SpaceX launched CRS-32 from KSC, and its booster landed at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Then, after sunset, the company completed another RTLS Falcon 9 launch, this time from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff was at 8:48 PM ET.
Eight minutes and seven seconds after liftoff, Booster B1090 completed its third flight successfully at Landing Zone 2 on the site of the former Launch Complex 13.
SpaceX and NASA launched the CRS-32 mission early Monday morning from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. After an apparently event-free countdown, liftoff was at 04:15:34 AM ET. About 7.5 minutes after liftoff, the booster used for the flight returned to land at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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