NEW YORK — Set your phasers to back-to-school, space fans. Star Trek is going back to Starfleet Academy for season 2, and we finally have a release date.
The sophomore season of "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" will warp back to the small screen in March 2027 when the limited series returns for its final season on Paramount+. The series, which follows a class of cadets balancing Starfleet classes, space adventures (and yes, some love) in the 32nd century, will return with its full cast and even add new faces, showrunners announced at a panel at New York Comic Con 2026 on Saturday (Oct. 10).
"Season one is about letting go of who you were in the past to start again at Starfleet Academy," executive producer and co-showrunner Noga Landau said in the Star Trek panel. "Season two is about thinking that you knew who you were, only to realize that as you grow older, your life is going to go in directions you didn't expect, and you're going to have to shift your perception of yourself. So it's really about sophomore year, right?"
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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be available to watch on Paramount+. You can also watch almost every other Star Trek show and movie on there, too, while you wait.View Deal
Holly Hunter returns as academy chancellor Nahla Ake, a long-lived half-Lanthanite, who will have to face a familiar face in her estranged father, Nyk Ake, portrayed by Bill Nighy (Living, About Time) in season two.
"He plays my full lanthanide father, who has basically, if he wants, can achieve immortality," Hunter said, dropping a big preview about her character in season two. "He plays my dad, and I play me ... and my twin, my twin sister. Very fun."
Also joining this year's Starfleet Academy class is Rosemarie DeWitt (Untamed, The Staircase) as Laytha Sadal, the First Lady of Betazed (and mother of Academy cadet Tarima).
Bill Nighy on Starfleet Academy Season 2 as Nyk Ake, father of the chancellor Nahla Ake.Michael Gibson/Paramount+Rosemarie DeWitt (right) on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy as the First Lady of Betazed.Michael Gibson/Paramount+
"We have had such a blast," Hunter said of working with the entire cast of Starfleet Academy. "It was a tremendous honor and learning experience for me to do the show for two seasons, and I just really am excited about the second season because there's so much more intimacy that we just comfortably felt with each other over those 10 episodes."
In season one, Starfleet Academy brought back Trek's favorite Emergency Medical Hologram, The Doctor (Robert Picardo), then gave the 800-year-old Star Trek: Voyager physician a daughter in the photonic Sam (Kerrice Brooks) and a Klingon medical student, Jay-Den Kraag (Karim Diané), to train.
We basically did Top Gun in space ..."
showrunner Alex Kurtzman
"His future existence is forever changed. Nothing will ever be the same for the character," Picardo said in the panel. "The shock of that, and how that changed the character, [...] informs all of season two. My primary relationships are now with my daughter and of course with Jay-Den, as I'm mentoring him as a future physician, and we have some terrific scenes together as well."
Executive producer and co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman promised more space action in season two of Starfleet Academy and showed an exclusive teaser clip of Academy cadets Caleb (Sandro Rosta), Genesis (Bella Shepard) and Sam as they race to recover data from a crashed spaceship on their first away mission. But the best, Kurtzman said, is yet to come when the show's cadets meet up with Nova Squadron, the elite flight team at Starfleet Academy.
"The Nova Squadron episode is amazing on a lot of different levels," Kurtzman said. "We basically did Top Gun in space. "What's available to us now technologically allowed us to go to a place that I don't think we've ever gone to on television before. Certainly not in Star Trek."
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will return to TV in March 2027 on the Paramount+ streaming platform.
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Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will be available to watch on Paramount+. You can also watch almost every other Star Trek show and movie on there, too, while you wait.View Deal
On Sept. 9, 1982, the first private rocket launched from a Texas cattle ranch.
The Conestoga 1 rocket was designed by Space Services Inc. of America (SSIA) and built from spare parts of other rockets. It was named after a type of covered wagon that used to transport American settlers westward to the new frontier during the 19th century.
The 36-foot rocket lifted off from a private launch facility on Matagorda Island, Texas and flew for 10-and-a-half minutes. It reached an altitude of 195 miles and became the first privately funded rocket to reach space.
The only payload on board was 40 gallons of water, which didn't serve much scientific purpose, but it was ejected from the spacecraft at peak altitude to serve as a visual marker so ground crews could watch.
The private Conestoga 1 rocket sits atop its launchpad at Matagorda Island, Texas ahead of its historic Sept. 9, 1982 launch. It was the first privately developed rocket to fly. (Image credit: Space Services Inc.)
Why it mattered
Private rocket launches may seem routine today (SpaceX alone launches hundreds each year), spaceflight in 1982 was primarily the purview of government agencies like NASA, the U.S. military and other national agencies.
That changed with the launch of Conestoga 1 by SSIA. The company, led at the time by legendary Mercury 7 and Apollo-Soyuz astronaut Deke Slayton, and entreneurs Charles Chafer and David Hannah, Jr., was based in Houston and raised $6 million from 57 supporters to develop their rocket, according to Wired. The company initially tried to launch a different type of rocket, called Percheron, in 1981, but it exploded on the pad, according to an account by Inc. magazine.
SSIA found success three years later with Conestoga 1, a solid-fueled rocket based on an old Minuteman missile second stage (which Wired said SSIA bought from NASA for $365,000). It launched on its suborbital mission from Matagordo Island, Texas, which is about 170 miles (274 km) north of what is now Starbase, Texas, home to SpaceX's Starship megarocket launches.
SSIA would go on to launch another suborbital sounding rocket carrying science experiments in 1989. The company attempted to launch a larger Conestoga rocket (Conestoga 1620), which included additional strap-on boosters, in October 1995 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, but it failed 46 seconds after liftoff, according to NASA.
Today, SSIA's subsidiary Celestis, a space funeral company, now offers memorial flights by arranging to fly human cremains into space on commercial spaceflights. (SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets have carried some such payloads. Another branch offers informal star naming services.
But the legacy of Conestega 1 lives on today in a robust commercial space launch industry that has seen a number of private companies enter the space marketplace. SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites have even built and flown private astronauts on suborbital (and orbital in SpaceX's case) missions. SpaceX, meanwhile, has built and launched the largest private rocket on Earth, the Starship and Super Heavy booster. It stands over 400 feet tall, is more powerful than NASA's mighty Saturn V moon rocket, and is designed to be fully reusable to allow missions to Earth orbit, the moon and Mars.
A huge SpaceX rocket is just minutes away from launching NASA's next great observatory into space: the Roman Space Telescope. But if you're hoping to watch it live online, you'll have to get up pretty early today (Aug. 30) or you'll miss it.
"Roman’s deep, sweeping surveys will help investigate dark energy and dark matter, discover and characterize planets beyond our solar system, map billions of galaxies, study black holes and share enormous amounts of data with both scientists and the public," NASA said in an update Friday (Aug. 28), after clearing Roman for launch.
Here's a look at what time NASA's Roman Space Telescope will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, as well as how to watch online.
What time is SpaceX's Roman Space Telescope launch?
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is encapsulated in the payload fairing of its SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. (Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX is currently targeting the launch of NASA's Roman Space Telescope for no earlier than 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT) today, Aug. 30.
The company will launch Roman into space atop a Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A launch livestream will begin about one hour before liftoff.
While SpaceX hopes to launch Roman on time, the company can try again tomorrow, on Monday, Aug. 31, if needed. A launch on that day would lift off a few minutes earlier, at 7:22 a.m. EDT (1122 GMT), SpaceX has said.
Even if you can't see SpaceX's Starship in person, you can score a model of your own. Standing at 13.77 inches (35 cm), this is a 1:375 ratio of SpaceX's Starship as a desktop model. The materials here are alloy steel and it weighs just 225g.View Deal
Can I watch SpaceX's Roman Space Telescope launch?
NASA will provide a launch webcast early Sunday morning. That livestream begins Aug. 30 at 6:20 a.m. EDT (1020 GMT) and will run through the launch and a post-launch briefing. That livestream can be found on the NASA website here, as well as all of NASA Social channels (Facebook, Instagram, X), and streaming channels like Twitch, Discovery+, Amazon Prime, NASA+, and of course YouTube.
SpaceX will also host its own launch livestream via its X account, which will begin about an hour before liftoff.
As mentioned above, SpaceX aims to launch Roman for NASA at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 GMT), with the flight lasting about 31 minutes and 31 seconds — the time post-liftoff at which Roman is expected to deploy into space.
A post-launch press conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) and will include comments from the experts listed below.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
Jackie Townsend, Roman telescope project manager, NASA Goddard
Julie McEnery, Roman telescope senior project scientist, NASA Goddard
Denton Gibson, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program, NASA Kennedy
How long is SpaceX's Roman Space Telescope launch?
A diagram showing SpaceX's Roman Space Telescope launch profile on a Falcon Heavy rocket. The flight should last about 31.5 minutes. (Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX's Roman Space Telescope launch for NASA will last just over 31 minutes (31 minutes and 31 seconds, to be exact), in order to send Roman on its way into deep space.
After liftoff, the Falcon Heavy rocket's core booster and twin side boosters will fire for just under 2.5 minutes, after which the side boosters will separate and return to Earth. If all goes well, they should land about 7 minutes, 23 seconds after liftoff.
"This is the first and third flight for the two first stage side boosters supporting this mission, which previously launched theGOES-U and Viasat-3 F3 missions," SpaceX wrote in a mission overview. "Following stage separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters will land on SpaceX’s Landing Zones 2 and 40 (LZ-2 and LZ-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida." SpaceX does not appear to be planning a core first-stage landing off shore for this flight.
The three first-stage boosters of the Falcon Heavy rocket that will launch NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on Aug. 30, 2026. SpaceX shared this photo via X on Aug. 26. (Image credit: SpaceX)
Here's a look at the launch and flight timeline from SpaceX.
The upper stage of the Falcon Heavy will continue firing its engine through the 8-minutes-and-28-seconds mark, when it will shut down for a 16-minute cruise period. Just over 24 minutes into the flight, the second stage will reignite its single Merlin engine for about three minutes before shutting down for good.
The Roman Space Telescope will then deploy from its carrier at the 31:31 minute mark. It is expected to deploy its solar panels and sunshade shortly after liftoff, then spend the next few days unfolding its antenna and aperture cover, while also performing a mid-course correction burn on its way to its final destination: a stable point in space called Lagrange Point 2, about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth, opposite the sun.
"The Roman team will complete a carefully orchestrated series of deployments, calibrations, and tests in the three months following launch before the observatory reaches its final orbit," NASA has said of the steps that will follow.
What if the Roman Space Telescope can't launch?
If SpaceX can't launch the Roman Space Telescope on Aug. 30, the company and NASA have at least one backup day to try again.
A second launch window is available on Monday, Aug. 31, at 7:22 a.m. EDT (1122 GMT), according to SpaceX. Both SpaceX and NASA are watching the weather closely to determine if Roman can fly on Aug. 30.
"Meteorologists with the U.S. Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 Weather Squadron are predicting a 60% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch, which is targeted for 7:26 a.m. EDT on Sunday, Aug. 30 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy," NASA wrote in an update Friday (Aug. 28).
On Aug. 25, 1997, NASA launched the Advanced Composition Explorer, or ACE satellite to study energetic particles traveling through space.
It lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Delta II rocket and spent the next three and a half months making its way to its orbital post near the L1 Lagrangian point, a point of gravitational equilibrium between Earth and the sun. There, the spacecraft is monitoring the stream of accelerated particles coming from the sun known as the solar wind.
ACE provides 24/7 continuous coverage of the solar wind, which lets scientists know when to expect geomagnetic storms that can disrupt communication satellites and power grids on Earth.
Why it mattered
A Boeing Delta II rocket launches NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer satellite from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Aug. 25, 1997. (Image credit: NASA)
The ACE satellite is a NASA sentinel survivor.
When it launched in 1997, NASA hoped the ACE satellite mission would last up to five years as it monitored solar wind speeds and conditions, as well as the flow of other critical charged particles through space, such as galactic cosmic rays, as well as interplanetary and interstellar particles.
As of today, ACE has been hard at work for 29 years and shows no signs of stopping. It's one of NASA's oldest still-operating sun-monitoring spacecraft (the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, is two years older, as it launched in 1995).
ACE serves as a core part of NASA's early-warning system for incoming space weather. It's nine primary instruments were between 10 and 10,000 times better than any sensors flown in space when the satellite launched in 1997. In 2005, one of those instruments — the Solar Energetic Particle Ionic Charge Analyzer — stopped sending data, but it is the only instrument to be lost during ACE's lifetime, NASA has said.
On Aug. 7, 1980, NASA's Viking 1 spacecraft ended its epic and historic mission on the Red Planet.
Viking 1 was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars. It was one of two Viking missions NASA launched in 1975 to go look for evidence oflife on Mars. Each of the Viking missions were composed of an orbiter and a lander. Viking 1's orbiter took photos of the Martian surface that helped NASA decide where to drop the lander.
After four years of orbiting Mars, the orbiter ran out of attitude-control propellant, so NASA had to shut it down. The lander continued its scientific observations for another three years before it lost contact with NASA in 1983.
A photo of NASA's Viking 1 Mars orbiter with its Mars lander attached in a landing capsule.NASAThis NASA graphic shows the different parts of the Viking 1 Mars Orbiter.NASA
Why it mattered
NASA's Viking 1 mission is most well-known for making the first truly successful landing on Mars, but the mission was more than just a huge lander. Viking 1 actually consisted of two spacecraft, the Viking 1 Lander and the Viking 1 Orbiter. The two spacecraft rode to Mars together, with the lander separating from the orbiter ahead of its landing on the Red Planet.
In fact, NASA sent FOUR Viking spacecraft to Mars in total. The Viking 2 mission also carried both a Lander and Orbiter. But the Viking 1 probes were the first of that wave. The two orbiters were based on NASA's general Mariner 9 spacecraft bus, but more sophisticated. They carried three primary instrument suites: A two-camera imaging system; infrared spectrometer for water vapor mapping; and an infrared radiometer for thermal mapping.
The Viking missions were only planned to last 90 days, but both the lander and orbiter lasted years beyond their design lifetime. The Viking 1 Orbiter studied Mars for four years, orbiting the planet 1,488 times before shutting down on orbit 1,489 on Aug. 7, 1980.
The Viking 1 and Viking 2 Orbiters captured a combined 52,663 high-resolution photos of Mars, mapping about 97% of its surface with a resolution of about 984 feet (300 meters). They also snapped photos of Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos, in great detail, far surpassing what NASA achieved with the Mariner 9 Mars orbiter in 1971.
At the time, the Curiosity rover was the biggest and most ambitious Mars rover that NASA ever launched. Its landing involved a new kind of maneuver that had never been tried before using something called a "sky crane." Like previous rovers that have landed on Mars, Curiosity used a parachute and rocket engines to slow down as it descended through the Red Planet's atmosphere.
But while other rovers used airbags to cushion the last part of the fall, Curiosity's rocket-propelled sky crane hovered over the ground and gently lowered it with cables. Touchdown was confirmed at 1:31 a.m. EDT (0531 GMT), though it was 10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 at Curiosity's JPL control room.
How Curiosity landed on Mars.NASA/JPL-CaltechNASA's Curiosity rover on MarsNASA, JPL-Caltech and MSSS
Why it mattered
The Curiosity Mars rover was built by engineers and scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The space center's motto is ambitious: "Dare Mighty Things." With Curiosity, JPL may have dared more mightily than it ever had before.
First, there's the rover's immense size. It weighs nearly 1 ton on Earth and is the size of a small car. It's powered by a nuclear battery and was the first of a new family of massive rovers to land on Mars. The sky crane landing approach was a big departure from the direct touchdowns of the Viking landers, as well as the bouncy airbag landings of the Mars Pathfinder, Spirit and Opportunity missions.
It all had to go right autonomously during a time NASA called the "7 minutes of terror" — the time it took for the landing, which would happen faster than the rover could get instructions from flight controllers on Earth due to the signal travel time to reach Mars. And it all worked spectacularly.
Curiosity not only aced its landing at Gale Crater on Mars, but it changed Mars landings forever. NASA repeated the feat nine years later with the successful landing of the Perseverance rover at Jezero Crater on Mars in February 2021. Curiosity and Perseverance are the largest rovers ever to explore Mars and set a new benchmark for what is possible on other planets.
As of this writing, Curiosity has spent 14 years exploring Mars, drilling into rocks and finding new clues about water on Mars and the planet's potential habitability in the ancient past. It's still going strong, even if it got a rock stuck on its drill for a few days earlier this year.
SpaceX launched the world's most powerful rocket on a critical 13th test flight late Friday, but there was no triskaidekaphobia on this mission.
The July 24 test launch, Space's Starship Flight 13 mission, sent a towering rocket the size of a 40-story skyscraper into space from South Texas, returned its massive Booster to Earth, and then — in a feat perhaps none saw coming — gently landed its Starship upper stage in the Indian Ocean, where it tipped over to float belly up on the sea.
"Starship is intact, floating in the ocean and transmitting telemetry!" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X.
SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight lifts off from Starbase, Texas on July 24, 2026.SpaceXSpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight lifts off from Starbase, Texas on July 24, 2026.SpaceXSpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight lifts off from Starbase, Texas on July 24, 2026.SpaceX
Even if you can't see SpaceX's Starship in person, you can score a model of your own. Standing at 13.77 inches (35 cm), this is a 1:375 ratio of SpaceX's Starship as a desktop model. The materials here are alloy steel and it weighs just 225g.View Deal
"That is a first," SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot added in live commentary as a drone beamed stunning views of Starship bobbing in the waves. "That is the softest splashdown we have ever had with Starship in the Indian Ocean."
The splashdown capped what appeared to be a mostly successful test flight of SpaceX's biggest Starship ever. With a mighty roar, Starship Flight 13 lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase, Texas launch site at 6:51 p.m. EDT (2251 GMT) on a test flight that lasted just over one hour.
It was only the second flight of the company's new Starship Version 3 design, or V3, and SpaceX was hoping for a better outing than its first attempt in May. During that previous test, the Starship Flight 12 mission, the massive Super Heavy first-stage Booster suffered engine problems after stage separation and failed to make a water landing in the Gulf of Mexico. It crashed instead.
Lucky Flight 13
Friday's Starship Flight 13 mission fared a bit better.
SpaceX initially tried to launch Flight 13 on July 16, but the rocket aborted the try at the last second due to engine issues. SpaceX replaced some first-stage Raptor engines in time for a July 23 launch attempt, but waved off due to weather, setting the stage for Friday's successful liftoff.
Minutes into the flight, the Super Heavy Booster successfully separated from its Ship upper stage, aced a flip maneuver and returned to Earth. There was a problem during the landing burn. Only five engines appeared to fire when 13 were required to slow the Booster to landing speed. It hit the Gulf waters harder than planned, its camera views cutting out.
"It didn't look like we lit all 13 engines that we were planning for that initial landing burn," Huot said. "We were targeting a softer splashdown and, as you saw, it came in with quite a bit of velocity."
SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Booster hits the Gulf of Mexico waters hard, with only 5 of 13 planned engines firing during a landing burn, on July 24, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)
Starlink V3 makes a debut
Starship is intact, floating in the ocean...'
- Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO
Despite the Booster's rough landing, there were clear successes on Starship Flight 13.
While sailing on its suborbital trajectory, Flight 13's Ship upper stage deployed 20 next-generation Starlink Version 3 internet satellites — large, flat satellites equipped with laser communications links and expansive solar arrays that will replace SpaceX's current Starlink internet megaconstellation.
Starship is designed to launch 60 Starlink V3 satellites at a time, spitting them out through a slit-like payload bay door like a giant PEZ candy dispenser. All 20 Starlink V3 satellites deployed smoothly, with the last two switching on flashlights and looking back at their Ship carrier before floating off into orbital darkness. The satellites did not stay in space. They fell to Earth and burned up (by design) due to their suborbital flight path.
The Ship upper stage (which SpaceX also refers to as Starship) then reignited one of its six Raptor engines to test a critical engine relight capability that will allow future Starships to enter and leave orbit. The burn went off without a hitch — a milestone since SpaceX had not always performed the burn if a test didn't go smoothly.
Then it was time for reentry, with cameras beaming back stunning views of Starship wrapped in super-hot plasma as it fell back to Earth. The spacecraft executed a three-engine burn to flip over into a vertical landing position, but did shift down to two engines, then one before it toppled over to rest on the waves.
The sight of a floating Starship triggered a cacophony of cheers from SpaceX teams at Starbase and its Hawthorne, California rocket factory in the company's livestream. After all, Starships usually explode after they tip over.
"This is just the first time we've put a Starship into the water," SpaceX's Dan Huot said during live commentary. He called it SpaceX's "softest splashdown" ever. "This is a dream scenario for this team that's trying to get this heat shield data."
A view of SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Ship vehicle wrapped in plasma during reentry on July 24, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)
The heat shield isn't the only thing SpaceX's recovery team will be looking at.
Live views from Starship showed its six engines intact along with its flaps and other systems. Teams will be poring over what they can retrieve from the sea to help improve future Starship upgrades.
SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable launch system, a 407-foot-tall (124 meters) megarocket capable of taking Starlink fleets to orbit as easily as it lands NASA astronauts on the moon. That part is key.
NASA has tapped SpaceX's Starship to land its Artemis IV astronauts on the moon in 2028, but SpaceX has yet to ever complete an entire Earth orbit with Starship after 13 test flights and three years of launches. It's been a decade since Elon Musk first unveiled what SpaceX now calls Starship during a 2016 speech.
SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Ship vehicle floats in the Indian Ocean just after splashdown on July 24, 2026.SpaceXSpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Ship vehicle floats in the Indian Ocean just after splashdown on July 24, 2026. Some flames are visible at the nose. SpaceXSpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Ship vehicle floats in the Indian Ocean just after splashdown on July 24, 2026. The flames near the nose are now gone.SpaceXA view of SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 Ship during its final landing and splashdown in the Indian Ocean on July 24, 2026.SpaceX
Over the next two years, SpaceX must not only send a Starship into orbit. The company also aims to return a Ship to Earth to catch it in the "chopsticks" of its Mechazilla launch pad at Starbase. (The company has already done so with its Super Heavy Booster stages.)
SpaceX also must successfully demonstrate in-space Starship refueling, complete an orbital tanker version of Starship, and finish a crewed lander version complete with a life support system that can keep astronauts alive on the moon. That's a lot on the Starship to-do list and NASA is watching.
"Congrats on getting Flight 13 underway," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote on X after the launch. "Excited for what will be learned from this mission. When Starship comes online, its capabilities will be game-changing, not least of which will be ensuring we never give up the Moon again!" In a lunar coincidence, Friday's launch coincided with the 57th anniversary of theApollo 11astronauts' return to Earth after their historic moon landing flight.
But for now, SpaceX is clearly celebrating.
"I'm a little over the moon right now," Huot said. "Wow. Lucky number 13. Hell of a great day for Starship."
Even if you can't see SpaceX's Starship in person, you can score a model of your own. Standing at 13.77 inches (35 cm), this is a 1:375 ratio of SpaceX's Starship as a desktop model. The materials here are alloy steel and it weighs just 225g.View Deal
Hey, Space Fans! Every weekend here at Space.com, you may have noticed we highlight the latest episode of the podcast This Week In Space, a TWiT show co-hosted by yours truly and my friend and colleague Rod Pyle, a space historian and editor of the National Space Society magazine Ad Astra.
This Week In Space episodes usually drop each Saturday, but this week we're doing something a bit different. To mark the 50th anniversary of NASA's Viking landings (Viking 1 touched down on Mars on July 20, 1976), Rod and I will host a special live taping of the podcast to discuss all things Martian starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT). It should last up to 90 minutes.
Joining us on the podcast will be:
Dr. Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist, geologist and artist with the SETI Institute, Mars Institute and NASA Ames Research Center.
Dr. Penny Boston, an astrobiologist and speleologist (the study of caves) with the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
During our discussion, we'll touch on the personal and scientific impacts of NASA's Viking Mars landings and look at where Mars exploration may go in the modern age. We might even discuss the best places for the hunt for signs of life: the surface or inside Martian caves?
So if you're a Mars fan or a casual space aficionado, join us today at 1:30 p.m. EDT to get a detailed look at NASA's Viking Mars landings and their lasting impact on Martian exploration.
SpaceX is just a few days away from its first Starship test flight of the summer, and if you're hoping to watch the world's largest rocket lift off, you'll need to know where and when to tune in. But don't worry — we've got you covered.
The next Starship test flight, called Flight 13 (SpaceX doesn't appear to be superstitious), is scheduled to launch from the company's test site in Starbase, Texas near Boca Chica Beach on Monday, July 20. Liftoff is set for 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).
As its name suggests, the upcoming flight will be the 13th test launch overall of SpaceX's Starship megarocket. It will be the second such flight this year, after the May 22 launch of Starship Flight 12. SpaceX is designing Starship, which stands more than 400 feet (121 meters) tall, to be a fully reusable rocket capable of launching missions to the moon, Mars or beyond.
NASA picked Starship to land its Artemis IV astronauts on the moon by 2028, and SpaceX has sold at least one Starship passenger flight to Mars as well. But before SpaceX can carry astronauts to other worlds with Starship, it has to complete a series of suborbital flights and, eventually, reach Earth orbit for in-flight fueling tests, docking demonstrations and more.
SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 is a suborbital test that will be the second flight of SpaceX's new V3 Starship. Below you'll find details on what time Flight 13 will launch, what the mission will do and a full timeline for the mission.
What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch?
(Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX is currently targeting the launch of Starship Flight 13 for no earlier than 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT) on Monday, July 20. (The company originally tried to lift off on Thursday, July 16, but that attempt was aborted at the last second.) However, the exact timing of the launch could change.
That's because SpaceX has a 90-minute window in which to launch Flight 13 from Starbase Pad 2. Liftoff could occur anytime between 6:45 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. EDT (2245 to 0015 GMT). SpaceX's launch webcast will begin 30 minutes before liftoff.
And remember, SpaceX likely has backup days, so the launch could slip a bit if needed. In that case, it would likely lift off at the same time — 6:45 p.m. EDT — and have a 90-minute window, as on the coming attempt.
Even if you can't see SpaceX's Starship in person, you can score a model of your own. Standing at 13.77 inches (35 cm), this is a 1:375 ratio of SpaceX's Starship as a desktop model. The materials here are alloy steel and it weighs just 225g.View Deal
Can I watch SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch?
Yes, you'll be able to watch SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launch online, but you'll have your pick on where to watch.
SpaceX will provide its own livestream of the launch via its X account and the official Flight 13 mission page. If everything is on time, that livestream will begin at 6:15 p.m. EDT (2215 GMT) — 30 minutes before the planned Flight 13 liftoff.
Space.com will simulcast the SpaceX Flight 13 launch webcast on this page, as well as an our homepage and YouTube channel.
A prelaunch show
Now, if you need to get your Starship Flight 13 fix earlier than SpaceX's stream, a good place to look is the NASASpaceflight show: Its livestream will start several hours before liftoff.
The NASASpaceflight launch webcast will begin on July 20 at 3:45 p.m. EDT (1945 GMT). NASASpaceflight has a wealth of cameras installed around SpaceX's Starbase test facility, and the company will share up-close views and live commentary for many preflight activities.
In-person launch options
While SpaceX does not have an official Starship launch viewing site, there are several places where you can see the launch in person around the Starbase area.
For first-time spectators, I recommend watching Starship launch from near the Cameron County Amphitheater at Isla Blanca Park on South Padre Island, which is just across the bay from Starbase. The rocky beaches around the amphitheater offer a clear line of sight of the Starship launch pad, and there are often spectators on boats out of nearby Port Isabel offering a picturesque view. It's about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the launch site, and the park has bathrooms.
The traffic getting to South Padre Island (if you're not staying at a hotel on the island) can be heavy on launch days, so another option is watching from the shore in Port Isabel, which is home to Hopper Haus, a SpaceX-themed bar and grill that I can confirm makes awesome burgers.
There is also a shoreline stretch of Highway 48 between Brownsville and Port Isabel, from 6 to 8 miles (10 to 13 km) from the launch site, where you can pull up for the day to watch the launch. It's just the side of the highway, so you won't find amenities like bathrooms there. You can learn more about that at the site SpaceLaunchSchedule.com.
If you're looking for a more rustic experience (and have cash for a $200 ticket, though kids under 17 are $40), you can camp at the Rocket Ranch, which is 3.8 miles (6.1 km) from the Starbase launch site, and camp there for one day and night. It has two viewing locations available, one at an "Outpost" and the other on the campground itself. The Outpost location is the closest and has "unmatched media service," so you can stay connected. Larger four-day camping packages are also available. The ticket includes bus transportation from the ranch campground to a viewing site and back for one launch attempt. I've actually never visited this ranch, but I wanted to include it so you know it's an option. Be sure to read the full Rocket Ranch FAQ so you know what to expect.
How long is SpaceX's Starship Flight 13?
A diagram showing SpaceX's Flight 13 Starship mission profile. The flight should last just over 1 hour. (Image credit: SpaceX)
SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 test flight will last just over 1 hour and 5 minutes and should follow the same mission profile as the company's last test, Flight 12, in May. This will be the second flight of SpaceX's new Starship Version 3, or V3.
During Flight 12, the giant Super Heavy booster stage failed to return to Earth properly for a controlled landing and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico (which the Trump Administration has renamed the Gulf of America). Instead, the booster crashed into the ocean.
"The booster’s primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America," SpaceX wrote in a mission overview. "There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight."
Starship Flight 13 will launch from SpaceX's new Pad 2 at Starbase, which the company upgraded with shorter, faster "chopsticks" — capture arms that can catch returning Starship Super Heavy boosters and Ship upper stages during landing, as well as lift vehicles into place on the pad for launch. Check out our full overview on how SpaceX changed Starship for V3 here.
SpaceX Starship Flight 13 Launch Timeline
TIME (Hr:Min:Sec)
EVENT
T-0:50:00
Flight director polls for fueling
T-0:37:30
Ship liquid oxygen loading begins
T-0:37:00
Super Heavy liquid oxygen loading begins
T-0:35:25
Super Heavy liquid methane loading begins
T-0:34:48
Ship liquid methane loading begins
T-00:21:30
Raptor engine chilldown begins on Ship and Super Heavy
Super Heavy landing burn shutdown (followed by splashdown)
T+08:05
Starship engine cutoff
T+16:40
Payload deploy demo starts
T+27:29
Payload deploy demo complete
T+38:58
Ship engine relight demonstration
T+47:30
Ship reentry
T+01:02:23
Ship transonic
T+01:03:01
Ship is subsonic
T+01:05:01
Landing burn start
T+01:05:03
Landing flip
T+01:05:12
Landing burn three to two engines
T+01:05:19
Landing burn two to one engines
T+01:05:26
"An exciting landing!" SpaceX says.
SpaceX will not try to reach orbit with Starship Flight 13 or return its Ship back to Earth for a capture at the launch pad. Instead, both vehicles aim to make controlled descent and water landings, before falling over and sliding into the sea.
While the Super Heavy booster will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Boca Chica, the Ship upper stage will follow a suborbital trajectory for a target splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia.
During the flight, the Ship vehicle will attempt to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the company's newer and larger satellite-internet units, but they won't reach orbit. They will follow Starship's suborbital trajectory back down to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere.
Six of the Starlink V3 satellites are equipped with cameras to record live views of Starship and its heat shield and beam them back to Earth for analysis.
"For the first time, Starship will carry V3 Starlink satellites to space, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. As part of this initial test, Starship is planned to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers," SpaceX wrote in the mission overview. "The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment."
What if Starship Flight 13 can't launch?
If SpaceX can't launch Starship Flight 13 on July 20, the company likely has multiple backup opportunities. So, if bad weather or another technical issue delays launch, SpaceX could try again in the coming days.
Whichever date SpaceX launches Starship Flight 13, you will be able to follow the mission on Space.com. Be sure to return to Space.com on launch day for complete Starship Flight 13 coverage.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m. ET on July 17 with the new target launch date of July 20.
Happy Fourth of July, Space Fans! As the United States celebrates its 250th birthday, we here at Space.com got to thinking. How have things changed in space since 1776? What was the night sky like? What have we learned and where might we go in the next 250 years?
The results are what you see below. A series of stories (some serious and some less so) about the last 250 years of space exploration, NASA and American achievements in space and what lies ahead. We even took a look at what Space.com might have looked like if we were around in 1776. Take a look!
On Episode 217 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik discuss the progression of American space efforts. Since 1958, the United States has been part of the spaceflight adventure, and since the mid-1960s has led in just about any category that counts. In this episode, we review which flights launched or landed on July 4, and relive some of our very favorite US space missions of all time!
What did the evening sky look like for Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and their contemporaries on July 4, 1776? To understand the sky more fully, it helps to look at how people in 1776 tracked celestial events and what they would have expected to see overhead.
We made some halting steps over the centuries — getting kites aloft in ancient China, for example, and drawing up ambitious but unrealized flying machines during the Renaissance — but our boots were still firmly rooted on the ground when the United States of America was born on July 4, 1776.
Aside from fireworks, what better way to celebrate 250 years of independence than by launching your own model rocket into the sky? The limited edition Estes Liberty Star rocket is the perfect model for the job, decked out with a blue and red styling and featuring beginner friendly assembly for an easy setup.
The United States' 250th birthday is right around the corner and what better way to celebrate than by looking for a star whose light began its journey to Earth around the time the Declaration of Independence was signed?
The United States' 250th birthday is almost here, so why not take a break from the fireworks and explore four America-themed wonders hiding in the summer night sky?
To celebrate 250 years of the U.S. as an independent nation, Space.com takes you on a journey through some common misunderstandings of the universe through the years and the roles American scientists played in clearing up that cosmic confusion.
The past 250 years of optical telescopes have seen revolutionary discoveries and technology that the telescope's inventor, a seventeenth century spectacle-maker by the name of Hans Lippershey, maybe wouldn't have believed possible.
After Americans declared independence on July 4, 1776, a waning gibbous moon rose in the night sky. To the people celebrating the birth of a new nation, it would have looked much the same as the moon we see today. But there was one subtle difference: 250 years ago, the moon was about 31 feet (9.4 meters) closer to Earth than it is now.
Over the past 250 years, the number of "planets" in our solar system has ranged from six to nine — and, briefly, even 11 — depending on what astronomers knew at the time and how they defined a planet. As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, that changing tally offers a unique lens on humanity's evolving understanding of the cosmos since 1776.
It doesn't get more America than giant rockets and missions to the moon. That's why NASA painted two giant "America 250" logos on the rocket that launched the Artemis 2 astronauts around the moon earlier this year.
NASA is taking the "America 250" birthday celebration to new heights. "From the earliest days of exploration, to the first steps on the moon and the missions shaping our future, NASA represents the spirit of discovery that defines our nation," the agency wrote on a webpage marking the milestone anniversary.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has released four stunning images of cosmic wonders, depicted in red, white and blue to coincide with the United States' 250th anniversary on July 4.
NASA released this image to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of the U.S. It is a fitting tribute as the protostars break away from the molecular cloud in which they formed to become fully fledged stars in their own right.
When the U.S. was born, humanity was still seven years away from balloon-borne flight. Where might we be another 250 years from now, should the nation be fortunate enough to survive that long?
Those are some great reads, but America isn't the only "Independence Day" celebration going on this year. There is another anniversary that we celebrated this week, but it's not a country, it's a movie.
'Independence Day' at 30: Roland Emmerich & Dean Devlin talk blowing up the White House and crafting a true sci-fi classic (interview)
We often talk about certain works of art ushering in or being ushered in by, but "Independence Day" ("ID4") truly broke the mold for how huge tentpole pictures were marketed three decades ago, something that still reverberates today. So, to celebrate "Independence Day" on its 30th anniversary, we connected with the dynamic creative duo of director Roland Emmerich and screenwriter Dean Devlin ("Universal Soldier," "Stargate," "Godzilla") for a jog down memory lane to remember one of the greatest sci-fi movies in history.
That's going to be a wrap for our Space.com's America 250 celebration!
Thank you all for joining us and we hope you had as much fun reading these features as we had making them. We wish you all the best if you're celebrating the Fourth of July festivities in the United States this Independence Day.
Maybe in 2276, we'll be celebrating from the moon and Mars ... or perhaps somewhere beyond
