Features · Launch and flight
Rockets, missions and crewed flights: what happens on the pad, in the count and on the way up.
Launch and flightOctober 28, 2026
Starship Flight 14, the Day the Biggest Rocket Ever Built Reached Orbit
Thirteen flights went up and came back down. On September 28, 2026, the fourteenth went around. What happened, why reaching orbit is different from going high, and what still has to come next.
Launch and flightOctober 6, 2026
How a Launch Gets Scrubbed, and What the Countdown Is Really Checking
A rocket can be fueled, the crew strapped in and the whole world watching, and still not go. Here is what the countdown checks, who can stop it, and why a scrub can cost a day or a month.
Launch and flightOctober 5, 2026
The Space Shuttle, the Truck That Built a Space Station
Thirty years, five orbiters and 135 flights. The machine that made spaceflight look routine, and taught us what routine costs.
