SpaceX rocket launch from Florida for NASA scrubbed due to weather
Scrub! Due to poor weather, SpaceX and NASA have delayed this launch until no earlier than 6:50 p.m. Wednesday, May 13.Read the full story here.
NASA video shows toll on Curiosity wheels after 2011 Cape Canaveral launch
Years of scouring the surface of a rugged landscape like Mars can take a toll on any vehicle – even one like NASA’s Curiosity rover specifically designed for the harsh conditions.
Since launching from Florida in 2011, the car-sized robotic rover has taken a beating throughout the course of its 14-year journey on the red planet.
Read the full story here.
‘Pretty miraculous’: 920th Rescue Wing plucks 11 plane crash survivors from sea
Fifteen personnel with the U.S. Air Force Reserve 920th Rescue Wing scrambled to the scene in a plane and helicopter and plucked 11 survivors from a bobbing life raft after an aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean Tuesday, May 12, about 80 miles off the Melbourne coastline.
An emergency locator transmitter signal indicated the Beechcraft BE30 twin-turboprop plane may have gone down offshore about 11 a.m., Space Launch Delta 45 officials reported. The survivors had been floating in a raft for about five hours before they were rescued.
Read the full story here.
Scrub! Live updates from SpaceX’s launch try on NASA mission at Cape Canaveral
Scrub recap: Scroll down to review live updates from the Wednesday, May 13, scrubbed launch attempt of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on NASA’s CRS-34 mission.
Read the full story here.
NASA astronauts who flew 4 shuttle missions to be inducted into Hall of Fame
A pair of NASA space shuttle astronauts who flew into orbit four times each will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
Tom Akers and Joe Tanner are the astronaut hall’s 2026 inductees, boosting the number of enshrined space pioneers to 113. They will be honored during a morning induction ceremony Saturday, May 16, alongside shuttle Atlantis hosted by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Read the full story here.
SpaceX reveals next Starship launch date as Florida prep continues
SpaceX’s Starship – the world’s largest rocket – is now even larger.
Surpassing 400 feet in height, the enormous Starship megarocket is on the cusp of launching for the first time in 2026 from South Texas.
Read the full story here.
Plane crash survivor recalls death-defying rescue in Atlantic Ocean
When the crippled Beechcraft BE30 twin-turboprop plane landed on its belly in the Atlantic Ocean, the impact was so fierce that a door flew off and struck a young man in the chest, Freeport resident Olympia Outten recalled.
“My niece, she got thrown from the front straight to the back, the back of the plane. And she hit her ribs — that’s how her ribs got cracked,” said Outten, who suffered a hip injury during the plane crash Tuesday, May 12, roughly 80 miles off the Melbourne coast.
Read the full story here.
After clouds scrub NASA-SpaceX launch, target time moves to Friday evening
Just 28 seconds remained before liftoff in the rocket-launch countdown — but anvil clouds forced NASA and SpaceX to scrub a supply run to the International Space Station on Wednesday, May 13, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Now, the NASA-SpaceX CRS-34 mission’s new target liftoff time is 6:05 p.m. Friday, May 15. The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft will ascend from Launch Complex 40 at the Space Force installation. Expect a sonic boom as SpaceX plans to land its booster at Cape Canaveral Landing Zone 40.
Read the full story here.
Starship launches 11 times in 3 years. Here’s a recap of each flight
In April, SpaceX marked three years of Starship flight tests. Now, billionaire Elon Musk’s commercial spaceflight company is about to launch the world’s largest rocket for the 12th time ever.
The massive rocket has encountered a number of anomalies and failures since its debut in April 2023 ended in a premature explosion, including fiery mishaps both on the test stand and mid-flight that have attracted plenty of headlines.
Read the full story here.
Live updates from NASA-SpaceX ISS supply mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida
Launch recap: Scroll down to review live updates from the Friday, May 15, liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on the NASA-SpaceX CRS-34 mission.
Read the full story here.
Psyche spacecraft launched at Kennedy to get speed boost from Mars
A NASA spacecraft launched in 2023 from Florida on a long journey to a strange metallic asteroid will have a close encounter with Mars.
Coming within just a few thousand miles of the red planet’s surface, the Psyche vehicle will benefit from a gravity boost that will send it whizzing toward the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The maneuver, expected for today (May 15,) marks a crucial moment in the Psyche’s six-year voyage through space to a strange asteroid of the same name.
Read the full story here.
Amid plans to bring Starship to Florida, SpaceX plans 1st test in months
SpaceX is on the cusp of launching its gargantuan Starship rocket for the first time in 2026.
The upcoming flight test, scheduled for May 19, would mark the 12th overall launch of the world’s largest rocket since April 2023 and the first since October 2025.
Read the full story here.
Amazon’s massive investment fueling job growth on Florida’s Space Coast
Amazon’s deep-blue delivery vans are commonplace across Florida’s Space Coast, dropping off boxes and bags containing clothing, toys, groceries and more at households from Micco to Mims.
But hidden from public view, the world’s largest online retailer — which remains secretive and tight-lipped about its operations — is also investing hundreds of millions of dollars at Cape Canaveral to develop Amazon Leo. Company officials envision this space-based, high-speed internet service reaching billions of people around the planet, with the Cape serving as a key satellite-processing and launch hub.
Read the full story here.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly 321 Launch space newsletter.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY, where he has covered news since 2004. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Plane crash rescue, NASA ISS supply mission top Florida space newsletter
Reporting by Rick Neale, Florida Today / Florida Today
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