| Launch of GPS III SV03 Rescheduled by Space and Missile Systems Center
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 The United States Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has decided to reschedule the launch of GPS III SV03 (GPS III-3) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to minimize the potential of COVID-19 exposure to the launch crew and early-orbit operators. The first launch of a GPS III satellite by SpaceX aboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Photo is courtesy of SpaceX. The current GPS constellation is healthy, allowing for a strategic pause to ensure the health and safety of our force without operational impact. Originally scheduled for late April 2020, the launch is now projected for no-earlier than June 30, pending a ...
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| The spacecraft that utterly transformed SpaceX has flown its last mission
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 • Cargo Dragon is shown on Tuesday, about to be released by the International Space Station's robotic arm. [credit: NASA ] The date August 18, 2006, forever altered the trajectory of SpaceX. On that day, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract to develop a service for delivering cargo to the International Space Station. This "Commercial Orbital Transportation Services" agreement would pay SpaceX $278 million to design and develop a spacecraft and rocket for this purpose—what became known as Cargo Dragon and the Falcon 9. At the time, SpaceX was just 4 years old. The company had attempted a single launch, of its Falcon 1 rocket, from an atoll in the Pacific Ocean a few months earlier. This small rocket, capable of putting a few hundred kilograms into orbit, had flown for about half a minute before falling back to Earth and crashing into a reef just offshore. The rocket failed because, even before it cleared the launch pad, a fuel leak caused the engine to catch fire.
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