Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Mission

SpaceX is targeting Thursday, December 9 for Falcon 9’s launch of NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission to low Earth orbit from historic L...

Watch NASA's IXPE Observatory Launch Into Space — Official Live Broadcast

We're sending a new pair of X-ray eyes into the universe!NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is our first satellite dedicated to measuring the p...

IXPE

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Astrophysics

Low Earth Orbit Launch Complex 39A Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA Probability: 90%
B1061 - Just Read the Instructions

Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a space observatory tasked with measuring the polarization of cosmic X-rays. This data will help to learn more about objects that emit these X-rays, such as black holes and neutron stars.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 9, 2021, 6:41 a.m.

Launch success



Nosu • Dec. 4, 2021, 5:13 p.m.

T-0 confirmed by NASA


Falcon 9

Family: Falcon
Configuration: Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

See Falcon Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    70.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    549 T
  • Thrust
    7607 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
    Falcon
  • Variant
    Block 5
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $52000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8300 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Booster Info


B1061

Status: Active


Type: Core
Flight Proven: Yes
First Flight: November 16, 2020
Last Flight: February 23, 2024
Flights: 19
Landings Attempted: 19
Landings Successful: 19
Previous B1061 Flights

Landing Information

B1061 has landed on ASDS JRTI after its fifth flight.

Result: Successful Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship landing at Just Read the Instructions.

SpaceX

Circle Image
CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 330 Failures: 11 Pending: 146

Agency Type: Commercial

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI

Related News

NASASpaceflight

IXPE investigates microquasar jets, finds unexpected magnetic field structure

Creating some of the most powerful gravitational forces and fields in the universe, black holes are known for their extreme nature, including the ways in which they can devour and destroy whole planets and stars in a matter of seconds. Whe…

Spaceflight Now

Landsat 9 declared operational, IXPE returns first science imagery

Two NASA satellites launched late last year are operational and returning imagery — one looking back at planet Earth and another peering into the cosmos in search of new insights into the remnants of dead stars.

Spaceflight Now

Science mission begins for NASA’s new eye on the X-ray universe

A NASA astronomy satellite that launched from Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX rocket in December has started taking science observations of the X-ray universe, beginning a mission to study the nature of black holes and the skeletons left …

NASA Spaceflight

IXPE X-ray observatory completes commissioning, eyes Cassiopeia A for calibration

The pioneering Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer (IXPE) telescope, the first observatory in space to perform detailed polarimetry of some of the highest-energy objects the universe has to offer, has ended its highly-successful commissioni…

Teslarati

SpaceX launches NASA mission to study black holes, dead stars, and more

SpaceX has successfully launched NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer telescope, paving the way for a unique aspect of black holes, a variety...

Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Launch Complex 39A


Long March 6A
Success
1 day, 10 hours ago
Yunhai 3-02
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese satellite reported for atmospheric/ocean/environmental/spatial parameter research purposes, details TBD.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 9 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-46
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 6 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-42
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
4 days, 20 hours ago
Soyuz MS-25
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Soyuz MS-25 will carry two cosmonauts and one astronaut to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome i…


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 12 hours ago
Dragon CRS-2 SpX-30
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

30th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commer…


Electron
Success
1 week ago
Live and Let Fly (NROL-123)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) - Wallops Island, Virginia, USA

Mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.


Long March 2D/YZ-3
Success
1 week ago
Yunhai-2 Group 02
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Yunhai-2 is a constellation of Chinese military meteorological satellites. Reportedly the satellites use Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)…


Long March 8
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Queqiao-2
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Queqiao-2 is a Chinese artificial satellite to serve as a communications relay for future Chinese lunar far side missions that cannot communicate dir…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 7-16
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 5 days ago
Starlink Group 6-44
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.