Rocket Lab used a helicopter to capture a spent Electron first stage booster and its parachute after launching satellites from New Zealand Monday, a significant step forward for the company's rocket recovery and reuse program. The helicopter dropped the rocket a few seconds later.

SpaceX continued throttling up its launch rate with another Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Friday, completing a rapid recycle with a Falcon 9 first stage booster flying for the second time in 21 days.

SpaceX is counting down to launch of a Falcon 9 rocket at 5:27 p.m. EDT (2127 GMT) Friday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. A booster that previously flew just 21 days ago will haul 53 more Starlink internet satellites into space.

Rocket Lab called off the planned launch and recovery of an Electron booster Friday, preferring to wait for better wind and cloud cover conditions a few days from now. The next opportunity to launch the mission from New Zealand is Monday.

With a mission Friday to deploy more Starlink internet satellites, SpaceX will try to shave nearly a week off the company's previous record for the shortest time between two launches of the same Falcon 9 booster. The first stage on Friday's mission is scheduled to fly just 21 days after its previous launch and landing.

Three Americans and one Italian astronaut floated into the International Space Station late Wednesday after a nearly 16-hour commute aboard a SpaceX crew capsule from a launch pad in Florida, ready for a multi-month expedition performing experiments, maintenance, and upgrades.

Four astronauts rocketed into a clear predawn sky early Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, riding SpaceX's newest Dragon spacecraft -- named "Freedom" -- to kick off a planned four-and-a-half month science expedition at the International Space Station.

Four astronauts strapped into their seats on SpaceX's Dragon Freedom spacecraft and rode a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit early Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning a 16-hour chase of the International Space Station. Liftoff from pad 39A occurred at 3:52 a.m. EDT (0752 GMT).

Rocket Lab plans the first attempt to catch one of its returning small satellite boosters by helicopter after a launch later this month, nearly three years after the company announced its mid-air recovery and reuse concept.

A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on Saturday with four private astronauts, beginning a planned stay of at least eight days -- and maybe longer -- while becoming the first mission with an all-commercial crew to visit the orbiting research complex.

Strapped in the seats of a SpaceX crew capsule, a retired NASA astronaut and three wealthy paying passengers rocketed into orbit Friday from the Kennedy Space Center on the first fully commercial mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon spacecraft April 8 carrying four commercial astronauts to the International Space Station for Axiom Space.

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