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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – SpaceX is targeting no earlier than this week for its upcoming Falcon 9 launch from Florida, a rare polar mission that will see the rocket pivot south and hug the state’s east coast, according to News 6 partner Florida Today.

The company on Friday confirmed teams were targeting no earlier than 2:56 p.m. Tuesday, June 29, for the 230-foot rocket’s flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission named Transporter-2 was originally slated to fly from Launch Complex 40 on Friday, June 25.

“This mission will launch 88 spacecraft to orbit and more customer mass than SpaceX’s previous dedicated rideshare mission,” SpaceX said Friday.

NASA’s Perseverance rover captured a historic group selfie with the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on April 6, 2021. But how was the selfie taken? Vandi Verma, Perseverance’s chief engineer for robotic operations at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California breaks down the process in this video.

Video taken by Perseverance’s navigation cameras shows the rover’s robotic arm twisting and maneuvering to take the 62 images that compose the image. The rover’s entry, descent, and landing microphone captured the sound of the arm’s motors whirring during the process.

Selfies allow engineers to check wear and tear on the rover over time.

For more information on Perseverance, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/perseverance.

SpaceX prepared for its first all-civilian flight and completed a mission for the U.S. Space Force the week of June 17–23, while scientists made surprising discoveries about insects and animals on Earth.


SpaceX’s Inspiration4 all-commercial crew remains in training for its flight in September, and discoveries from deep space and Earth’s ancient past abound this week.