SpaceX Launches 600th Falcon 9 as Crew-12 Reaches ISS

February 2026 has been one of the most eventful months in spaceflight history. On Valentine's Day, SpaceX launched its 600th Falcon 9 rocket — a Starlink mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base — cementing the vehicle's status as the most-flown orbital rocket in history. Just one day earlier, NASA's Crew-12 mission docked with the International Space Station after launching on an appropriately historic Friday the 13th. And in the background, Artemis 2 preparations are entering their final phase, promising to send astronauts beyond the Moon's orbit for the first time since Apollo.

600 and Counting

When SpaceX first launched Falcon 9 in June 2010, reusable rocketry was still science fiction to most of the aerospace industry. Sixteen years later, the 600th flight is a routine Starlink satellite deployment — a testament to how thoroughly SpaceX has industrialized access to orbit. The Starlink 17-13 mission marked the 180th launch from Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 4E, a pad that now averages a launch every few days. SpaceX's relentless cadence has made it the dominant player in global orbital launch services.

Crew-12: A Valentine's Day Arrival

NASA's SpaceX Crew-12 launched aboard Crew Dragon Freedom on February 13, carrying a diverse international crew: NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. The crew docked with the ISS on Valentine's Day for an eight-month science mission. It was the first time NASA launched a crewed mission on a Friday the 13th — a superstition the crew cheerfully dismissed.

"Friday the 13th is just another launch day when you trust the hardware and the team behind it. The real milestone is what this crew will accomplish over the next eight months." — NASA Crew-12 mission briefing

Artemis 2: The Moon Awaits

At Kennedy Space Center, NASA is loading liquid hydrogen aboard the Space Launch System for a critical test of repairs made to a leaky umbilical that delayed a countdown rehearsal on February 2. If the test succeeds, Artemis 2 will send a crew of four astronauts on a trajectory around the Moon — farther than any humans have traveled since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission represents humanity's return to deep space after more than five decades.

China's Next-Gen Rocket

On February 11, China successfully conducted a low-altitude demonstration flight of the Long March-10 rocket and a maximum dynamic pressure escape test of the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft. The Long March-10 is designed to carry Chinese astronauts to the Moon, making it a direct competitor to NASA's SLS. China's lunar ambitions have accelerated significantly, with crewed lunar missions targeted before 2030.

Eyes on the Sky

Beyond the rockets, astronomers have their eyes on C/2026 A1 MAPS — a newly discovered sungrazer comet that could put on a memorable show in early April if it survives its close approach to the Sun. And NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, working alongside the James Webb Space Telescope, has discovered JADES-ID1 — a massive galaxy cluster assembling itself just one billion years after the Big Bang, containing at least 66 galaxies wrapped in million-degree gas. February 2026 is proving that space exploration is advancing on every front simultaneously.