Falcon 9 Block 5 | SPHEREx & PUNCH

SPHEREx is a planned two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies. It also will search for water and organic molecules – essentials for life as we know it – in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, known as stellar nurseries, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission will share a ride to space with SPHEREx. It consists of four suitcase-sized satellites, which will focus on the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) and how it generates the solar wind. The spacecraft also will track coronal mass ejections – large eruptions of solar material that can drive large space weather events near Earth – to better understand their evolution and develop new techniques for predicting such eruptions.

Astrophysics · Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO)

• B1088 · flight 3 · Return to Launch Site @ Landing Zone 4 · landed ✓ · last flew Falcon 9 Block 5 | Transporter 12 (Dedicated SSO Rideshare) · zone record 35/35

• SPHEREx and PUNCH Launch (Official NASA Broadcast) — NASA
• SPHEREx and PUNCH Launch — NASA
• SPHEREx Mission — SpaceX
• Watch live: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches NASA's SPHEREx & PUNCH — Spaceflight Now

1. T−38MGO for Prop Load
2. T−35MStage 1 LOX Load
3. T−35MProp Load
4. T−16MStage 2 LOX Load
5. T−7MEngine Chill
6. T−1MStartup
7. T−1MTank Press
8. T−45SGO for Launch
9. T−3SIgnition
10. P0DLiftoff
11. T+1M8SMax-Q
12. T+2M16SMECO
13. T+2M20SStage 2 Separation
14. T+2M28SSES-1
15. T+2M33SBooster Boostback Burn Startup
16. T+3MFairing Separation
17. T+3M28SBooster Boostback Burn Shutdown
18. T+6M13SEntry Burn Startup
19. T+6M32SEntry Burn Shutdown
20. T+7M27SStage 1 Landing Burn
21. T+7M54SStage 1 Landing
22. T+8M16SSECO-1
23. T+39M28SSES-2
24. T+40M10SSECO-2
25. T+41M56SPayload Separation
26. T+52M16SPayload Separation
27. T+53M7SPayload Separation

• Payload Signal Acquisition confirmed.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/12/2025 · source

• All spacecraft have separated.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/12/2025 · source

• Official Webcast by NASA has started

  LL2 · 3/12/2025 · source

• Liftoff.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/12/2025 · source

• Updated launch weather.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/12/2025 · source

• Updated launch weather.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/11/2025 · source

• Confirmed 24 hours turn-around.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/11/2025 · source

• Scrubbed for the day.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/11/2025 · source

• Updated launch weather.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/11/2025 · source

• Updated launch weather.

  Cosmic_Penguin · 3/11/2025 · source