SpaceX Launches Classified Space Force Mission, Its 125th Liftoff of 2026

SpaceX carried out a classified mission for the U.S. Space Force from California on the evening of Nov. 6. It was the company's 125th liftoff of 2026.

Several other space stories made news around the same time. The European Space Agency's Hera spacecraft got its first close-up look at the Didymos binary asteroid system, the first space rock system "punched" by humanity. On Nov. 5, spacewalkers Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk installed the final ISS Roll-Out Solar Array on the International Space Station, completing a multiyear effort to boost the station's power generation by 30%.

Blue Origin said it has developed a third stage for its New Glenn rocket, which it says will make the launcher more flexible and capable, along with a new engine called Northstar. AST SpaceMobile said it plans to launch its broadband satellites on a new rocket called Blacklift, which it will build in house and aims to start flying in 2028.

China also laid out its roadmap for landing astronauts on the moon "before 2030," a milestone NASA hopes to reach in 2028. For skywatchers, Venus is visible in the eastern sky before sunrise and is set to grow brighter as it heads toward its peak later this month.