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NASA’s latest space observatory is targeting a March 8 liftoff, and the agency’s PUNCH heliophysics mission is sharing a ride. Here’s what to expect during launch and beyond.

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Saturday, March 8, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The additional time will allow SpaceX to complete rocket preparations ahead of liftoff.

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Friday, March 7, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions due to the availability of a launch opportunity on the Western range.

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Thursday, March 6, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The additional time will allow teams to complete vehicle processing and prelaunch checkouts.

NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than Tuesday, March 4, for the launch of the agency’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions. The teams need additional time to evaluate launch vehicle hardware data.

Soon, a new cone-shaped spacecraft will launch into space on a mission to chart the skies like never before. Called SPHEREx (for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), the NASA mission will provide a unique all-sky 3D map of hundreds of millions of galaxies in our universe. Among several big questions the mission is poised to answer is how...

NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer), the agency’s newest space telescope. This will lift off with another NASA mission, Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, or PUNCH, which will study the Sun’s solar wind.

We are less than 15 days away from launching SPHEREx, a mission that will observe hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies in infrared light, a range of wavelengths not visible to the human eye. Tune in as we speak with experts from the mission, both at Vandenberg Space Force Base and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and see the space observatory up close and speak with experts...

Where is all the water that may form oceans on distant planets and moons? The SPHEREx astrophysics mission will search the galaxy and take stock.