Griffin Mission One

NET December 2026

Mission brief

What is happening

SpaceX is launching Griffin Mission One on a Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA. It is a lunar mission heading to Lunar Orbit. The first stage will attempt a droneship at sea.

Why it matters

Missions leaving Earth orbit for the Moon are rare, and each one has to hit a narrow departure window that cannot simply be retried the next day.

What stands out

Lunar mission

At a glance

Destination: Lunar Orbit
Payload: Griffin Mission One
Mission type: Lunar Exploration
Rocket: Falcon Heavy
Provider: SpaceX
Landing: Droneship at sea
Launch site: Launch Complex 39A

Demonstration flight of the Astrobotic Griffin lander and its engines, initially contracted for the NASA VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission. The vacated payload spot will now host the FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) lunar rover from Astrolab.

What changed

Every change to this schedule, logged as it happened. Most trackers only ever show you today's date.

OCT 1 · 2:30 PM UTC
Window closes 31 days later
2026-11-30 00:00 UTC → 2026-12-31 00:00 UTC
Detected by RocketRune
OCT 1 · 2:30 PM UTC
Window opens 31 days later
2026-11-30 00:00 UTC → 2026-12-31 00:00 UTC
Detected by RocketRune
OCT 1 · 2:30 PM UTC
Moved 31 days later
2026-11-30 00:00 UTC → 2026-12-31 00:00 UTC
Detected by RocketRune

10 more entries in the full history of this launch. RocketRune Pro shows every change and every dated note.

Schedule confidence

LOW

Treat this date as provisional.

Why does RocketRune rate it this way?

Only a target month has been announced.
The provider has not committed to this date.
The launch time has held for 25 days.

This is a RocketRune assessment of how firm the published schedule is, not a prediction of launch success. It is calculated from the date precision and status published by the launch provider, plus the schedule changes RocketRune has recorded for this mission.

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Vehicle: Falcon Heavy
Provider: SpaceX
Orbit: LO
Payload: Griffin Mission One
Status: To Be Determined
Landing: Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship
Vehicle height: 70 m
Liftoff thrust: 22,819 kN
Vehicle type flights: 14
Vehicle type success rate: 100.0%

Can you see this launch from where you are?

RocketRune works out the direction to look, how high the rocket will sit in your sky, the cloud forecast over you and whether the plume will be lit, then scores it out of 100.

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