[ad_1] Like the launch itself, the Crew Dragon landing was highly automated compared to many previous human-piloted missions. Behnken and Hurley still accomplished a lot, though, including performing and contributing to numerous experiments while they were aboard the International Space Station. It’s an important occasion beyond the firsts involved. This is the last Crew Dragon […]
Category: Spacex
Watch SpaceX return Crew Dragon astronauts to Earth starting at 5:45PM ET
[ad_1] Whenever there’s a return, it’ll mark the successful completion of the first round trip of a private crewed space capsule. While this kind of mission won’t be routine for a long time, it represents an important moment in the shift away from strictly government-run spaceflight. The next major step may involve flights with civilians. […]
After Starship test fire Elon Musk expects 150m hop ‘soon’
[ad_1] Elon Musk’s hopes for Starship to reach orbit before this spring didn’t quite pan out, but a recent test firing has the SpaceX CEO expecting to see the company’s new vehicle take flight shortly. On Thursday he tweeted that its new SN5 build completed a full duration static fire, and said a 150m test […]
SpaceX pulls off its first double fairing catch after a Falcon 9 launch
[ad_1] Part of the SpaceX mission has been to create reusable rockets that make spaceflight cheaper, and it has become routine to see the company’s booster rockets return safely to Earth. With today’s launch SpaceX set a new milestone by catching both halves of the nosecone fairing, according to a tweet from CEO Elon Musk. […]
NASA’s SpaceX Crew Dragon astronauts will return to Earth on August 2nd
[ad_1] Two months after NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley traveled via SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS), they’ll return to Earth. NASA is planning for the SpaceX Crew Dragon to splash down in the Atlantic Ocean on August 2nd, CNBC reports. This will mark the completion of the Demo-2 mission, […]
SpaceX gets closer to a private beta of its Starlink internet service
[ad_1] The Starlink dish — see image above, which was also unearthed from the Starlink support page — SpaceX will send to testers as part of a kit needs a view of the Northern Sky to be able to communicate with those satellites. That kit also includes a router, which already got FCC approval, and […]
EU will speed up its spaceflight plans in response to SpaceX and China
[ad_1] The modern space race is heating up, and the European Union is acutely aware that it needs to keep pace. Space chief Thierry Breton told Reuters in an interview that the EU is accelerating its plans in light of rapid progress by private companies like SpaceX as well as China’s successes. It’s moving the […]
SpaceX plans seaborne spaceports for Mars missions and hypersonic flights
[ad_1] Don’t think SpaceX is toning down its spaceflight ambitions in light of the pandemic — if anything, the company is ramping things up. Elon Musk has confirmed a SpaceXFleet scoop (via TechCrunch) that SpaceX is hiring staff to help build “floating, superheavy-class spaceports” for Mars and Moon missions, not to mention hypersonic flights for […]
SpaceX’s Starlink might not qualify for low-latency funding, FCC says
[ad_1] SpaceX argued that the FCC’s doubts are unfounded and that Starlink will “easily clear the commission’s 100-millisecond threshold for low-latency services, even including its “processing time” during unrealistic worst-case scenarios. In fact, with altitudes at 335 to 354 miles (compared to 21,750 miles for geostationary systems), SpaceX is shooting for a latency below 20 […]
SpaceX’s next Starlink launch will help improve satellite imagery of the Earth
[ad_1] That might not sound like a lot, but it means that previously indistinct vehicles on roadways can now be identified as being a car or a truck, and it’s this sort of development that’s needed to help bolster infrastructure for the eventual arrival of autonomous vehicles — and even to improve the way we […]