[ad_1] Elon Musk simply refuses to stop tweeting (because “Twitter is fun“) but his most recent conversation could be about more than fun. While facing widespread criticism over his response to the coronavirus pandemic and decision to continue operating the Tesla plant in Fremont despite a county-wide “shelter in place” order, someone asked if he […]
Category: Spacex
SpaceX aborts Falcon 9 launch with rare ‘Liftoff! Disregard’ sequence
[ad_1] Apparently, the launch was aborted automatically by the Falcon 9’s onboard computer after it detected a Merlin 1D engine issue. During the commentary, SpaceX supervisor Michael Andrews noted that it had a “condition regarding engine power that caused us to abort today’s launch.” SpaceX later added, via a tweet: “Standing down today; standard auto-abort […]
SpaceX launches its original Dragon capsule for the last time
[ad_1] Falcon 9 booster has landed on Landing Zone 1 – our 50th landing of a rocket booster! pic.twitter.com/RGwOyJs1Sl — SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 7, 2020 The Dragon spacecraft used for this launch reached the ISS twice in the past, first for a resupply mission in February 2017 and then again in December 2018. Also, the […]
SpaceX will fly space tourists to the ISS as soon as next year
[ad_1] Elon Musk’s company originally developed the capsule to take astronauts to space from US soil, and its first manned flight with NASA astronauts is expected to take place between April and June. However, it also intends to expand the spacecraft’s uses to include taking paying astronauts outside our planet. In fact, it signed another […]
SpaceX approved to build Starship factory and research hub in LA
[ad_1] SpaceX has pursued the permit for some time after first identifying and subsequently leasing the site back in 2018. As Reuters notes, the company has the option to terminate the permit within 180 days, and indeed, it canceled a similar permit two years ago when it moved the initial phase of the Starship project […]
SpaceX lost another Falcon booster to the sea
[ad_1] The booster was expected to land on a drone ship, called Of Course I Still Love You, approximately eight minutes and 24 seconds after launch. Instead, the booster made a “soft landing” in the ocean next to the ship. Falcon 9 B1056.4 has missed the drone ship. pic.twitter.com/259Yh545uy — Chris B – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) […]
The first crewed SpaceX flight could happen around May 7th
[ad_1] Working date for SpaceX’s Demo-2 launch is May 7. Dragon is in good shape. Launch date is fluid and mission may move into late April, or push later into May depending on a number of variables not hardware related. No final decision yet on duration. — Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) February 10, 2020 It’s been […]
SpaceX plans to spin off its Starlink satellite internet business
[ad_1] Company president Gwynne Shotwell has revealed those plans at a meeting with investors, telling them that “Starlink is the right kind of business that we can go ahead and take public.” SpaceX has also confirmed to Quartz that it’s considering a Starlink spinoff in the coming years. SpaceX has deployed almost 300 satellites for […]
Elon Musk expects SpaceX’s first crewed mission between April and June
[ad_1] Now that SpaceX has completed Crew Dragon’s in-flight launch escape test, when can you expect a mission with humans aboard? At last, the company has a more specific answer than early 2020. Company chief Elon Musk told attendees at a post-test conference that the crewed mission to the International Space Station will likely take […]
SpaceX successfully completes Crew Dragon launch escape test
[ad_1] The recovery process is expected to complete two hours after this writing. As such, it could be a while before SpaceX learns whether or not the capsule landed properly, and whether the two humanoid test objects inside remained intact. This was the last big test before SpaceX could put humans aboard Crew Dragon and […]