[ad_1] You might want to dial back your expectations for the first high-altitude SpaceX Starship flight. Elon Musk now says the flight with the SN8 prototype will top out at 15km, or close to 50,000ft, instead of the 18km and 60,000ft he’d mentioned earlier. It’s not clear what prompted the lowered expectations, but Musk added […]
Category: starship
SpaceX’s next Starship prototype will try a 60,000-foot return flight
[ad_1] SpaceX is nearly done with short-hop Starship test flights. Elon Musk has shared (via TechCrunch) that the company’s SN8 Starship prototype should be finished in “about a week,” and will conduct Starship’s first high-altitude flight. After static fire tests and checkouts, SpaceX will attempt a 60,000-foot return trip with the rocket. The machine will […]
SpaceX sends its Starship on a second 150m test flight
[ad_1] About a month ago, SpaceX pulled off a first hop test for one of its Starship prototypes, and now it has repeated the feat. SN6 looks a lot like its predecessor SN5, with both missing a nose cone and fins, which makes them resemble a rocket-powered silo rising about 500 feet above the ground. […]
SpaceX’s Starship prototype flies hundreds of feet for the first time
[ad_1] Almost a year after we saw SpaceX’s ‘Starhopper’ test vehicle make a short trip into the air, the company has successfully flown and landed a full-size Starship prototype. The SN5 vehicle is missing its nose cone, so it’s a bit like a taller “flying water tower” just like the earlier test rig, but it […]
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 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 […]
Elon Musk says Starship is SpaceX’s ‘top priority’ from now on
[ad_1] Don’t expect SpaceX to lavish much more attention on Crew Dragon now that it has launched people into orbit. CNBC said it had obtained email from Elon Musk asking staff to treat Starship as the “top SpaceX priority,” pushing them to “dramatically and immediately” speed up progress on the super-heavy rocket. About the only […]
Another SpaceX Starship prototype explodes after an engine test
[ad_1] While the next launch attempt for Crew Dragon is still set for tomorrow afternoon in Florida, in Texas SpaceX is busy working on its Starship project. This afternoon the company appeared to successfully complete a static fire test on the SN4 prototype of its next launch vehicle, but after that it exploded on the […]
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’s first Starship pops its top during a ‘pressure test’ in Texas
[ad_1] SpaceX has already moved on to manufacturing its next generation of ‘Mk3’ Starship frames, but the original model Elon Musk stood in front of two months ago popped open during an apparent “pressure test” at the company’s Boca Chica, TX site. According to site watchers like LabPadre, the top flew some 500 feet in […]