Tag: spacex
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Tesla should say something
Last weekend, a reader wrote to this editor, politely asking why tech companies should speak up about the abortion law that Texas passed last week. “What does American Airlines have to do with abortion?” said the reader, suggesting that companies can’t possibly cater to both pro-abortion and anti-abortion advocates and that asking them to take…
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SpaceX’s historic private astronaut launch debut gets its own Netflix documentary
Netflix has announced plans for a documentary that will dive deep into SpaceX’s historic Inspiration4 private astronaut launch. Headed by billionaire and Shift4 CEO and founder Jared Isaacman, Inspiration4 was first announced in February 2021 as SpaceX’s first private Crew Dragon mission. More importantly, the mission – if successful – will make history as the…
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SpaceX shifts South Texas focus to Starship’s orbital launch pad
Highlighted by a Wednesday jam-packed with important milestones, SpaceX appears to be shifting its focus in South Texas to the completion of Starship’s first orbital launch pad. Boca Chica will be the first time in its history that SpaceX has faced the challenge of (or had the opportunity to) build an orbital launch complex from…
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SpaceX installs booster on launch pad, stacks orbital Starship to full height
Hours after SpaceX outfitted the first orbital Starship prototype with all six of its Raptor engines, the company has installed the vehicle’s nose section, effectively completing its basic structure. At the same time as teams are now working around the clock to weld Starship S20’s nose and tank sections together, SpaceX attached the first orbital-class…
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SpaceX’s NASA Starship contract prevails over frivolous Blue Origin, Dynetics protests
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has thrown out frivolous protests filed by Blue Origin and Dynetics after NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.9B contract to develop a crewed Starship Moon lander. In mid-April, NASA announced that it had chosen SpaceX and SpaceX alone to develop a Starship-derived lander capable of returning humanity to the Moon…
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SpaceX fires up world’s largest rocket booster on the first try
CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX has successfully fired up Super Heavy – the largest rocket booster in the world – on the first try, potentially opening the door for a significantly more ambitious ‘static fire.’ Known as Booster 3 (B3), SpaceX completed Starship’s first functional Super Heavy prototype around July 1st and rapidly rolled…
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SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You arrives at Panama Canal
Ten days and one unexpected detour after SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) departed Port Canaveral, Florida for what could be the last time ever, the ship has arrived at the Panama Canal. The five thousand mile (~8000 km) journey began almost exactly on June 10th and saw drone ship OCISLY…
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SpaceX’s 20th Falcon 9 launch of 2021 slips to Monday
SpaceX has announced an unspecified delay for its second dedicated “Transporter” rideshare mission and 20th Falcon 9 launch of the year. Recently scheduled to launch no earlier than (NET) 2:56 pm EDT (18:56 UTC) on Friday, June 25th, a one-day delay from an earlier June 24th target, some of Transporter-2’s dozens of customers have reported…
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SpaceX adds batch of polar Starlink satellites to rideshare launch
Orbit details shared by SpaceX suggest that the company’s second dedicated Smallsat Rideshare launch – known as Transporter-2 – will also carry a second batch of polar Starlink satellites. SpaceX launched the first batch of ten polar Starlink satellites in January 2021 as part of Transporter-1, co-manifesting them alongside a record-breaking 133 other spacecraft for…
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SpaceX teases progress towards Starship’s orbital launch debut
A recorded address from SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell to a graduating class of college seniors unexpectedly teased progress building the 35 Raptor engines that will power Starship’s imminent orbital launch attempt. In a seemingly calculated move, the famous SpaceX executive’s prerecorded address included a glimpse of a screen on the factory floor tasked…