Tag: top story
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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 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…
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SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft heads home after a month in orbit
After more than a month in orbit, SpaceX’s second upgraded Cargo Dragon spacecraft has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on its way back to Earth. Delayed several days by stormy conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, the effects of Hurricane Elsa thankfully waned enough for NASA and SpaceX to proceed with the second…
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SpaceX Starship launch tower grows to more than half its full height
SpaceX has installed another prefabricated segment of a new Starship ‘launch tower,’ raising the skyscraper-sized framework to more than half its full height. Measuring some 86 meters (~280 ft) tall after the latest segment was craned on top, the growing launch tower is now the tallest structure SpaceX has ever built (or had built) –…
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First Look at The Boring Company’s Vegas Loop Resorts World extension
Recent photos of The Boring Company’s (TBC) Vegas Loop Resorts World extension reveals that Elon Musk’s underground people mover isn’t done with Sin City just yet. It seems like Boring Company has hit its stride in Las Vegas. TBC’s Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) Loop kicked off operations just last month. Following the successful launch…
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SpaceX Starship might skip early retirement for “hypersonic flight test”
In response to a Teslarati report on Starship SN16’s apparent transport to what amounts to a resting place for retired rockets, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says that the vehicle may still have a shot at flight. On June 16th, SpaceX technicians rolled Starship SN16 out of the Boca Chica factory’s high bay for the first…