SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has completed its thirteenth launch of 2019, leaving the vehicle just one mission away from a major reliability milestone. At 7:10 pm ET, December 16th (00:10 UTC, Dec 17), Falcon 9 booster B1056, a new upper stage, and the nearly 7-metric ton (15,500 lb) Kacific-1/JCSAT-18 communications satellite lifted off from […]
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SpaceX has posted an update on its most ambitious Falcon fairing recovery attempt yet, confirming that the company’s twin recovery ships – both outfitted with giant arms and nets – still have some work to do before they will be able to simultaneously catch both halves of a Falcon 9 fairing. Used to protect satellites […]
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SpaceX has successfully launched and landed Falcon 9 once again, sending a massive communications satellite on its way to an operational orbit and recovering booster B1056 aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY). As we speak, Falcon 9’s two payload fairing halves are – if everything went as planned – slowly coasting […]
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After a brisk day-long cruise into the Atlantic Ocean, SpaceX’s twin Falcon fairing recovery ships have reached the general landing area to prepare for their first true ‘whole-fairing’ catch attempt. Formerly known as Mr. Steven, GO Ms. Tree and new sister ship GO Ms. Chief departed Port Canaveral on December 14th and arrived at their […]
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SpaceX has successfully static fired a Falcon 9’s booster engines ahead of its second to last launch and landing of 2019, on track to make December the company’s busiest month of the year. About a month after successfully lofting 60 Starlink satellites and 11 days after sending Cargo Dragon on its way to the ISS […]
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk showed off a holiday-themed Raptor engine “Christmas tree” with its very own star on top. Musk noted via a tweet that the company’s Starship propulsion team is “making great progress” building, testing, and refining the Raptor engines that will one day propel the next-generation rocket to Earth orbit and beyond. On […]
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Over the last few weeks, SpaceX’s Florida Starship launch pad construction has made some major progress and the structure that will one day support the first East Coast Starship and Super Heavy flight tests have grown several stories tall and show no signs of slowing down. In a bid to make what could otherwise be […]
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SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon has successfully rendezvoused with the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA’s CRS-19 resupply mission, marking what is almost certainly the spacecraft’s second to last orbital launch. On December 5th, new Falcon 9 booster B1059 lifted off from SpaceX’s LC-40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) launch pad with a fresh […]
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On December 10th, SpaceX’s East Coast rocket recovery fleet added a second drone ship to its ranks in a bid to expand its capabilities to support dozens of annual Falcon 9 and Heavy launches, as well as experimental Starship and Super Heavy booster recoveries. Formerly stationed out of Port of Los Angeles to support SpaceX’s […]
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The first new Falcon 9 booster SpaceX has debuted in almost half a year safely returned to port after a successful first launch and landing, setting the reusable rocket up to fly again in the near future. On December 5th, after a brief 24-hour weather-related delay, new Falcon 9 booster B1059 lifted off on its […]
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