SpaceX has begun stacking a new section of the first Super Heavy prototype in the latest sign that work is accelerating on the boosters that will soon be tasked with boosting Starships out of Earth’s atmosphere. Local photographer and NASASpaceflight.com affiliate Mary (aka BocaChicaGal) posted the latest photo of Super Heavy production activity on January […]
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has successfully delivered 143 spacecraft to orbit, snagging a world record for most satellites launched in one go that’s likely to remain unchallenged indefinitely. Marking the second polar launch from the US East Coast in half a century and SpaceX’s second such launch overall, the Transporter-1 is likely first of […]
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While delayed from Friday to Saturday, SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 launch still appears to be on track to obliterate the world’s current record for most satellites launched on a single rocket. Currently set at 104 satellites by an Indian PSLV rocket launch in 2017, all signs point to SpaceX beating that record by almost 50% […]
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SpaceX’s reign as the only privately funded American spaceflight company to reach and successfully deploy small satellite payloads into orbit ended on January 21, 2018, when Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket delivered three customer CubeSats to orbit for the first time. SpaceX and Rocket Lab have since been the only private American companies to offer dedicated […]
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Accidentally producing the polar opposite of Starship serial number 9 (SN9) completing a trio of Raptor ignition tests in four hours last week, SpaceX has now suffered three back-to-back static fire aborts on January 20th. On January 13th, Starship SN9 somewhat successfully ignited its Raptor engines three separate times with zero hands-on human intervention or […]
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SpaceX has successfully completed the first of dozens of Starlink launches planned in 2021, simultaneously crushing multiple rocket reusability records and completing an “envelope expansion” booster landing at sea. Ending several days of delays, Falcon 9 booster B1051, an expendable upper stage, a flight-proven payload fairing, and 60 new Starlink satellites lifted off at 8:02 […]
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In a rare burst of visible activity, SpaceX’s South Texas Starship factory has begun fabricating a second Super Heavy booster and taken a significant step forward on the first prototype. Set to be the largest operational rocket stage ever built by more than a factor of two, Super Heavy is the booster tasked with launching […]
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Six months after CEO Elon Musk revealed that “SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports” for its next-generation Starship rocket, the company has already purchased and begun converting at least two retired oil rigs. In a rapid-fire series of investigations spurred by recent photos and suspicions published by photographer Jack Beyer, it was quickly determined that […]
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A series of recent Starship and Starlink delays have pushed SpaceX’s Starship flight test and two Falcon 9 launches into the same ~25-hour period, potentially setting the stage for a frenetic Wednesday and Thursday. SpaceX announced a third delay for its Starlink-16 mission late on January 18th, pushing the launch to no earlier than 8:02 […]
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SpaceX is in the midst of preparing for back-to-back Falcon 9 launches from its two Florida pads, a feat that will also require two drone ships for each rocket booster to land on. Drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) is already on station off the coast of North Carolina for SpaceX’s first Starlink launch […]
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