SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy launch – set to be the rocket’s fourth overall – has slipped several months into 2021 according to the vice commander of the US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (USAF SMC). Known as AFSPC-44 (now USSF-44), the nature of Falcon Heavy’s next payload remains a mystery. Headed to geostationary […]
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SpaceX’s youngest flight-proven Falcon 9 booster has returned to port after its second successful launch in ten weeks, preceded by the shrapnel of a destroyed payload fairing two days prior. On June 30th, Falcon 9 B1060 lifted off for the first time, ultimately supporting SpaceX’s first operational US military satellite launch and completing the first […]
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Four days after the rocket’s hop debut, SpaceX has safely returned its second flight-proven Starship prototype to an assembly building for refurbishment, making way for a new ‘test tank’ at the launch pad. Known as Starship serial number six (SN6), the ~30m (~100 ft) tall prototype became the second full-scale Starship to take flight on […]
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SpaceX has revealed the first successful test of Starlink satellite ‘space lasers’ in orbit, a significant step along the path to an upgraded “Version 2” constellation. In simple terms, those “lasers” are a form of optical (light-based) communication with an extremely high bandwidth ceiling, potentially permitting the wireless, high-speed transfer of vast quantities of data […]
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SpaceX has successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 60 Starlink satellites and hopped a Starship prototype just five hours apart. Right on schedule, Falcon 9 booster B1060 brought several days of delays to a welcome end, lifting off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (Pad 39A) at 8:48 am EDT (UTC-4). Nine minutes […]
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Barring delays, SpaceX plans to launch a new batch of Starlink satellites and hop a Starship prototype for the second time ever within the same 12-hour period today. Originally expected to be paired with yet another Falcon 9 launch on August 30th, SpaceX’s first three-flight day was prevented by bad weather both in Florida and […]
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NASA’s upcoming Artemis mission to the Moon hit an important milestone today by successfully ground testing a full-scale version of its newest rocket booster. Building on the completion of other similar tests of the booster – named Flight Support Booster 1 (FSB-1) – which qualified it for flight as part of the agency’s upcoming Space […]
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Just over a week after a Falcon 9 booster was spotted heading west, NASA has confirmed the date for SpaceX’s first California launch in more than 16 months. Spotted in Texas on August 20th, Arizona on August 23rd, and at the entrance to Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) on August 24th, the SpaceX rocket is […]
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Around the same time SpaceX was preparing for its 100th Falcon rocket launch, bad Texas weather forced the company to abort its second Starship hop test of the month. Since that abort, SpaceX’s near-term Starship test plans have begun to solidify, offering a clearer picture of what to expect over the next week or two. […]
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CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX is on track to begin fabricating Starship’s first Super Heavy booster prototype later “this week” and even revealed plans to hop that booster in the very near future. Taller than an entire two-stage Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocket, Super Heavy will be the largest and most powerful liquid […]
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