News: SpaceX
Headlines from space publications, linked back to the original articles
- NASA aims to bring station crew home Monday, before replacements launch Spaceflight Now · 6 Nov 2021 NASA and SpaceX decided Friday to bring four space station astronauts back to Earth Monday to close out a 199-day mission, pressing ahead with re-entry and splashdown two days before the planned launch of their replaceme...
- SpaceX begins filling Starship’s orbital launch site with rocket propellant Teslarati · 5 Nov 2021 Less than a year after tank farm assembly began in South Texas, SpaceX has begun the painstaking process of filling Starship’s first...
- Coverage Set for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 Return to Earth NASA · 5 Nov 2021 NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission now is targeting a return to Earth no earlier than 7:14 a.m. EST Monday, Nov. 8, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida.
- SpaceX and NASA defeat Blue Origin’s Starship Moon lander lawsuit Teslarati · 4 Nov 2021 While specific details of the decision are likely a few weeks away, the US Court of Federal Claims has denied an infamous...
- NASA rules out weekend Crew Dragon launch, may bring station crew home first Spaceflight Now · 4 Nov 2021 NASA has ruled out a weekend launch for a SpaceX Crew Dragon carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station, delaying the Crew-3 flight to Monday at the earliest due to expected bad weather, agency officials...
- NASA SpaceX Crew-2 to Discuss Station Mission, Upcoming Splashdown NASA · 4 Nov 2021 NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 astronauts will answer media questions about their time aboard the International Space Station at 12:30 p.m. EDT Friday, Nov. 5, as they prepare to return to Earth later this month.
- NASA Statement on Artemis Lunar Lander Court Decision NASA · 4 Nov 2021 NASA was notified Thursday that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied Blue Origin’s bid protest, upholding NASA’s selection of SpaceX to develop and demonstrate a modern human lunar lander.
- Federal court rules against Blue Origin in HLS lawsuit SpaceNews · 4 Nov 2021 The Court of Federal Claims has ruled against Blue Origin in its suit about the agency’s selection of SpaceX for a single Human Landing System award.
- Bezos’ Blue Origin loses lawsuit against NASA over SpaceX lunar lander contract CNBC · 4 Nov 2021 The U.S. Federal Court of Claims ruled against Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin in the company’s lawsuit against NASA over a lucrative astronaut lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this year. Federal judge...
- SpaceX accepts delivery of NASA’s DART asteroid impact spacecraft Teslarati · 4 Nov 2021 NASA says that the Double Asteroid Redirect Mission (DART) impactor spacecraft has arrived at SpaceX’s Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) facilities for...
- Blue Origin loses lawsuit, allowing NASA to move ahead with SpaceX moon lander Spaceflight Now · 4 Nov 2021 A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Blue Origin over NASA’s award of a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract to SpaceX, clearing the way for the agency to move forward in a partnership with Elon Musk’s...
- SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket is scheduled to launch five times next year Teslarati · 3 Nov 2021 New US military confirmation of a third SpaceX Falcon Heavy contract means that the world’s most powerful operational rocket has five launches...
- SpaceX wins Skynet launch contract Teslarati · 2 Nov 2021 SpaceX has won a contract to launch Skynet on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2025. Instead of a self-aware, apocalyptic AI, though,...
- SpaceX begins assembling Starbase’s biggest manufacturing building yet Teslarati · 2 Nov 2021 It might not look like much today but SpaceX has begun assembling what is set to become Starbase’s largest Starship manufacturing facility....
- Starlink exits its beta phase, but its production is affected by the global chip shortage Teslarati · 2 Nov 2021 SpaceX recently introduced some updates to its official Starlink website. And while the private space company formally dropped the “Beta” wording for...
- SpaceX Starship prototype ready for record-breaking tests Teslarati · 1 Nov 2021 Over the weekend, SpaceX has installed the last of its first orbital-class Starship’s six Raptor engines, setting the prototype up for one...
- SpaceX astronaut launch slips into November Teslarati · 1 Nov 2021 Update: A “minor medical issue involving one of [the] crew members” has forced NASA to delay Crew-3 a bit less than four...
- Crew Dragon launch delayed by “minor medical issue” with an astronaut Spaceflight Now · 1 Nov 2021 The planned launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Wednesday carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station has been delayed to at least Saturday because of a “minor medical issue” with one of the crew membe...
- Tom Marshburn brings extensive spaceflight experience to Crew-3 mission Spaceflight Now · 1 Nov 2021 NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, a medical doctor and veteran of launches on the space shuttle and Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, joins three rookie space fliers on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Endurance” poised for liftoff on mission...
- Coverage Update for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 Briefings, Events, Broadcasts NASA · 30 Oct 2021 NASA is updating its coverage of the upcoming launch and docking activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission with astronauts to the International Space Station.
- SpaceX crew launch delayed due to high winds and waves offshore Spaceflight Now · 30 Oct 2021 NASA and SpaceX managers in Florida decided early Saturday to delay the launch of the next crew to the International Space Station from Sunday to Wednesday, when high winds and rough seas are expected to subside along th...
- Rocket Report: Russia finally agrees to fly SpaceX, Firefly targets early 2022 Ars Technica · 29 Oct 2021 "From our viewpoint, SpaceX has gained sufficient experience."
- SpaceX preparing Super Heavy, Starbase for booster’s next steps Teslarati · 29 Oct 2021 Amid a flurry of deliveries and work on several new Starship boosters, SpaceX is preparing the first truly finished Super Heavy for...
- SpaceX rolls Raptor Vacuum engines to launch pad for Starship’s next tests Teslarati · 28 Oct 2021 For the second time, SpaceX is gearing up to install a full six Raptor engines on the first orbital-class Starship prototype. This...
- SpaceX test-fires crew rocket as teams monitor downrange abort zone weather Spaceflight Now · 28 Oct 2021 SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center early Thursday, checking off another box on the pre-flight checklist before liftoff Sunday with a four-person crew heading for the International Space St...
- SpaceX rideshare program beats small rockets for Emirati launch contract Teslarati · 28 Oct 2021 The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) space agency has contracted with SpaceX to launch a domestically-built Earth observation satellite on a Falcon 9...
- SpaceX Dragon, Falcon 9 rocket roll out to pad for first launch in six weeks Teslarati · 27 Oct 2021 SpaceX has rolled a Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 to the launch pad for the rocket’s first launch in more than six...
- German astronaut to become 600th person to fly into space Spaceflight Now · 27 Oct 2021 Astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Matthias Maurer, and Kayla Barron flew from their home base in Houston to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Tuesday to begin their final few days of launch preparations before blasting off...
- SpaceX to launch Emirati imaging satellite SpaceNews · 27 Oct 2021 SpaceX has won a contract to launch an Emirati high-resolution imaging satellite on a Falcon 9 rideshare mission in 2023.
- Russia deems SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 safe to launch cosmonauts Teslarati · 27 Oct 2021 Seven years after Russian bureaucrat and oligarch Dmitry Rogozin – faced with economic sanctions in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine...
- SpaceX given green light to launch Crew-3 mission to ISS, Crew-2’s return date set NASASpaceflight · 26 Oct 2021 Having completed the Flight Readiness Review for the United States Crew Vehicle 3 (USCV-3) mission, NASA, ESA, JAXA, and SpaceX teams have given the green light for Crew-3 to launch on October 31 at 02:21 EDT (06:21 UTC)...
- Rogozin says Crew Dragon safe for Russian cosmonauts SpaceNews · 26 Oct 2021 The head of Roscosmos says he is now satisfied that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is safe enough to carry Russian cosmonauts, clearing a major obstacle for an agreement to exchange seats between Soyuz and commercial crew vehicles...
- SpaceX’s newest Crew Dragon spacecraft arrives at launch site Teslarati · 26 Oct 2021 Right on schedule, SpaceX has rolled a new Crew Dragon spacecraft to the pad for its first astronaut launch. Known as Crew-3,...
- SpaceX fires up first upgraded Starship engine Teslarati · 25 Oct 2021 CEO Elon Musk has implicitly revealed that SpaceX recently conducted the first test of Starship’s new Raptor 2 engine. Aside from kicking...
- NASA clears next SpaceX crew mission for launch, pending review of toilet system Spaceflight Now · 25 Oct 2021 NASA managers at Kennedy Space Center gave the go-ahead Monday to continue preparations for a Halloween launch of four astronauts to the International Space Station, pending more analysis of a modification to the toilet...
- SpaceX’s path to refueling Starships in space is clearer than it seems Teslarati · 24 Oct 2021 Perhaps the single biggest mystery of SpaceX’s Starship program is how exactly the company plans to refuel the largest spacecraft ever built...
- How SpaceX ignited a new Raptor engine on Starship without an explosion Ars Technica · 22 Oct 2021 So why don't all rocket engines have giant nozzles?
- SpaceX Boca Chica environmental review draws strong public support and criticism SpaceNews · 22 Oct 2021 SpaceX performed a static-fire test of a Starship vehicle Oct. 21 as debate continues about an environmental assessment of the company’s proposed launch operations in Texas.
- SpaceX Starship fires up Raptor Vacuum engine twice in one hour Teslarati · 22 Oct 2021 After weeks of exceptionally cautious buildup, SpaceX’s first orbital-class Starship prototype has repeatedly broken new ground tests in the first few hours...
- Musk says Starship may be ready for orbital launch next month, but FAA review continues Spaceflight Now · 22 Oct 2021 Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, said Friday the company’s huge new Starship rocket may be ready for its first orbital test launch from South Texas as soon as November, but the schedule comes with two big un...