Tag: Gwynne Shotwell
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SpaceX Marks 500th Reused-Rocket Orbital Mission With Launch of EU Ocean-Mapping Satellite
SpaceX launched a European ocean-monitoring satellite from California early Monday, completing the company’s 500th orbital mission using a flight-proven rocket booster. The Sentinel-6B spacecraft lifted off atop a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12:21 a.m. EST (0521 GMT). “Sentinel-6B rising, extending nearly four decades of the precise sea-level record from space,” NASA…
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SpaceX president predicts rapid increase in Starship launch rate
As SpaceX made its final preparations for the sixth launch of its Starship rocket, the company’s chief operating officer and president spoke at a financial conference on Friday about various topics, including the future of the massive rocket and the Starlink satellite system. The Starship launch system is about to reach a tipping point, Gwynne…
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SpaceX president predicts rapid increase in Starship launch rate
As SpaceX made its final preparations for the sixth launch of its Starship rocket, the company’s chief operating officer and president spoke at a financial conference on Friday about various topics, including the future of the massive rocket and the Starlink satellite system. The Starship launch system is about to reach a tipping point, Gwynne…
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SpaceX executive pitches Starship for space debris cleanup
File photo of Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer. Credit: NASA/Jay Westcott SpaceX could use its Starship vehicles to clear out space debris in Earth orbit, alongside the program’s more publicized purpose of ferrying people and cargo to the moon and Mars, a company executive said. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating…
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Axiom finalizing agreements for private astronaut mission to space station
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft approaches the International Space Station on May 31 with astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on-board. Credit: NASA The chief executive of Axiom Space says agreements with NASA, SpaceX, and fare-paying passengers should be finalized in the coming weeks for the launch of the first all-private crew to the International Space…
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SpaceX test-fires rocket ahead of record-setting Starlink launch
The Falcon 9 rocket slated to launch SpaceX’s third batch of Starlink broadband satellites was test-fired Jan. 4 at Cape Canaveral. Credit: Steven Young/Spaceflight Now SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday at Cape Canaveral, two days before a scheduled launch Monday with 60 Starlink broadband relay stations that will make SpaceX the owner of…
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Good weather predicted for Cape Canaveral’s first launch of 2020
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Forecasters predict near-ideal weather conditions Monday night for the first launch at Cape Canaveral this year, when SpaceX plans to send another 60 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The 60 small satellites…
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Falcon 9 performs extended mission in test for future U.S. military launches
An aft-facing camera on the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage captured this view of the Dragon spacecraft with its solar panels extended shortly after arriving in orbit Thursday. The upper stage continued its mission and performed a long-duration coast experiment after releasing the Dragon cargo ship. Credit: SpaceX An extended mission for the Falcon 9…
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After redesigns, the finish line is in sight for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spaceship
A Crew Dragon spacecraft is seen on top of a Falcon 9 rocket earlier this year standing on pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida before launch on an unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station. Credit: SpaceX Five-and-a-half years ago, SpaceX founder Elon Musk revealed SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, a sleek-looking…
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Starlink to fill lion’s share of SpaceX near-term launch manifest
Artist’s concept of a Starlink satellite with its solar array wing unfurled. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX plans as many as 24 launches next year to build out the company’s Starlink network to provide broadband Internet service from space, following up to four more Starlink missions before the end of this year, according to SpaceX’s chief operating…