Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX conducts 65th and 66th launches of 2023
SpaceX launched two back-to-back Starlink missions this week. The first mission, Starlink Group 7-2, launched 21 satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 4 East at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff occurred Monday, Sept. 11, at 11:57 PM PDT (06:57 UTC on Sept. 12). SpaceX then launched the Starlink Group…
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FAA says SpaceX has more to do before Starship can fly again
Sunday update: Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, posted Sunday on his social media platform X that the company has completed 57 corrective actions required before the second integrated test flight of the Starship rocket. Six more corrective actions will be implemented before future missions. This story has been updated to add Musk’s statement. The Federal…
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Rocket Report: Japan launches Moon mission; Ariane 6 fires up in Kourou
Welcome to Edition 6.10 of the Rocket Report! A Japanese spacecraft has joined the international flock of missions traveling to the Moon this year, but you’ll need to practice patience on this one. It will take about four months for Japan’s small lander to get into lunar orbit, then more weeks to align with the…
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Starship is stacked and ready to make its second launch attempt
On Tuesday, SpaceX stacked its Starship rocket on top of a Super Heavy booster in South Texas, beginning final preparations for a second launch attempt of the massive vehicle. After the stacking operations were complete, SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that “Starship is ready to launch, awaiting…
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Musk declares Starship is ready for its second test flight, following stacking
Aerial view of the fully stacked Starship vehicle at Starbase, Texas, on Sept. 6, 2023. Image: SpaceX. Story updated with information confirmed to Spaceflight Now by the Federal Aviation Administration on Sept. 7, 2023. Another SpaceX Starship rocket stands fully integrated against the South Texas horizon and company-founder Elon Musk said from his perspective, they’re…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches record-breaking 62nd mission of the year
Update: 10:57 p.m. EDT: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at 10:47 p.m. EDT (0247 UTC), marking an historic 62nd orbital launch this calendar year. The mission broke its own orbital launch record that it set back in 2022 when it launched 61 orbital missions for the full year. In a…
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SpaceX Crew-6 returns to Earth after six-month ISS Stay
After more than six months in space, four people splashed down in the waters near Florida. The SpaceX Crew-6 mission, which launched on March 2 and docked with the International Space Station (ISS) the following day, undocked on Sept. 3 at 7:05 EDT (11:05 UTC). Recovery vessels retrieved the crew and their capsule, Crew Dragon…
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Pension fund’s lawsuit questions Amazon’s decisions on Kuiper satellite launch deal
Amazon plans to have satellites sent into orbit by (from left) United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan-Centaur rockets, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets and Arianespace’s Ariane rockets. ULA’s Atlas V rockets are also in the mix — but not SpaceX’s rockets, at least for now. (Amazon Illustration) An Ohio-based pension fund has filed a lawsuit alleging that…
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SpaceX notches 60th launch of the year with Starlink mission, one shy of tying record
Update 11:00 p.m. EDT: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The first stage booster, tail number B1077, landed on the drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas. Update 8:58 p.m. EDT: SpaceX shifted the launch time of the mission to a new T-0 at 10:21 p.m. EDT (0221…
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Why did SpaceX give up on “catching” falling fairings? Its VP of launch explains
Amid much fanfare, SpaceX started landing its Falcon 9 rockets in 2015, and it began reusing them less than two years later. The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, with nine engines and the bulk of the mass, accounts for about half of the cost of manufacturing a rocket, so this represents a considerable…