Tag: SpaceX
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Video: Sights and sounds from Starbase on eve of Starship launch attempt
We captured the sights and sounds of SpaceX’s Starbase launch complex in Texas on the eve of the first launch attempt for the fully-stacked Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket on a test flight aiming for near orbital velocity. The 394-foot-tall (120-meter) rocket is standing on a launch mount at Starbase awaiting a launch attempt…
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Video: Starship stacked atop Super Heavy booster ahead of first launch attempt
Video courtesy of LabPadre. This time-lapse video shows the “chopstick” mechanism lifting the Starship atop the Super Heavy booster Saturday ahead of the inaugural test flight of the fully-stacked rocket from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas. The integrated flight test of the Starship and Super Heavy booster is targeted for no earlier than Monday…
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FAA clears SpaceX to launch world’s largest rocket
We’re streaming live views from Starbase, Texas, in partnership with LabPadre. The Federal Aviation Administration approved a commercial license Friday for the first full-scale test flight of SpaceX’s nearly 400-foot-tall Super Heavy and Starship mega-rocket from South Texas, a launch SpaceX said could happen as soon as Monday morning. “After a comprehensive license evaluation process,…
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Starship ready for historic maiden flight, gains FAA launch license
With SpaceX confirming Starship is now ready for flight, all eyes were on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to issue its launch license. That was finally granted on Friday evening. Additionally, the company gave more details about the planned time frame for flight and the timeline for the launch. Ship 24 was also destacked from…
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SpaceX Transporter-7 launches 51 payloads, booster return to LZ
SpaceX launched the Transporter-7 rideshare mission from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The mission lifted off on Friday, April 14, 2023, at 11:48 PM PDT (06:48 UTC on April 15). Launch suffered a four-day delay from the original schedule, in order to allow time for additional pre-launch checkouts as well…
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Schedule for SpaceX’s Starship test flight hinges on FAA regulatory approval
File photo of SpaceX’s Ship 24 vehicle, slated to fly on the Starship integrated flight test. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now SpaceX continues to prepare for a launch attempt as soon as next week for the first test flight of its Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket, with final work on the ship’s self-destruct…
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SpaceX readying Starship rocket for around-the-world test flight next week
SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket stand fully stacked at the company’s Starbase launch facility in South Texas. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX said Tuesday it won’t perform a final countdown dress rehearsal this week for the giant new Starship launch vehicle, and could send the rocket — standing nearly 40 stories tall on its Texas…
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SpaceX launches Intelsat 40e with NASA’s TEMPO instrument
SpaceX has launched its 23rd mission of 2023 with the company’s Falcon 9 rocket lofting the Intelsat-40e/TEMPO payload to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). Liftoff of the Intelsat-40e/TEMPO mission occurred at the opening of a 119-minute window at 12:30 AM EDT (04:30 UTC) on April 7 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape…
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Starship into final preps for launch targeting second half of April
Ship 24 and Booster 7 – now returned to a full-stack stance – are waiting to attempt their historic test flight. While a launch date remains fluid, hopes remain high that the vehicle could rise out of Starbase in the second half of April. Numerous prelaunch objectives have already been achieved before the approval of…
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SpaceX launches initial satellites for Space Development Agency
SpaceX has launched a batch of 10 communications and missile tracking satellites on the Tranche 0 Flight 1 mission for the Space Development Agency (SDA) on Sunday, April 2, 2023, at 7:29 AM PDT (14:29 UTC). The flight took off from launch site SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The satellites were placed…