Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX Starship Mk1 fails during cryogenic loading test
SpaceX’s first full-scale Starship prototype – Mk1 – has experienced a failure at its Boca Chica test site in southern Texas. The failure occurred late in the afternoon on Wednesday, midway through a test of the vehicle’s propellant tanks. As of a few weeks ago, the Mk1 Starship – which was shown off to the…
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SpaceX’s first Starship prototype ruptures during cryogenic test
Video credit: @LabPadre / LabPadre on YouTube SpaceX’s first partially-assembled Starship vehicle, originally built for atmospheric test flights, ruptured in dramatic fashion Wednesday during a cryogenic loading test at the company’s launch facility in South Texas. The winged rocket appeared to blow its upper bulkhead while undergoing testing at SpaceX’s Boca Facility facility on the…
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How the Seattle area became a hotspot for satellite builders — and what comes next
SpaceX employees in Redmond, Wash., give a cheer during the countdown to a Falcon 9 rocket launch that put dozens of Redmond-built SpaceX Starlink satellites in orbit on Nov. 11. (SpaceX via YouTube) Seattle may not be the best place to put a launch pad, but the region is turning into one of the most…
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NASA adds five companies, including Blue Origin and SpaceX, to moon delivery list
Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander is designed for deliveries to the moon. (Blue Origin Illustration) Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture is among five companies that have just been cleared to deliver payloads to the moon for NASA. So is Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is offering its Starship super-rocket for lunar trips. Sierra…
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Nanoracks aims to test habitat-building method during SpaceX satellite mission
An artist’s conception shows the deployment of hardware that would deploy a set of nanosatellites and then demonstrate a robotic metal-cutting technique for in-space habitat construction. (Nanoracks Illustration) Nanoracks says it’ll put a metal-cutting robot to work in orbit next year as part of a satellite deployment mission, marking the first in-space test of a…
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NASA watchdog report sharpens debate over cost of SpaceX vs. Boeing spaceships
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner are being developed to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station for NASA. (SpaceX / Boeing Illustrations) Boeing is in line to get paid substantially more per seat than SpaceX for astronaut trips to the International Space Station, in part because it negotiated an increase in…
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SpaceX fires up Crew Dragon thrusters in key test after April explosion
Eight SuperDraco thrusters fired during a ground test Wednesday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX test-fired the Crew Dragon spacecraft’s eight SuperDraco abort engines Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, paving the way for a high-altitude rocket escape test and demonstrating engineers have apparently fixed the problem that triggered an explosion during a similar…
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SpaceX conducts static fire of Crew Dragon’s abort system engines
SpaceX conducted a static fire test of their human-rated Crew Dragon capsule on Wednesday near the company’s Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral. The test was a major milestone for SpaceX, who is working towards restoring America’s crewed orbital launch capability. Under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX, along with Boeing, are developing vehicles to transport…
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Video: Crew Dragon tests abort thrusters at Cape Canaveral
SpaceX conducted a static fire test of the SuperDraco abort thrusters on the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft Wednesday afternoon at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The test-firing occurred at approximately 3:08 p.m. EST (2008 GMT) Wednesday on a test stand at Landing Zone 1, the site where SpaceX lands Falcon 9 rocket boosters for reuse.…
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SpaceX executes ground-based test firing for Crew Dragon’s launch escape system
Thrusters blaze during a static-fire test of the launch abort system on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. (SpaceX via Twitter) SpaceX went the distance today with a static-fire test of its Crew Dragon space taxi’s launch escape system — the same type of test that ended in a costly explosion when it was conducted in April.…