SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket has secured its first satellite launch contract. On August 18th, Japanese satellite operator Sky Perfect JSAT announced that it selected SpaceX’s Starship rocket to launch its Superbird-9 satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) as early as 2024. It isn’t the first time that SpaceX or another company has floated the…
In a statement issued to Bloomberg, the US Space Force says that SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket could still conduct its first operational launch for the military before the end of the year. That’s a large downgrade from late 2021 and early 2022, when – lacking any new information from the US military – it appeared that…
SpaceX invited responsible security researchers to conduct tests on Starlink. In a blog post, SpaceX wrote about its security measures to ensure that customer information is kept safe. The entry also mentioned SpaceX’s bug bounty program, which encourages researchers to test Starlink for potential security issues. According to SpaceX’s page for the bug bounty program, security researchers have…
NASA has given the go-ahead to roll its Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket to the launch pad two days ahead of schedule. That bodes well for plans to launch the rocket for the first time (a milestone NASA originally hoped to pass in December 2016) as early as late August or September 2022. NASA…
After four years of halting work, Blue Origin has fully abandoned a transport ship it once intended to convert into a landing platform for its orbital-class New Glenn rocket. Known as Stena Freighter at the time of sale, Blue Origin purchased the ship for an undisclosed sum – likely several million dollars – sometime in…
SpaceX says it’s on track to launch a third batch of operational Starlink satellites to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) as early as 2:40 pm PDT (21:40 UTC), Friday, August 12th. To support the mission and help SpaceX’s Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) SLC-4 pad continue its aggressive launch cadence ramp, the company shipped Falcon 9 booster B1061…
SpaceX appears to have successfully fired up a Starship and Super Heavy booster hours apart, testing a total of three new Raptor 2 engines on the two rockets. SpaceX says it completed a two-engine static fire with Starship 24 less than three hours after the company successfully ignited a Raptor 2 engine installed on a…
SpaceX has successfully launched its 3000th Starlink satellite as part of Falcon 9’s 54th dedicated mission for the low Earth orbit (LEO) internet constellation. After high upper-level winds forced SpaceX to call off a launch attempt three hours prior, Falcon 9 lifted off from NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Launch Complex 39A at 10:14 pm…
![SpaceX set for first Moon launch [webcast]](https://ilovetesla.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Starlink-3-2-F9-B1071-SLC-4E-072222-SpaceX-launch-2-crop-c-2-768x352.jpeg)
No earlier than (NET) 7:08 pm EDT (23:08 UTC), August 4th, a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station LC-40 pad as part of the company’s 34th launch of 2022. Carrying the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) spacecraft, the mission will be SpaceX’s first direct launch…
CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX’s first successful orbital Starship launch will “probably [occur] between 1 and 12 months from now,” revealing a surprising amount about the near future of the next-generation rocket program in a short tweet. The famously (over)optimistic CEO’s latest Starship schedule estimate is uncharacteristically cautious, hedged, and open-ended while simultaneously setting…