After a record-breaking journey in space, SpaceX’s first operating Crew Dragon spacecraft has safely returned its four-astronaut crew to Earth. Crew Dragon ‘Resilience’ (capsule C207) softly splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico a few dozen miles off the coast of western Florida about eight hours after JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi and NASA astronauts Shannon…
On Tuesday, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stated that it is approving SpaceX’s plan to deploy Starlink satellites in a lower earth orbit. The FCC’s decision is a big win for SpaceX, considering that the proposal was met with strong opposition from potential competitors like Amazon and its Project Kuiper constellation. SpaceX filed its proposal to…
Early on Saturday morning, SpaceX Crew Dragon ‘Endeavour’ (capsule C206) – carrying four international astronauts – flawlessly docked with the International Space Station (ISS) for the second time in less than a year. Capping off a smooth 24 hours of free-flight following an equally successful Falcon 9 launch on Friday, April 23rd, Dragon’s third crewed…
Update: NASA and SpaceX have confirmed that they are set for a historic astronaut launch with a reused Falcon booster and Dragon capsule on Friday, April 23rd.Delayed from April 22nd by weather hundreds to thousands of miles downrange, those sea conditions – appear to have settled down – at least for now – and weather at…
SpaceX’s second operational Dragon astronaut launch and one of the biggest milestones in the history of rocket and spacecraft reuse will have to wait until Friday after bad ‘abort’ weather tripped up an otherwise excellent Thursday launch attempt. Aside from nature’s boundless chaos, all other elements of SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-2 astronaut launch are in excellent condition…
The US Department of Defense wants to find out if SpaceX can make a miniature, wireless version of the antennas currently used to connect to Starlink satellite internet. The US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) announced its interest in miniaturized Starlink terminals as part of a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) soliciting proposals for dozens of small…
SpaceX has installed at least two of three new upgraded Raptors on Starship serial number 15 (SN15) ahead of a triple-engine static fire scheduled as early as Wednesday, April 21st. Initially scheduled late last week, several unknown delays have slowed down the installation of SN15’s three engines and forced SpaceX to return at least one…
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system is poised to foster some positive change among students in rural Australia. As per a recent press release, Starlink will be powering Project Halo, a program from Australian telecom provider NetVault and noted software maker Cisco aimed at providing a regional school with a AU$100,000 grant towards the buildout…
SpaceX says it has successfully completed the last major test standing between a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft and the company’s next historic astronaut launch. Right on schedule, once-flown Falcon 9 booster B1061, orbit-proven Crew Dragon capsule C206, and a new expendable Falcon upper stage rolled out to Kennedy Space Center (KSC)…
On April 14, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell spoke at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ SpaceTech meeting. Shotwell said at the press conference that the company’s next-generation launch vehicle, Starship, would fly “large numbers of people” in 5 years. A starship is being developed to carry out missions of up to…