Tag: commercial-space
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SpaceX’s Starship achieves most objectives in mesmerizing test flight
SpaceX’s Starship SN8 vehicle descends back to its landing site at Boca Chica, Texas. Credit: Isis Valencia / Spaceflight Now A full-size prototype of SpaceX’s heavy-lift Starship launch vehicle soared high into the atmosphere Wednesday in a spectacular test flight over South Texas, and successfully guided itself to a beachside landing site before exploding at…
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Photos: SpaceX’s stainless-steel Starship SN8 test vehicle
SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype, on its launch pad in South Texas, is ready for the rocket’s most daring test flight yet. The 160-foot-tall (50-meter) rocket prototype is ready to launch to an altitude of around 41,000 feet (12.5 kilometers) over SpaceX’s Starship development facility at Boca Chica, Texas, near Brownsville. This Starship test vehicle, designated…
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New-generation Dragon cargo freighter docks at International Space Station
SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station Monday. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now A more spacious version of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule linked up with the International Space Station Monday, using a new approach corridor to deliver more than 6,000 pounds of provisions and experiments, a commercial airlock, and a holiday…
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Gleaming prototype of SpaceX’s Starship ready for experimental flight
Credit: Isis Valencia / Spaceflight Now SpaceX is gearing up for the next big leap in the development of the next-generation Starship heavy-lift launch vehicle with a test flight to more than 40,000 feet over the Texas Gulf Coast as soon as Tuesday. The 164-foot-tall (50-meter) Starship prototype, made of stainless steel, is sitting on…
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SpaceX launches first in new line of upgraded space station cargo ships
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket climbs into the sky from pad 39A Sunday. Credit: Katie Darby / Spaceflight Now An upgraded version of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo freighter launched Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, loaded with 3.2 tons of supplies and experiments in the first of at least nine resupply flights to the International…
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Photos: Upgraded Dragon cargo capsule rolls out to pad 39A
Ready for a flight to the International Space Station, SpaceX’s first upgraded Dragon cargo capsule rolled out to pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week in preparation for launch on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. The second-generation Dragon supply ship is based on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle designed to fly…
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Space station to receive new commercial airlock from Nanoracks
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Dec. 5 after launch delay. The Bishop airlock module from Nanoracks undergoes launch preparations inside NASA’s Space Station Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: NASA/Glenn Benson A privately-funded airlock from Nanoracks will head for the International Space Station this weekend in the trunk of a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule, adding to…
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Live coverage: Cargo Dragon arrives at space station
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with SpaceX’s 21st operational Dragon resupply flight to the International Space Station. This is the first flight of SpaceX’s upgraded Cargo Dragon vehicle. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. [tabby…
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SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink satellites on 100th Falcon 9 flight
A Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Tuesday night. Credit: SpaceX The 100th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket delivered 60 satellites to orbit for SpaceX’s Starlink network Tuesday night, adding another building block to a planned fleet of thousands of solar-powered space-based relay stations to…
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SpaceX going for new rocket reuse record on 100th Falcon 9 launch
EDITOR’S NOTE: Launch has been rescheduled for 9:13 p.m. EST on Nov. 24 (0213 GMT on Nov. 25). A Falcon 9 rocket fires its engines at Cape Canaveral on Sunday in preparation for launch with 60 more Starlink satellites. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now Sixty more Starlink internet satellites are ready to rocket into orbit…