Tag: Elon Musk
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The space race is tightening up for Blue Origin and SpaceX, and for America and China
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have both celebrated space victories, but they’ve also faced setbacks. (Musk at left: GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota, 2020. Bezos at right: Blue Origin Photo, 2021) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has only just begun to launch a heavy-lift rocket that was a decade in the making — its orbital-class New Glenn launch vehicle, which…
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SpaceX launches first of three missions for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying 24 satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet constellation. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update July 16, 2:53 a.m. EDT: The Falcon 9 booster landed on the droneship. Amazon now has the third launch of its Project Kuiper…
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Prepping for Starship, SpaceX is about to demolish one of ULA’s launch pads
The US Air Force is moving closer to authorizing SpaceX to move into one of the largest launch pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with plans to use the facility for up to 76 launches of the company’s Starship rocket each year. A draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released this week by…
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How the Trump-Musk feud could change the equation for SpaceX and industry rivals
Elon Musk and President Donald Trump were all smiles at a farewell news briefing on May 30, but it didn’t take long for their relationship to turn sour. (White House Photo / Molly Riley) The rapidly escalating spat between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, definitely adds to the challenges facing…
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SpaceX Starship Loses Attitude Control During Test Flight, Marking Third Consecutive Uncontrolled Reentry
SpaceX’s Starship vehicle experienced a loss of attitude control after reaching space during its May 27 test flight, resulting in an uncontrolled reentry and the third consecutive failure to achieve a controlled splashdown. The vehicle lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas at 7:36 p.m. Eastern time. The launch was briefly delayed due to…
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White House Withdraws Jared Isaacman’s NASA Administrator Nomination Amid Political Concerns
The White House has withdrawn Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA administrator, adding uncertainty to the agency at a time when it faces proposed deep budget cuts. The announcement came in a statement from White House spokesperson Liz Huston, who said a new nominee aligned with President Trump’s “America First” agenda will be named soon.…
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SpaceX may have solved one problem only to find more on latest Starship flight
SpaceX made some progress on another test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket Tuesday, finally overcoming technical problems that plagued the program’s two previous launches. But minutes into the mission, SpaceX’s Starship lost control as it cruised through space, then tumbled back into the atmosphere somewhere over the Indian Ocean nearly an hour after…
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Elon Musk: There is an 80 percent chance Starship’s engine bay issues are solved
On Tuesday afternoon, just a few hours before a launch attempt of the ninth flight test of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, Elon Musk spoke with Ars Technica Senior Space Editor Eric Berger to talk about where his space company goes from here. In recent weeks, Musk has dialed back his focus on politics and said he…
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“What the hell are you doing?” How I learned to interview astronauts, scientists, and billionaires
I recently wrote a story about the wild ride of the Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station last summer. It was based largely on an interview with the commander of the mission, NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore. His account of Starliner’s thruster failures—and his desperate efforts to keep the vehicle flying on course—was riveting. In…
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Here are the reasons SpaceX won nearly all recent military launch contracts
In the last week, the US Space Force awarded SpaceX a $5.9 billion deal to make Elon Musk’s space company the Pentagon’s leading launch provider, and then it assigned the vast majority of this year’s most lucrative launch contracts to SpaceX. On top of these actions, the Space Force reassigned the launch of a GPS…