Tag: Elon Musk
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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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SpaceX’s Starship flies high-altitude test that ends with a bang — and with congrats from Jeff Bezos
SpaceX’s Starship SN8 prototype fires its engines for liftoff from its Texas launch pad. (SpaceX Photo) SpaceX put its Starship super-rocket through its first high-altitude test today — and although the flight ended in a fiery crash, the performance was impressive enough to draw congratulations from Jeff Bezos, who’s locked in a multibillion-dollar rivalry with…
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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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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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NASA formally certifies SpaceX’s Crew Dragon for “operational” astronaut flights
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft and its Falcon 9 rocket inside SpaceX’s hangar at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX NASA officials gave approval Tuesday for SpaceX to begin regular crew rotation flights to the International Space Station with the launch of four astronauts set for Saturday from the Kennedy Space Center in…
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SpaceX Starship: The Continued Evolution of the Big Falcon Rocket
Since 2012, SpaceX has been working on a reusable rocket family, now called Starship, that will eventually replace its workhorse Falcon 9 family. Its design has evolved into a rocket possibly unprecedented in its ambition, being even larger than the venerable Saturn V rocket, but with far more uses. At launch, it will be the…
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SpaceX Starship: The Continued Evolution of the Big Falcon Rocket
Since 2012, SpaceX has been working on a reusable rocket family, now called Starship, that will eventually replace its workhorse Falcon 9 family. Its design has evolved into a rocket possibly unprecedented in its ambition, being even larger than the venerable Saturn V rocket, but with far more uses. At launch, it will be the…
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SpaceX test-fires Starship prototype with three engines
A view of the Starship SN8 prototype with three Raptor engines. Future Starship vehicles will have six Raptor engines, with three vacuum-rated engines with larger nozzles clustered around the three center engines optimized for sea level performance. Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX SpaceX fired three Raptor engines on a prototype of the company’s Starship vehicle Tuesday, accomplishing…
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After second hop, SpaceX preps for next phase of Starship testing
After another Starship hop test last week, SpaceX is set to build the first prototype for the next-gen rocket’s huge first stage booster. Meanwhile, testing will commence soon on the Raptor engine model needed for orbital Starship missions. Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, said Aug. 31 the first test vehicle for the Starship’s “Super…
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Elon Musk offers update on SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket
File photo of SpaceX founder, CEO and chief engineer Elon Musk. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani SpaceX founder Elon Musk detailed progress on the company’s next-generation Starship program Monday, saying the huge rocket could “probably” attempt its first launch into Earth orbit next year, and adding that the Starship will fly hundreds of missions before SpaceX puts…