Tag: SpaceX
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Rocket Report: A new estimate of Starship costs; Japan launches spy satellite
Welcome to Edition 6.27 of the Rocket Report! This week, we discuss an intriguing new report looking at Starship. Most fascinating, the report covers SpaceX’s costs to build a Starship and how these costs will come down as the company ramps up its build and launch cadence. At the other end of the spectrum, former…
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Axiom, SpaceX launch third all-private crew mission to space station
For the third time, an all-private crew is heading for the International Space Station. The four-man team lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Thursday, kicking off a 36-hour pursuit of the orbiting research laboratory. Docking is scheduled for Saturday morning. This two-week mission is managed by…
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Axiom-3 launches multinational crew to orbit on way to ISS
The private Axiom-3 mission to the International Space Station is now in orbit after a successful launch from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The mission features a crew representing five different countries, four of them wholly or partly in Europe. Falcon 9 B1080-5 and Crew Dragon C212 Freedom were scheduled to launch from Pad…
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Axiom-3 launches multinational crew to orbit on way to ISS
The private Axiom-3 mission to the International Space Station is now in orbit after a successful launch from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The mission features a crew representing five different countries, four of them wholly or partly in Europe. Falcon 9 B1080-5 and Crew Dragon C212 Freedom were scheduled to launch from Pad…
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Elon Musk’s recent all-hands meeting at SpaceX was full of interesting news
Last year was unquestionably the best year in SpaceX’s history, CEO Elon Musk told his employees during an all-hands meeting in South Texas last week. There were 96 flights of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, plus the first two test flights of the enormous new Starship rocket. In 2024, SpaceX said it aims…
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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket following Saturday night scrub
SpaceX launches its 5th Falcon 9 rocket of the year on the Starlink 6-37 mission on Jan. 14, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update 9:00 p.m. EST: SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket for the Starlink 6-37 mission. The second time will be the charm for SpaceX as it was able to launch its…
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The Space Force is changing the way it thinks about spaceports
A lot goes into a successful rocket launch. It’s not just reliable engines, computers, and sophisticated guidance algorithms. There’s also the launch pad and, perhaps even more of an afterthought to casual observers, the roads, bridges, pipelines, and electrical infrastructure required to keep a spaceport humming. Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, commander of the Space Force’s…
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SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites on West Coast Falcon 9 flight
A Falcon 9 lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on SpaceX’s fourth mission of 2024. Image: SpaceX. Update 4:20 a.m. EST: Successful launch and landing of the Falcon 9. SpaceX was finally able to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from California early Sunday morning after a delay caused by high upper-level winds. The launch,…
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Astronauts ready for first, all-European mission to the International Space Station
(Left to right) Ax-3 Mission Specialist Marcus Wandt, Pilot Walter Villadei, Commander Michael López-Alegría, Mission Specialist Alper Gezeravcı. Image: Axiom Space For the third time, Axiom Space is preparing a charter mission to the International Space Station. The Ax-3 mission carries the distinction of featuring an all-European crew, with Commander Michael López-Alegría being a dual…
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First astronaut missions to the Moon since 1972 delayed due to heat shield questions, hardware readiness
The Artemis 2 crew, standing in from of their Artemis spacecraft, discusses their planned around-the-moon flight with reporters at the Kennedy Space Center. Left to right: commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. A quartet of astronauts will have to wait until next year before their…