Tag: SpaceX
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Next year, SpaceX aims to average one launch every 2.5 days
Earlier this week, SpaceX launched for the 75th time this year, continuing a flight cadence that should see the company come close to 100 missions by the end of December. SpaceX plans to kick its launch rate into a higher gear in 2024. This will be largely driven by launches of upgraded Starlink satellites with…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral
A Falcon 9 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Starlink 6-24 mission. Onboard were 23 Starlink satellites heading up to low Earth orbit. Image: Adam Bernstein Update 10:17 p.m. EDT (0217 UTC): The Falcon 9 rocket launched on the first launch opportunity of the evening. SpaceX aced its second launch of the…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral
A Falcon 9 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Starlink 6-24 mission. Onboard were 23 Starlink satellites heading up to low Earth orbit. Image: Adam Bernstein Update 10:17 p.m. EDT (0217 UTC): The Falcon 9 rocket launched on the first launch opportunity of the evening. SpaceX aced its second launch of the…
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Commercial space companies say cut red tape or U.S. will lose its lead in spaceflight
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off from West Texas on Thursday. Credit: Blue Origin The three companies who have flown people to space and back, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, joined two experts at a Congressional hearing to press for regulatory improvements, warning the U.S. risks losing its lead in spaceflight. The 1.5-hour-long…
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Commercial space companies say cut red tape or U.S. will lose its lead in spaceflight
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off from West Texas on Thursday. Credit: Blue Origin The three companies who have flown people to space and back, Blue Origin, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, joined two experts at a Congressional hearing to press for regulatory improvements, warning the U.S. risks losing its lead in spaceflight. The 1.5-hour-long…
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Industry united in push to extend ban on human spaceflight regulations
There are three US companies now capable of flying people into space—SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic—and representatives from those three companies told lawmakers on Wednesday that the industry is not yet mature enough for a new set of federal safety regulations for their customers. A nearly 20-year moratorium on federal regulations regarding the safety…
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SpaceX battles regulatory process that could hold up Starship test flight for months
SpaceX’s Starship rocket after Ship 25 was restacked on top of Booster 9 on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. The rocket was unstacked the following day. Image: SpaceX Update Oct. 19: Added comment from the Federal Aviation Administration. Update Oct. 18: Added date that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received the final biological assessment from the Federal…
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SpaceX battles regulatory process that could hold up Starship test flight for months
SpaceX’s Starship rocket after Ship 25 was restacked on top of Booster 9 on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. The rocket was unstacked the following day. Image: SpaceX Update Oct. 19: Added comment from the Federal Aviation Administration. Update Oct. 18: Added date that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service received the final biological assessment from the Federal…
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Astronomers say new telescopes should take advantage of “Starship paradigm”
This slide from a presentation by Lee Feinberg, an engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, shows concepts for a space telescope fitting inside the volumes of a SpaceX Starship rocket and a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket. Credit: NASA/Lee Feinberg A consensus among leading American astronomers is that NASA’s next wave of great observatories…
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Citing slow Starship reviews, SpaceX urges FAA to double licensing staff
In a remarkably frank discussion this week, several senior SpaceX officials spoke with Ars Technica on background about how working with the Federal Aviation Administration has slowed down the company’s progress not just on development of the Starship program, but on innovations with the Falcon 9 and Dragon programs as well. The SpaceX officials said…