Tag: SpaceX
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This is the world’s most advanced robotic servicing satellite—that we know about
A spacecraft fitted with two flexible robotic arms is on the way to geosynchronous orbit after launching earlier this week on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, kicking off a planned decade-long mission to open new frontiers in satellite servicing. The Mission Robotic Vehicle, owned and built by Northrop Grumman, rocketed into orbit from Cape Canaveral…
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Rocket Report: Lightning strikes in China; Starship launch on deck
Welcome to Edition 9.04 of the Rocket Report! We’ve had to wait an extra week for SpaceX to get its 13th Starship test flight off the ground. A last-second abort on July 16 led engineers to roll the booster back to its hangar in South Texas to swap out engines. Starship is now back on…
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SpaceX Targets July 23 for Second Flight of Moon-Bound Starship V3
The 90-minute launch window opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT from Starbase, Texas. During the July 16 attempt, four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite as the countdown reached zero, triggering an automatic abort seconds before liftoff. Flight 13 will repeat most of the objectives of Flight 12 while adding…
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Space Force NSSL Ceiling Hits $30B After Lane 1 Triple
Is $30 Billion Enough for the Space Force’s Launch Appetite? The US Space Force tripled the ceiling on its National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 contract to $17 billion on Friday, July 18, 2026 — pushing the combined maximum value of NSSL Phase 3 past $30 billion when added to the Lane 2…
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Starship Flight 13 Aborts at Engine Startup, SpaceX to Swap Two Raptors
The launch team at Starbase, Texas, north of the US-Mexico border, aimed to lift off at 5:45 pm local time. The countdown had proceeded smoothly through the day, including the loading of more than 11.5 million pounds of liquid methane and liquid oxygen into the two-stage rocket, which stands more than 400 feet tall. The…
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SpaceX Stock Slips Below Its $135 IPO Price for the First Time
The slide follows what had been a euphoric start to trading. SpaceX went public on June 12 in an offering that raised nearly $86 billion, at a price of $135 per share chosen by CEO Elon Musk and the company. Its stock initially climbed above $200 in the days after listing, briefly giving it a…
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SpaceX Veteran Raises $65 Million to Modernize Aerospace Wire Harnesses
Black started Senra in 2023 with co-founder Benjamin Shanahan after his time at SpaceX, where he took on scaling up wire harnesses to support production of Starship. Traveling to visit wire harness companies around the world, he found the work still done on wooden tables using manual methods. Wire harnesses are bespoke assemblies put together…
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Starship Flight 13 Set to Deploy First V3 Starlink Satellites in Operational Debut
Flight 13 is the 13th test launch overall of the Starship megarocket and the second flight this year, following the May 22 launch of Flight 12. It will also be the second flight of SpaceX’s new Starship Version 3, or V3. The vehicle stands more than 400 feet tall and is being designed as a…
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A most improbable astronaut just went to space
Anil Menon, a NASA flight surgeon, felt crushed nine years ago as his hopes and aspirations collapsed around him. For the fourth time, he had diligently applied to become an astronaut at the US space agency, seeking to fulfill a lifelong dream. Although he made it to the final round, NASA had once again rejected…
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NASA Artemis III Demo Will Fly Two HLS Landers in 2027
Does NASA’s 2027 Artemis III Mission Actually Land on the Moon? No — and that distinction matters enormously for anyone tracking the Artemis Program schedule. NASA’s Artemis III, currently planned for 2027, is a crewed rendezvous-and-docking demonstration in low Earth orbit and cislunar space, not a lunar surface landing. The actual crewed Moon landing is…