Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX hopes to recover rocket intact after next launch
SpaceX’s reusable rocket testbed — the Falcon 9R — touches down at the company’s Central Texas development facility after a brief vertical takeoff and landing test flight. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX will test out new stabilizing fins that could help land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a floating barge in the Atlantic Ocean…
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SpaceX’s Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship ready for action
The mystery behind the “floating platform” – set to welcome home a returning Falcon 9 v1.1 first stage – has been solved via a series of fascinating comments by SpaceX’s Elon Musk. Known as the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, the ocean faring platform will be the new propulsive landing target for a Falcon 9, possibly as…
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Boeing chief engineer says SpaceX ‘drives us to be better’
Ted Goetz, a chief engineer with Boeing’s Commercial Crew, speaks at Spacefest at the Museum of Flight. Boeing doesn’t mind its competition — in fact, the company welcomes it. That was the message from Ted Goetz, a chief engineer with Boeing’s Commercial Crew who spoke today at Spacefest, a three-day event organized by the Museum of Flight in…
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CRS-5 Dragon ISS mission aiming for December 16 target
NASA has confirmed a December 16 placeholder for the Falcon 9 v1.1 launch of the CRS-5/SpX-5 Dragon mission to the International Space Station (ISS). This latest mission will also include another advancement of SpaceX’s re-usability aspirations, with the Falcon 9 first stage set to attempt a propulsive landing on to an ocean platform. CRS-5: The…
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Pad 39A – SpaceX laying the groundwork for Falcon Heavy debut
SpaceX has confirmed it is now into the construction phase of converting Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A for its Falcon Heavy debut, with a large amount of work now taking place to build a new vehicle facility at the complex. The former Apollo and Space Shuttle pad is being re-purposed to host the maiden flight of SpaceX’s new…
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CRS-4: SpaceX Dragon returns back to Earth
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft has concluded her successful mission to the International Space Station (ISS) with a return to Earth on Saturday. The EOM (End Of Mission) events began with an unberthing and release of the CRS-4/SpX-4 spacecraft from the orbital outpost, ahead of a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at around 15:38 Eastern. CRS-3…
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SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship returns to Earth
The SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule descends to the Pacific Ocean on Saturday. Credit: SpaceX Wrapping up SpaceX’s fourth operational resupply flight to the International Space Station, a Dragon cargo capsule departed the high-flying research complex Saturday, dropped out of orbit and descended to a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California with…
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Return of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo craft delayed
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft is attached to the International Space Station’s Harmony module. Credit: NASA Rough seas in the Pacific Ocean will keep SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule in space a few days longer than planned, with the unpiloted supply ship’s return to Earth now set for Saturday hauling a load of research specimens from the International…
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KSC continuing its spaceport transition for the new era
It’s been over three years since the world famous Kennedy Space Center (KSC) last felt the rumble of a launch from within its grounds. However, the spaceport hasn’t fallen completely silent, as a realignment of the center’s role continues apace, ahead of the new era of commercial and government launches that may ultimately result in humans…
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SpaceX launching Seattle-area office, recruiting squadrons of Microsoft engineers
Elon Musk Space Exploration Technologies, the Elon Musk-owned company better known as SpaceX, has been heavily recruiting engineers from Microsoft and other companies in the region as it gears up a new Seattle-area office. Recent status updates on LinkedIn show several former Microsoft engineers in the Seattle region joining SpaceX within the past month, and we’re hearing…