Tag: SpaceX
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Launch Roundup: Electron launches for the 50th time; Falcon 9 returns to normal operations
Concluding a rare week that was void of any launches and riddled with scrubs, the spaceflight industry looks to return to the planned course of action with four launches from all over the world. This week, the 50th launch of Electron has taken flight, and SpaceX and CASC continue to dominate the launch calendar. SpaceX…
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Blue Origin joins SpaceX and ULA in new round of military launch contracts
After years of lobbying, protests, and bidding, Jeff Bezos’s space company is now a military launch contractor. The US Space Force announced Thursday that Blue Origin will compete with United Launch Alliance and SpaceX for at least 30 military launch contracts over the next five years. These launch contracts have a combined value of up…
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Blue Origin joins SpaceX and ULA in new round of military launch contracts
After years of lobbying, protests, and bidding, Jeff Bezos’s space company is now a military launch contractor. The US Space Force announced Thursday that Blue Origin will compete with United Launch Alliance and SpaceX for at least 30 military launch contracts over the next five years. These launch contracts have a combined value of up…
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SpaceX experiences a rare mission scrub of its Falcon 9 rocket at the moment engine ignition
A rare abort of a Falcon 9 launch at the moment of engine ignition. The Starlink 10-2 mission was called off on its third launch attempt in as many days. Image: Spaceflight Now Update 5:40 p.m. EDT: SpaceX aborted the mission as the Falcon 9’s engines began to fire. SpaceX struck out for a third…
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Blue Origin joins SpaceX and ULA on Pentagon list for $5.6B in launch contracts
An artist’s conception shows Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on the rise. (Blue Origin Illustration) The Department of Defense has put Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin in the running for a share of up to $5.6 billion in national security space launch contracts, marking a first for Jeff Bezos’ space venture. The decision means Blue Origin’s…
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Starship Flight 4 milestones effect changes to Flight 5’s Ship
Following the highly successful milestones achieved by Booster 11 and Ship 29 on Flight 4 of SpaceX’s Starship, engineers are already implementing lessons learned from the mission ahead of the next flight, including widescale changes to the Thermal Protection System (TPS). Although Elon Musk thinks the next flight is a month away, the Flight 5…
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FAA, NASA seek public input on SpaceX Starship launches at the Kennedy Space Center
The Ship 29 upper stage of the fully integrated Starship rocket as seen before its fourth flight test on June 6, 2024. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now The Federal Aviation Administration is preparing to gather public input on SpaceX Starship launch operations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The request for comments comes about a month after…
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Launch Roundup: Falcon 9’s busy launch cadence struggles
Following an extremely eventful week in Spaceflight, this week was expected to be a return to “business as usual”, with two SpaceX Starlink missions, one each from Vandenberg and Florida, and a Falcon 9 launching a customer satellite making up the launch manifest for the week. Unfortunately, the weather led to delays and cancellations, and…
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SpaceX launches 20 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base
A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX SpaceX kicked off the weekend with the launch of another batch of its Starlink satellites. The mission,…
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SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 7, 2024. The mission, Starlink 10-1, was the first to send Starlink satellites to this shell of the mega constellation. Image: Spaceflight Now Update 8:57 p.m. EDT: SpaceX adjusted the T-0 liftoff time. SpaceX followed up its fourth…