Tag: Starbase
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SpaceX just took a big step toward reusing Starship’s Super Heavy booster
SpaceX is having trouble with Starship’s upper stage after back-to-back failures, but engineers are making remarkable progress with the rocket’s enormous booster. The most visible sign of SpaceX making headway with Starship’s first stage—called Super Heavy—came at 9:40 am local time (10:40 am EDT; 14:40 UTC) Thursday at the company’s Starbase launch site in South…
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Booster 14 Completes Milestone Static Fire Ahead of Flight 9
SpaceX has now completed the first-ever static fire of a flown Super Heavy Booster, Booster 14, which is set to fly on Flight 9. Ship 35, which is also set to fly on Flight 9, is expected to be the next milestone ahead of flight, as it waits to complete engine testing at Masseys potentially…
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SpaceX Continues Progress on Next Generation Facilities
With the downtime between Flight 8 and Flight 9, SpaceX is continuing to build Orbital Launch Pad B and has started the demolition of High Bay. Pad B is SpaceX’s next-generation Orbital Launch Pad, while the demolition of High Bay will make way for Gigabay, the next-generation construction and servicing facility. Orbital Pad B SpaceX…
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SpaceX press on with pre-launch testing while working Ship issue mitigation
SpaceX continues to press on with pre-flight testing for Flight 9, while internally looking to resolve issues with the Ship that has resulted in the loss of the first two Block 2 vehicles. Ship 35 and Booster 16 – the potential pairing for Flight 9 – have been cryotested at the Masseys test site. Booster…
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Launch Roundup: Starship and Ariane 6 launch after scrubs
SpaceX launches Starship’s eighth flight test, Arianespace’s Ariane 6 launches from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, and China sends another Chang Zheng 3B/E to space. Ariane 6 kicks off the week by launching high-resolution reconnaissance satellites for the French Space Agency, followed by Starship’s eighth flight test. Then, Chang Zheng 3B/E takes another…
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Launch preview: SpaceX to launch Starship Flight 8 following Monday scrub
SpaceX’s Starship rocket stands at the launch tower ahead of the eighth suborbital flight test. Image: SpaceX Update March 6, 3:50 p.m. EST (2050 UTC): SpaceX is proceeding towards a launch attempt on March 6. SpaceX is preparing to launch its Starship rocket from its Starbase facilities in southern Texas following a scrubbed launch attempt…
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SpaceX readies a redo of last month’s ill-fated Starship test flight
SpaceX plans to launch the eighth full-scale test flight of its enormous Starship rocket as soon as Monday after receiving regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. The test flight will be a repeat of what SpaceX hoped to achieve on the previous Starship launch in January, when the rocket broke apart and showered debris…
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Starship Flight 8 vehicles prepare to join forces at Pad A
SpaceX has completed the engine test campaigns for both Ship 34 and Booster 15, which are slated to fly on Starship Flight 8. However, the Mishap Investigation for Flight 7 is still open and needs to be closed before Flight 8 can be approved to launch. Despite this requirement, SpaceX appears confident of approval by…
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Here’s what NASA would like to see SpaceX accomplish with Starship this year
SpaceX plans to launch the seventh full-scale test flight of its massive Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket Thursday afternoon. It’s the first of what might be a dozen or more demonstration flights this year as SpaceX tries new things with the most powerful rocket ever built. There are many things on SpaceX’s Starship to-do…
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Fire destroys Starship on its seventh test flight, raining debris from space
SpaceX launched an upgraded version of its massive Starship rocket from South Texas on Thursday, but the flight ended less than nine minutes later after engineers lost contact with the spacecraft. For a few moments, SpaceX officials discussing the launch on the company’s live webcast were unsure of the outcome of the test flight. However,…