Tag: Starship
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Launch Roundup: Starship, Ariane 6 and telescope missions delayed, lunar lander flies
Several significant missions were scheduled for this week, including the third lunar lander to launch in just over a month. The Intuitive Machines-2 (IM-2) mission will explore and analyze the Moon’s subsurface, testing new technologies and paving the way for future lunar missions. NASA is also set to launch its SPHEREx observatory, which will map…
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Mere weeks after Starship’s breakup, the vehicle may soon fly again
A little over a month after SpaceX’s large Starship launch ended in an explosion over several Caribbean islands, the company is preparing its next rocket for a test flight. According to a notice posted by the Federal Aviation Administration, the eighth test flight of the Starship vehicle could take place as early as February 26…
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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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Rocket Report: SpaceX lands in the Bahamas; ULA tests modified booster
Welcome to Edition 7.32 of the Rocket Report! It’s true that the US space program has always been political. Domestic and global politics have driven nearly all of the US government’s decisions on major space issues, most notably President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to land astronauts on the Moon amid intense Cold War competition with…
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Starship program at Cape Canaveral kicking into gear
After building a Launch Tower at LC-39A in 2022, building what was to be the Roberts Road Starfactory, and then putting all of the plans on hold, SpaceX has since started ramping up the Starship Program at Cape Canaveral. With the redesign of the Starship Pad at LC-39A and a much larger production facility at…
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Rocket Report: Another hiccup with SpaceX upper stage; Japan’s H3 starts strong
Welcome to Edition 7.30 of the Rocket Report! The US government relies on SpaceX for a lot of missions. These include launching national security satellites, putting astronauts on the Moon, and global broadband communications. But there are hurdles—technical and, increasingly, political—on the road ahead. To put it generously, Elon Musk, without whom much of what…
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It seems the FAA office overseeing SpaceX’s Starship probe still has some bite
The seventh test flight of SpaceX’s gigantic Starship rocket came to a disappointing end a little more than two weeks ago. The in-flight failure of the rocket’s upper stage, or ship, about eight minutes after launch on January 16 rained debris over the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Atlantic Ocean. Amateur videos recorded from…
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SpaceX to begin beta testing Direct-to-Cell Starlink satellites
SpaceX’s Starlink satellites have rapidly changed what was once believed to be impossible regarding satellite internet connectivity. The vast Starlink constellation has already connected people worldwide to the knowledge that the internet offers. SpaceX is now preparing to expand Starlink’s reach by beta testing Direct-to-Cell (DTC) Starlink satellites, which will connect mobile phones to cellular…
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SpaceX successfully catches Super Heavy booster, loses Starship upper stage during Flight 7
A still image taken from video of what is reportedly the remnants of SpaceX’s Starship upper stage as seen from the vantage point of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Image: Alex Davenport SpaceX’s seventh flight of its Starship rocket was a combination of great success and catastrophic loss, with a catch of its Super Heavy…
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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…