Tag: Starship
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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…
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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,…
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Launch preview: SpaceX to launch its Starship rocket on a 7th suborbital test flight from Starbase
SpaceX’s fully integrated Starship rocket stands at Launch Tower 1 at the Starbased facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, ahead of the launch of the Flight 7 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now SpaceX is preparing to kick off the new year of suborbital flights around the world with a launch of its nearly 40-story-tall Starship rocket…
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SpaceX catches Booster 14 but loses Ship 33 on ascent
Ship 33 and Booster 14 lifted off at 4:37 PM CST from Starbase, Texas, for the seventh test flight of SpaceX’s Starship program. Following a clean liftoff and ascent from the Orbital Launch Pad at Starbase, Booster 14 and Ship 33 successfully separated, with Booster 14 returning to the launch site and being caught by…