Tag: Starship
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Launch Roundup: New Glenn and Starship headline a week dominated by SpaceX missions
SpaceX dominated this week’s launch manifest with two Falcon 9 missions and the seventh flight of its Starship rocket. The two Falcon 9 missions will see the launches of a Transporter rideshare mission, and two Moon landers. Blue Origin’s New Glenn achieved orbit on Thursday morning following the scrub of its maiden flight attempt on…
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Rocket Report: China launches refueling demo; DoD’s big appetite for hypersonics
Welcome to Edition 7.26 of the Rocket Report! Let’s pause and reflect on how far the rocket business has come in the last 10 years. On this date in 2015, SpaceX made the first attempt to land a Falcon 9 booster on a drone ship positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. Not surprisingly, the rocket crash-landed.…
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A taller, heavier, smarter version of SpaceX’s Starship is almost ready to fly
An upsized version of SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket rolled to the launch pad early Thursday in preparation for liftoff on a test flight next week. The two-mile transfer moved the bullet-shaped spaceship one step closer to launch Monday from SpaceX’s Starbase test site in South Texas. The launch window opens at 5 pm EST (4 pm…
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SpaceX to attempt first payload deployment, engine reuse during Starship Flight 7
The Starship upper stage on a test firing mount ahead of a static fire demonstration in December 20204. It’s the first Block 2 Starship that will be launched by SpaceX. Image: SpaceX SpaceX is launching into 2025 with what is poised to be a blistering pace of launch for its super heavy lift rocket, Starship.…
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SpaceX achieves record-breaking 2024, looks ahead to 2025
SpaceX is gearing up for another record-breaking year in 2025 after surpassing all previous record-breaking years in 2024. The company launched 138 times in 2024, 134 of which were with its Falcon family of rockets. While SpaceX suffered three mishaps during the third quarter of the year, the company was able to fix these issues…
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Four flights in the books and major infrastructure upgrades headline 2024 for the Starship program
SpaceX and the Starship program had an amazing and eventful year, with four test flights, a booster catch, the construction of Starfactory, finishing Mega Bay 2, which has started to speed up construction rates, and the introduction of Starship Block 2, an upgraded version of the orbital class starship. Masseys At the start of the…
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FAA gives Flight 7 the Go Ahead, SpaceX to complete final steps ahead of launch
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved SpaceX’s Flight 7 of Starship. The news came shortly after Ship 33 completed engine testing at Masseys and rolled back into Mega Bay 2. SpaceX must now put the final touches on its vehicles before teams are ready. Flight 7 Regulatory Side On Dec. 17, the FAA released…
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Starship and other launch site preparations in Florida moving into a higher gear
The long-awaited Starship ramp-up in Florida has begun, with work increasing at Pad 39A on the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) grounds. NSF obtained pictures of these preparations during a Cape flight, and companies like Stoke Space and Relativity are also proceeding with construction for flights scheduled for 2025 or 2026. Starship SpaceX started preparations for…
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NASA’s boss-to-be proclaims we’re about to enter an “age of experimentation”
ORLANDO, Florida—On Wednesday, Jared Isaacman made his first public appearance since his nomination earlier this month to become NASA’s next administrator. Although his remarks were short on specifics, Isaacman endorsed a vision that would signal radical departures from the way NASA does business. He talked of commercial investment, a thriving space economy, and going fast…
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Ship 33 prepares for engine testing, Booster 14 Completes Static Fire
Three weeks after Flight 6, SpaceX has static fired Booster 14 and rolled Ship 33 to Masseys to complete its own engine testing. Once both vehicles are tested, SpaceX will begin the final drive to Flight 7, potentially launching in January. Booster 14 On Dec. 5, just over two weeks after Flight 6, SpaceX rolled…