Tag: Starship
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Falcon 9’s Final Chapter? SpaceX Plans to Retire Its Workhorse Rocket Once Starship Reaches Full Operational Service
SpaceX is preparing for one of the most consequential transitions in launch industry history: the eventual retirement of the Falcon 9 rocket, the vehicle that transformed commercial spaceflight and established reusable launch systems as an industry standard. According to comments highlighted by SpaceX leadership and reported by Space.com, the company intends to phase out Falcon…
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SpaceX Expands Vertical Integration Strategy With In-House Natural Gas Trading Push
SpaceX is moving deeper into the energy sector as it seeks greater control over the fuel and power resources needed to support its rapidly expanding launch, manufacturing, and infrastructure operations. The company is hiring a dedicated natural gas trader to establish and lead a new internal trading team responsible for managing physical and financial natural…
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SpaceX Marks 100th Falcon Launch of 2026 with Starlink Group 15-20 Mission
SpaceX continued its record-setting launch pace on Aug. 22, successfully deploying 27 Starlink internet satellites into low Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission, designated Starlink Group 15-20, represented the company’s 100th Falcon-family launch of 2026 and further expanded the world’s largest satellite constellation. The Falcon…
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SpaceX Poised to Build New Coastal Spaceport in Louisiana’s Vermilion Parish
SpaceX is set to build a new spaceport along roughly 18 miles of coastal land in southern Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, creating another launch location for the company as it expands its rocket operations, according to information emerging from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry’s office. The proposed facility would be built on a roughly 130,000-acre tract in…
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SpaceX Pushes First Starship Tower Catch Attempt to Later This Year as Reusability Campaign Advances
SpaceX is now targeting its first attempt to catch a returning Starship upper stage with the launch tower “chopstick” arms within the next few months, a shift from earlier expectations that the milestone could occur on the vehicle’s next flight. The updated timeline came from CEO Elon Musk, who said the company’s first Starship tower-catch…
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SpaceX Starship Ship 40 Towed Into Christmas Island Bay After Weeks Adrift in Indian Ocean
The recovery was not originally part of the plan. Ship 40 outperformed expectations as it re-entered the atmosphere and splashed down in the Indian Ocean. On July 29, Elon Musk announced on X that a ship had been dispatched to retrieve the vehicle, and space enthusiasts have tracked its progress ever since. Ship 40 is…
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SpaceX Publishes All-Hands as Musk Details AI Push, Starship Scale, and Multiplanetary Vision
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk laid out a future for the company that extends far beyond rockets and satellite internet, telling employees that artificial intelligence could soon become SpaceX’s largest business and eventually account for 99% of its value. During the presentation, which SpaceX published on August 11th, Musk said the company is targeting 10 gigawatts…
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SpaceX’s Starship Upper Stage May Be Lost at Sea After Two-Week Recovery Effort
SpaceX’s attempt to recover the Starship upper stage from its 13th test flight is “not looking good”, Elon Musk tweeted on August 7th, roughly two weeks after the vehicle splashed down in the Indian Ocean. Flight 13 lifted off from the company’s Starbase site in South Texas on July 24th. The suborbital mission ended with…
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SpaceX is set to acquire 130,000 acres of marshland in southern Louisiana
SpaceX and the state of Louisiana are close to finalizing a deal for the launch company to acquire about 130,000 acres along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. There have been persistent rumors about such an agreement for months, but now The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate reports that Louisiana Gov. Jeff…
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Rocket Report: New launch rule may limit environmental regulations, Falcon 9 to hit Moon
Welcome to Edition 9.05 of the Rocket Report! It was a big week for launch contracts, with both Rocket Lab and SpaceX scoring sizable deals from the US military for their respective Electron and Falcon 9 rockets. The vehicles have been the workhorses for small and medium lift for the United States over the past…