Tag: Starship
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SpaceX launches Starship “hopper” on dramatic test flight
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION SpaceX launched its sub-scale Starship “hopper” spacecraft on a brief unpiloted up-and-down test flight at the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, test facility Tuesday, a dramatic demonstration of rocket technology intended to pave the way to a new, more powerful heavy lift booster and, eventually, crew-carrying interplanetary spacecraft. Running…
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SpaceX aborts Starhopper test flight, could try again Tuesday
Credit: SpaceX SpaceX aborted an attempted flight Monday of the company’s Starhopper test rocket, a prototype for the company’s next-generation Starship vehicle. The hop test was to fly to a height of around 500 feet (150 meters) over SpaceX’s launch site at Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX said teams could mount another attempt for the Starhopper…
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SpaceX present to future: From retesting boosters to planning a Starship pad
SpaceX is busy on all fronts, from its bread and butter commercial satellite launches to planning its ultimate future of deep space transportation and multi-planetary colonization. A second static fire test was ordered – and completed for Falcon 9 B1047.3 ahead of next week’s AMOS-17 launch, while a key environmental report shed new details on…
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SpaceX’s Starship prototype aces first untethered hop test
SpaceX’s Starship Hopper is seen through a cloud of smoke in this view from an airborne drone during Thursday night’s test. Credit: SpaceX An early test model of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, which billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says will carry people and cargo to the moon and Mars, briefly left the ground in South Texas on…
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Starhopper successfully conducts debut Boca Chica Hop
SpaceX’s Starhopper has successfully undertaken its first real hop into the Texas air on Thursday. The Hop saw the vehicle rise under the power of its Raptor (SN6) engine, around 20 meters in altitude, before translating several meters from where it launched. Elon Musk said the hop was successful and next will be a hop…
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SpaceX readying Starhopper for hops in Texas as Pad 39A plans materialize in Florida
With the arrival of a new Raptor engine at their Boca Chica launch facility, SpaceX is gearing up for a second round of testing with the Starhopper vehicle in South Texas. The latest test campaign is slated to begin in mid-June and is expected to include the first untethered hop of Starhopper. Meanwhile, on the…
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SpaceX ramps up operations in South Texas as Hopper tests loom
SpaceX is working a dual test flow for its new Super Heavy and Starship systems, with construction ongoing in Florida while Starhopper prepares to restart test operations in Texas. Two orbital Starship prototypes are now in staggered stages of production while the first Super Heavy booster is set to begin construction in the next three…
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SpaceX considering Starship test launches from Pad 39A
As SpaceX continues to make steady progress on multiple Starship test vehicles at their Boca Chica launch facility, the company’s CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that they are also constructing a Starship vehicle in Florida. The Florida-based Starship is expected to launch from one of SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral based facilities, as opposed to the company’s…
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Starhopper conducts Raptor Static Fire tests
Testing of SpaceX’s Starhopper suborbital vehicle in Boca Chica, Texas, achieved a new milestone on Wednesday evening with a Static Fire test of its Raptor engine. The test comes after over a week of Wet Dress Rehearsals (WDR) and pre-burner tests. Thursday would have technically resulted in its first hop, albeit by just inches due…
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SpaceX gearing up for Starship tests at Boca Chica
At the southern tip of Texas, SpaceX is preparing to begin testing their interplanetary spacecraft. The first Starship test vehicle, dubbed Starhopper, is in advanced stages of construction, and SpaceX facilities at Boca Chica and McGregor are preparing to support a flight test program beginning this year. The new South Texas Launch Site was originally…