SpaceX Archives

SpaceX launches the 11th test flight of its mega Starship rocket with another win

SpaceX has launched another of its mammoth Starship rockets on a test flight. The 403-foot Starship thundered into the evening sky Monday from Texas. The booster peeled away and made a controlled entry into the Gulf of Mexico as planned, with the spacecraft skimming space before descending into the Indian Ocean. It’s similar to the previous test flight in August, which scored a success following a string of explosive failures. SpaceX’s Elon Musk intends to use Starship to send people to Mars. NASA cannot land astronauts on the moon by decade’s end without Starship.… Continue Reading

Trump and Musk solidify their bond with Texas trip for rocket launch

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been nearly inseparable since the election. On Tuesday, Trump arrived in Texas to watch one of Musk’s companies test its Starship rocket. If successful, the rocket’s reusable booster will be caught back at the launch pad. It’s a remarkable display of intimacy between the president-elect and the world’s richest man. Musk supported Trump’s candidacy and has been given unparalleled access. The billionaire has been helping shape the new administration and he’s positioned in a way that could help his own companies, which have billions of dollars in federal contracts and routinely deal with government regulators.… Continue Reading

NASA astronaut remains at hospital after returning from an extended stay in space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Four astronauts are back on Earth after a space station mission that lasted almost eight months. A SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast before dawn Friday. The three Americans and one Russian should have returned from the International Space Station two months ago, but were delayed by Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule and weather. Shortly after splashdown, NASA said one of its astronauts had a medical issue. The space agency says the unidentified astronaut is in stable condition and remains at a Florida hospital as a “precautionary measure.”… Continue Reading

NASA spacecraft rockets toward Jupiter’s moon Europa in search of the right conditions for life

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft has blasted off on a quest to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa and reveal whether its hidden ocean might hold the keys to life. SpaceX launched the Europa Clipper on Monday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. It will take 5 1/2 years for Clipper to reach Jupiter. Once there, the spacecraft will orbit the giant gas planet, sneaking close to Europa during dozens of flybys. The $5.2 billion mission won’t search for life but rather the conditions necessary for it. Scientists are almost certain a vast, deep ocean exists beneath Europa’s icy crust.… Continue Reading

In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster back at the launch pad

SpaceX has launched its enormous Starship rocket on its boldest test flight yet, catching it with mechanical arms back at the pad. This fifth try involved grabbing the returning booster at the Texas pad. Towering almost 400 feet, the empty Starship blasted off Sunday from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. It arced over the Gulf of Mexico like the four Starships before it that ended up being destroyed. This latest test flight aimed to bring the first-stage booster back to land seven minutes after liftoff. The launch tower sports monstrous metal arms, dubbed chopsticks, that caught the descending 232-foot booster.… Continue Reading