Tag: Spacex

SpaceX catches giant Starship booster in fifth flight test

By Joey Roulette (Reuters) -SpaceX in its fifth Starship test flight on Sunday returned the rocket’s towering first stage booster back to its Texas launch pad for the first time using giant mechanical arms, achieving another novel engineering feat in the company’s push to build a reusable moon and Mars vehicle. The rocket’s first stage “Super Heavy” booster lifted off at 7:25 a.m. CT (1225 GMT) from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas launch facilities, sending the […]

SpaceX to return Boeing’s Starliner astronauts from space next year, NASA says

By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two NASA astronauts who flew to the International Space Station in June aboard Boeing’s faulty Starliner capsule will need to return to Earth on a SpaceX vehicle early next year, NASA officials said on Saturday, deeming issues with Starliner’s propulsion system too risky to carry its first crew home as planned. Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, both former military test pilots, became the first crew to ride […]

SpaceX mega rocket lost in final phase of test flight

By Chandan Khanna with Issam Ahmed in Washington BOCA CHICA, United States, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket, flew further and faster than ever before during its third test flight Thursday, although it was eventually lost as it re-entered the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said. Lift-off from the company’s Starbase in southeast Texas came around 8:25 am local time (1325 GMT) and was carried live on a webcast […]

SpaceX poised for third launch test of Starship megarocket

By Chandan KHANNA BOCA CHICA AND MEDFORD COLONIA, United States, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – SpaceX plans on Thursday to attempt another launch of Starship, the world’s most powerful rocket that is vital to NASA’s plans for landing astronauts on the Moon later this decade — and Elon Musk’s hopes of eventually colonizing Mars. Two previous attempts have ended in spectacular explosions, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing: the company has adopted a rapid […]

SpaceX set to launch new crew to ISS

Three American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are due to blast off Sunday night from Florida for a six-month mission on the International Space Station. After an attempt was called off Saturday night due to strong winds, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is due to lift the travelers into orbit at 10:53 pm (0353 GMT Monday) from the Kennedy Space Center. If forced to abort before launch again, SpaceX will have another opportunity Monday night. […]

Private US spaceship poised to launch for the Moon

An American spaceship attempting a lunar landing will aim to launch early Thursday, the second private-led effort this year after the first ended in failure. Intuitive Machines, the Houston company leading mission “IM-1,” hopes to become the first non-government entity to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon and land the first US robot on the surface since the Apollo missions more than five decades ago. Its hexagonal-shaped Nova-C lander named “Odysseus” is set to […]

SpaceX launches secretive US military spacecraft on research mission

WASHINGTON, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket blasted back into space on Thursday night to ferry the US military’s secretive X-37B drone to a research mission. After weeks of delays, the rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 pm Eastern Time (0107 GMT Friday) in a liftoff livestreamed on SpaceX’s website. It is unclear where exactly the uncrewed and autonomously operating spacecraft is headed on its seventh mission. […]

NASA and SpaceX postpone launch of ISS crew rotation mission

By Greg Newton NASA and SpaceX said Thursday they have postponed the launch of a crew of four to the International Space Station. NASA said the mission was “standing down” from a scheduled Friday launch time, but did not provide a reason for the move. “Launch now is targeted at 3:27 am (local time; 07:27 GMT) Saturday, Aug. 26, for SpaceX’s seventh crew rotation mission to the microgravity laboratory for NASA,” the US space agency […]

Giant SpaceX rocket leaves crater, serious damage at Texas base

Starbase, United States (AFP) by Patrick FALLON with Lucie AUBOURG in Washington Flying chunks of concrete, twisted metal sheets, craters blasted deep into the ground: the thunderous power of SpaceX’s first test flight of Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — inflicted serious damage on its Texas launch site. Repairing the damage from Thursday’s unmanned test flight is expected to take months, potentially delaying further launch attempts and slowing the development […]

SpaceX Starship, world’s biggest rocket, explodes during first flight test

Starbase, United States | AFP | Thursday 4/20/2023 by Patrick Fallon with Chris Lefkow in Washington SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, exploded on Thursday during the first test flight of the spacecraft designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond. The gigantic rocket successfully blasted off at 8:33 am Central Time (1333 GMT) from Starbase, the private SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas. The Starship capsule had been scheduled to […]

SpaceX to make second bid to launch Starship on test flight

Starbase, United States (AFP) by Patrick Fallon with Chris Lefkow in Washington SpaceX is to make a second attempt on Thursday to carry out the first test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond. A planned liftoff Monday of the gigantic rocket was aborted less than 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled launch because of a pressurization issue in the first-stage booster. The […]

SpaceX postpones test flight of Starship, world’s biggest rocket

by Patrick Fallon with Chris Lefkow in Washington SpaceX on Monday postponed the first test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars and beyond. Liftoff of the gigantic rocket was called off just minutes ahead of the scheduled launch time because of a pressurization issue in the booster stage, SpaceX said. SpaceX founder Elon Musk said a pressure valve appeared to be frozen, forcing […]