Enlarge / In this illustration, SpaceX’s Starship vehicle is seen landing on the Moon. (credit: NASA) As part of its Artemis program to return humans to the Moon this decade, NASA has a minimum requirement that its “human landing system” must be able to deliver 865 kg to the lunar surface. This is based on […]
Enlarge / SpaceX’s stacked Starship vehicle complete with its impressive launch tower. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) STARBASE, Texas—Shortly after SpaceX founder Elon Musk completed a 75-minute presentation on Starship Thursday evening, I huddled with a few veteran space reporters. What, we discussed, were the headlines from the event? No one was sure, as we agreed that […]
Enlarge / The first test firing of a flight version of SpaceX’s Raptor rocket engine. (credit: Elon Musk/Twitter) Last Friday, as most Americans slept off their tryptophan hangovers, headed to the mall for Black Friday shopping, or tried in vain to avoid political discussions with visiting family members, SpaceX founder Elon Musk was instead at […]
Enlarge / The Orion spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis I mission is lifted above the Space Launch System rocket in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. (credit: NASA) Senior NASA officials on Tuesday provided an updated timeline for returning humans to the Moon under the agency’s Artemis Program, and they discussed costs and other […]
Enlarge / SpaceX ignites a vacuum-optimized Raptor engine attached to Starship on Thursday, October 21. (credit: SpaceX) SpaceX took another step on Thursday evening toward validating the rocket engine technology that will power its Starship rocket. For the first time, engineers at the company ignited a vacuum version of a Raptor rocket engine that had […]
Enlarge / SpaceX’s Booster 4 is lifted on to its orbital launch mount in South Texas. (credit: Elon Musk/Twitter ) The Federal Aviation Administration released a draft environmental review of SpaceX’s plans for orbital launches from South Texas on Friday, kicking off a 30-day public comment period. The particular long-awaited procedural step is the first […]
Enlarge / Boca Chica Highway runs through SpaceX’s facilities in South Texas. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann ) As SpaceX has ramped up Starship testing and launch activities in South Texas in recent years, the company has more frequently sought the closure of the Boca Chica Highway. This two-lane road runs along the company’s rocket assembly and […]
Enlarge / Workers perform a fit check with Starship (above) and the Super Heavy booster. (credit: Elon Musk/Twitter) Nearly a century ago, humans built skyward for the first time at an unprecedented rate. It was the age of skyscrapers. During the half-century before 1920, the US population doubled. At the same time, the Industrial Revolution […]
Enlarge / A Super Heavy booster rolled out of SpaceX’s production facilities in South Texas earlier this month. (credit: Elon Musk ) SpaceX seems to have gone a long time without launching—or blowing up—a rocket at its South Texas launch site. A little more than two months have passed since the company launched its SN15 […]
Enlarge / Bill Nelson was confirmed by the US Senate to become NASA administrator on April 30. (credit: NASA) NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the space agency expects a decision from the US Government Accountability Office on a lunar lander protest by August 4. This would seem to set a firm timeline after which NASA […]