Enlarge / An orbital view of SpaceX’s South Texas launch site, with SN10 on the pad, in early March. (credit: Maxar Technologies) As part of a federal review process for its plans in South Texas, details of SpaceX’s proposed spaceport have been made public. They were posted late last week in a public notice from […]
This gallery of SN10 images shows the vehicle’s flight on Wednesday. [credit: Trevor Mahlmann ] So what, exactly, are we to make of the third flight of a full scale Starship prototype? If nothing else, Wednesday afternoon’s flight provided several minutes of first rate entertainment: Rocketship goes up. Rocketship comes down. Rocketship lands. And then, […]
Enlarge / Starship SN10 on the pad on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) SpaceX may launch its third full-scale Starship prototype—named Serial Number 10, or SN10—as early as Wednesday from South Texas. With this vehicle, the company will seek to successfully land the Starship vehicle where the last two versions, SN8 and SN9, […]
Liftoff of SN9 sure looked fine on Tuesday afternoon. [credit: Trevor Mahlmann ] Once again, on Tuesday afternoon, a Starship prototype soared into the clear skies above South Texas like something out of the pages of a science fiction novel. Once again, after reaching a high altitude, the spaceship leaned into a “belly flop” maneuver, […]
Enlarge / A Starship on the pad, and a second on the way in South Texas. (credit: Elon Musk/Twitter) SpaceX finally has won approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch its Starship prototype vehicle SN9 in South Texas. The notification came early Tuesday morning, when the FAA posted “The SpaceX Starship launch is scheduled […]
Enlarge / Starship prototype SN9 has not launched yet. (credit: SpaceX) There were moments of high drama on Thursday afternoon, and again Friday morning, in South Texas. For two days in a row, SpaceX evacuated the handful of residents remaining in Boca Chica Village. Sheriff’s deputies cleared beaches and closed roads. And at the company’s […]
Enlarge / Annika Keeton. (credit: Starship) Last March, just as the Washington, DC, area was locking down for COVID-19, I traveled to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, to eat a hamburger delivered by a robot. The robot was owned by delivery startup Starship. Today, Starship announced it has completed 1 million deliveries. Annika Keeton, a […]
Enlarge / SN8 very nearly made a safe landing in South Texas in December. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) It’s finally time to find out whether Starship prototype Serial No. 9 will become SN Fine or SN Nein. After a series of static fire tests on its latest Starship prototype, SpaceX appears set to launch the full-scale vehicle […]
Enlarge / The Sun glints around the lower fin of Starship SN8 on Dec. 9, 2020. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann ) On Wednesday, in South Texas, SpaceX fired up its newest Starship prototype not once or twice. Rather, engineers and technicians fueled and test fired their SN9 prototype and its Raptor rocket engines three times in […]