SpaceX

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Days Before Historic Launch, an Abrupt NASA Resignation

Head of human spaceflight steps down suddenly

(Newser) - NASA’s chief of human exploration has resigned just days before the first astronaut launch in nearly a decade from Kennedy Space Center, the AP reports. The space agency notified employees of the news Tuesday. Douglas Loverro, whose resignation took effect Monday, joined NASA last October. He is a former...

All Systems Go for Historic SpaceX Flight This Month
Next SpaceX Launch
Will Make History
May 18, 2020 10:45 AM CDT

Next SpaceX Launch Will Make History

Company is sending up astronauts for the first time

(Newser) - Tesla is the Elon Musk company making all the headlines lately, but his SpaceX will make some pretty big ones of its own later this month. The company confirmed Monday that its next launch will send two astronauts into space for the first time, reports CNBC . The closely watched Demo-2...

NASA Launch Next Month Is First in a Decade

But agency is getting help from SpaceX

(Newser) - NASA has great experience sending astronauts into space, but not much lately. SpaceX has fresh experience with space flights, but not with astronauts on board. On May 27, the two will team up to send a crew of two from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the International Space...

SpaceX Destroys a Rocket to Test Escape System

Dramatic experiment assesses whether human crew can survive failure

(Newser) - In a counterintuitive safety test, SpaceX launched, then—less than 90 seconds later—destroyed a rocket Sunday at Cape Canaveral. The idea was to assess the survivability of the Crew Dragon capsule in a catastrophic rocket failure, NBC reports. The capsule is to take NASA astronauts to the International Space...

Billionaire Seeks Nice Girl for Long Walks, Trip Around Moon

Maezawa is on the prowl for a girlfriend to take on first private space tourism flight in 2023

(Newser) - When last we saw Yusaku Maezawa, he was giving away $9 million in a "serious social experiment," and making record-setting tweets . Now, he's just a simple Japanese billionaire looking for a love that he wants to take literally out of this world. As Reuters reports, the man...

SpaceX's Latest 60 Satellites Have Dark Coating

Astronomers complained about Starlink fleet

(Newser) - SpaceX launched 60 more mini Internet satellites late Monday, this time testing a dark coating to appease stargazers. It's a "first step" compromise between SpaceX and astronomers fearful of having dark skies spoiled by hundreds and, eventually, thousands of bright satellites circling overhead. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted...

Musk Points Out an Issue With Wikipedia Page

He's no investor, Tesla CEO says

(Newser) - Elon Musk said he looked at his Wikipedia page for the first time in years on Sunday. "It's insane!" Musk tweeted , adding that the page was "a war zone with a zillion edits." Still, the Tesla CEO asked for one more. "Can someone please...

SpaceX Delivers 'Mighty Mice' to ISS

And Christmas presents for astronauts who haven't been naughty

(Newser) - SpaceX made an early holiday delivery to the International Space Station on Sunday, bringing muscle-bound “mighty mice,” pest-killing worms, and a smart, empathetic robot. The station commander, Italy's Luca Parmitano, used a large robot arm to grab onto the Dragon three days after its launch from Cape...

Elon Musk's Pot Smoking Cost NASA $5M

Agency covers cost of drug education at SpaceX after he lit up on podcast

(Newser) - NASA ordered a review of the SpaceX workplace and culture last year to make sure its employees weren't using illegal drugs—a $5 million assignment the government paid for. Boeing, also a government contractor, had to have the same review and pay for the job itself. The company doesn'...

Musk Shows His Prototype for Trips to Moon, Mars

SpaceX plans to move fast toward putting passengers in space

(Newser) - Starship is 164 feet high, 30 feet in diameter, with a projected payload of 150 tons and room for 100 passengers bound for other planets. Combined with its booster, the Super Heavy, the SpaceX rocket will be 387 feet tall and able to carry 220,000 pounds. "This is,...

SpaceX Launches World's Heftiest Rocket

Payload included ashes of 152 people

(Newser) - SpaceX launched its heftiest rocket with 24 research satellites Tuesday, a middle-of-the-night rideshare featuring a deep space atomic clock, solar sail, a clean and green rocket fuel testbed, and even human ashes. It was the third flight of a Falcon Heavy rocket, but the first ordered by the military. The...

SpaceX's Latest Launch Could Be a Big Deal

Elon Musk's company sends 60 satellites into orbit, and lots more will follow

(Newser) - SpaceX launched its heaviest load yet into space Thursday night—60 separate satellites weighing 500 pounds apiece, reports CNN . And if everything goes according to plan, Elon Musk's company will launch hundreds and perhaps thousands more such satellites, all part of an ambitious system called Starlink designed to beam...

Sexual Tweet Is Elon Musk's Reply to Bezos' Lunar Lander

'Oh stop teasing, Jeff'

(Newser) - Jeff Bezos gave a "rambling" intro Thursday to the new moon lander created by his Blue Origin spacecraft company, and one person in particular was paying attention—and poking fun. CNBC reports competitor Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, took to Twitter Thursday night and tweeted out a photo of...

Major Power Shortage Hits Space Station

Glitch has delayed SpaceX supply run

(Newser) - A major power shortage at the International Space Station has delayed this week's SpaceX supply run. SpaceX was supposed to launch a shipment Wednesday, the AP reports. But an old power-switching unit malfunctioned at the space station Monday and knocked two power channels offline. The six remaining power channels...

Something Went Really Wrong in SpaceX Test

Company reports 'anomaly' in engine test

(Newser) - "Anomaly" might be an understatement. SpaceX was running engine tests on an unmanned space vehicle over the weekend at Cape Canaveral when something went seriously wrong. "The initial tests completed successfully but the final test resulted in an anomaly on the test stand," said the company in...

SpaceX Has Firsts in Florida Launch

All 3 boosters land and satellite goes up for first paying customer

(Newser) - SpaceX launched its second supersized rocket and for the first time landed all three boosters Thursday, a year after sending up a sports car on the initial test flight. The new and improved Falcon Heavy thundered into the early evening sky with a communication satellite called Arabsat, the rocket's...

Crew Dragon Makes a 'Splashdown' Not Seen in 50 Years

SpaceX capsule safely lands in Atlantic Ocean after test flight to ISS

(Newser) - After the "high-stakes" launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon on Saturday, Elon Musk said he was emotionally spent . The SpaceX CEO can now breathe a little easier, after what Time calls a "near-perfect flight" ended with the capsule landing safely Friday morning in the Atlantic Ocean, about 200...

Musk's US Security Clearance Could Go Up in Pot Smoke

It's being reviewed over marijuana use

(Newser) - SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is on the verge of scoring a massive success with his Dragon crew capsule —but his pot-smoking could complicate his relationship with the government. Sources tell Bloomberg that the Pentagon is reviewing Musk's security clearance because he was filmed smoking a joint during an...

SpaceX's New Dragon Lands One More Success

Crew Dragon docks seamlessly with ISS, paving way for US to send astronauts in US rockets again

(Newser) - SpaceX's sleek, new crew capsule arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday, reports the AP , acing its second milestone in just over a day. No one was aboard the Dragon capsule launched Saturday on its first test flight , only an instrumented dummy. But that quickly changed once the...

Musk After 'High-Stakes' Launch: 'Emotionally Exhausted'

SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule sent into space atop Falcon 9 rocket to International Space Station

(Newser) - America's newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX. The only passenger was a life-size test dummy named Ripley, after the lead character in the Alien movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its Crew Dragon capsule before...

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