Elon Musk – Page 5 – Spaceflight Now

Second Starship test article implodes during pressure test

March 2, 2020 Stephen Clark

A prototype for SpaceX’s Starship vehicle imploded during a pressurization test at the company’s facility in South Texas Friday night, an event captured on video by local residents.

NASA chief says SpaceX properly focused on Crew Dragon

October 10, 2019 William Harwood

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine visited SpaceX’s California rocket factory Thursday, toured the sprawling facility with founder Elon Musk and told reporters he is optimistic the company will be ready to launch the first piloted test flight of its Crew Dragon spaceship in the first quarter of next year.

Photos: SpaceX’s first full-size Starship prototype

September 30, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s first full-size stainless steel Starship test vehicle stands some 164 feet tall and measures wider than the cabin of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. If Elon Musk has his way, it will fly to an altitude of 65,000 feet before the end of the year.

Elon Musk wants to move fast with SpaceX’s Starship

September 29, 2019 Stephen Clark

Standing in front of a shiny full-scale prototype of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle in South Texas, Elon Musk said Saturday night he wants the company’s gigantic next-generation rocket to fly into orbit within six months, a bold schedule that he acknowledged requires “exponential” improvements in design and manufacturing.

Elon Musk to provide update on SpaceX’s Starship this weekend

September 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

In the last few months, teams of SpaceX engineers working on the flat coastal plains of South Texas and in a nondescript industrial yard on Florida’s Space Coast have been building two futuristic-looking stainless steel rockets — or Starships — prototypes for a reusable vehicle the company claims could one day ferry people to Mars.

SpaceX launches Starship “hopper” on dramatic test flight

August 27, 2019 William Harwood

SpaceX launched its sub-scale Starship “hopper” spacecraft on a brief unpiloted up-and-down test flight at the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, test facility Tuesday, a dramatic demonstration of rocket technology intended to pave the way to a new, more powerful heavy lift booster and, eventually, crew-carrying interplanetary spacecraft.

SpaceX aborts Starhopper test flight, could try again Tuesday

August 26, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX aborted an attempted flight Monday of the company’s Starhopper test rocket, a prototype for the company’s next-generation Starship vehicle. The hop test was to fly to a height of around 500 feet (150 meters) over SpaceX’s launch site at Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX’s Starship prototype aces first untethered hop test

July 26, 2019 Stephen Clark

An early test model of SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, which billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk says will carry people and cargo to the moon and Mars, briefly left the ground on its first untethered test flight Thursday night powered by the company’s new methane-fueled Raptor engine.

SpaceX’s first 60 Starlink broadband satellites deployed in orbit

May 24, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX successfully delivered the first 60 members of the company’s Starlink broadband satellite fleet to orbit Thursday night after a launch from Cape Canaveral.

Q&A with Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX (members only)

May 17, 2019 Stephen Clark

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and chief executive, spoke with reporters via conference call May 15 as the company prepared for the launch of the first 60 satellites to build out a network of potentially thousands of broadband relay stations in low Earth orbit providing high-speed Internet to consumers around the world.