Tag Archives: SpaceX

CNBC reports: After SpaceX completed a historic, private spaceflight on Saturday, CEO Elon Musk took a pot shot at President Joe Biden who had yet to remark on the company’s and the civilian flight crew’s accomplishments. One of Musk’s 60 million followers on the social networking platform Twitter asked him, “The President of the United States has refused to even …

The Verge reports: SpaceX is set to launch the first fully private crew of passengers to orbit on Wednesday. The Inspiration4 crew, three ordinary people and a billionaire philanthropist who’s funding the mission, will board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule on Wednesday afternoon and lift off at 8:02PM ET atop a Falcon 9 rocket, speeding toward an orbit 360 miles above …

The Verge reports: Demand for oxygen to treat COVID-19 patients is spiking during the latest pandemic surge, leaving liquid oxygen in short supply for other uses, including water purification and rocket launches. As supplies get redirected to hospitals, other industries are scrambling to figure out alternatives. “We’re actually going to be impacted this year with the lack of liquid oxygen …

Reuters reports: Elon Musk’s private rocket company SpaceX was awarded a $178 million launch services contract for NASA’s first mission focusing on Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and whether it may host conditions suitable for life, the space agency said on Friday. The Europa Clipper mission is due for blastoff in October 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket owned by Musk’s …

Axios reports: Elon Musk marked his “Saturday Night Live” hosting debut by making a series of self-deprecating jokes and addressing controversy he’s attracted over the years over his behavior and Twitter posts. “To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say, I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship,” the SpaceX owner and Tesla …

CNN Business reports: A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule soared back from outer space Sunday morning and made a parachute landing in the Gulf of Mexico, returning four astronauts from a record-setting mission to the International Space Station. The astronauts — NASA’s Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi, an astronaut with Japan’s space agency — had boarded their …

Reuters reports: U.S. space agency NASA has told Elon Musk’s SpaceX to halt work under a contract it won to develop a lunar spacecraft, pending the outcome of challenges by rival bidders at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the agency said on Friday. NASA’s decision means SpaceX has to stop any work specifically related to the moon program contract until …

NPR reports: NBC announced over the weekend that Elon Musk would host Saturday Night Live on May 8. The iconic sketch-comedy show is in its 46th season. Saturday Night Live doesn’t usually have business executives host its show, but as pointed out in a story by The Associated Press, Musk is far from a stuffy corporate type. While it is …

CNBC reports: The second operational SpaceX crew mission arrived at the International Space Station early on Saturday morning, carrying four astronauts for a six month stay in space. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft ‘Endeavour,’ which launched on a Falcon 9 rocket the day before, docked with the ISS at 5:22 a.m. EDT. The capsule carries an international cadre of astronauts: NASA’s …

CNBC reports: SpaceX launched another group of astronauts for NASA early on Friday morning, with Elon Musk’s company now having sent 10 astronauts to space in under a year. The Crew-2 mission, the company’s second operational mission for NASA and its third to date, reached orbit successfully after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:49 a.m. EDT. …

Reuters reports: NASA said on Friday it has awarded billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to fly astronauts to the moon, picking it over Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics Inc. The bid by Tesla Inc chief Musk beat one from Amazon.com Inc’s founder Jeff Bezos, who had …

Changing America reports: A prototype of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft that the private rocket company is hoping to one day send to the moon and Mars successfully landed for the first time following a high-altitude flight test on Wednesday. Several minutes later, the stainless steel rocket ship was destroyed in a fiery explosion on the landing pad. Despite the explosion, the …

Reuters reports: A SpaceX Starship prototype rocket exploded on landing after an otherwise successful high-altitude experimental launch from Boca Chica, Texas, on Tuesday, in a repeat of an accident that destroyed a previous test rocket. The Starship SN9 that blew up on its final descent, like the SN8 before it, was a prototype for the heavy-lift rocket being developed by …

CNBC reports: Tesla co-founder Elon Musk is now the world’s second richest person after he leapfrogged Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, which tracks the wealth of the world’s 500 richest people. The 49-year-old entrepreneur, who is also the co-founder of space exploration firm SpaceX, saw his net worth rise by $7.2 billion to $128 billion …

Business Insider reports: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that he “most likely” has a moderate case of COVID-19, while questioning the reliability of the tests he has had. Asked by a Twitter user about his symptoms, he wrote that they feel “just like a regular cold, but more body achy & cloudy head than coughing/sneezing.” On …

The Independent reports: SpaceX will not recognise international law on Mars, according to the Terms of Service of its Starlink internet project. Elon Musk’s space company will instead reportedly adhere to a set of “self-governing principles” that will be defined at the time of Martian settlement. Musk revealed plans to create a self-sustaining city on Mars last week, though no …

Business Insider reports: The capsule bobbed in the ocean for about 15 minutes as professional recovery boats sped to retrieve the astronauts — but they weren’t alone on the water. The landing site off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, drew a crowd of onlookers in their own boats. Some got close to the spaceship, including a boat flying a Trump …

CBS News reports: Crew Dragon astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken enjoyed wakeup messages from their young sons early Sunday before readying their ship for a fiery plunge back to Earth and splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Pensacola to close out a 64-day test flight. Hurley and Behnken, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on May 30, …

CNN reports: Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley have officially arrived at the International Space Station. After a historic launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday, the astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft synched up with the space station Sunday morning. The spacecraft made a careful approach, easing its way toward its destination over the course of 19 …

The New York Times reports: The United States opened a new era of human space travel on Saturday as a private company for the first time launched astronauts into orbit, nearly a decade after the government retired the storied space shuttle program in the aftermath of national tragedy. Two American astronauts lifted off at 3:22 p.m. from a familiar setting, …