Spacex Rockets

SpaceX Starship rockets grounded pending probe into test flight mishap

SpaceX Starship launches are on hold pending an investigation into last week's test flight. The Federal Aviation Administration announced on Wednesday that the hourlong spaceflight resulted in a mishap based on the performance of the mega rocket's first-stage booster. Minutes after Starship blasted off from Texas on Friday, the booster separated as normal but engines conked out as it made its way back to Earth. Instead of a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the booster came in hard. There were no reports of injury or property damage, according to the FAA, which will oversee the company's investigation. The spacecraft continued around the world, releasing 20 mock satellites before ending the mission as planned with a fiery splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The 407-foot (124-metre) rocket is SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's biggest and most powerful Starship yet, designed to carry crews to Mars. NASA is looking for it to land astronauts on the moon as soon as 2028 and help build a lun

SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on test flight

SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he's taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites for release halfway around the world. It's the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and NASA's Artemis program. The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX's third-generation Starship -- a souped-up version dubbed V3 -- soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening's launch attempt. SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights

Elon Musk's SpaceX files for IPO: Inside revenue, losses, and future plans

The filing showed that SpaceX has been aggressively investing in artificial intelligence (AI), Starlink satellites and future space missions

Jeff Bezos shakes up Blue Origin staff incentives ahead of SpaceX IPO

Bezos's efforts to make staff incentives more competitive come on the back of an intensifying rivalry between Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX

Blue Origin CEO vows all-in effort to beat rival SpaceX in moon race

As part of the lunar push, Blue Origin is shifting employees from its New Shepard space tourism programmes to focus on efforts to head back to the moon

Elon Musk's SpaceX outpaces China's 203K 'paper satellite' ambitions

China has several firms chasing reusable rockets, but SpaceX keeps widening the lead; and without a Falcon 9 rival, Beijing's 203,000-satellite plan remains largely on paper

Elon Musk merges SpaceX with his AI business at $1.25 trillion valuation

SpaceX had been planning an IPO that could raise as much as $50 billion, in what would be the biggest initial share sale to date

Did Altman eye a SpaceX rival? What we know about the Stoke Space talks

Sam Altman explored investing in rocket maker Stoke Space, a move that would have placed him in direct competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX, but the talks stalled

SpaceX launches 11th test flight of Starship, aims to cover half the globe

SpaceX launched another of its mammoth Starship rockets on a test flight Monday, striving to make it halfway around the world while releasing mock satellites like last time. Starship the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built thundered into the evening sky from the southern tip of Texas. The booster was programmed to peel away and drop into the Gulf of Mexico, with the spacecraft skimming space before descending into the Indian Ocean. Nothing was being recovered. It was the 11th test flight for a full-scale Starship, which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk intends to use to send people to Mars. NASA's need is more immediate. The space agency cannot land astronauts on the moon by decade's end without the 403-foot (123-meter) Starship, the reusable vehicle meant to get them from lunar orbit down to the surface and back up. Instead of remaining inside Launch Control as usual, Musk said that for the first time, he was going outside to watch much more visceral. The previous test

Pixxel, Dhruva Space launch satellites on SpaceX Falcon-9 from California

Two start-ups Pixxel Space and Dhruva Space launched satellites successfully onboard SpaceX's Falcon-9 rocket on Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The launch of three Firefly satellites of Pixxel marked the completion of the first phase of the start-up's constellation of six hyperspectral satellites that would have a closer and clearer look at the Earth. "All 3 Fireflies successfully deployed," Awais Ahmed, founder and CEO of Bengaluru-based Pixxel Space said in a post on X. Pixxel had launched three Firefly satellites in January this year. Hyderabad-based Dhruva Space is also launching its first commercial LEAP-01 satellite carrying payloads from Australia-based Akula Tech and Esper Satellites. LEAP-01 is the first hosted payload mission carried out by DhruvaSpace for two Australian firms. "Our earlier launches showed what was possible; this one shows what's next. Expanding to six Fireflies will transform hyperspectral imaging from isolated snapshots into

SpaceX delays Starship launch citing ground systems trouble before liftoff

Starship was set to take off on its 10th major mission from SpaceX's South Texas launch facility, called Starbase

Musk's SpaceX plans share sale valuing firm at nearly $400 billion

The deal marks a rapidly climbing value for Musk's rocket and satellite maker, and cements SpaceX's status as the most valuable private startup in the world

Shubhanshu Shukla to undock from ISS: When will he be back on Earth?

After an 18-day stint aboard the International Space Station, Shubhanshu Shukla will undock today at 4:30 pm

SpaceX seeks return of debris, rejects Mexico's pollution complaint

Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that SpaceX's Starship rocket launches in Texas have polluted an area in Mexico with debris

SpaceX Starship test halted after explosion damages prototype in Texas

A powerful explosion during a static fire test at SpaceX's Texas site forced a suspension of launch operations, as Elon Musk's company and US regulators investigate the cause of the blast

Starship's latest flight ends in a crash, but it's still a win for SpaceX

SpaceX's Starship disintegrated over the Indian Ocean during its ninth test flight as the first-stage Super Heavy booster exploded instead of executing a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico

Sonic boom marks SpaceX Dragon's return to earth after ISS cargo mission

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft carried nearly 6,700 pounds of supplies for a scientific experiment, which is designed for low gravity

Watch: SpaceX Fram2 astronauts become first to orbit over Earth's poles

SpaceX's Fram2 mission makes history as the first crewed flight to orbit over Earth's poles, capturing stunning images and video of the Arctic and Antarctic

Sunita Williams, Butch Willmore's return delayed as rocket faces glitch

According to an Associated Press report, the new crew consisting of four astronauts from the US, Japan, and Russia, will have to get to the ISS first before Williams and Willmore can head home

SpaceX's Starship explodes in space, again raining debris over Caribbean

Nearly two months after an explosion sent flaming debris raining down on the Turks and Caicos, SpaceX launched another mammoth Starship rocket on Thursday, but lost contact minutes into the test flight as the spacecraft came tumbling down. The 403-foot (123-metre) rocket blasted off from Texas a little before sunset. SpaceX caught the first-stage booster back at the pad with giant mechanical arms, but engines on the spacecraft on top started shutting down as it streaked eastward for what was supposed to be a controlled entry over the Indian Ocean, half a world away. Contact was lost with the spacecraft as it went into an out-of-control spin. The space-skimming flight was supposed to last an hour and couldn't release the mock satellites into space as planned. The spacecraft reached nearly 90 miles (150 kilometres) in altitude before trouble struck. It was not immediately clear where it came down. Unfortunately this happened last time too, so we have some practice at this now, SpaceX