Spacex Rockets

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

Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch Flight 8 test of Starship megarocket Tuesday

After investigating loss of Starship early in its seventh flight test, SpaceX implemented several hardware and operational changes to enhance the upper stage's reliability, the company said in a state

Never heard of Musk offer for early astronaut return: Ex-Nasa leader Melroy

The comments cast doubt on Musk's claims that his attempts to stage an early rescue mission were blocked by former US President Joe Biden's White House because of the billionaire's support of Trump

Musk claims Biden left Williams, Wilmore in space for 'political reasons'

Donald Trump and his advisor Musk claimed that the previous Joe Biden administration was going to leave NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore in space

Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore may return to Earth sooner under new plan

NASA's two stuck astronauts may come back to Earth a little sooner than planned. The space agency announced Tuesday that SpaceX will switch capsules for upcoming astronaut flights in order to bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home in mid-March instead of late March or April. That will shave at least a couple weeks off their prolonged stay at the International Space Station, which hit the eight-month mark last week. Human spaceflight is full of unexpected challenges, NASA's commercial crew program manager Steve Stich said in a statement. The test pilots should have returned in June on Boeing's Starliner capsule after what should have been a weeklong flight demo. But the capsule had so much trouble getting to the space station that NASA decided to bring it back empty and reassigned the pair to SpaceX. Then SpaceX delayed the launch of their replacements on a brand new capsule that needed more prepping, which added more time to Wilmore and Williams' mission. With even more work s

T-Mobile, Starlink begin wide-scale testing of satellite-based connectivity

T-Mobile said 500,000 square miles of the US, which is unreachable by terrestrial cell towers, can now stay connected

SpaceX's Starship explodes in space after launch, forces flights to divert

SpaceX mission control lost contact with the newly upgraded Starship, carrying its first test payload of mock satellites, eight minutes after liftoff from its South Texas rocket facilities

Elon Musk's SpaceX nears $350 billion valuation in insider share talks

Current conversations with SpaceX are ongoing and the details of a potential transaction could change depending on interest from insider sellers and buyers