After months of testing, booms, and scrubs, a giant grain silo-looking rocket took its first leap from the beaches of South Texas, and it was done by none other than Starship. This 150-meter hop took place 11 months after Starhopper’s experimental flight and was vital to test the technology of Starship, more specifically the methane-powered Raptor Engine. Starhopper 150 meter launch, August 27, 2019. Starship is SpaceX’s golden egg rocket, being capable of sending more than one hundred tons to low Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars, and one hundred people to Mars. The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, claims that…
Author: Toby Li
Toby Li
Toby Li is an avid EV and human spaceflight enthusiast. He is pursuing aerospace engineering in the hopes of someday becoming a future Martian.
These last few weeks may have been uneventful for SpaceX fans as satellite launches and Starship testing kept getting postponed. Thankfully to cheer us up, plenty of Starlink news has recently been revealed. Over the course of July 13 and 14, SpaceX sent out emails to those who applied for Starlink public beta testing, asking for home addresses. Currently, there is no exact date for when the public beta will begin, other than the summer of 2020. However, these emails are a clear indication that we will not have to wait much longer. UFO on a stick aka Starlink user…
On the beautiful morning of June 13, SpaceX sends yet another batch of their in-house satellites, Starlink. This mission was the company’s third launch in just two weeks and its 10th launch this year. However, this launch had multiple firsts for SpaceX. First of all, yesterday’s launch did not perform a static fire beforehand. The purpose of a static fire is to run the propellant through the engines as a wet test to confirm the rocket is performing nominally before launch. The Falcon 9 is the United States is the most flown and active rocket currently, therefore if SpaceX is…
Although Starship SN4 suffered a dramatic explosion during testing a week ago, SpaceX does not have any intentions of slowing Starship development with SN5 and SN6 in its final stages of development and parts of SN7 have also been spotted at the SpaceX Boca Chica facility. Progress on StarShip SN5 & SN6 are rapidly nearing completion, located on the aft portion of SN5 is a set of prototype heat shielding tiles. Located in the 3rd tent could be a 3 ring stack for SN7, the nose cone for SN5 with RCS integrated,& the fwd dome for SN7 is near complete.…
A decade of work with the Commercial Crew Program just culminated today. For the first time since the Space Shuttle retirement, American Astronauts lifted off from an American rocket from American soil. Today’s mission proved that a private company cannot only send humans to space but also that reusable rockets are viable. This is truly a historic moment for not only the United States but the entire world. Falcon 9 booster has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship! pic.twitter.com/96Nd3vsrT2 — SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 30, 2020 After the scrub of the mission on Wednesday, May 27, due…
As nine years of work boils down to next Wednesday, May 27, space enthusiasts from all around the world start to prepare for the most important launch in the past decade. SpaceX will demonstrate their Crew Dragon capability by launching American astronauts, Douglas Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station as a partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. This launch is important because it is the first time that NASA has launched American astronauts from an American rocket from American soil since the Space Shuttle program! But also, if this launch succeeds, it will prove that commercial space…
On Sunday, April 26, SpaceX proved that four is the company’s lucky number as the long-awaited cryogenic proof test for Starship SN4 occurred, and for the first time in the Starship history, the test resulted in success. SN4 passed cryo proof! ? pic.twitter.com/EJakThZRGF — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2020 The cryogenic proof test is a key assessment for SpaceX to hurdle over, and for Starship to be a success. For SN4’s predecessors, Mark 1, SN1, and SN3, all suffered a catastrophic anomaly during this test. Starship SN3 destroyed in its cryogenic proof test. (Labpadre) After the success of…
After SN3 suffered a testing anomaly a week ago, SpaceX immediately began preparing the next iteration of Starship, SN4. In just over a week, the SpaceX Boca Chica facility fully stacked the rings for the propellant section of SN4, while SN3’s nose cone remains sitting on the facility grounds, which may or may not be installed on SN4, it has yet to be confirmed. The rapid progress SpaceX is making with their Starship development makes Musk’s goal of producing one Starship per week very achievable. SpaceX enthusiasts spotted multiple heat shield tiles bolted onto the hull of the rocket. If…
On a foggy day on the beaches of Texas, SpaceX rolls out its much-awaited new and third Starship test article, SN3. With only its propellant tanks and engine bay stacked, SN3 was hoisted onto its launch mount in preparation for pressure tests and a potential short flight. Starship (formally known as BFR) is SpaceX’s in-development rocket that is supposedly Mars capable. Producing more than two times the thrust of the Saturn V, the most powerful rocket ever built, Starship will be the most powerful rocket ever built and be able to send 100 people or 100 metric tons to Earth…