spacex
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Private Rocket Successfully Puts Satellite In Orbit For The First Time
5:00AM Jesus Diaz | It may not be as exciting as the Apollo 11, but I do find exciting that SpaceX has put a commercial satellite in orbit for the first time, launching a Falcon I rocket from the Marshall Islands. More »
Science
NASA Begins Outsourcing ISS Supply Missions to Private Companies
9:57PM John Herrman | Following (some) successful launches and prior rumours of deals, NASA has given SpaceX and Orbital massive contracts to send supplies to the ISS. More »
Science
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Will Hold NASA Cargo, Humans
4:30PM Gizmodo US Edition | Now that SpaceX has finally sent a rocket into orbit successfully, the Elon Musk-headed company is now focusing on its next goal–hauling cargo for NASA on the Falcon 9, sending people to the International Space Station with its Dragon capsule, and possibly a moon landing as well! Quite a list for a company that only recently scattered Scotty from Star Trek’s ashes all over the ocean by accident. More »
Science
SpaceX Falcon Video Shows How Simple a 10-Minute Ride to Orbit Is
12:00AM Kit Eaton | This is the on-rocket video of SpaceX’s successful Falcon 1 launch. The Earth gets smaller, the sky gets darker, the engines burn cleanly, all systems remain nominal, and 10 minutes later the little rocket that finally could is in orbit…as simply as that. Check out the jubilant cheers from the SpaceX team at about 2:40 onwards when the main engine cut-off is reached, and the first stage is jettisoned. The only moment of drama is just before secondary engine cut-off, when the rocket’s video feed glitches—and then comes back. Historic stuff, and hopefully all the future Falcon launches will be this smooth. [Pointniner] More »
Vehicles
SpaceX Falcon 1 Finally Gets Into Orbit, Makes History
10:25AM Jack Loftus | After three failed attempts, one scattering of Scotty’s ashes over the Pacific Ocean, and a few mid-air explosions, the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket has finally reached orbit. The achievement marks a major milestone for Elon Musk, whose visions of a privately-funded rocket program appeared just out of reach until today’s success. More »
Vehicles
SpaceX Moves Launches to Cape Canaveral, Closer to Rockets That Don’t Always Explode
6:00AM John Mahoney | After three fiery failed test launches of its Falcon 1 rocket (the last one carrying NASA’s first solar sail craft and Scotty from Star Trek’s ashes), Elon Musk’s SpaceX is setting up shop at a new launch site–Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40, which is just south of SLC-39A/B, from which the Space Shuttle and Apollo moon missions have headed skyward for decades. There they hope to prepare the first test of their Falcon 9 vehicle, the bigger and badder version of the Falcon 1 rocket that just can’t stop going BOOM. More »
Vehicles
James Doohan’s Son Speaks Up Poignantly About Failed SpaceX Rocket Flight
8:15PM Kit Eaton | As you know by now, SpaceX’s most recent rocket launch attempt failed early in its flight, destroying the vehicle and sending its satellite payload and the ashes of James Doohan—Star Trek’s original Scotty— into the ocean. It’s just what happens sometimes with space technology: there’s so much complexity, so much technology/aerodynamics/engine chemistry and engineering that just has to work perfectly, in sync and under high stress. And that’s a point that is elegantly detailed by one of James’ sons in a letter to BoingBoing about the SpaceX launch. It makes for poignant reading. More »
Vehicles
Update: Exploding Falcon 1 Rocket Scattered Scotty’s Ashes All Over the Pacific!
6:15AM Jack Loftus | Holy shit, the Space X guys just scattered Scotty’s ashes all over the Pacific Ocean. As in, “beam me up, Scotty” actor James Doohan. From Star Trek the Original Series! Turns out Scotty–er, Doohan–was one of the 208 people whose ashes were placed on board the Falcon 1 rocket by Celestis, Inc., a company that arranges for loved ones’ ashes to be shot into space. Astronaut Gordon Cooper was also aboard the doomed launch, which Celestis had dubbed the “Explorer’s Flight.” I’m no rocket scientist (hell, I’m barely a blogger), but I think they might want to rename the flight something else, considering what happened to the Falcon 1 late last night. More »
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