It never pays to cut corners especially on the launch pad.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

SpaceX launches triple-core Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center in Florida

After an 8:26 p.m. EDT liftoff from pad 39A and eastward flight, Falcon Heavy – essentially three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together – burned across the Atlantic Ocean with the ViaSat-3 Americas satellite and two payloads for Astranis and Gravity Space. All three were scheduled to begin separating from the upper stage four-and-a-half hours after liftoff.

Photos

As a side effect of the Starship blast off.

SpaceX Starship Rocket Launch Was Hastily Approved, Suit Against FAA Says.

The test launch of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket triggered a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration by a coalition of environmental groups and a Native American tribe, which says the agency was too quick to approve a southern Texas launch site near a sensitive wildlife area....

Cheers.

Who might be sponsoring that lawsuit?...

Suspicious??


Keep searchin'!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Musk's second attempt at launching Starship gets an official date.

Musk vowed the world would see a second Starship launch 'within a few months' after its maiden flight in April - and the billionaire is keeping his promise.

SpaceX filed a permit with the Federal Communications Commission Monday, requesting authorization for operation as soon as June 15 - but anytime until December 15.

The document states the purpose of the mission is an 'experimental orbital demo and recovery test of the Starship test vehicle,' suggesting the world could see the craft leave our planet......

But that's if they can properly fix the launchpad site in time (which many doubt).

Cheers.

But will it really work when needed?

SpaceX Starship's Flame Deflector At Launch Pad Gets Full-Pressure Test.

SpaceX's Starship flame deflector at its South Texas launch pad underwent a full-pressure test. The "new water deluge system to protect against the immense heat & force of Starship launch," according to a post on X by Elon Musk.

See:

Starbase Update: Epic Booster 9 Static Fire...



Looks good...

Water tanks fly!!!
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

And another 4 return.

NASA astronauts return to Earth in SpaceX capsule to wrap up 6-month station mission.

Now where's that rival crew capsule at?

Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule will not be ready fly crew until March 2024.

Ouch

Elon might be ready to go again, but 63 corrective actions are required before he can.

SpaceX's mishap investigation is officially closed but that doesn't mean it can fly its Starship rocket just yet.

Well that looked like it may have worked, but did Elon get approval to carry out the test this time?

Video: SpaceX Fired Up Starship Super Heavy Booster 9 In Texas.

Cheers.

Starship's advanced design is said to have NASA officials "sh**ting the bed"

"It will obsolesce all existing launch systems".
At his latest Starship presentation, SpaceX CEO Musk highlighted the fact that Starship will be reusable over and over again at a fraction of the cost of previous rockets. It's a development that threatens to leave NASA and other competitors in its wake as it launches to the proverbial stratosphere.

"It will obsolesce all existing launch systems".

He's basically already done that with his smaller systems, but he could do even better if he can stay away from that mind altering Diet Coke. ;-)

Another 1 bites the dust.

Rocket launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX fails in space after launch from Starbase site in Texas.

But it get further than the last 1 did.

Thanks for the link, but...

Yep. Why the sadly all-too-usual, uneducated, jaundiced click-bait, from such news articles?


For a much more down-to-earth view, see the fine detail from:

Scott Manley - Starship & Superheavy Become The Biggest Rocket In Space.... Before Exploding
wrote:

SpaceX finally got to fly their second integrated flight test of the fully reusable Starship & Superheavy system, the launch was spectacular, excitement had been guaranteed and excitement was delivered...

Yay! Way to go!!! And to develop fast!

Keep searchin',
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Well they reckon that they'll have another 1 stacked and ready to launch in 3-4 weeks.

SpaceX’s explosive test flight achieved key milestones. But there is still a long way to go.

Here's a good article detailing the SuperHeavy-StarShip test flight 2:


Sorry, doubters: Starship actually had a remarkably successful flight
wrote:

On just its second flight, Starship now is arguably as successful as NASA's SLS rocket...

... Starship launches are clarifying events. Pretty quickly after liftoff you find out who understands the rocket business, and who are the casual observers bereft of a clue...

... Here’s what SpaceX actually accomplished with its second Starship launch on Saturday morning...

Enjoy!

Keep seachin',
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Harking back to the SuperHeavy-StarShip test flight 1:


How Starship Flight 1 Destroyed the Pad with Dr. Phil Metzger - NSF Live


There's a few unexpected bits in that...

For example, the launch generated:

• A volcano-type explosion of the launch pad itself;
  
  
• A rain cloud, with added features;
  
  
• And by 'eck, those Apollo moon landings and take-offs were scary fortuitous for the real-moon parameters encountered...!
  

Quite an education!

... And all part of rapid iterative design with fun guaranteed!!

Enjoy!


Keep searchin',
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Not to be out done by Boeing's recent act.

SpaceX Starship survives re-entry into Earth's atmosphere after launch from Texas.

SpaceX's giant Starship rocket has survived re-entry through Earth's atmosphere on Thursday and splashed down in the Indian Ocean as planned during its fourth test mission after launching from south Texas.

The two-stage spacecraft, consisting of the Starship cruise vessel mounted atop its towering Super Heavy rocket booster, broke apart during its last attempt in March to survive a blazingly hot re-entry through Earth's atmosphere.

But the craft survived its re-entry on Thursday, a SpaceX live stream showed......

More space debris? NC resident suspects object that crashed into house came from above

"We heard a thump on the roof right above me and I came outside to see what might have hit," Wooten said. "I looked out in the yard and saw this piece laying in the yard and at first glance it looked like a dead crow had flown into my house and fell there. But I came down and I took a stick to poke it and I realized it wasn't a crow of course."

Wooten said that was around dusk on May 21.

For several days Wooten remained baffled until his son-in-law reached out.

"He said 'look at this article on WLOS-TV,'" Wooten said. "He said, 'that piece you've got goes with this.'"

The other piece, nearly four-feet tall and too heavy to lift, was discovered more than 40 miles away, but the similarities including what appears to be carbon fiber weaving and burnt titanium are obvious.

Wooten believes the two pieces go together.

"This almost looks like it would fit," he said pointing at his object.

RELATED ARTICLE mentioned above:
Space debris from SpaceX Dragon capsule crashed in the North Carolina mountains. I had to go see it (video)

SpaceX Launches World's First Private Spacewalk Mission.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, SpaceX launched a rocket taking four civilians into space to conduct the first private company spacewalk.

The Polaris Dawn mission launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 5:23 a.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with four civilians inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule named Resilience.

The crew, led by Shift4 Payments CEO and billionaire Jared Isaacman—who purchased three missions from SpaceX as part of his Polaris Program, a human spaceflight effort—aims to take people the farthest from Earth since the Apollo program and send the first civilians into the abyss of space on a spacewalk.

The rest of the crew consists of Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot, and SpaceX space operations engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.

"This Dragon mission will take advantage of Falcon 9 and Dragon's maximum performance, flying higher than any Dragon mission to date and endeavoring to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown," Polaris Dawn says, describing the mission's objective on its website.

It continues: "At approximately 700 kilometers above the Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) with SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, upgraded from the current intravehicular (IVA) suit."..........