News Archive / Author: Nicholas D'Alessandro

Nicholas D'Alessandro was born and raised in Southwest Florida. The seeds of his interest in Space Exploration were planted when the Shuttle's sonic boom upon re-entry would reverberate through his childhood home even across the state; the knowledge that a real life spacecraft was passing overhead and could have that effect was fascinating to him. A middle school field trip to the Kennedy Space Center cemented that fascination, and with an additional interest in the bleeding edge of automotive technology and Teslas, it was the story of Elon Musk's path to Cape Canaveral with SpaceX that finally led Nicholas to move to the Space Coast and, after joining Spaceflight Insider in 2020, begin documenting the dawning era of commercial spaceflight.

Articles By Nicholas D'Alessandro

• FCC filing offers 1st look at SpaceX’s orbital Starship flight plan

  May 18th, 2021

  SpaceX has given an initial look at the flight plan for its first orbital Starship in a new filing posted to the Federal Communications Commission website.

• Starship SN15 on pad B for possible encore flight

  May 17th, 2021

  SpaceX remains as committed as ever to its breakneck pace of testing at its Boca Chica, Texas, launch facilities. Starship SN15, which conducted the first fully successful 10-kilometer test flight of the program with a clean, intact landing, was moved back to the launch pad on May 11, 2021, just under a week after that successful May 5 flight.

• SpaceX’s Starship SN15 lands successfully!

  May 5th, 2021

  SpaceX's Starship SN15 landed safely after its high-altitude test flight, successfully performing a landing-flip maneuver to softly touch down on a nearby pad.

• Starship SN15 poised to fly, as Elon heads to New York for SNL appearance

  May 4th, 2021

  Starship SN15 was by all public accounts set to fly Tuesday, May 4, with road closures, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs), and all expected FAA paperwork beleived to be in place.

• Starship SN15 performs two static fire tests within 24 hours

  April 28th, 2021

  SpaceX's latest and improved version of Starship, SN15, has entered the static fire phase of its testing campaign with two recent firings of its Raptor engines in the last 24 hours.

• NASA entrusts SpaceX, Starship with Artemis Moon landings

  April 17th, 2021

  NASA selected SpaceX to develop its Lunar Starship to be the first lander to return humans to the Moon since the Apollo program ended nearly 50 years ago.

• Astrobotic selects Falcon Heavy to Launch VIPER Moon rover

  April 15th, 2021

  Astrobotic announced it has selected SpaceX's Falcon Heavy to launch its Griffin medium-class lander to the Moon in 2023, carrying NASA's VIPER lunar rover.

• Starship SN15 completes cryo proofing; static fire coming soon

  April 14th, 2021

  SpaceX is already well underway with testing of its first majorly-upgraded version of Starship, known as Starship SN15.

• Blue Origin successfully launches New Shepard mission NS-15

  April 14th, 2021

  Blue Origin launched and landed both components of its reusable suborbital rocket and capsule system "New Shepard" today, April 14, 2021.

• SpaceX CEO Elon Musk offers details on Starship SN11 explosion

  April 7th, 2021

  SpaceX Starship SN11 met a fiery demise last week, like the three iterations before it. Recently, Elon Musk tweeted details on why the prototype exploded.

• Starship SN11 launch delayed because FAA inspector not present

  March 29th, 2021

  SpaceX's Starship SN11 appeared ready to fly March 29 as its flaps were unchained and tested with Highway 4 beginning to close down as well.

• SpaceX completes SN11 static fire, flight shifts to NET Monday

  March 26th, 2021

  Starship SN11 was set to perform a same-day double header on Friday, March 26, combining a static fire and test flight in Boca Chica, Texas.

• Friday Flyday: Starship SN11 launch plans cancelled for March 24, 25

  March 23rd, 2021

  The Starship SN11 high-altitude test flight window has shifted to the right by a day as of this writing with a launch now no earlier than March 25.

• Starship SN11 completes 2nd static fire ahead of launch attempt

  March 22nd, 2021

  SpaceX was able to complete the second static firing of Starship SN11 early Monday morning, which appeared to be a healthy full-duration test in comparison to the first attempt last Monday.

• Starship SN11 takes a breather, Super Heavy BN1 takes shape

  March 19th, 2021

  SN11 Friday update, for March 19, 2021: The test campaign for Starship appears to be taking a ‘Spring Break weekend’, with no additional static fire attempts following Monday’s partial test.