News Archive / Organizations
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SpaceX downsizing workforce as it ramps up Starship, Starlink programs
Derek RichardsonJanuary 12th, 2019SpaceX is laying off about 10 percent of its workforce to “become a leaner company” as it develops a Mars spaceship and satellite internet constellation.
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SpaceX starts 2019 manifest with successful Iridium 8 launch
Curt GodwinJanuary 11th, 2019LOMPOC, Calif. — After enduring several delays, SpaceX successfully launched ten Iridium NEXT satellites into a polar low-Earth orbit (LEO), marking the Falcon 9’s first flight of 2019, and the last of the original contract, signed in 2010, with Iridium.
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China launches 1st mission of 2019
Jason RhianJanuary 10th, 2019China has carried out its first flight of 2019 with the launch of the Zhongxing 2D (Chinasat-2D) communications satellite.
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How tall do you have to be to take SpaceX’s Commercial Crew ‘ride?’
Jason RhianJanuary 9th, 2019KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- SpaceX has come to be known for its irreverent streak when it comes to its spacecraft and rockets. A recent tweet made by Elon Musk suggests this behavior is likely to continue.
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Crew Dragon flight ‘about a month away’ – UPDATE
Derek RichardsonJanuary 8th, 2019According to a tweet from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the company’s first Crew Dragon flight is “about a month away,” likely pushing the flight into February.
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NROL-71 launch date now under review
Jason RhianJanuary 5th, 2019LOMPOC, Calif. -- After numerous delays it now appears that the flight of a Delta IV Heavy rocket will be pushed back even further.
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Falcon 9 with Crew Dragon vertical at Launch Complex 39A
Derek RichardsonJanuary 5th, 2019After years of development, SpaceX's Crew Dragon is almost ready for its first flight to the International Space Station. However, unknowns still remain.
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SpaceX continued to set records in 2018
Curt GodwinDecember 31st, 2018With 2017 seeing SpaceX set a company record of 18 launches in a single year, the California-based launch provider looked to 2018 to build on that success.
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Musk teases Starship in round of Twitter posts
Jason RhianDecember 30th, 2018Among a deluge of Tesla and The Boring Company tweets, SpaceX's founder, CEO and chief rocket designer Elon Musk teased the latest about the Big Falcon Rocket "Starship."
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Shutdown: What’s open at NASA?
Patrick AttwellDecember 29th, 2018With no sign that it will be resolved soon, the ongoing partial U.S. government shutdown looks to continue well into the first days or weeks of 2019. As such, it is having wide-reaching effects on NASA's operations.
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Kanopus-V pair lifts off atop Soyuz 2.1a in final Russian flight of 2018
Cullen DesforgesDecember 27th, 2018At 11:07 a.m. local time (02:07 GMT) Dec. 27, 2018, the Kanopus-V No. 5 & No. 6 satellites took to the skies above Russia atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket.
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Finally! GPS III mission caps busy year for SpaceX
Jason RhianDecember 23rd, 2018CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX has completed 21 missions in 2018, a rate of launch that has surpassed what some state-run agencies have accomplished this year. The last on its 2018 manifest was a payload for the United States Air Force, one that had weathered numerous delays this past week.
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Blagovest-13L launched by Russian Proton rocket
Heather SmithDecember 21st, 2018Lifting off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a Russian Proton-M rocket soared into the sky to orbit a military satellite called Blagovest-13L.
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NG engineer details what it is like to develop GEM 63 booster
Jason RhianDecember 20th, 2018PROMONTORY, Utah -- Each component of a rocket is individual, yet it must function as one on the day of launch. The GEM 63 solid rocket motor has begun taking its first steps toward being integrated into one of the most successful rockets ever flown. What were those first steps like?
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Arianespace’s 2018 launch manifest closes with CSO-1 flight
Jason RhianDecember 19th, 2018Arianespace's final flight of the year, that of the CSO-1 concluded the French-based company's 2018 launch manifest as well as provide greater security. It lifted off a little later than planned, but helped cap a successful year for the Paris-based firm.
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Navigating politics, SpaceX’s successes attract executive-level attention
Jason RhianDecember 17th, 2018KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- It looks like SpaceX will have its latest scheduled launch, that of the GPS III navigational satellite, attended by a politician who has shown great interest in U.S. space efforts.
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Rocket Lab fields an array of NASA CubeSats on its latest success
Joe LatrellDecember 16th, 2018Rocket Lab successfully launched another Electron rocket from its private launch complex in Mahia, New Zealand. The rocket vaulted from the pad at 06:33 UTC (19:33 NZDT) carrying 10 CubeSats for NASA as part of the agency's ELaNa 19 mission.
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‘Hold hold hold’: NROL-71 mission scrubbed
Derek RichardsonDecember 9th, 2018LOMPOC, Calif. — Just seconds before the planned liftoff of a Delta IV Heavy rocket with the NROL-71 payload, an automatic abort of the launch sequence was triggered.
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CRS-16 Falcon 9 first stage makes unplanned water landing
Michael ColeDecember 5th, 2018CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- After 26 straight successful landings of its Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX experienced a landing failure amidst an otherwise successful launch to orbit of the CRS-16 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
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With mice well-fed, SpaceX’s CRS-16 mission blasts off but fails to stick landing
Michael ColeDecember 5th, 2018CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- Partly cloudy skies along Florida's Space Coast provided a beautiful backdrop for the SpaceX launch of the CRS-16 resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS). While a success, not everything went according to plan.
