SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets. It was founded by Elon Musk.
The company has 7000 employees and it is based in Hawthorne,California.
Published Tue Aug 07 2018
Indonesian comsat intended to replace the aging Telkom 1 at 108° E. First reflight of a Block 5-version booster.
Published Fri May 11 2018
The Bangabandhu Satellite-1 mission served as the first flight of Falcon 9 Block 5, the final substantial upgrade to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Falcon 9 Block 5 is designed to be capable of 10 or more flights with very limited refurbishment as SpaceX continues to strive for rapid reusability and extremely high reliability.
Published Tue Feb 06 2018
Maiden flight of Falcon Heavy, using two recovered Falcon 9 cores as side boosters (from the Thaicom 8 and CRS-9 missions), as well as a modified Block 3 booster reinforced to endure the additional load from the two side boosters. The static fire test, held on January 24, was the first time 27 engines were tested together. The launch was a success, and the side boosters landed simultaneously at adjacent ground pads. Drone ship landing of the central core failed due to TEA–TEB chemical igniter running out, preventing two of its engines from restarting; the landing failure caused damage to the nearby drone ship. Final burn to heliocentric Mars–Earth orbit was performed after the second stage and payload cruised for 6 hours through the Van Allen belts. Later, Elon Musk tweeted that the third burn was successful, and JPL's HORIZONS system showed the second stage and payload in an orbit with an aphelion of 1.67 AU. The live webcast proved immensely popular, as it became the second most watched livestream ever on YouTube, reaching over 2.3 million concurrent views.