Elon Musk

This week on Twitter, Elon addressed some major planned improvements to the constellation of Starlink internet satellites, and the advantages Starlink has over traditional internet connections.

The Wall Street Journal has been able to confirm that Elon Musk has bought a ticket on Virgin Galactic. Although Musk himself hasn’t said anything.

Today we witnessed history as the first fully crewed flight of Virgin Galactic’s spaceplane VSS Unity. This was one of the final test flights before Galactic begin flying paying customers next year.

While the focus in space this week has been on Virgin Galactic, Elon still shared many notable pieces of information about SpaceX on Twitter.

The last few weeks have seen some fierce competition and mudslinging between private spaceflight companies. From Elon Musk’s criticisms of ULA and Blue Origin, to Blue Origin’s criticism of Virgin Galactic, there has been very little peace on Space Twitter recently. That’s why Elon Musk’s recent reply to Richard Branson was so nice to see.

So this happened today. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded to a Vulcan rocket teaser video from ULA CEO Tory Bruno with a slightly provocative “when do the engines arrive” response. Without mentioning Blue Origin, the taunt is mostly targeted at Jeff Bezos’ rocket company.

In 2009, Elon Musk wrote an article titled, “Risky Business” discussing his goals for the future and the challenges overcome thus far since SpaceX’s founding.

Dogecoin has gone from a joke crypto coin to the hottest cryptocurrency since bitcoin, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk is largely responsible for its meteoric rise over the last few months. Now the space exploration company is planning the first dogecoin-funded mission to the Moon …

This week’s Saturday Night Live was hosted by none other than SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. This lead to many references to all of Musk’s companies, one of the highlights of the night though was a skit showing off SpaceX’s future base on Mars.

Tonight on NBC Nightly News, Tom Costello will be sitting down for a joint interview with SpaceX founder Elon Musk and billionaire Jared Isaacman. During the interview, Costello will also be given an exclusive tour of SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

It turns out Iron Man 2 isn’t just a classic entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The 2010 American superhero film is also a piece of SpaceX history, and not just because of the Elon Musk cameo with Tony Stark.

SpaceX just completed its highly anticipated, high-altitude flight test with a prototype version of its Starship rocket. Starship serial number 8 successfully launched, readjusted its position for slowing speed, and again adjusted position for landing. The actual landing itself was a total explosion heard from miles away, but that was expected.

SpaceX describes the test flight while teasing the next to come:

On Wednesday, December 9, Starship serial number 8 (SN8) lifted off from our Cameron County launch pad and successfully ascended, transitioned propellant, and performed its landing flip maneuver with precise flap control to reach its landing point. Low pressure in the fuel header tank during the landing burn led to high touchdown velocity resulting in a hard (and exciting!) landing. Re-watch SN8’s flight here.

Thank you to all the locals supporting our efforts in Cameron County and beyond. Congratulations to the entire Starship and SpaceX teams on today’s test! Serial number 9 (SN9) is up next – Mars, here we come!

SpaceX is on the cusp of conducting a milestone test of its next-generation Starship rocket currently in development in South Texas. Starship Serial Number 8 (SN8), an early prototype version of the reusable rocket and spacecraft design, is now expected to launch as early as December 8. SpaceX will livestream the hop attempt.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk is being honored in Berlin today where he will receive the 2020 Axel Springer Award. Musk is being interviewed at the event, and Space Explored is highlighting commentary from the event below.

SpaceX is fast at work on developing its next-generation launch system called Starship, and people can’t wait to see the deep space rocket take flight. Space designers Erc X (@ErcXspace) and smallstars (@smvllstvrs) co-created a powerful new animation that shows a full flight simulation of Starship and even earned Elon Musk’s seal of approval.

In a widely anticipated announcement, U.S. Space Force and Air Force officials awarded Phase II of U.S. national security missions launch contracts to ULA and SpaceX as the primary launch providers through 2027. The NSSL (National Security Space Launch) Contract is a firm-fixed-price that will support launches planned from fiscal 2022 – fiscal 2027.

These contracts include early integration studies, launch service support, fleet surveillance, launch vehicle production, mission integration, mission launch operations, mission assurance, spaceflight worthiness, and mission unique activities for each mission.

Where will Elon Musk be when his company SpaceX launches astronauts to space for the first time in history on Wednesday? Elon biographer and Businessweek reporter Ashlee Vance has published a pre-launch interview with the SpaceX founder that answers that question and more.

Elon Musk is the keynote speaker for the SATELLITE 2020 conference. Expect lots of Starlink satellite constellation hype as SpaceX continues to regularly deploy 60 satellites per launch for a new global internet service.

My interest in SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket has been limited so far because the company is still in the build-it-and-blow-it-up phase of assembly, but I have to admit there’s something alluring about huge rockets from any company.

Eric Berger has an in-depth profile on Ars Technica that looks at what exactly Elon Musk’s rocket company is working on with Starship:

Elon Musk’s 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley on CBS in 2012 has aged remarkably well for SpaceX.

Two things stand out. Falcon 9 and Dragon were only just preparing to begin cargo delivery to the International Space Station — something that’s now routine.

And Elon was dreaming of SpaceX succeeding the Space Shuttle for taking astronauts to space from American soil. Eight years later and that day has nearly arrived.