Human Landing System

Thursday, SpaceX CEO and chief engineer Elon Musk, shared that the Starship rocket would not be flying on Friday but will be getting a fresh actuator in its Super Heavy booster. The need to replace this part will slide the launch back one day to Saturday and drop the two hour window to only 20 minutes.

After months of investigation and an environmental review, the FAA has given SpaceX the go ahead for its second launch of Starship. Now it’s up to SpaceX to get the vehicle ready to fly.

SpaceX stacked its Starship rocket late this week ahead of rumors the FAA will be granting SpaceX another launch soon. While the launch might be another week or so out, the latest step SpaceX has made is attaching flight termination charges on the rocket.

Most likely outdated renders of SpaceX’s Starship rocket in its Human Landing System configuration show a much more refined design that could show where the company is heading. Although their authenticity is not 100% confirmed yet.

The FAA announced that it has finished its safety review of SpaceX’s Starship rocket. This is another big step in getting an updated launch license for SpaceX to perform Starship’s second launch. However, there is still another step needed before SpaceX can perform that next test.

Blue Origin Friday unveiled its Mk1 version of its Blue Moon lander that holds a contract with NASA for crewed Artemis missions. Mk1 is capable of delivering three-metric tons of cargo to anywhere on the lunar surface. However, it is only cable of landing cargo and science payloads, and is not reusable.

One of the big narratives that we’ve been glued to all 2023 has been SpaceX’s Starship being sidelined by regulators. This week we saw another wet dress rehearsal, as that’s all they can do, while a large number of Fish and Wildlife personnel comb land around Starbase for their review.

After completing the stacking of the company’s second Starship rocket, Elon Musk announced the rocket is ready to launch. However there are a few more hurdles to finish that could lead to some down time before it can really fly.

NASA’s Artemis program is slated to land astronauts on the Moon by the end of 2025, but SpaceX’s hurdles with its lunar lander technology could potentially push the much-anticipated mission into 2026, warns a Senior NASA manager.

In a departure from historical precedent, SpaceX and the FAA find themselves in agreement as both parties file motions to have the lawsuit against Starship dismissed. This development comes as SpaceX prepares for additional rounds of pre-launch testing in Boca Chica.

Here we are again looking at another crazy timeline from SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk on when Starship could fly again. However, a lot of work is going on down at Starbase, so maybe it’s not so far out this time?

In a predictable yet a rather change of events for the company, SpaceX is joining the FAA’s side as a co-defendant on the lawsuit against the license granting Starship’s launch from South Texas. If successful, the case could delay the development of Starship back years.

Friday morning, NASA announced that the Blue Origin-led team won NASA’s contract to be the agency’s second Human Landing System for Artemis crewed missions to the Moon. Right now, its first Crewed mission is set to be Artemis 5 in 2029.

In a moment of shock and awe, SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle lifted off from what was just a few years ago a small beach village at the southernmost point of Texas, now referred to as Starbase. While it didn’t make it to Hawaii, it did bring us closer to a new era of spaceflight – one whose launch market will most likely remain dominated by SpaceX’s innovation.

According to two sources, SpaceX could be getting its FAA launch license for its Starship launch vehicle. If true, this could lead to Elon Musk’s state of launching in late April actually being accurate (I SAID STOP LAUGHING).

Have these last two weeks flown by for anyone else or just me? I don’t think we have ever been closer to seeing SpaceX’s first Starship orbital launch than we are now. But, according to two SpaceXers, we are just waiting on the FAA’s approval.

Back in March, NASA announced it would seek to award a contract to purchase a second lunar lander for the Artemis Program. We’re seeing many similar faces return with bids for NASA’s money, including Blue Origin with a revised National Team of other notable aerospace contractors.

As part of its Artemis program, NASA announced plans to fund a second lunar lander alongside SpaceX’s Starship HLS.

Starship HLS work is underway, booster stacking continued, and a potential payload dispenser was installed as another busy week at Starbase comes to a close.

On February 10, SpaceX‘s Chief Engineer Elon Musk gave us an update on the company’s Starship launch vehicle. While it was light on brand new details, we still got some news. Below are our key takeaways from the event.

Tonight Elon Musk will update us on the current progress of SpaceX’s Starship development. The last time this happened was in 2019, just after the first Starhopper flight.