Tag: SpaceX
-
Flight 10, Starship, and the Art of Learning by Fire
If learning is doing, and doing spaceflight is doing really hot doing, then SpaceX is having a masterclass. The tenth integrated test flight of Starship (also called IFT-10) pushed a number of boundaries: new heat shield tiles, mock payload deployment, booster landing experiments, engine relights, etc. Many things succeeded; others revealed gaps (literally) – especially…
-
Starship Flight 10: first payload deploy, controlled splashdown — and a curious nudge at the airlock
Last night’s Starship flight test achieved its core goals: clean ascent and staging, first-ever payload-bay operations with eight Starlink V3 mass simulators, re-entry experimentation with intentionally “bad” TPS conditions, and a flip + landing-burn to splashdown in the Indian Ocean captured on buoy-cam. It’s a major step toward routine payload missions. Quick…
-
Starship 9: A Cosmic Adventure with a Stubborn Door and a Stuttering Start
On May 27, 2025, the space world gathered—virtually and in person—at Starbase, Texas, for SpaceX’s ninth Starship test flight. The goal: push the boundaries of reusable rocketry and deploy eight dummy Starlink satellites. But the road to liftoff was bumpy. Twice, the countdown screeched to a halt at T+40 seconds, leaving mission control on edge.…
-
The Great Space Switcheroo: A Cosmic Comedy of Perspectives
Well, folks, the astronauts are back on terra firma as of March 18, 2025, and the saga of Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and their two cosmic compadres has officially touched down—both literally and figuratively. What started as a quick eight-day jaunt aboard Boeing’s Starliner turned into an eight-month ISS sleepover, thanks to some pesky thrusters…