SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp., founded in 2002, is an American space technology company and a dominant launch provider. It designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft, including the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon spacecraft, and Starship. SpaceX partners with organizations like NASA and the United States Armed Forces and is known for its advancements in reusable launch vehicles, human spaceflight, and satellite constellation technology like Starlink. Key words: launch provider, reusable rockets, space exploration, Starlink, Falcon, Dragon, Starship, NASA.
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Amazon has signed a contract with SpaceX to launch an unspecified number of satellites for Project Kuiper on three Falcon 9 rockets beginning in mid-2025.
SpaceX’s HLS development took more than half of the overall schedule to reach the preliminary design review milestone, compared with an average of 35% for major NASA projects.
The GAO found that slow progress on SpaceX’s Human Landing System and on new lunar spacesuits from Axiom Space would prevent NASA from achieving a late 2025 landing for the Artemis 3 mission.
SpaceX delayed multiple key HLS events from 2023 to 2024, which compressed the remaining HLS development schedule.
The PIL-01 investigation launched to the ISS on SpaceX’s 29th cargo resupply mission (SpX-29) for NASA.
On the SpaceX-29 mission to the ISS, Redwire launched materials for an investigation to bioprint cardiac tissue on station using the BFF.
Delays to Ariane 6 and the grounding of Vega C after a December 2022 launch failure required ESA and the European Commission to use SpaceX for launches of key science and navigation satellites.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy was selected in June 2018 to launch USSF-52, making it the first Falcon Heavy on contract for a National Security Space Launch mission.
A federal bankruptcy court in Florida approved an agreement on 2023-11-22 for SpaceX to acquire Pioneer Aerospace for $2,200,000.
Intelsat is producing a new flat panel phased-array electronically steered antenna that enables moving vehicles to use broadband services from Intelsat’s geostationary satellites and from SpaceX’s Starlink low Earth orbit network.
Pioneer Aerospace filed an asset purchase agreement with the bankruptcy court on 2023-11-09 under which SpaceX would acquire substantially all of Pioneer’s assets for $2,200,000.
SpaceX is targeting Friday, 2023-12-01 at 10:19 a.m. PT for a Falcon 9 launch of the Korea 425 mission to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched Apogeo Space’s first nine pico-satellites into orbit on 2023-11-11.
SpaceX launched Axiom Mission 1 in April 2022.
SDA has 23 Tranche 0 satellites in orbit launched by SpaceX in April and September, consisting of 19 communications satellites for the transport layer and four missile-tracking spacecraft.
SpaceX received a $70,000,000 task order in September for Starlink communications services under the PLEO framework.
SpaceX has launched approximately 5,000 Starlink satellites since 2019 and is pursuing international approvals that could allow expansion to as many as 40,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.
SpaceX will use the Starship system for Mission 1 as soon as mid-2026.
SpaceX and Amazon support updating EPFD rules established over a decade ago to support innovation in orbits outside of GEO.
Astrolab and SpaceX expect Mission 1 to be completed as soon as mid-2026.