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.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on 2023-05-30, concluding Axiom Space’s Ax-2 private astronaut mission to the International Space Station.
SpaceX launched the ARABSAT BADR-8 mission to a geosynchronous transfer orbit on Saturday, 2023-05-27 at 12:30 a.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Picacho will fly on the Vigoride-7 spacecraft targeted to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-9 mission in October 2023.
SpaceX was targeting Friday, 2023-05-26 for the Falcon 9 launch of the ARABSAT BADR-8 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
SpaceX launched the Badr-8 TV broadcast and telecoms satellite on 2023-05-27 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
Bret Johnsen, chief financial officer at SpaceX, stated that since a 2014 FAA record of decision allowing SpaceX to develop launch facilities at Boca Chica, SpaceX has invested more than $3,000,000,000 into developing the Boca Chica launch facility and the Starship/Super Heavy launch system.
SpaceX will have spent $5,000,000,000 or more on its Starship vehicle and launch infrastructure by the end of 2023.
Of the 10 Tranche 0 satellites launched 2023-04-02, both SpaceX tracking satellites reached the intended orbit at about 1,0 m above Earth.
The upcoming Tranche 0 mission is projected to launch 11 communications satellites (10 made by Lockheed Martin and one made by York Space) and two missile-tracking satellites made by SpaceX.
Since DEUCSI began in 2017, companies that have won contracts under the program include Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Ball Aerospace, SES, Iridium, and SpaceX.
To meet SDA’s required 1,000-kilometer orbit, SpaceX built the four Tranche 0 tracking satellites using a customized bus rather than the Starlink production bus.
Picacho will fly on the Vigoride-7 spacecraft targeted to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-9 mission in October 2023.
NASA awarded SpaceX a $2,900,000,000 contract for Starship lander development for the Artemis 3 mission.
SpaceX did not bid for the Tracking Layer Tranche 1 contract, which was awarded to L3Harris and Northrop Grumman.
Elon Musk estimated that SpaceX would spend about $2,000,000,000 on Starship 2023.
SDA is seeking input from low-Earth-orbit internet companies, including SpaceX and Amazon, on providing a LEO backhaul capability to support military data transport.
Several environmental and Native American groups filed a lawsuit on 2023-05-01 alleging the Federal Aviation Administration improperly carried out an environmental review of SpaceX Starship launches from Boca Chica, Texas.
Impulse Space plans to launch its first orbital transfer vehicle on the SpaceX Transporter-9 rideshare mission scheduled to fly later 2023.
In January, Space Systems Command launched another EWS prototype cubesat built by Orion Space Solutions on the SpaceX Transporter-6 rideshare for a one-year demonstration.
PTD-3 was launched into orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-5 rideshare mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.