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SpaceX has delayed the launch of its next Falcon 9 rocket to no earlier than Wednesday (Feb. 21) to allow final checks of the rocket's upgraded nose cone. The Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch early Sunday (Feb. 18) from a pad at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base to send SpaceX's first Starlink broadband satellites and the Paz radar-imaging satellite for Spain into orbit. The mission had already been delayed 24 hours to allow extra checks. On Saturday, SpaceX representatives announced that more time was needed for final checks of the Falcon 9 rocket's upgraded payload fairing, the clamshell-like...

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket managed a successful takeoff in early 2018, orbiting the Earth with a Tesla car inside and completing its in-space maneuvers, albeit with a bumpy landing. The company can rest on its laurels, right? Hardly. That was certainly big news for the consumer space industry (which is now a real thing!), and promises interesting developments for the future. But SpaceX has grander plans, and is now primarily focused on BFR—which raises the question, what even is BFR? ICYMI, we’ve got an FAQ just for that question! The BFR is an in-development, privately owned rocket that’s...

"Capitalism in space: SpaceX has highlighted the last image from its Tesla car, heading out to the asteroid belt after being lofted into space by its Falcon Heavy rocket... .....this also highlights that a private American company was able to send a payload beyond Earth orbit, and it took them only seven years of development and no government funds. ....[an almost perfect test] according to Musk, the reason the [1st stage] core hit the water so fast is because some engines did not fire as intended. [SpaceX] engineers believed only one of three engines fired during a final burn designed...

First, 2016 was the worst year for the Russian rocket industry in decades...Second, China has been aggressively ramping up its launch rate, and in 2016 moved clearly into the top tier of space-faring nations...Third, the United States is clearly transitioning away from a government owned and operated rocket industry to one owned and operated by the private sector. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle, the federal government has not launched a single rocket that it designed, built, and owns. Instead, every payload put in space by the U.S. has been put there by a private sector rocket.

The successful launch of SpaceX’s Falcon powerful new rocket Tuesday ... was a tremendous step toward reasserting American leadership in space. The Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket launched in the U.S. since the Apollo missions – and the most powerful commercial rocket ever made. It can carry nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 pounds) into orbit. This is more than double the payload of the next-biggest rocket currently in operation. For perspective, SpaceX says this is, “a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage, and fuel.” SpaceX owner Elon Musk also said the rocket system...

If the states are supposed to be laboratories for democracy, where new ideas that reflect regional attitudes can flourish, then cities are like micro-laboratories. Local governments can try out ideas that would never get statewide traction. Unfortunately, some California cities are more like laboratories run by Dr. Frankenstein, where frightening concepts are given life — and local residents have few other choices than to flee to other places. Most conservatives are familiar with the goings-on in San Francisco, where stringent rent-control laws have — I know you’re surprised by this — led to the least affordable rents and most unaffordable...

The most powerful rocket to leave Earth since the Apollo missions launched from Florida yesterday. The Falcon Heavy jumbo rocket, developed by flamboyant SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk, had a sole 'passenger' onboard - a mannequin named 'Starman' - who rode to space inside a Tesla roadster. Incredible real-time footage has emerged from inside the car showing stunning views of our planet sailing past its windscreen, as David Bowie's Life on Mars plays in the background.

Apart from not yet knowing whether the core booster stuck its landing on the drone ship, the rest of the launch went perfectly!

Watch Elon Musk Launch his person Tesla with dummy dressed in space suit in the driver's seat. Live in 71 minutes February 6, 2:45 PM

The announcement came three days after the rocket completed a static-fire test at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, a final test milestone before the launch itself. Musk said the test was “good” shortly after the test, but neither he nor the company provided additional details. ... In his comments after the static-fire test, Musk said the launch would take place “in a week or so.” A Feb. 6 launch, though, would give SpaceX time to prepare after its next Falcon 9 mission, of the GovSat-1 communications satellite, scheduled for Jan. 30 from nearby Space Launch Complex 40....

Roscosmos, is considering offering future space tourists the chance to do their own spacewalk for $100 million price tag.

The most powerful rocket this generation has ever seen, SpaceX’s new Falcon Heavy rocket, is now targeted to launch February 6, 2018 with the launch time of 1:30 p.m. The Falcon Heavy can lift over double the payload, or cargo, as the next closest rocket...

Elon Musk has been given the official green light to send his red Tesla Roadster into space. The Federal Aviation Administration gave its official blessing to the launch when it issued a license to SpaceX on Friday for "A flight of the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) transporting the modified Tesla Roadster (mass simulator) to a hyperbolic orbit." ... SpaceX confirmed in a release on Saturday that it's targeting the launch for Tuesday during a two-and-a-half hour window that begins at 10:30 a.m. PT Tuesday. So if all goes perfectly, Falcon Heavy...

It is essential for any nation that wishes to thrive and compete on the world stage to have a successful and flourishing aerospace industry, centered on the capability of putting humans and payloads into space affordably and frequently. This is a bipartisan position held by elected officials from both American political parties since the Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957...Unfortunately, since the beginning of the 21st century the U.S. government has struggled to create and maintain a viable launch industry. Even as the government terminated the Space Shuttle program, with its ability to place and return humans and...

An incredible panoramic view sent from the surface of the red planet has been created using images taken by the Mars Curiosity rover. It reveals the landscape of one of our closest galactic neighbours, which has been home to the exploratory vehicle since it landed in Gale Crater in 2012. One of the on-board cameras captured 16 separate scenic images that show various points on its journey, as seen from the top of the Vera Rubin Ridge, which were then stitched together to form the sweeping image. Thanks to some clever visual effects that give the scene a blue hue,...

New York to Chicago by train in under five hours. It’s not science fiction, but old-school tunneling—a critical, yet oddly ignored, part of President Donald Trump’s forthcoming infrastructure plan that supporters say will cost the federal government virtually nothing, but experts say the proposal's deregulation approach amounts to a handout to Big Business. The plan calls for creating new high-speed rail lines deep underground—the basic idea behind the English Channel tunnel, or Chunnel, that whisks travelers at 186 miles per hour from London to Paris in just two hours and 20 minutes. That’s less time than the Amtrak from New...

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office has called into question the state’s authority to grant permission to Tesla founder Elon Musk’s tunneling startup, The Boring Co., to build several miles of tunnels for his high-speed Hyperloop transportation system below the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The State Highway Administration granted a conditional utility permit on Oct. 16 to allow The Boring Co. to begin building the tunnels, if the company supplies additional information about the project and it meets all necessary requirements. But the Hyperloop system “is not a utility under federal standards or SHA’s federally-approved utility accommodation policies,” Assistant Attorney General David Stamper...

Elon Musk, the mastermind behind PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX, has another innovative product up his sleeve: a $500 flamethrower. Musk announced the flamethrower on Saturday, after weeks of teasing a possible flamethrowing product for his newest venture, The Boring Company. The Boring Co.’s mission is to excavate a low-cost, but fast-digging tunnel through Los Angeles to help alleviate its notorious car traffic. Musk’s announcements on Instagram and Twitter about the flamethrower have all been in tongue-in-cheek tone, but his legions of followers have lapped up the chance to buy a flamethrower from The Boring Co. More than 2,000 people have...

Update for 7 p.m. ET: European spaceflight provider Arianespace has apparently lost contact with the Ariane 5 rocket that was carrying two commercial satellites and a NASA science instrument into orbit.  Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel delivered a statement regarding the anomaly via the launch webcast (video above). That statement is as follows: "Ladies and gentlemen, I come to give you some information because we have had an anomaly on this launch. Indeed, we lost contact with the launcher a few seconds after ignition of the upper stage. At that time, we can consider that the upper composite and the satellite as...

Tesla Inc. released a new compensation plan for Chief Executive Elon Musk on Tuesday, with payments dependent on massive increases in the electric carmaker's stock market value. The announcement comes as Tesla prepares to report 2017 financial results that are expected to include massive cash losses. Tesla Inc. released a new compensation plan for Chief Executive Elon Musk on Tuesday, with payments dependent on massive increases in the electric carmaker's stock market value. The announcement comes as Tesla prepares to report 2017 financial results that are expected to include massive cash losses.