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Despite the tough challenges currently facing his SpaceX company, Elon Musk has made clear that he’s as determined as ever to get humans on Mars in the next 10 years. “I’m certain that success is one of the possible outcomes for establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, a growing Mars colony,” the SpaceX chief said in a recent interview with Y Combinator, adding that up until just a few years ago he wouldn’t have been able to make the same claim. Musk said that getting “a meaningful number of people” to Mars “can be accomplished in about 10 years, maybe sooner,...

Musk tweeted about the loss of the Falcon 9 hours after the incident, noting that the explosion appeared to originate "around upper-stage oxygen tank" but the cause was "still unknown." SpaceX provided more updates about the incident on Sept. 2. Then, Musk's account went quiet until about 12:30 a.m. EDT this morning (0030 GMT), when he began tweeting actively about the explosion. "Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation. Turning out to be the most difficult and complex failure we have ever had in 14 years," Musk wrote. "Important to note that this happened during a routine filling operation. Engines...

Thursday’s explosion of a SpaceX rocket at Cape Canaveral is a reminder of just how easily billions of dollars in government subsidies can go up in flames.While the media reported the event as a mere setback for billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and “a major blow” to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s plans for expanding internet services in Africa, it is clear that the biggest looser is the American taxpayer.Musk’s SpaceX, together with his other high-profile ventures like Tesla Motors and SolarCity are supported heavily by a litany of government subsidies, having received nearly $5 billion in taxpayer dollars.Although Musk’s ventures are pushing the boundaries of...

The explosion of a SpaceX rocket last Thursday will have an impact across the space industry, far beyond the losses on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral. An Israeli satellite operator’s deal to sell itself to a Chinese company is imperiled. Planned launches of communications satellites that support international mobile phone service and digital television are delayed and put in doubt. NASA’s cargo deliveries to the International Space Station will probably be disrupted. All of them are customers of the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, whose rocket exploded in Florida. The private space launch company, led by the entrepreneur Elon...

Israel's Space Communication Ltd (SCC.TA) said on Sunday it could seek $50 million (37.62 million pounds) or a free flight from Elon Musk's SpaceX after a Spacecom communications satellite was destroyed last week by an explosion at SpaceX's Florida launch site. Officials of the Israeli company said in a conference call with reporters Sunday that Spacecom also could collect $205 million from Israel Aircraft Industries, which built the AMOS-6 satellite. SpaceX did not immediately reply to a request Sunday morning for comment about Spacecom's claim. The company is not public, and it has not disclosed what insurance it had for...

The space rocket which exploded before takeoff yesterday (1 September) was carrying a satellite Facebook intended to use to connect sub-Saharan Africa to the Internet. Whilst many critics have had doubts about the plan of founder Mark Zuckerberg to provide web access to the developing world, the destruction of the SpaceX rocket and its cargo will set the plan back many months, if not years. The explosion of the Falcon 9 rocket on the launchpad at NASA’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida also saw the destruction of its AMOS-6 satellite, manufactured by an Israeli firm, but leased to...

Now conspiracy theorists are claiming the space rocket was “attacked”. The “reusable” rocket was destroyed after suffering a catastrophic explosion on launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida, US on Thursday. The huge blast, which caused no injuries, ripped through the rocket during a pre-launch check – sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air. Billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the explosion, which was caught on camera, is still unknown.

Attacked?

According to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the Cape Canaveral mishap was not an explosion but a "fast fire." yes. This seems instant from a human perspective, but it really a fast fire, not an explosion. Dragon would have been fine. On Thursday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blew up on the launch pad, shaking nearby buildings and spewing smoke into the sky

Several minutes have been cut from about 10 minutes. We hope for SpaceX to have a quick recovery to flight. Ask for permission before using or cutting. Sharing in the original version is fine SpaceX - Static Fire Anomaly

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, meant to launch a satellite this weekend, exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The explosion occurred during a static fire test of the rocket's engines, NASA told the Associated Press. The blast reportedly shook buildings "several miles away." I hope everyone is OK at #SpaceX. pic.twitter.com/HFN5jiGDDf — Ian Dawson (@PointyEndUp) September 1, 2016 SpaceX was getting the Falcon 9 ready to launch the Amos 6 satellite, a communications probe for the Israeli satellite operator Spacecom. The mission was scheduled for 3AM ET Saturday morning. Prior to all launches, SpaceX conducts a static fire...

Reports are pouring in that a Falcon 9 rocket exploded at SpaceX test facilities this morning. This morning a number of people near Cape Canaveral Air Force Base are reporting on Twitter that a Falcon 9 rocket blew up on the launch pad at SpaceX's facilities. It is not clear yet exactly what cause the explosion or if the it was a rocket planned for a launch in the coming days.

A SpaceX commercial Dragon cargo ship returned to Earth today, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, by splashing down safely in the Pacific Ocean – thus concluding more than a month long stay at the International Space Station (ISS). The vessel was jam packed with some 1.5 tons of NASA cargo and critical science samples for eagerly waiting researchers. The parachute assisted splashdown of the Dragon CRS-9 cargo freighter took place at 11:47 a.m. EDT today in the Pacific Ocean – located some 326 miles (520 kilometers) southwest of Baja California. Dragon departed after spending more than five weeks berthed at the...

Attached to the station’s no-longer-needed shuttle port at the front of the station, the Boeing-built International Docking Adapter will allow spacecraft from both companies to bring crews to the outpost, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz ferry ships. A second IDA is expected to be attached in 2018. “It is amazing that now we’ve opened up a new chapter in the story of the International Space Station, putting the front door on this for future commercial vehicles,” radioed station commander Jeff Williams, who worked with astronaut Kate Rubins to attach and outfit the IDA. “Congratulations to the entire team.”...

For the second time this year, SpaceX is preparing to launch a commercial communications satellite for Tokyo-based SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. early Sunday. A Falcon 9 rocket is set to blast off at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT) from Cape Canaveral with the JCSAT 16 satellite to relay data and video across Japan and the Asia-Pacific. A first stage landing attempt will follow in the Atlantic Ocean a few minutes later. The launch window extends for two hours. On Saturday, ground crews at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad plan to roll the Falcon 9 rocket out of its hangar...

Scarcely three weeks after the mesmerizing midnight launch and landing of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that delivered over two tons of science and critical hardware to the space station for NASA, the innovative firm is set to repeat the back to back space feats – with a few big twists – during a post midnight launch this Sunday, Aug.14 of a Japanese telecom satellite. In less than 24 hours, a freshly built SpaceX Falcon 9 is set to transform night into day and launch the JCSAT-16 communications satellite from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station...

On Thursday, July 28, SpaceX engineers successful conducted a full duration engine test firing of a recovered Falcon 9 first stage booster on a test stand at the company’s rocket development test facility in McGregor, Texas. The SpaceX team has been perfecting the landing techniques by adopting lessons learned after each landing campaign attempt. What are the lessons learned so far from the first stage landings and especially the hard landings? Are there any changes being made to the booster structure? How well did the landing burn scenario perform? During SpaceX’s recent CRS-9 launch campaign media briefings at NASA’s Kennedy...

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Forecasters predict mostly clear skies and light winds at the surface and aloft for Monday’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, favorable conditions for the booster’s liftoff and landing at Cape Canaveral. The official launch weather forecast released Friday by the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron calls for a 90 percent of acceptable conditions for liftoff at 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT) Monday. A weather axis draped over Central Florida will lift north over the weekend, setting up generally good weather Monday. “This will result in moderate temperatures and...

The Sunday Times March 19, 2006 Nasa to put man on far side of moon Jonathan Leake , Science Editor NASA, the American space agency, has unveiled plans for one of the largest rockets ever built to take a manned mission to the far side of the moon. It will ferry a mother ship and lunar lander into Earth orbit to link up with a smaller rocket carrying the crew. Once united they will head for the moon where the larger ship will remain in orbit after launching the lunar lander and crew. The design emerged during a space science...