Free Republic

What does a midlife crisis look like in the 21st century? Frittering away your life savings on a red sports car is so last century. Instead, today’s man who is grappling with the limitations of his mortality spends $90 million on a rocket to launch a $100,000 electric car, helmed by a robot by the name of “Starman,” into space. “We want a new space race,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in a press conference shortly after the launch of his company’s Falcon Heavy rocket — and his Tesla Roadster — into space earlier in February. Like a child, he...

On Wednesday, SpaceX’s test satellites won’t be the only thing aboard the rocket. The primary mission is to deliver a satellite, called PAZ, for the Spanish government. According to European firm Airbus, which was the primary contractor for PAZ, the satellite will serve “many different applications,” including defense and security.

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...

NASA is eager for humans to venture beyond the International Space Station, leave boot prints in the red dust of Mars and fly into the vast unknown—but first, the moon. Before the space agency puts astronauts on our natural satellite for the first time since the Apollo missions touched down, it needs a lunar outpost to be its gateway to the future. The Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway is the brainchild of NASA scientists joining forces with ISS and commercial partners to explore the concept of such an outpost floating around the moon. After months of brainstorming, the concept is going to...

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.

"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...

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...

“As we once again lead in space exploration, we will continue to make the investments and presence in space to ensure the safety and security of the American people,” Pence said. “Space is vital to our national security. I saw it firsthand when I visited Schriever Air Force Base just a few weeks ago. And I can assure you, under President Donald Trump, American security will be as dominant in the heavens as we are here on Earth.” “We will beat back any disadvantage that our lack of attention has placed and America will once again lead in space,” Pence...

Elon Musk is the world’s greatest showman. His Tesla Roadster and a dummy astronaut blasts off on a super-giant rocket called Falcon Heavy, headed for Mars orbit with David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” blaring on the car radio. The astronaut is dubbed “Starman”, after another Bowie song. The words “Don’t Panic!” are on the dashboard. Musk said that it took his team over three years to develop the space suit, because it not only had to be functional, it had to “look good”. To Musk, the spectacle is as important as the accomplishment. He understands that to be truly successful, you...

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1DXxyXggQenJM Go to the link. 'Spaceman' will be the gold standard of brand promotion.

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 maiden flight of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy booster, slated to launch tomorrow (Feb. 6), comes factory-equipped with a Tesla Roadster as a part of the payload/ballast, and is meant to be hurled toward a solar orbit that could take it as far out as the orbit of Mars. But what's the point of sending a car into space? Is it bound to become just more space junk? We asked spaceflight experts to weigh in. ... "He is shipping it out of Earth orbit, so I do not think that there is any risk here," said orbital-debris expert Darren McKnight, technical...

Elon Musk posted a new image of the old Tesla Roadster his rocket company Space X is using as a dummy payload on the maiden flight of its Falcon Heavy rocket, and it now has (what’s hopefully) a dummy wearing one of the company’s prototype space suits in the driver’s seat.

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

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...

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...

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...

The bureaucrats in Washington really have little interest in safety, but instead are more focused in putting their thumbs on the scale in order to specifically harm the commercial space companies -- especially SpaceX's. One report in particular, by NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), was especially hostile to these private efforts, even as it remained completely unconcerned about similar but far worse safety issues that exist with NASA's government-built and competing SLS and Orion programs.