SpaceX

Blogs about SpaceX activities

NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope blasting off atop a Falcon Heavy rocket (Image NASA+)

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A little while ago, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. After just over 31 minutes, it successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and set course for the area known as L2 (Lagrange Point 2), where its scientific mission will begin.

Originally known as the Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST) and later named after astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, this space telescope had a complicated and unusual history. Various infrared astronomy projects seemed impossible to approve due to a lack of funding, but in 2012, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) donated two unused spy satellites to NASA, each equipped with a mirror the size of Hubble’s, which has a diameter of 2.4 meters. This allowed this project to get started.

Starship 40 lifts off atop the Super Heavy 20 (Image courtesy of SpaceX)

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It was the afternoon in the USA when SpaceX conducted a new flight test of its Super Heavy rocket and Starship prototypes, launched from its base in Boca Chica, Texas. This is the 13th test involving the entire system of Elon Musk’s company, which is supposed to revolutionize space travel with an unprecedented transport capacity and be totally reusable. They are advanced prototypes with the Super Heavy identified as Booster 20 and the Starship identified as Starship 40 or Ship40 or simply S40. It was the second test of the vehicles in their Block 3 version.

The Starfall Demo capsule blasting off atop a Falcon 9 rocket (Image courtesy SpaceX)

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A little while ago, SpaceX’s Starfall Demo mission began with the launch of a capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The mission has a classified profile, meaning the launch broadcast ended after the first stage landed. Subsequently, the capsule successfully separated from the rocket’s last stage and embarked on its course, which should take it into low Earth orbit for a period that wasn’t revealed and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean. This mission aims to demonstrate the feasibility of returning cargo weighing up to 1,000 kilograms produced in orbit to Earth, or even transporting payloads very quickly to other continents.

Super Heavy 19 and Starship 39 at liftoff (Image courtesy SpaceX)

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It was the afternoon in the USA when SpaceX conducted a new flight test of its Super Heavy rocket and Starship prototypes, launched from its base in Boca Chica, Texas. This is the 12th test involving the entire system of Elon Musk’s company, which is supposed to revolutionize space travel with an unprecedented transport capacity and being totally reusable. They are advanced prototypes with the Super Heavy identified as Booster 19 and the Starship identified as Starship 39 or Ship39 or simply S39. It was the first test of the vehicles in their Block 3 version.