SpaceX finds source of rocket explosion, plans new launch
SpaceX plans to resume flights as early as next week after finding the cause of an explosion that destroyed a rocket and satellite on a Florida launch pad in September. The Hawthorne, California-based company is aiming for a Sunday, Jan. 8, flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. The launch still needs approval by the Federal Aviation Administration. Read more
The US Air Force has certified the private company SpaceX to launch military and spy satellites. A joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing has had a monopoly on those launches since 2006. Read more
SpaceX has not announced a final decision for the location of the launch facility, but experts say the House measure, if passed, will clear some important legal hurdles for the South Texas launch pad. Read more
Intelsat Signs First Commercial Falcon Heavy Launch Agreement with SPACEX
Today, Intelsat, the world's leading provider of satellite services, and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the world's fastest growing space launch company, announced the first commercial contract for the Falcon Heavy rocket. Read more
Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is seeking a new launch site to meet increasing demand from commercial customers. SpaceX already has an active launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and is currently developing a new launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The company also operates a rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. Read more
California space-launch entrepreneur Elon Musk said Thursday his company will try to develop an orbital booster system with components capable of flying back to Earth for reuse. Both of the rocket's stages would return to the launch site and touch down vertically, under rocket power, on landing gear after delivering a spacecraft to orbit, Musk said in a webcast speech to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Read more
An elaborate sand sculpture and a rusty launch gantry provided the backdrop Wednesday to celebrate a new era of rocket launches by a private company at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, officially broke ground Wednesday afternoon for construction of a facility to launch the Falcon Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-4 East on South Base Read more
SpaceX is renovating an old launch pad at the Vandenberg Air Force Base for the world's most powerful rocket. SpaceX founder Elon Musk will gather with state and local elected officials Wednesday for a groundbreaking ceremony at the seaside base northwest of Los Angeles. The Hawthorne-based company is building the Falcon Heavy designed to be large enough to send cargo or even people beyond Earth's orbit. Only the retired Saturn V rocket that ferried astronauts to the moon was bigger. Read more