SpaceX has also retired Starlink satellites because of malfunctions in the hardware. In February 2024, the company decided to deorbit 100 Starlink satellites, citing a potential f
SpaceX on Wednesday night launched a Spanish communications satellite from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and retired the first-stage booster rather than landing on a drone.
Late Tuesday afternoon, Elon Musk put out a message on X saying that President Donald Trump had asked him to return the two Boeing Starliner astronauts who have been on the space station since June as soon as possible.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams flew to the ISS in the summer of 2024 for a routine eight-day test mission. However, due to problems with the propulsion system of Boeing’s Starliner capsule,
While Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s situation is unusual, their return trip will be pretty routine, as they were already slated to fly home on a SpaceX capsule as part of a scheduled crew rotation.
"NASA and SpaceX are expeditiously working to safely return the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore as soon as practical, while also preparing for the launch of Crew-10 to complete a handover between expeditions," Cheryl Warner, NASA's news chief at the agency's headquarters, said in a statement to reporters.
Starbase is an industrial installation built by SpaceX to fabricate and test a number of the company’s rocket types. The area around it is a unique and delicate ecosystem that includes estuaries and coastal grasslands, mud flats and more, where falcons, hawks, ravens, gulls and songbirds live.
Despite the statement from President Trump, NASA had already scheduled the astronauts' return for late March or April.
NASA affirmed on Wednesday a plan it set last year to work with Elon Musk's SpaceX in returning two astronauts from the International Space Station, saying it will do so "as soon as practical," the day after President Donald Trump suggested he wants a quicker return for the crew.
Posts by President Trump and Elon Musk roiled the space community, raising the prospect of an earlier-than-planned return for the Starliner crew.
Flight 7 Recap SpaceX launched Starship Flight 7 on Jan 16 in another afternoon launch. The initial ascent with Booster 14 was perfect, with no engine outs and the hot staging maneuver completed. While Ship 33 began its ascent burn, Booster 14 completed its boost back burn minus a single engine and received the “Go for Booster Return” call out.