SpaceX
SpaceX Dragon V2 | Unveil Event
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Starship delivered.
On June 6, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:50 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and went on to deliver maximum excitement.
The fourth flight of Starship made major strides to bring us closer to a rapidly reusable future. Its accomplishments will provide data to drive improvements as we continue rapidly developing Starship into a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Evolved from the Intravehicular Activity (IVA) suit, the EVA suit provides greater mobility, a state-of-the-art helmet Heads-Up Display (HUD) and camera, new thermal management textiles, and materials borrowed from Falcon’s interstage and Dragon’s trunk.
Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require millions of spacesuits. The development of this suit and the execution of the spacewalk will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions as life becomes multiplanetary.
At Starbase on Thursday, April 4, SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk provided an update on the company’s plans to send humanity to Mars, the best destination to begin making life multiplanetary.
Go to (twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1776669097490776563) for the full talk, which also includes the mechanics and challenges of traveling to Mars, along with what we’re building today to enable sending around a million people and several million tonnes to the Martian surface in the years to come.
Starship's six second stage Raptor engines all started successfully and powered the vehicle to its expected orbit, becoming the first Starship to complete its full-duration ascent burn. Starship went on to experience its first ever entry from space, providing valuable data on heating and vehicle control during hypersonic reentry. Live views of entry were made possible by Starlink terminals operating on Starship.
This rapid iterative development approach has been the basis for all of SpaceX’s major innovative advancements, including Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink. Recursive improvement is essential as we work to build a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.
The third flight test aims to build on what we’ve learned from previous flights while attempting a number of ambitious objectives. Recursive improvement is essential as we work to build a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.
Follow us on X.com/SpaceX for updates on the upcoming flight test.
While it didn’t happen in a lab or on a test stand, it was absolutely a test. What we did with this second flight will provide invaluable data to continue rapidly developing Starship.
The test achieved a number of major milestones, helping us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary. The team at Starbase is already working final preparations on the vehicles slated for use in Starship’s third flight test.
Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting second flight test of Starship!
Follow us on X.com/SpaceX for continued updates on Starship's progress
On November 18, 2023, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:02 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and achieved a number of major milestones, including all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster starting up successfully and, for the first time, completed a full-duration burn during ascent.
This 360-degree view comes from the top of the launch tower at Starbase in Texas, providing a front row seat to watch liftoff of the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.
Follow us on X.com/SpaceX and go to spacex.com for more on this exciting flight.
The second flight test of a fully integrated Starship will debut several upgrades to the vehicle and ground infrastructure, some as a direct result of lessons learned from Starship’s first flight test. Recursive improvement is essential as we work to build a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.
Follow us on X.com/SpaceX for updates on the upcoming flight test.
Aboard the spacecraft will be Crew-6 NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, Rocosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, who flew to the space station on Dragon when Falcon 9 launched the spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, March 2 at 12:34 a.m. ET.
The space vehicles launched during this mission will serve a part of SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a new layered network of satellites in low-Earth orbit and supporting elements that will provide global military communication and missile warning, indication, and tracking capabilities.
This was the thirteenth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, and eight Starlink missions.
This was the seventh flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, Intelsat G-37, and now two Starlink missions.
During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct science and technology demonstrations to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and to benefit humanity on Earth.
This is the third flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched the ESA Euclid mission and Ax-2. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
Dragon will autonomously dock with the space station on Sunday, August 27 at approximately 8:39 a.m. ET (12:39 UTC). Follow Dragon and the crew’s flight below.
During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct science and technology demonstrations to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and to benefit humanity on Earth, in addition to space station maintenance activities.
The webcast will resume approximately two hours prior to docking.
As is the case with all developmental testing, this schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our social media channels for updates.
This was the 15th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, and now six Starlink missions.
This was the 13th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, mPOWER-a, PSN SATRIA, and now five Starlink missions.
This was the ninth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, and now five Starlink missions.
This was the fifth launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched SDA-0A and now four Starlink missions.
This is the fourth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-6, SES O3b mPOWER, and one Starlink mission. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
As is the case with all developmental testing, this schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our social media channels for updates.
This was the sixth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-5, GPS III-6, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, and one Starlink mission.
This was the third launch and landing of these Falcon Heavy side boosters, which previously supported USSF-44 and USSF-67.
This is the 15th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, ARABSAT BADR-8, and seven Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
Both of the side boosters on this mission previously supported USSF-44 and USSF-67. Following stage separation, Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters will land on SpaceX’s Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1 and LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff.
This was the sixth launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched CRS-26, OneWeb Launch 16, Intelsat IS-40e, and now three Starlink missions.
This was the 10th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, and now five Starlink missions.
This is the 10th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, Transporter-8, and four Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
This is the 16th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, and 10 Starlink missions. After stage separation, Falcon 9 will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
This is the 16th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, and 10 Starlink missions. After stage separation, Falcon 9 will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
This was the 16th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3, and now eleven Starlink missions.
This was the 12th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, and now eight Starlink missions.
This was the second launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Ax-2.
This was the eighth launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, and now four Starlink missions.
This was the fourth launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Space Development Agency’s Tranche 0 and now three Starlink missions.
This was the 12th launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, mPOWER-a, and four Starlink missions.
This was the ninth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 stage booster, which previously supported the launch of NROL-87, NROL-85, SARah-1, SWOT, and four Starlink missions. On board this flight were 72 spacecraft, including CubeSats, MicroSats, a re-entry capsule, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time.
The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched SES-22, ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1, Hispasat Amazonas Nexus, CRS-27, and four Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
Dragon autonomously docked with the space station on Tuesday, June 6, at 5:54 a.m. ET (9:54 UTC).
The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched Crew-6 and SES O3b mPOWER. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
SpaceX has now launched 10 human spaceflight missions in three years, carrying 38 astronauts from all around the world to orbit for NASA, Inspiration4, and Axiom Space, with many more flights in the future on the manifest.
This was the fourteenth launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, and now five Starlink missions.
Falcon 9 launched Dragon and the Ax-2 crew to the orbiting laboratory on Sunday, May 21 at 5:37 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ax-2 was Axiom Space’s second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, and the second of four missions SpaceX will launch to the space station on behalf of Axiom Space via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Dragon vehicles.
Aboard the spacecraft will be Ax-2 astronauts Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali Alqarni, and Rayyanah Barnawi, who flew to the space station on Dragon when Falcon 9 launched the spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, May 21 at 5:37 p.m. ET.
Live webcast coverage will begin about fifteen minutes prior to undocking and resume about one hour before prior to splashdown.
This was the 14th launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, OneWeb Launch 17, and seven Starlink missions.