In 2022, I was on a rooftop overlooking a runway surrounded by olive trees in the south of Spain. An aircraft hovered in the sky and zipped off into the distance. It was my first up-close encounter with an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle, popularly known as flying cars or air taxis. As … Read more
SpaceX launched the third test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday and reached space, as the company pushed development of the mammoth vehicle past new milestones. Elon Musk’s company launched Starship at about 9:25 a.m. ET from its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas. The rocket flew further than previous tests, with the flight … Read more
SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket is prepared for a third launch from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, on March 13, 2024. Joe Skipper | Reuters Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing to launch its third Starship test flight as soon as Thursday morning … Read more
Satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital is “looking at everything” regarding the company’s future, CEO Marc Bell told CNBC, as it considers Lockheed Martin’s acquisition offer. “We found out about [Lockheed’s takeover bid] when the rest of the world found out about it,” Bell said on CNBC’s “Manifest Space” podcast. Lockheed’s proposal submitted last week values Terran … Read more
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander on display at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA Shares of Intuitive Machines jumped 16% in trading Friday after the company’s successful first moon landing. Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C cargo moon lander known as “Odysseus” on Thursday became the first privately developed spacecraft to land on the lunar surface — as well as the first … Read more
The IM-1 lander “Odysseus” in lunar orbit on Feb. 21, 2024. Intuitive Machines A U.S. company has gone to the moon – and into the history books. Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission reached the moon’s surface on Thursday evening, in the first American lunar landing since the Apollo era. The company’s Nova-C cargo lander, named “Odysseus” … Read more
A view from onboard the upper stage of rocket LV0009 during the company’s livestream on March 15, 2022. Astra / NASASpaceflight The space sector’s on the tail end of a boom-and-bust cycle. While many companies battened down the hatches to survive, a few publicly-traded names are running on fumes. A flurry of about a dozen … Read more
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft launches from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Oct. 13, 2023. Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Images Elon Musk’s SpaceX smashed its previous annual record for orbital rocket launches, pulling off 96 successful missions in 2023 at a blistering average launch pace … Read more
SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket is launched from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 18, 2023. Joe Skipper | Reuters The valuation of Elon Musk’s SpaceX hit $180 billion based on an ongoing secondary share sale, CNBC confirmed Wednesday. The company is discussing … Read more
SpaceX is set to make a second attempt at launching its Starship rocket to space on Saturday, with the company looking to push the development of the mammoth vehicle past new milestones. It has a 20-minute window, from 8 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. ET, in which to launch Starship from its Starbase facility near Boca … Read more