Wes Davis
The SpaceX Starship launch livestream has started.
You can catch the livestream on SpaceX’s website, its X account, or the X TV app.
SpaceX
Helmed by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX has made a name for itself as a leading rocket launch provider. We bring you complete coverage of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket launches and landings, as well as SpaceX’s more ambitious exploration goals. That includes flying people around the Moon in the company’s Dragon capsule and starting a human colony on Mars.
Wes Davis
SpaceX is preparing Starship for launch.
The company now expects its fifth Starship flight test to lift off at 8:25AM ET from its launch site in South Texas. SpaceX has a 30-minute window that started at 8AM ET, so it’s cutting it a little close.
Elizabeth Lopatto
Emma Roth
GOP-led House Committee looks into why the FCC rejected Starlink’s funding request.
The House Oversight Committee will investigate the FCC’s decision to deny the Elon Musk-owned Starlink $885.5 million in federal subsidies through the Rural Digital Opportunity fund in 2022.
Last week, Musk claimed the satellite internet company “would probably have saved lives” in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina if the FCC didn’t “illegally” revoke Starlink’s funding.
Jay Peters
Starlink is offering 30 days of free service in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene.
The company has a guide on how to sign up on its website.
Wes Davis
SpaceX is pausing Falcon 9 flights after issues following its Crew-9 launch.
The rocket’s second stage “experienced an off-nominal deorbit burn” and missed its landing target following yesterday’s flight, SpaceX posted.
The company is investigating the root cause. In the meantime, as Space notes, a California satellite launch that was scheduled for today has been postponed.
Wes Davis
NASA’s Crew-9 mission that will bring the Starliner astronauts home launches today.
At 9:10AM ET, the agency will kick off a livestream of the start of the Crew-9 mission meant to bring stranded NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams back to Earth next year.
Out of the loop? Check our storystream on the Boeing Starliner issues that left them stuck on ISS. Liftoff is scheduled for 1:17PM ET today.
Thomas Ricker
Starlink passes 4M users.
It’s taken just four years and more than 6,000 satellites placed into low Earth orbit — at a rate of about 24 per launch — with service now in over 100 countries.
As noted by TechCrunch:
The milestone would mean that SpaceX has gained a million new customers since the end of May alone. This outpaces the company’s already impressive rate of growth: Starlink started providing beta service of its product in October 2020; it hit 1 million subscribers in December 2022, 2 million subscribers in September 2023, and 3 million in May.
I’ve been a user since 2022 and am currently testing the Starlink Mini — ask me anything.
Thomas Ricker
Air France is also going Starlink.
Two weeks ago it was United announcing fast free in-flight Wi-Fi for all. Who’s next?
Andrew J. Hawkins
SpaceX slams — but doesn’t sue — the FAA.
The Federal Aviation Administration can’t “keep pace with the commercial spaceflight industry” and “lacks the resources” to respond to mission changes, SpaceX said in a letter sent in response to $633,000 in federal fines for launching two missions with unapproved changes. SpaceX owner Elon Musk has promised to sue the agency, but it seems as if we’re still in the “strongly worded letter” phase of this particular feud.
Wes Davis
Polaris Dawn has returned to Earth.
At 3:38AM ET, SpaceX confirmed the successful conclusion of its historic Polaris Dawn mission, which took four people, including Billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, farther into space than any astronaut has been in decades.
During the flight, Isaacman and Gillis became the first private astronauts to conduct a spacewalk. Gillis also recorded herself playing violin while in space, as Engadget notes.
Emma Roth
Polaris Dawn sent photos over Starlink laser light.
After a historic spacewalk, the Polaris Dawn crew sent a message to Earth using Starlink’s laser communication technology. SpaceX has already started selling its “Plug and Plaser” tech to other companies to help improve communication from space.
The Starliner debacle fueled speculation that the space agency would dump Boeing. But if it did, it would be left with SpaceX — and Elon Musk.
Georgina Torbet
Jess Weatherbed
Live SpaceXwalk.
When Dragon’s hatch opens for astronauts Sarah Gillis and Jared Isaacman, all four Polaris Dawn crewmembers will be exposed to the vacuum of space, according to SpaceX.
Gillis and Isaacman will then exit the spacecraft for about 12 minutes to perform the spacewalk and conduct suit mobility tests.
Thomas Ricker
Polaris Dawn Mission is off to a good start.
At 5:23AM ET, a SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched the four-person all-civilian crew into space on the multi-day mission. Among other things, they’ll be conducting the first-ever space walk by commercial astronauts wearing SpaceX-developed suits, and testing Starlink’s laser-based communications.
Andrew Liszewski and Wes Davis
Andrew Liszewski
Getting to Mars will be easy. It’s the whole ‘living there’ part that we haven’t figured out.
Georgina Torbet
Andrew Liszewski
Thomas Ricker
A Star Mount for your Starlink Mini.
The company that specializes in mobile 12V conversions of SpaceX’s internet-from-space kits has just released its first mount for Starlink’s smallest dish yet. Despite its size, Mini even integrates the Wi-Fi router (usually a separate box) into the laptop-sized package.
$249 gets you a versatile mount with shock absorption for your RV, boat, or overlanding rig.
1/2The mount protects the Starlink Mini dish and router. Image: Star Mount Systems
Elizabeth Lopatto
SpaceX’s and X’s headquarters are moving to Texas, Elon Musk says.
Musk, who has been a resident of Texas since 2019, says he decided to move the companies because Gavin Newsom didn’t do what Musk told him to. Previously, Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin after local health officials closed the Fremont plant during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic; Musk has a history of political donations in Texas.