SpaceX

• [New] There are several upcoming missions on the horizon too, with SpaceX's Inspiration4 flight - which will be the very first all civilian mission to launch into orbit - due to take off later in September. BBC
• [New] If all goes as planned, Inspiration 4 will mark the first fully private mission for SpaceX, which developed its Crew Dragon spacecraft as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The Verge
• [New] Starlink 2-1 will launch on a nine-flight Falcon 9 booster - the second time a SpaceX rocket has completed ten orbital-class launches and landings if all goes to plan. TESLARATI
• [New] Four private space travelers will make history this week when they lift off on a SpaceX rocket on the world's first all-civilian trip to orbit. Space
• [New] Like Blue Origin, the 20-story-tall SpaceX launch vehicle and crew capsule will take off vertically from a launch pad on a flight directed entirely from the ground. The Edge Markets
• [New] The Inspiration4 crew will board SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule for a multi-day journey, orbiting Earth every 90 minutes along a customized flight path that will be carefully monitored by the aerospace company's mission control. FOX 35 Orlando
• [New] A SpaceX Dragon resupply spacecraft was launched on a recycled Falcon 9 rocket and will arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) today. SpaceWatch.Global
• [New] In January, SpaceX Founder Elon Musk confirmed that SpaceX was targeting inter-satellite links for Starlink satellites for 2022, and in January, SpaceX launched 10 Starlinks with inter-satellite links to Polar Orbit. Via Satellite
• [New] SpaceX founder Elon Musk is racing against time to develop the Starship spacecraft that could enable humans to become a multiplanet species. TESMANIAN
• SpaceX will use lasers to communicate between satellites in space and reduce the use of ground stations. NextBigFuture.com
• SpaceX is pushing ahead with a next-generation of Starlink broadband satellites that will be a bit heavier but more powerful than the first-gen satellites that are in orbit now. Broadband World News
• Anything could happen - Starlink is still in beta, and SpaceX plans to launch thousands of more satellites in the coming years. ExtremeTech
• SpaceX has launched 1,740 Starlink satellites to date, and its second generation project plans to have nearly 30,000 satellites in total. Business Insider
• The three-day mission will target approximately a 575 km orbit, flying farther from Earth than any human spaceflight since the Hubble Space Telescope repair missions. Inspiration4
• The first Kuiper satellites will be launched into orbit with an Atlas V rocket, rather than the launch vehicle from Bezos' own company Blue Origin. Market Research Telecast
• SpaceX is taking on the challenge to develop the Starship launch system that will enable humanity to return to the Moon and build a city on Mars. TESMANIAN
• Under the HLS contract, SpaceX will develop a lunar-optimized Starship to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024 as part of NASA's Artemis program. TESMANIAN
• In 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a Human Landing System (HLS) contract to develop a Starship lunar lander to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024. TESMANIAN
• REF SpaceX is one of several companies that seek to build satellite constellations over the next several years to provide high-speed Internet from outer space: OneWeb plans to launch nearly 650 satellites, and Amazon's Project Kuiper hopes to launch more than 3,000 satellites. The Heritage Foundation
• If the pre-flight ground tests go well and SpaceX obtains approval from regulatory agencies, Super Heavy will propel Starship to orbit from Texas and they will attempt to land Starship in the ocean off the northwest coast of Kauai, Hawaii. TESMANIAN
• SpaceX plans its new Starship for the transport into earth orbits, which can carry more and heavier loads per launch than the previously used Falcon 9 rocket. Market Research Telecast
• Firefly's Alpha will attempt to serve a space market focused on bringing 1-ton of payloads to orbit at a time, which is much less than the typical load of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Space

Last updated: 19 September 2021