Geometric Energy Corporation announced DOGE-1, a dogecoin-funded mission to the Moon that SpaceX will launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket in the first quarter of next year. Despite Elon Musk making an SNL appearance last night, Dogecoin lost over a third of its price on Sunday, which may have had something to do with the CEO calling it a ‘hustle’ during his guest-host spot. Read more for two videos, including one from his SNL appearance, and additional information.
Project Mars: A Technical Tale by Dr. Wernher von Braun may have predicted the future, or at least the part about who may eventually help colonize Mars. That’s right, in one passage of this book von Braun states that “a Martian government was created led by ten men, whose leader was elected by universal suffrage for five years under the name or title of Elon.” Read more for two videos and additional information.
The SpaceX Starship SN15 prototype rocket lifted off at 6:24 PM EDT and performed a belly-flop before managing a soft landing, with just a fire at the bottom of the spacecraft caused by the methane fuel it uses. This marks the first successful landing after four previous prototypes ending in explosions. SpaceX will use the data gathered from these prototypes to develop a much larger Starship that will one day transport humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Read more for the complete launch and landing video.
You may have see Elon Musk in the Cybertruck at the Tesla Austin gigafactory, but Jeff Bezos wasn’t about to be shown up by the SpaceX CEO. So, he visited the Blue Origin’s latest landing of its New Shepard rocket at its West Texas facility in a Rivian R1T electric pickup truck. However, this trip wasn’t about seeing progress on the site, but rather to promote ticket sales for suborbital tourist rides on New Shepard, which begin later this week on May 5. Read more for the video and additional information.
Photo credit: NASA
The SpaceX Crew-2 mission will transport NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, along with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide as well as ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, to the International Space Station for a six-month science mission. It’s scheduled to launch at 5:49 a.m. EDT Friday, April 23, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Read more for the livestream and a bonus video.
NASA is preparing to send human astronauts back to the Moon as part of the Artemis program, and the agency has selected SpaceX to continue development of the first commercial human lander. When completed, it will be able to safely transport the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface. The Space Launch System rocket will be used to launch four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for their multi-day journey to lunar orbit, while two of them transfer to the SpaceX human landing system (HLS) for the final leg of their journey to the surface of the Moon. Read more for two videos and additional information.
Live in the Pacific Northwest and see weird streaks of light in the sky last night? They weren’t meteor, but rather SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket debris falling and burning up in Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX launched a batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites on March 4th to orbit aboard a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket and its upper stage lit up the sky with bright glowing dots that streaked across the sky, which started at around 9 p.m. local time Thursday on the U.S. West Coast. Read more for two videos and additional information.
SpaceX planned to launch its third full-scale Starship, called Serial Number 10 (SN10), earlier today, but an out-of-bounds reading caused them to abort it. The good news is that a launch is still set for today, with final preparations being made now. The objective of this launch is to successfully land the Starship vehicle where its predecessors, the SN8 and SN9, both failed in the last seconds of the mission due to issues stabilizing themselves for a controlled landing. Read more for two live video streams and additional information.
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has started the dearMoon Project, opening the application process for eight civilians to join a week-long expedition to fly by the Moon on SpaceX’s Starship in 2023. This trip for the lucky few that are chosen will be funded entirely by Maezawa, who leads this mission based on his curiosity and desire to see and appreciate the Earth from afar. There are only two conditions for the applicants: each person must demonstrate a potential for individual growth from this mission, along with the ability to support the fellow crew members who have the same potential and vision. Read more for the announcement video and additional information.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched 60 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit late Monday (February 15) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, which failed to land on a floating platform at sea. No official explanation was provided, but some in this field speculate that it could have been an issue with one of the rocket’s controlled engine burns during reentry or a telemetry issue that caused the first stage landing to fail. Fortunately, it did save a few birds who were just hanging out on the platform. Read more for the video and additional information.