Category Archives: Spacex

If it exploded last time, try, try again. They did, and it exploded again.

On Tuesday, a test flight of SpaceXs Starship, a huge next-generation spacecraft that Elon Musk, the founder and chief executive of the private rocket company, dreams of one day sending to Mars, came to an explosive end.

That brief flight, to an altitude of about 6 miles and then back to a landing pad, appeared to again demonstrate how the mammoth rocket would tip over on its side as it descended in a controlled belly flop back toward a landing.

But when the prototype fired its engines to right itself back to a vertical orientation, it appeared that one engine did not properly ignite, and Starship hit the ground at an angle, disintegrating in a fireball, leaving a cloud of smoke rising over the test site, which is in Boca Chica, Tex., near Brownsville.

Weve just got to work on that landing a little bit, said John Insprucker, a SpaceX engineer hosting a webcast of the test.

The end was similar to the last test flight in December which also ended in an explosion at landing, although the particular cause of the rocket failing to slow down enough may have been different.

This time, however, SpaceX at least had the permission of government regulators.

Last week, SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates rocket launches, seemed to be in a strange regulatory standoff. SpaceX had filled the propellant tanks of this prototype of Starship its ninth one and looked ready to launch. But then the rocket stayed on the ground when no approval from the F.A.A. arrived.

Mr. Musk expressed frustration on Twitter, describing the part of the F.A.A. that oversees SpaceX as fundamentally broken.

Mr. Musk wrote, Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches per year from a few government facilities. Under those rules, humanity will never get to Mars.

Late on Monday, the F.A.A. gave permission for Tuesdays launch, but then added that the December launch had occurred without the agencys approval. SpaceX had requested a waiver to conduct that flight even though it posed a greater danger to the public than allowed by regulations. The F.A.A. denied the request. SpaceX defied the ruling and launched anyway.

The F.A.A. statement indicated that the agency was unhappy with the defiance of SpaceX. Even if Starship had landed perfectly, launching it without approval was a violation of the companys license.

SpaceX was told to investigate and report on this series of events and to halt testing that could endanger the public until the company made changes that satisfied the agency.

In its statement, the F.A.A. said that SpaceX had complied with the safety regulations, giving a green light to this test flight.

Mr. Musks company has become successful in the launch business, and it is now one of the worlds most valuable privately held companies. Its Falcon 9 rockets have become a dominant workhorse for sending satellites to orbit. It routinely transports cargo to the International Space Station, and has lifted NASA astronauts there twice in 2020, with more trips planned this year.

However, many are skeptical about Mr. Musks assertion that the company is just a few years from sending a Starship to Mars, saying he has repeatedly set timelines for SpaceX that proved far too optimistic in how quickly they have come to pass.

In 2019, when he provided an update on the development of Starship, he said a high-altitude test would occur within months and that orbital flights could occur early in 2020.

Instead, several catastrophic failures happened because of faulty welding. When the propellant tanks stopped rupturing, one of the prototypes made a short successful flight in September. That earlier Starship model, which resembled a spray paint can with the label removed, lifted itself nearly 500 feet using a single rocket engine before setting down at the Texas test site.

Jared Zambrano-Stout, a former official at the F.A.A.s office of commercial space transportation, said he was stunned when he saw the agencys statement about SpaceX.

SpaceX seems to have violated their launch license, and there does not seem to have been any repercussions, he said.

Mr. Zambrano-Stout, who is now director of congressional and regulatory policy at Meeks, Butera and Israel, a Washington law firm, said he knew of no other instances where the F.A.A. had denied a launch license or where a company launched without approval from the F.A.A.

Its important for people to understand that the FAAs job is not to stop launches from occurring, he said. They are in the business of licensing launches.

The agencys role is to ensure safety for what it calls the uninvolved public people not involved with SpaceX or the launch so that someone just walking around or sitting at home is not injured or killed if something goes wrong.

I think it would be really hard to find an example of where the F.A.A. has stopped SpaceX from doing what it wanted to do before the December incident, Mr. Zambrano-Stout said.

The next Starship prototype the tenth has already been built and rolled out to the launchpad. It could fly later this month, Mr. Insprucker said during the webcast.

As SpaceX continues its development of Starship, it has already launched three other rockets this year. One mission, Transporter-1, launched on Sunday and carried 133 commercial and government spacecraft (as well as 10 of SpaceXs Starlink internet satellites). The launch represented SpaceXs entry into the business known as rideshare, in which numerous customers pay for a fraction of the cost of a trip to orbit.

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SpaceXs Starship Mars Rocket Prototype Crashes Again After Test Launch - The New York Times

February 1, 2021, 10:59 PM

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SpaceX announced Monday it will launch the first mission to space with an all-civilian crew, and members of the public have been invited to enter a drawing for one of the seats on the spacecraft.

The four-person mission will be commanded by Jared Isaacman, a tech entrepreneur and pilot on the side. Isaacman is the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, a payment processing firm, and will be bankrolling the mission that has been named "Inspiration4."

Isaacman donated two seats to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, one of which will be taken up by a worker from the nonprofit hospital. The other seat will be given to a member of the public who enters a raffle online. While no donation is necessary to enter the drawing, people are encouraged to donate to St. Jude's and can earn more entries by doing so.

To kick off the donations, Isaacman committed an initial gift of $100 million.

Jared Isaacman is shown in this undated image provided by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

The fourth seat will go to an entrepreneur who uses Isaacman's Shift4Shop eCommerce platform and submits a video showcasing their business and how they used the technology. This winner will be selected by an independent panel of judges.

"Inspiration4 is the realization of a lifelong dream and a step towards a future in which anyone can venture out and explore the stars," Isaacman said in a statement. "I appreciate the tremendous responsibility that comes with commanding this mission, and I want to use this historic moment to inspire humanity while helping to tackle childhood cancer here on Earth."

The crew will undergo astronaut training conducted by SpaceX, and the launch is currently scheduled for "no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year," according to a statement on SpaceX's website.

The mission will use a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon spacecraft and will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It will be a "multi-day journey," SpaceX stated, "orbiting Earth every 90 minutes along a customized flight path" and "will be carefully monitored at every step by SpaceX mission control."

At its conclusion, the Dragon spacecraft will splash down in a soft water landing off the coast of Florida.

An 30-second ad for the mission is slated to run during the Super Bowl this year to introduce it to the public.

"Todays announcement is the first step of a very exciting journey," Isaacman said. "In the lead-up to launch, well share new ways to support and follow our mission preparation and execution with a focus on inspiring and helping others."

While it once took the backing of entire nations to get to space, the landscape has notably evolved in recent years to become the arena of billionaires with the rise of private firms such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Last year, SpaceX made history by becoming the first private firm to launch NASA astronauts into space -- a feat it completed twice in 2020.

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SpaceX to launch all-civilian crew to space, and 1 seat is up for grabs - ABC News

A Falcon 9 rocket launches the Transporter-1 mission in January 2021.

SpaceX

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigatingSpaceXover whether the company discriminates against non-U.S. citizens in its hiring practices and said Elon Musk's company is stonewalling a subpoena for information, court documents revealed Thursday.

The DOJ's Immigrant and Employee Rights Section received a complaint of employment discrimination from a non-U.S. citizen claiming that the company discriminated against him based on his citizenship status.

"The charge alleges that on or about March 10, 2020, during the Charging Party's interview for the position of Technology Strategy Associate, SpaceX made inquiries about his citizenship status and ultimately failed to hire him for the position because he is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident," DOJ attorney Lisa Sandoval wrote in a court document filed Thursday. The document was a request for a judge to order SpaceX to comply with an administrative subpoena for documents related to how the company hires.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. The Department of Justice declined to comment.

SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles, California.

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin | GC Images | Getty Images

The Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, or IER, said it notified SpaceX via email on June 8 that it had opened an investigation, requesting SpaceX provide information and documents related to its hiring and employment eligibility verification processes.

The filing said SpaceX responded in August, sending the DOJ a Form I-9 spreadsheet of information about employees dating back to June 2019. But SpaceX refused the DOJ's request "to produce any Form I-9 supporting documentation, such as copies of employees' passports, driver's licenses, or Social Security cards," Sandoval wrote.

IER then obtained a subpoena on Oct. 7, but SpaceX refused to produce the subpoenaed documents, the filing said.

SpaceX filed a petition with a DOJ administrative tribunal to dismiss the subpoena on grounds that it exceeded the scope of IER's authority, but that petition was denied, and SpaceX was ordered to comply. IER said SpaceX on Dec. 11 acknowledged the order but told IER "that it 'does not intend to produce any additional information in response to the administrative subpoena.'"

The IER argued that the subpoenaed documents are relevant because they would show the extent to which SpaceX hires non-U.S. citizens, and that it's not a burdensome request, although SpaceX has told the IER that it would have to retrieve each document manually.

The Department of Justice is requesting an order from the court to require SpaceX to comply with the subpoena within two weeks.

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Justice Department investigating Elon Musk's SpaceX following complaint of hiring discrimination - CNBC

No-one has visited the Moon since 1972. But with the advent of commercial human spaceflight, the urge to return is resurgent and generating a new space race. NASA has selected the private company SpaceX to be part of its commercial spaceflight operations, but the firm is also pursuing its own space exploration agenda.

To enable flights to the Moon and beyond, both NASA and SpaceX are developing new heavy lift rockets: SpaceXs Starship and NASAs Space Launch System.

But how do they differ and which one is more powerful?

Rockets go through multiple stages to get into orbit. By discarding spent fuel tanks while in flight, the rocket becomes lighter and therefore easier to accelerate. Once in operation, SpaceXs launch system will be comprised of two stages: the launch vehicle known as BFR (Big Falcon Rocket) and the Starship.

BFR is powered by the Raptor rocket engine, burning a combination of liquid methane and liquid oxygen. The basic principle of a liquid fuel rocket engine is that two propellants, a fuel such as kerosene and an oxidiser such as liquid oxygen are brought together in a combustion chamber and ignited. The flame produces hot gas under high pressure which is expelled at high speed through the engine nozzle to produce thrust.

The rocket will provide 15 million pounds of thrust at launch, which is approximately twice as much as the rockets of the Apollo era. Atop the BFR sits the Starship, itself powered by another six Raptor engines and equipped with a large mission bay for accommodating satellites, compartments for up to 100 crew and even extra fuel tanks for refuelling in space, which is critical to long duration interplanetary human spaceflight.

The Starship is designed to operate both in the vacuum of space and within the atmospheres of Earth and Mars, using small moveable wings to glide to a desired landing zone.

Once over the landing area, the Starship flips into a vertical position and uses its on-board Raptor engines to make a powered descent and landing. It will have sufficient thrust to lift itself off the surface of Mars or the Moon, overcoming the weaker gravity of these worlds, and return to Earth again making a powered soft landing. The Starship and the BFR are both fully reuseable and the entire system is designed to lift more than 100 tons of payload to the surface of the Moon or Mars.

The spacecraft is maturing rapidly. A recent test flight of the Starship prototype, the SN8, successfully demonstrated a number of the manoeuvres required to make this work. Unfortunately, there was a malfunction in one of the Raptor engines and the SN8 crashed on landing. Another test flight is expected in the coming days.

The Space Launch System (SLS) from Nasa will be taking the crown from the discontinued Saturn V as the most powerful rocket the agency has ever used. The current incarnation (SLS block 1) stands at almost 100 metres tall.

Read more: To the moon and beyond 4: What's the point of going back to the moon?

The SLS core stage, containing more than 3.3 million litres of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (equivalent to one-and-a-half Olympic size swimming pools), is powered by four RS-25 engines, three of which were used on the previous Space Shuttle. Their main difference from the Raptors is that they burn liquid hydrogen instead of methane.

The core stage of the rocket is augmented by two solid rocket boosters, attached to its sides, providing a total combined thrust of 8.2 million pounds at launch - about 5% more than the Saturn V at launch. This will lift the spacecraft to low Earth orbit. The upper stage is intended to lift the attached payload the astronaut capsule out of Earths orbit and is a smaller liquid fuel stage powered by a single RL-10 engine (already in use by ATLAS and DELTA rockets) which is smaller and lighter than the RS-25.

The Space Launch System will send the Orion crew capsule, which can support up to six crew for 21 days, to the Moon as part of the Artemis-1 mission a task that current Nasa rockets are currently not capable of performing.

It is intended to have large acrylic windows so astronauts can watch the journey. It will also have its own engine and fuel supply, as well as secondary propulsion systems for returning to the Earth. Future space stations, such as the Lunar Gateway, will serve as a logistical hub, which may include refuelling.

The core stage and booster rockets are unlikely to be reusable (instead of landing they will drop in the ocean), so there is a higher cost with the SLS system, both in materials and environmentally. It is designed to evolve to larger stages capable of carrying crew or cargo weighing up to 120 tonnes, which is potentially more than Starship.

A lot of the technology being used in SLS is so-called legacy equipment in that it is adapted from previous missions, cutting down the research and development time. However, earlier this month, a test fire of the SLS core stage was stopped a minute into the eight-minute test due to a suspected component failure. No significant damage occurred, and the SLS program manager, John Honeycutt, stated: I dont think were looking at a significant design change.

So which spacecraft likely to reach carry a crew to the Moon first? Artemis 2 is planned as the first crewed mission using SLS to perform a flyby of the Moon and is expected to launch in August 2023. Whereas SpaceX has no specific date planned for crewed launch, they are running #dearMoon a project involving lunar space tourism planned for 2023. Musk has also stated that a crewed Martian mission could take place as early as 2024, also using Starship.

Ultimately it is a competition between an agency that has had years of testing and experience but is limited by a fluctuating taxpayer budget and administration policy changes, and a company relatively new to the game but which has already launched 109 Falcon 9 rockets with a 98% success rate and has a dedicated long-term cash flow.

Whoever reaches the Moon first will inaugurate a new era of exploration of a world which still has much scientific value.

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SpaceX vs NASA: who will get us to the Moon first? Here's how their latest rockets compare - The Conversation US

A Falcon 9 rocket rolls out to pad 39A Thursday for the next launch of SpaceX Starlink satellites. Credit: Spaceflight Now

SpaceX plans to deploy the next group of Starlink internet relay spacecraft Sunday with a liftoff on top of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASAs Kennedy Space Center, the companys fourth satellite launch of the month.

The two-stage Falcon 9 launcher emerged from its hangar at the Florida spaceport Thursday and rolled up the ramp to pad 39A, where SpaceX will raise the 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket vertical for a test-firing as soon as Friday.

The hold-down firing of the rockets nine Merlin 1D main engines will last several seconds.

The test, which SpaceX calls a static fire, was part of every Falcon 9 launch campaign for nearly a decade. But SpaceX did not perform a static fire before its last four missions as teams try to cut the time required between Falcon 9 flights from SpaceXs two launch pads on Floridas Space Coast.

Assuming a good test-firing Friday, SpaceX is expected to press ahead with launch of the Falcon 9 rocket Sunday. There is an instantaneous launch opportunity at 7:02 a.m. EST (1202 GMT), about 10 minutes before sunrise Sunday.

The Falcon 9 will launch with the next batch of approximately 60 Starlink satellites, adding more capacity and coverage to SpaceXs burgeoning broadband network.

Warning notices to pilots and mariners previously indicated the launch was scheduled Saturday morning, but sources said Thursday the flight was delayed to Sunday.

Forecasters from the U.S. Space Forces 45th Weather Squadron predict an 80% chance of good weather Sunday. The primary weather concern Sunday will be with the possibility of violating the cumulus cloud rule.

A high pressure ridge is forecast to begin moving away from Central Florida this weekend, allowing a low pressure system and a cold front to move into the Mid-Atlantic states north of Florida.

The spaceport will be within the warm, prefrontal regime during the launch window, the weather team wrote Thursday. Clouds will be thicker and more abundant than Saturday, but the vast majority will be too low-topped to create lightning launch commit criteria concerns. Southwesterly winds will increase to 15-20 miles per hour (up to 200 feet) in response to the tightening pressure gradient. The primary concern during the backup window will be the cumulus cloud rule.

If the Starlink mission takes off Sunday, SpaceX will close out January with four Falcon 9 launches, keeping pace with the companys goal of launching more than 40 Falcon flights in 2021.

A Falcon 9 rocket took off Jan. 7 from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with the Turkish-owned Turksat 5A communications satellite. SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites Jan. 20 from pad 39A, then launched a rideshare mission Sunday on a Falcon 9 with a record-setting payload of 143 small satellites from U.S. and international customers.

SpaceX, founded and led by billionaire Elon Musk, will have more than 1,000 Starlink nodes in orbit with the roughly 60 more Starlink spacecraft set to launch Sunday. The company has launched 1,025 Starlink satellites to date, but some of the spacecraft were either prototypes or failed after launch, and are no longer in orbit, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomerat theHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global satellite and launch activity.

SpaceX says the Starlink network is providing preliminary low-latency internet service to users in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom through a beta testing program. Commercial service will begin after SpaceX has its initial network of around 1,584 satellites in orbit, including spares.

The quarter-ton Starlink satellites are built by SpaceX technicians and engineers in Redmond, Washington.

The initial block of Starlink satellites, including the 60 launching this weekend, fly in mid-inclination orbits tilted 53 degrees to the equator. They fly at an altitude of 341 miles, or 550 kilometers, to provide broadband coverage over nearly all of the populated world.

SpaceX plans to launch more Starlink satellites into polar orbit to enable global coverage for maritime and aviation customers, including the U.S. military. The company has regulatory approval to launch around 12,000 Starlink satellites.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Falcon 9 rocket arrives on pad 39A for sunrise Starlink launch this weekend Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (KVEO) SpaceXs Boca Chica launch site will one day send people to the Moon and Mars.

Sending people to infinity and beyond is still a few years away for SpaceX. Right now, the aerospace company is bringing people into the Rio Grande Valley from near and far to watch porotype rocket go through test flights.

SpaceXs Starship SN9 launch was supposed to lift off as early as Monday morning, but that didnt happen due to extremely high winds in the area.

Takeoff was once again delayed Tuesday, this time due to dense fog, disappointing people from all across the country who came to see the latest porotype take flight.

One person who traveled quite a long distance was Mark Stoorza.

Stoorza, a self described snowbird, came down to South Texas from Alaska to watch SN9 take flight.

He told KVEO that watching the launch on TV was fun, and that he is excited to watch history in the making when SN9 finally gets the go-ahead.

That was a big party when we watched it up there.

Were advancing our history, said Stroorza. Our generation gets to do something that my parents generation didnt do, he said. Well, they went to the moon, but were going farther.

Early Monday morning, Stoorza drove down from where he was staying near San Antonio in hopes of witnessing the historic launch. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans.

Well, they went to the moon, but were going farther.

We were out there with everyone, and when the news came in that they scrubbed the launch, that disappointed all of us it seemed like, said Stoorza.

However, the setback was a small blessing in disguise. Because the launch was moved back, Stoorza was able to visit the launch site and see SN9 up close and personal.

I was a little kid in a candy store, said Stoorza. That was so unreal. Being able to come up that close to that machine just blew my mind.

Certainly, there is a lot riding on the success of these rockets. Not just for SpaceX, but for humanity.

Its the future, right? asked Stoorza. My dad grew up during the Apollo ages and I think thats kind of what were in, the new era of the Apollos. Going not only to the moon but to Mars to continue on with our planet.

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SpaceX: From the Last Frontier to the Final Frontier - KGBT-TV

When the big ring of nine Merlin engines on the Falcon 9 rocket rumbled to life, propelling NASAs SpaceX Crew-1 spacecraft and its occupants to their historic rendezvous with the International Space Station, most spectators were watching for the customary bloom of smoke and fire.

Steve Gaddis, Marshall Space Flight Center lead for the agencys Commercial Crew Program, and his team were also listening, anticipating the musical sound of success. At 6:27 p.m. Nov. 15, they heard it.

SpaceX and NASA test engineers at Marshall spent months reviewing data from Merlin engine tests performed at the SpaceX test facility in McGregor, Texas, prior to delivery to NASAs Kennedy Space Center for the launch. Its teamwork Marshall knows well; workers there developed the most powerful engines ever built, from the Apollo and space shuttle eras through todays mighty Space Launch System engines.

We conduct critical design reviews for all elements, components, and subsystems of the engines our commercial partners use to propel their rockets, said Gaddis, who is also deputy manager of the programs Launch Vehicle Systems Office at Marshall.

He compared the task to a symphony orchestra rehearsing for a big performance. Each test engineer on the team is a virtuoso, he suggested, a subject matter expert and mastering a new engine is like playing a new work by a master composer.

We have the A-team here, he said, from our vehicle and systems engineers to subject matter experts in turbopump design, rotordynamics, structural resonance, flow-induced vibration, materials and processes, the whole nine yards.

But its not enough to perform flawlessly in ones own area. Each contributor has to play in sync with all the rest. Our team identifies even the most minute performance issues and brings recommended safety and reliability solutions back to the whole team which tweaks interrelated components and refines the design as needed, Gaddis said.

Even small changes to one component can have ripple effects, fundamentally changing design and safety specifications across the entire engine. Change one note and the whole composition has to be reconsidered.

Everyone plays their part, Mark Darden, a Marshall engineer who specializes in rotordynamic analysis, said. The work, when its most successful, is a grand compromise, a give-and-take approach to find balance.

It all comes down to vibration and stability. These are massively intricate machines, each with precise vibration characteristics, he said.

Fellow Marshall dynamics engineer Tony Fiorucci agreed. Even the slightest imbalance or vibration outside margins can be catastrophic, hence the rigor of testing and analysis, he said.

It is fitting that such checkout work is performed at Marshall. At the turn of the century, engine designers there sought to deliver Fastrac, an innovative turbopump rocket engine that would offer NASA and its partners an alternative to the space shuttle main engine, then the workhorse of the agencys shuttle fleet. The Fastrac program was shuttered in 2001, but SpaceX leveraged much of the design and technology to aid development of its original Merlin 1A engine.

Darden and Fiorucci, colleagues at Marshall for more than three decades, are quick to note they stand on the shoulders of giants leveraging decades of engine test data and analytical techniques from the Saturn Vs F-1 engines, the RS-25s that powered the shuttle, and countless unique engine development efforts along the way.

Weve banked a long history of criteria, strategy, and proven methodologies, Fiorucci said. Since we began partnering with SpaceX, weve added hundreds more engine tests to our database, refining our expertise and continuing our consistent build methodology reaching back to the earliest days of U.S. rocket engine development.

That legacy anchored Marshall engine tests from qualification and acceptance testing to integration, checkouts, and shipping to Kennedy for launch, said Aerodyne Industries propulsion systems engineer Crystal Klemmer, part of the Jacobs team at Marshall that supported Merlin testing and monitored engine performance during the launch.

It felt surreal to be on console for the Crew-1 launch, she said. Its one thing to watch on TV. Its a completely different experience to have streaming data, several audio channels, and procedures and sequences to monitor. Its a huge accomplishment for SpaceX and for NASA.

That accomplishment was self-evident as the Crew-1s engines thundered to life a fanfare for uncommon men and women of talent, vision, and meticulous skill.

Music to our ears, Gaddis said.

The Commercial Crew Program unites NASA and industry to develop and fly new generations of crewed space transportation systems, extending humanitys reach into the solar system and forging a path back to the Moon and on to Mars.

Editors note: Rick Smith, a Manufacturing Technical Solutions employee, supports Marshalls Office of Strategic Analysis & Communications.

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Marshall, SpaceX teams celebrate engines of success | Technology Today | theredstonerocket.com - Theredstonerocket

The first private space station crew was introduced Tuesday: Three men who are each paying $55 million to fly on a SpaceX rocket.Related video above: World's largest launch pad takes shape at Cape CanaveralTheyll be led by a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the trip for next January.This is the first private flight to the International Space Station. Its never been done before, said Axioms chief executive and president Mike Suffredini, a former space station program manager for NASA.While mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria is well known in space circles, the other three guys are just people who want to be able to go to space, and were providing that opportunity, Suffredini told The Associated Press.The first crew will spend eight days at the space station, and will take one or two days to get there aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule following liftoff from Cape Canaveral.Russia has been in the off-the-planet tourism business for years, selling rides to the International Space Station since 2001. Other space companies like Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin plan to take paying customers on up-and-down flights lasting just minutes. These trips much more affordable with seats going for hundreds of thousands versus millions could kick off this year.Axioms first customers include Larry Connor, a real estate and tech entrepreneur from Dayton, Ohio, Canadian financier Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, a close friend of Israels first astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003.These guys are all very involved and doing it for kind of for the betterment of their communities and countries, and so we couldnt be happier with this makeup of the first crew because of their drive and their interest, Suffredini said.Each of these first paying customers intends to perform science research in orbit, he said, along with educational outreach.Lopez-Alegria, a former space station resident and spacewalking leader, called the group a collection of pioneers.Tom Cruise was mentioned last year as a potential crew member; NASA top officials confirmed he was interested in filming a movie at the space station. There was no word Tuesday on whether Cruise will catch the next Axiom flight. Suffredini declined to comment.Each of the private astronauts had to pass medical tests and will get 15 weeks of training, according to Suffredini. The 70-year-old Connor will become the second-oldest person to fly in space, after John Glenns shuttle flight in 1998 at age 77. Hell also serve under Lopez-Alegria as the capsule pilot.Axiom plans about two private missions a year to the space station. It also is working to launch its own live-in compartments to the station beginning in 2024. This section would be detached from the station once its retired by NASA and the international partners, and become its own private outpost.

The first private space station crew was introduced Tuesday: Three men who are each paying $55 million to fly on a SpaceX rocket.

Related video above: World's largest launch pad takes shape at Cape Canaveral

Theyll be led by a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the trip for next January.

This is the first private flight to the International Space Station. Its never been done before, said Axioms chief executive and president Mike Suffredini, a former space station program manager for NASA.

While mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria is well known in space circles, the other three guys are just people who want to be able to go to space, and were providing that opportunity, Suffredini told The Associated Press.

The first crew will spend eight days at the space station, and will take one or two days to get there aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule following liftoff from Cape Canaveral.

Russia has been in the off-the-planet tourism business for years, selling rides to the International Space Station since 2001. Other space companies like Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin plan to take paying customers on up-and-down flights lasting just minutes. These trips much more affordable with seats going for hundreds of thousands versus millions could kick off this year.

Axioms first customers include Larry Connor, a real estate and tech entrepreneur from Dayton, Ohio, Canadian financier Mark Pathy and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, a close friend of Israels first astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003.

These guys are all very involved and doing it for kind of for the betterment of their communities and countries, and so we couldnt be happier with this makeup of the first crew because of their drive and their interest, Suffredini said.

Each of these first paying customers intends to perform science research in orbit, he said, along with educational outreach.

Lopez-Alegria, a former space station resident and spacewalking leader, called the group a collection of pioneers.

Tom Cruise was mentioned last year as a potential crew member; NASA top officials confirmed he was interested in filming a movie at the space station. There was no word Tuesday on whether Cruise will catch the next Axiom flight. Suffredini declined to comment.

Each of the private astronauts had to pass medical tests and will get 15 weeks of training, according to Suffredini. The 70-year-old Connor will become the second-oldest person to fly in space, after John Glenns shuttle flight in 1998 at age 77. Hell also serve under Lopez-Alegria as the capsule pilot.

Axiom plans about two private missions a year to the space station. It also is working to launch its own live-in compartments to the station beginning in 2024. This section would be detached from the station once its retired by NASA and the international partners, and become its own private outpost.

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3 men paying $55 million to fly into space from Central Florida - WESH 2 Orlando

Technology's greatest value to construction is its ability to measure and document construction progress and connect decision makers in the field with project owners, company managers and data resources with which to make the most effective decisions. But internet connectivity remains a significant barrier to construction projects in many parts of the country adopting proven efficiency-enhancing technologies. If there's no real-time internet connection, technology's value drops significantly.

Solutions are available, but add a layer of complexity, preparation and maintenance to the construction technology solution. So it's significant news that PCMag.com is reporting SpaceXs upcoming satellite internet service can indeed supply fast internet to remote areas, according to a Native American tribe in Washington state.

The Hoh tribe tweeted that SpaceXs Starlink network has been supplying fast broadband to local residents in the area. Our children can participate in remote learning, residents can access healthcare, the tribe said. SpaceX Starlink made it happen overnight.

PCMag.com says last week, SpaceXupdated the FCC on the current status of Starlink, which is already supplying broadband to residents in rural areas in the US, Canada, and the UK. The companys presentation points out the system can currently deliver 100Mbps download speeds to users. But the long-term goal is to upgrade speeds to 10Gbps.

To try out Starlink, go to the companys website to register for the public beta. However, the invites remain limited to users in select regions in the northern US. Starlink also costs $99 a month plus a $499 one-time fee for the equipment. SpaceX plans to widen the beta to the southern U.S. early this year.

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SpaceX's Starlink Beams High-Speed Internet from Space to Remote Indian Tribe - ForConstructionPros.com

SpaceX's first Starlink launch of 2021 has been delayed due to bad weather and safety inspections.

The Falcon 9 rocket, holding 60 Starlink satellites ready to beam internet down to Earth, was scheduled for blast-off on Monday at 8:45 a.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but "unfavorable weather conditions in the recovery area" prevented the launch.

It was rescheduled for Tuesday, and has since been pushed back again.

The launch is now set for Wednesday at 8:02 a.m. EST, SpaceX tweeted. This is "to allow additional time for pre-launch inspections," the company said.

This will be the 17th time that SpaceX has sent Starlink satellites into space. Its goal for Starlink is to provide global broadband coverage from up to 42,000 satellites.

So far, Elon Musk's aerospace company has more than 1,000 internet satellites in orbit, according to Space.com. The company has already begun testing its space-based internet service through its "Better Than Nothing Beta," which is underway in the US, southern Canada, and parts of Europe. Some users are reporting speeds of more than 200 megabits per second.

Regulators in the UK have given the green light to Starlink, and some users have already received their beta kits.

Once the Falcon 9 has left the Earth's atmosphere, the rocket's first stage will peel off and land on the "Just Read the Instructions" recovery droneship, positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.

Read more: Here's how many millions of users Starlink may need to break even if it loses $2,000 for every satellite dish it sells, according to experts

The Falcon 9 rockets are known for their reusability this will be the eighth flight for this particular Falcon 9 rocket booster.

The rocket booster's most recent launch was December 13, when it took SiriusXM's new radio satellite into orbit. The six other missions include the RADARSAT Constellation Mission in June 2019, the Crew Dragon's first mission in March 2019, and four Starlink missions.

You can watch the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket via SpaceX.

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SpaceX delays launch of 60 Starlink satellites due to bad weather - Business Insider - Business Insider