Texas approves land-swapping deal with SpaceX as company hopes to expand rocket-launch operations
SpaceX is set to acquire public land from Texas after the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission approved a land-swapping deal that would cede 43 acres to entrepreneur Elon Musk's company in exchange for 477 acres that are yet to be bought.
Federal agency failed to weigh possible environmental impacts of SpaceX rocket launch, lawsuit claims
Environmental groups claim the Federal Aviation Administration let SpaceX do its own environmental assessment before its rocket self-destructed above the Texas coast and debris rained down over a wide area.
Watch: SpaceX Starship lands upright, then explodes in latest test on South Texas beach
In this image from video made available by SpaceX, one of the company's Starship prototypes fires its thrusters as it lands during a test in Boca Chica, Texas, on Wednesday, March 3, 2021. Two previous test flights crash-landed in fireballs. One day, the true measure of success will be that Starship flights are commonplace.โMusk plans to use Starships to send people to the moon and Mars. The last two prototypes reached a similarly high altitude in December and February, but slammed into the ground at Boca Chica, Texas, and exploded. Each of these last three test flights lasted 6 1/2 minutes.
WATCH: SpaceX Starship crash-lands after highest test flight in South Texas
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. โ SpaceX launched its shiny, bullet-shaped, straight-out-of-science fiction Starship several miles into the air from a remote corner of Texas on Wednesday, but the 6 1/2-minute test flight ended in an explosive fireball at touchdown. The full-scale, stainless steel model โ 160 feet (50 meters) tall and 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter โ soared out over the Gulf of Mexico. Full Screen 1 / 5 In this screen grab from video posted by SpaceX, the company's Starship launches for a test flight, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, in a remote area of Texas. (SpaceX via AP)The entire flight โ as dramatic and flashy as it gets, even by SpaceX standards โ lasted six minutes and 42 seconds. โAnybody who knows how hard this stuff is is impressed by todayโs Starship test.โTwo lower, shorter SpaceX test flights earlier this year from Boca Chica, Texas โ a quiet coastal village before SpaceX moved in โ used more rudimentary versions of Starship.
SpaceX launches Starship on highest test flight, crash-lands
In this screen grab from video posted by SpaceX, the company's Starship launches for a test flight, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, in a remote area of Texas. (SpaceX via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. โ SpaceX launched its shiny, bullet-shaped, straight-out-of-science fiction Starship several miles into the air from a remote corner of Texas on Wednesday, but the 6 1/2-minute test flight ended in an explosive fireball at touchdown. The full-scale, stainless steel model โ 160 feet (50 meters) tall and 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter โ soared out over the Gulf of Mexico. The entire flight โ as dramatic and flashy as it gets, even by SpaceX standards โ lasted six minutes and 42 seconds. โAnybody who knows how hard this stuff is is impressed by todayโs Starship test.โTwo lower, shorter SpaceX test flights earlier this year from Boca Chica, Texas โ a quiet coastal village before SpaceX moved in โ used more rudimentary versions of Starship.
SpaceX's Mars test rocket makes 1st flight, landing upright
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. SpaceX launched a prototype of its Mars rocketship hundreds of feet into the air, then landed it upright in a successful test flight. Mars is looking real, SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk tweeted after the short hop. Progress is accelerating.Musk said several more short hops are planned before a test version of Starship aims for a high altitude. On Sunday, SpaceX safely returned two NASA astronauts from the International Space Station following a two-month test flight. We're going to send people to Mars and make life multi-planetary," Musk said following splashdown.