Elon Musk reveals all in Reddit AMA shortly before SpaceX rocket launch cancelled January 6, 2015 Elon Musk, Silicon Valley’s enigmatic answer to Richard Branson, had an interesting day yesterday. The soon-to-be-divorced (from English actress Talulah Riley, again) SpaceX founder was due to send one of his rockets, Falcon X, to the International Space Station – then safely land it back on earth to be used again, a first in rocket [...]
SpaceX Falcon 9 mission to International Space Station is put on hold until Friday January 6, 2015 SpaceX's plan to send a rocket up into space and then land it safely back on Earth has been aborted until Friday. The mission, which involves sending a cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard rocket Falcon X, was almost ready to go this morning when a technical issue meant it had to [...]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket landing: Here’s what you need to know about Friday’s International Space Station mission January 6, 2015 On Friday, SpaceX will attempt to return a rocket to Earth for the first time ever. The Falcon 9 vessel will be launched into space, from where it will release its Dragon cargo spacecraft towards the International Space Station (ISS). It will then change direction and come back down towards Earth. The attempted landing [...]
Virgin Galactic crash: Has Virgin lost its innocence? November 7, 2014 To this day, my mother laments the moment I discovered girls. Before then, she forgave me nearly anything. A broad smile, cheeky shrug of the shoulders, and hey presto – I was out of trouble. She could overlook my many antics with an easy smile and a clear conscience. Kids will be kids. But [...]
Space travel economics: Don’t damn the rich for splurging on Virgin Galactic November 3, 2014 “Never let a serious crisis go to waste”, concluded Rahm Emanuel, Barack Obama’s ex-chief of staff. For our political commentators, a more accurate phrase might be “never let a tragedy go to waste”. Just days after the Mojave Desert crash of the Virgin Galactic spacecraft, the Guardian’s Zoe Williams has used the tragic incident to [...]
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo crash: Year-long investigation to push back commercial flight launch November 3, 2014 An investigation into the crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo in California’s Mojave Desert on Friday, that resulted in the death of one pilot, will take up to a year and could delay plans for the start of commercial space flights next year. Billionaire entrepreneur and Galactic’s founder Richard Branson vowed on Saturday to find out [...]
Virgin Galactic crash: Richard Branson says “Space is hard… We will persevere” after space test flight accident November 1, 2014 Richard Branson has said Virgin Galactic will continue with its space tourism venture after the fatal crash of one of its spaceships during a test flight. “Space is hard – but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together,” Branson wrote in a blog post as he headed to the crash site in the Mojave [...]
Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo crashes during space test flight after “in-flight anomaly” killing one and injuring a second person October 31, 2014 Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson’s commercial space flight company, has lost one of its spaceships during a test flight. SpaceShipTwo experienced an “in-flight anomaly”, the company said, causing it to crash over the Mojave Desert, killing one and injuring a second according to Calfornia Highway Patrol. It's understood there were two pilots aboard the spaceship but no [...]
Elon Musk’s SpaceX wins Nasa commercial flight contract September 17, 2014 It’s a good day for PayPal founder Elon Musk; his SpaceX corporation has been selected by Nasa as one of the two firms to design crew capsules for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). The Commercial Crew Development programme has awarded SpaceX and Boeing a combined sum of $6.2bn to develop the capsules. [...]
Boeing and SpaceX will share a $6.8bn space taxi Nasa contract September 16, 2014 NASA yesterday revealed Boeing and SpaceX will share a $6.8bn (£4.2bn) contract to fly astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Massive aerospace and defence company Boeing will get $4.2bn from Nasa to use its CST-100 capsule to ferry astronauts to the ISS. Meanwhile SpaceX, founded in 2002 by former Paypal entrepreneur and Tesla Motors [...]