Lifeboat Foundation

Virgin Galactic has unveiled the interior cabin of its future tourist spaceplane 😍.

A video from SpaceX shows the company’s Crew Dragon capsule plunging toward the Gulf of Mexico, then unfurling a series of parachutes to slow the spaceship carrying two NASA astronauts from 350 mph to a relatively gentle 15 mph for splashdown Sunday.

#Starship #hop 150m #flight.

A full-scale prototype of the huge Starship rocket SpaceX says will fly people to the moon and Mars left the ground for the first time Tuesday in South Texas, flying to an altitude of roughly 500 feet before settling on a nearby landing pad.

“Mars is looking real … Progress is accelerating,” says Elon Musk.

📷: @SpacePadreIsle

The footage of the tiny tiny landing legs deploying is particularly fantastic. Credit: SpaceX

#SpaceX

#ElonMusk

Featured Image Source: SpaceX

The Department of the U.S. Air Force awarded SpaceX a National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service contract valued at $316 million. The military launches will be conducted by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, between 2022 and 2027. One of the requirements for the Phase 2 contract is that SpaceX must have the capability to do a vertical payload integration at their launch site. SpaceX President, Gwynne Shotwell, told reporters–

“The only modifications we need are an extended fairing on the Falcon Heavy, and we are going to have to build a vertical integration capability. But we are basically flying the rockets that they need.”

Starship lifts off and a terraformed Mars map is published. How will Mars astronauts reach the surface? It’s Musk Reads: SpaceX Edition #193.

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The footage of the tiny tiny landing legs deploying is particularly fantastic. Credit: SpaceX