130-520: The Falcon Heavy test flight (also known as the Falcon Heavy demonstration mission ) was the first attempt by SpaceX to launch a Falcon Heavy rocket on February 6, 2018, at 20:45 UTC. The successful test introduced the Falcon Heavy as the most powerful rocket in operation at the time, producing five million pounds-force (22 MN) of thrust and having more than twice the payload capacity of
260-472: A $ 1.9 billion funding round, one of the largest single fundraising pushes by any privately held company, SpaceX's valuation increased to $ 46 billion . In February 2021, SpaceX raised an additional $ 1.61 billion in an equity round from 99 investors at a per share value of approximately $ 420 , raising the company valuation to approximately $ 74 billion . By 2021, SpaceX had raised more than $ 6 billion in equity financing. Most of
390-401: A heliocentric orbit , with an aphelion of 1.66 AU, beyond Mars . The payload has an orbital period of 1.53 years. The first four hours of the flight were streamed live on YouTube . The last image released to the public was taken after the second stage finished burning all of its fuel, and showed Starman leaving Earth behind. Batteries were expected to last about 12 hours. NASA added
520-509: A lunar rover predated Apollo, with a 1952–1954 series in Collier's Weekly magazine by Wernher von Braun and others, " Man Will Conquer Space Soon! " In this, von Braun described a six-week stay on the Moon, featuring 10-ton tractor-trailers for moving supplies. In 1956, Mieczysław G. Bekker published two books on land locomotion while he was a University of Michigan professor and a consultant to
650-455: A 10-volume report. Included was the need for a pressurized vehicle in the 6,490–8,470 lb (2,940–3,840 kg) weight range, accommodating two men with their expendables and instruments for traverses up to two weeks in duration. In June 1964, Marshall awarded contracts to Bendix and Boeing, with GM's lab designated as the vehicle technology subcontractor. Bell Aerospace was already under contract for studies of Lunar Flying Vehicles. Even as
780-455: A Falcon 9 exploded during a propellant fill operation for a standard pre-launch static fire test . The payload, the AMOS-6 communications satellite valued at $ 200 million , was destroyed. The explosion was caused by the liquid oxygen that is used as propellant turning so cold that it solidified and ignited with carbon composite helium vessels. Though not considered an unsuccessful flight,
910-551: A July 2017 meeting of the International Space Station Research and Development meeting in Washington, D.C. , SpaceX CEO Elon Musk downplayed expectations for the success of the maiden flight: There's a real good chance the vehicle won't make it to orbit ... I hope it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage. I would consider even that a win, to be honest. Musk went on to say
1040-420: A booster from CRS-23 on it for the first time on 29 August 2021. Within the first 130 days of 2022, SpaceX had 18 rocket launches and two astronaut splashdowns. On 13 December 2021, company CEO Elon Musk announced that the company was starting a carbon dioxide removal program that would convert captured carbon into rocket fuel , after he announced a $ 100 million donation to the X Prize Foundation
1170-515: A crew transport vehicle to the ISS. NASA awarded SpaceX a fixed-price Space Act Agreement (SAA) to produce a detailed design of the crew transportation system in August 2012. In early 2012, approximately two-thirds of SpaceX stock was owned by Musk and his seventy million shares were then estimated to be worth $ 875 million on private markets , valuing SpaceX at $ 1.3 billion . In May 2012, with
1300-508: A fairing. The Falcon Heavy maiden flight was intended to accomplish at least several of the following objectives: The purpose of including the Roadster on the maiden flight was to demonstrate that the Falcon Heavy can launch payloads as far as the orbit of Mars, and it exceeded its projected route by extending its aphelion to near the asteroid belt beyond Mars (with a perihelion at the level of Earth's orbit), but did not test or demonstrate
1430-400: A greater turn angle than the outside tires, to avoid sideslip. Power was provided by two 36-volt silver-zinc potassium hydroxide non-rechargeable batteries developed by Eagle-Picher with a charge capacity of 121 A·h each (a total of 242 A·h), yielding a range of 57 miles (92 km). These were used to power the drive and steering motors and also a 36-volt utility outlet mounted on
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#17330854320151560-423: A preliminary study of the shelter and its related vehicle. Because of the potential need for an enclosed vehicle for enlarged future lunar explorations, those design efforts continued for some time and resulted in several full-scale test vehicles. With pressure from Congress to hold down Apollo costs, Saturn V production was reduced, allowing only a single launch per mission. Any roving vehicle would have to fit on
1690-405: A private company building a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for communications with Internet of things (IoT) devices, for $ 524 million . In December 2022, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the launch up to 7,500 of SpaceX's next-generation satellites in its Starlink internet network. SpaceX has developed three launch vehicles. The small-lift Falcon 1
1820-417: A revenue of over $ 10 billion in 2024. In early 2001, Elon Musk met Robert Zubrin and donated $ 100,000 to his Mars Society , joining its board of directors for a short time. He gave a plenary talk at their fourth convention where he announced Mars Oasis , a project to land a greenhouse and grow plants on Mars. Musk initially attempted to acquire a Dnepr intercontinental ballistic missile for
1950-466: A small test track with craters and rock debris where several different mock-ups were compared; it became obvious that a small rover would be best for the proposed missions. The test vehicle was also operated in remote mode to determine characteristics that might be dangerous to the driver, such as acceleration, bounce-height, and turn-over tendency as it traveled at higher speeds and over simulated obstacles. The test rover's performance under one-sixth gravity
2080-507: A three-part chassis that was hinged in the center so it could be folded up and hung in the Lunar Module Quadrant 1 bay, which was kept open to space by omission of the outer skin panel. They have two side-by-side foldable seats made of tubular aluminum with nylon webbing and aluminum floor panels. An armrest was mounted between the seats, and each seat had adjustable footrests and a Velcro -fastened seat belt. A large mesh dish antenna
2210-444: A wide variety of wheel-surface conditions. To simulate Pavlics's "resilient wheel," a four-foot-diameter inner tube wrapped with nylon ski rope was used. On the small test rover, each wheel had a small electric motor, with overall power provided by standard truck batteries. A roll bar gave protection from overturning accidents. In early 1966, Brown's vehicle became available for examining human factors and other testing. Marshall built
2340-567: Is a battery-powered four-wheeled rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program ( 15 , 16 , and 17 ) during 1971 and 1972. It is popularly called the Moon buggy , a play on the term " dune buggy ". Built by Boeing, each LRV has a mass of 462 pounds (210 kg) without payload. It could carry a maximum payload of 970 pounds (440 kg), including two astronauts, equipment, and cargo such as lunar samples, and
2470-407: Is a 50-50 chance of success, the rocket performed nominally and launched on schedule, followed by nominal separation of the side-boosters (first stage), and soon after, by the central core booster (second stage). Valuable telemetry data on the performance of the launch system and its components were obtained for all stages of the test flight. Both boosters successfully landed almost simultaneously on
2600-467: Is an American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase near Brownsville, Texas . Since its founding in 2001, the company has made numerous advancements in rocket propulsion , reusable launch vehicle , human spaceflight and satellite constellation technology. By the late 2010s, SpaceX had become the world's dominant space launch provider, its launch cadence rivaling that of
2730-422: Is mounted on the dashboard. A plaque bearing the names of the employees who worked on the project is underneath the car, and a message on the vehicle's circuit board reads "Made on Earth by humans". Falcon Heavy flew in its reusable configuration, allowing for a landing approach of both side boosters and the central core. The side boosters consisted of two previously flown Falcon 9 first stages , being reused from
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#17330854320152860-420: Is the largest launch vehicle in history and aims to fully realize the company's vision of a fully-reusable, cost-effective and adaptable launch vehicle. SpaceX is also developing its own space suit and astronaut via its Polaris program as well as developing the human lander for lunar missions under NASA's Artemis program . SpaceX is not publicly traded; a space industry newspaper estimated that SpaceX has
2990-462: Is to decrease the cost and improve the reliability of access to space , ultimately by a factor of ten. SpaceX developed its first orbital launch vehicle , the Falcon 1 , with internal funding. The Falcon 1 was an expendable two-stage-to-orbit small-lift launch vehicle . The total development cost of Falcon 1 was approximately $ 90 million to $ 100 million . The Falcon rocket series
3120-696: The CRS -9 mission in July 2016 and the Thaicom 8 launch in May 2016. The central core was newly built because it needs to support stronger forces during ascent, so that a regular first stage could not be used. The upper stage was the same as on a Falcon 9. Side boosters equipped with a nose cone have different aerodynamic properties than the usual Falcon 9 boosters with a cylindric interstage. For this reason, SpaceX equipped them with larger and sturdier grid fins made of titanium, to help guide
3250-618: The Chinese space program and eclipsing all those of its private competitors. SpaceX, NASA and the United States Armed Forces work closely together by means of governmental contracts . SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2001 with a vision of decreasing the costs of space launches, paving the way to a sustainable colony on Mars . In 2008, when SpaceX was almost bankrupt, Falcon 1 successfully launched into orbit after three failed launch attempts. The company then pivoted towards
3380-773: The Dragon C2+ launch, Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station . After the flight, the company private equity valuation nearly doubled to $ 2.4 billion or $ 20 /share. By that time, SpaceX had operated on total funding of approximately $ 1 billion over its first decade of operation. Of this, private equity provided approximately $ 200 million , with Musk investing approximately $ 100 million and other investors having put in about $ 100 million . SpaceX's active reusability test program began in late 2012 with testing low-altitude, low-speed aspects of
3510-564: The Falcon 5 . The company instead decided in 2005 to proceed with the development of the Falcon 9 , a reusable heavier lift vehicle . Development of the Falcon 9 was accelerated by NASA , which committed to purchasing several commercial flights if specific capabilities were demonstrated. This started with seed money from the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program in 2006. The overall contract award
3640-550: The National Air and Space Museum . The abrasion from the dust is evident on some portions of the makeshift fender. The color TV camera mounted on the front of the LRV could be remotely operated by Mission Control in pan and tilt axes as well as zoom. This allowed far better television coverage of the EVA than the earlier missions. On each mission, at the conclusion of the astronauts' stay on
3770-571: The Starship and Starlink projects. The purpose of the Starship vehicle is to enable large-scale transit of humans and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. SpaceX's Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever flown, with a payload capacity of 100+ tons. Construction of initial prototypes and tests for Starship started in early 2019 in Florida and Texas. All Starship construction and testing moved to
3900-480: The U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command 's Land Locomotion Laboratory. The books provided much of the theoretical basis for future lunar vehicle development. In 1959, Georg von Tiesenhausen conceived the lunar rover as a four-wheel-drive vehicle with noninflated , flexible wheels. In the February 1964 issue of Popular Science , von Braun, then director of NASA 's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), discussed
4030-514: The artificial objects on the Moon , as are the Soviet Union 's uncrewed rovers, Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2 . The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle is a battery electric vehicle designed to operate in the low-gravity vacuum of the Moon and to be capable of traversing the lunar surface, allowing the Apollo astronauts to extend the range of their surface extravehicular activities. Three LRVs were used on
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4160-404: The cancellation of further Apollo missions . Other LRV models were built: a static model to assist with human factors design; an engineering model to design and integrate the subsystems; two one-sixth gravity models for testing the deployment mechanism; a one-gravity trainer to give the astronauts instruction in the operation of the rover and allow them to practice driving it; a mass model to test
4290-480: The first successful first-stage landing in 2015 and re-launch of the first stage in 2017 . Falcon Heavy , built from three Falcon 9 boosters, first flew in 2018 after a more than decade-long development process. As of October 2024, the company's Falcon 9 rockets have landed and flown again more than 330 times , reaching 1–2 launches a week. These milestones delivered the company much-needed investment and SpaceX sought to diversify its sources of income. In 2019,
4420-425: The modular approach of modern software engineering, Musk believed SpaceX could significantly cut launch costs. In early 2002, Elon Musk started to look for staff for his company, soon to be named SpaceX. Musk approached five people for the initial positions at the fledgling company, including Griffin, who declined the position of Chief Engineer, Jim Cantrell and John Garvey (Cantrell and Garvey would later found
4550-586: The Bendix and Boeing studies were underway, Marshall was examining a less ambitious surface exploration activity, the LSSM. This would be composed of a fixed, habitable shelter–laboratory with a small lunar-traversing vehicle that could either carry one man or be remotely controlled. This mission would still require a dual launch with the moon vehicle carried on the "lunar truck". Marshall's Propulsion and Vehicle Engineering (P&VE) lab contracted with Hayes International to make
4680-657: The Boeing facility in Kent, Washington , and the chassis manufacturing and overall assembly would be completed at the Boeing facility in Huntsville. The first cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to Boeing was for $ 19,000,000 and called for delivery of the first LRV by 1 April 1971. Cost overruns, however, led to a final cost of $ 38,000,000, which was about the same as NASA's original estimate. Four lunar rovers were built, one each for Apollo missions 15, 16, and 17; and one used for spare parts after
4810-556: The California Secretary of State. The move to relocate SpaceX's headquarters was seen as largely symbolic, at least in the short term. The Hawthorne facility continues to support the company's Falcon launch vehicles, which was SpaceX's workhorse product in 2024. SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission featured the first-ever private spacewalk, marking a major milestone in commercial space exploration. In January 2019, SpaceX announced it would lay off 10% of its workforce to help finance
4940-576: The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract to finalize the development of the Crew Transportation System. The contract included several technical and certification milestones, an uncrewed flight test, a crewed flight test, and six operational missions after certification. In January 2015, SpaceX raised $ 1 billion in funding from Google and Fidelity Investments , in exchange for 8.33% of
5070-502: The EVA. Therefore, they went to the farthest point away from the LM and worked their way back to it so that, as the life support consumables were depleted, their remaining walk back distance was equally diminished. This constraint was relaxed during the longest traverse on Apollo 17, based on the demonstrated reliability of the LRV and spacesuits on previous missions. A paper by Burkhalter and Sharp provides details on usage. Astronaut deployment of
5200-515: The Falcon 9's second flight, and safely returned to Earth after two orbits, completing all its mission objectives. By December 2010, the SpaceX production line was manufacturing one Falcon 9 and Dragon every three months. In April 2011, as part of its second-round Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, NASA issued a $ 75 million contract for SpaceX to develop an integrated launch escape system for Dragon in preparation for human-rating it as
5330-560: The LM. Marshall also continued to examine uncrewed robotic rovers that could be controlled from the Earth. From the beginnings at Marshall, the Brown Engineering Company of Huntsville, Alabama , had participated in all of the lunar mobility efforts. In 1965, Brown became the prime support contractor for Marshall's P&VE Laboratory. With an urgent need to determine the feasibility of a two-man self-contained lander, von Braun bypassed
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5460-459: The LM. There was also a Sun-shadow device that could give a manual heading based on the direction of the Sun, using the fact that the Sun moved very slowly in the sky. The LRV was used during the lunar surface operations of Apollo 15, 16 and 17, the J missions of the Apollo program. On each mission, the LRV was used on three separate EVAs, for a total of nine lunar traverses, or sorties. During operation,
5590-486: The Lunar Roving Vehicle from the LM's open Quadrant 1 bay was achieved with a system of pulleys and braked reels using ropes and cloth tapes. The rover was folded and stored in the bay with the underside of the chassis facing out. One astronaut would climb the egress ladder on the LM and release the rover, which would then be slowly tilted out by the second astronaut on the ground through the use of reels and tapes. As
5720-445: The Moon. On 18 November 2023, SpaceX launched its second integrated Starship test , with both vehicles flying for a few minutes before separately exploding. In early March 2024 SpaceX announced that it was targeting 14 March as the tentative launch date for its next uncrewed Starship launch configuration flight test, pending the issuance of a "launch license" by the FAA . This license
5850-565: The Moon: one on Apollo 15 by astronauts David Scott and Jim Irwin , one on Apollo 16 by John Young and Charles Duke , and one on Apollo 17 by Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt . The mission commander served as the driver, occupying the left-hand seat of each LRV. Features are available in papers by Morea, Baker, and Kudish. The Lunar Roving Vehicles have a mass of 460 pounds (210 kg), and were designed to hold an additional payload of 510 pounds (230 kg). This resulted in weights in
5980-449: The Roadster the first consumer car sent into space. Three Lunar Roving Vehicles were sent to space on the Apollo 15 , 16 , and 17 missions in the 1970s, and these vehicles were left on the Moon. The Roadster is one of two formerly crewed vehicles (albeit not a crewed space vehicle) derelict in solar orbit, joining LM-4 Snoopy , Apollo 10 's lunar module ascent stage . Also, included
6110-466: The Sun that will take it as far out as Mars' orbit. He released pictures in the following days. The car has three cameras attached that provided "epic views". On December 28, 2017, the Falcon Heavy was moved to the launch pad in preparation of a static fire test of all 27 engines, which was expected on January 19, 2018. However, due to the U.S. government shutdown that began on January 20 , the testing and launch were further delayed. The static fire test
6240-409: The approximately one-sixth g on the lunar surface of 77 pounds-force (35 kgf) empty ( curb weight ) and 160 pounds-force (73 kgf) fully loaded ( gross vehicle weight ). The vehicle frame is 10 feet (3.0 m) long with a wheelbase of 7.5 feet (2.3 m). The height of the vehicles is 3.6 feet (1.1 m). The frame is made of 2219 aluminum alloy tubing welded assemblies and consisted of
6370-401: The atmospheric descent accurately. The central core, however, still used conventional aluminum grid fins, as its aerodynamic properties are very similar to those of a conventional Falcon 9 first stage. The Roadster was mounted on the second stage using a custom-made payload adapter, and was encapsulated in a conventional fairing. Falcon Heavy also supports the launch of Dragon capsules without
6500-817: The capital raised since 2019 has been used to support the operational fielding of the Starlink satellite constellation and the development and manufacture of the Starship launch vehicle. By October 2021, the valuation of SpaceX had risen to $ 100.3 billion . On 16 April 2021, Starship HLS won a contract to play a critical role in the NASA crewed spaceflight Artemis program . By 2021, SpaceX had entered into agreements with Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure to provide on-ground computer and networking services for Starlink . A new round of financing in 2022 valued SpaceX at $ 127 billion . In July 2021, SpaceX unveiled another drone ship named A Shortfall of Gravitas , landing
6630-470: The commander (CDR) always drove, while the Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) was a passenger who assisted with navigation. An operational constraint on the use of the LRV was that the astronauts must be able to walk back to the LM if the LRV were to fail at any time during the EVA (called the "Walkback Limit"). Thus, the traverses were limited in the distance they could go at the start and at any time later in
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#17330854320156760-559: The company Vector Launch ), rocket engineer Tom Mueller , and Chris Thompson. SpaceX was first headquartered in a warehouse in El Segundo, California . Early SpaceX employees, such as Tom Mueller (CTO), Gwynne Shotwell (COO), and Chris Thompson (VP of Operations), came from neighboring TRW and Boeing corporations. By November 2005, the company had 160 employees. Musk personally interviewed and approved all of SpaceX's early employees. Musk has stated that one of his goals with SpaceX
6890-474: The company achieved the first successful landing on the autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean. By October 2016, following the successful landings, SpaceX indicated they were offering their customers a 10% price discount if they choose to fly their payload on a reused Falcon 9 first stage. A second major rocket failure happened in early September 2016, when
7020-404: The company raised $ 350 million , which raised its valuation to $ 21 billion . In 2017, SpaceX achieved a 45% global market share for awarded commercial launch contracts. By March 2018, SpaceX had more than 100 launches on its manifest representing about $ 12 billion in contract revenue. The contracts included both commercial and government (NASA/DOD) customers. This made SpaceX
7150-414: The company, establishing the company valuation at approximately $ 12 billion . The same month SpaceX announced the development of a new satellite constellation, called Starlink , to provide global broadband internet service with 4,000 satellites. The Falcon 9 had its first major failure in late June 2015, when the seventh ISS resupply mission, CRS-7 exploded two minutes into the flight. The problem
7280-517: The competition from SpaceX. Beginning in 2014, SpaceX capabilities and pricing also began to affect the market for launch of U.S. military payloads, which for nearly a decade had been dominated by the large U.S. launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA). The monopoly had allowed launch costs by the U.S. provider to rise to over $ 400 million over the years. In September 2014, NASA's Director of Commercial Spaceflight, Kevin Crigler, awarded SpaceX
7410-403: The cooling surfaces with hand brushes. A T-shaped hand controller situated between the two seats controlled the four drive motors, two steering motors, and brakes. Moving the stick forward powered the LRV forward, left and right turned the vehicle left or right, and pulling backwards activated the brakes. Activating a switch on the handle before pulling back would put the LRV into reverse. Pulling
7540-554: The development of the larger Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon 1 capsule to satisfy NASA 's COTS contracts for deliveries to the International Space Station . By 2012, SpaceX finished all COTS test flights and began delivering Commercial Resupply Services missions to the International Space Station. Also around that time, SpaceX started developing hardware to make the Falcon 9 first stage reusable . The company demonstrated
7670-413: The earlier small-rover studies, and commercially available components were incorporated wherever possible. The selection of wheels was of great importance, and almost nothing was known at that time about the lunar surface. The Marshall Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL) was responsible for predicting surface properties, and Brown was also prime support contractor for this lab; Brown set up a test area to examine
7800-499: The effect of the rover on the LM structure, balance, and handling; a vibration test unit to study the LRV's durability and handling of launch stresses; and a qualification test unit to study integration of all LRV subsystems. A paper by Saverio Morea gives details of the LRV system and its development. LRVs were used for greater surface mobility during the Apollo J-class missions, Apollo 15 , Apollo 16 , and Apollo 17 . The rover
7930-404: The electronics, the vehicle was ready to back away from the LM. Four flight-ready LRVs were manufactured, as well as several others for testing and training. Three were transported to and left on the Moon via the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions (LRV-1 to 3), with the fourth (LRV-4) used for spare parts for the first three following the cancellation of Apollo 18. The rover used on Apollo 15
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#17330854320158060-732: The end of the decade, a program that would later become the Dragon spacecraft . In 2006, the company was selected by NASA and awarded $ 396 million to provide crew and cargo resupply demonstration contracts to the International Space Station (ISS) under the COTS program . The first two Falcon 1 launches were purchased by the United States Department of Defense under the DARPA Falcon Project which evaluated new U.S. launch vehicles suitable for use in hypersonic missile delivery for Prompt Global Strike . The first three launches of
8190-548: The equipment, supplies, and transport vehicle for use by the crew while on the surface. All of the first Marshall studies were based on this dual-launch assumption, allowing a large, heavy, roving vehicle. Grumman and Northrop, in the fall of 1962, began to design pressurized-cabin vehicles, with electric motors for each wheel. At about this same time, Bendix and Boeing started their internal studies on lunar transportation systems. Mieczysław Bekker , now with General Motors Defense Research Laboratories at Santa Barbara, California ,
8320-510: The extension was lost after about one hour of driving, causing the astronauts to be covered with dust. For their second EVA, a replacement "fender" was made with some EVA maps, duct tape, and a pair of clamps from inside the Lunar Module that were nominally intended for the moveable overhead light. This repair was later undone so that the clamps could be taken inside for the return launch. The maps were brought back to Earth and are now on display at
8450-527: The failure of SpaceX CRS-7 in June 2015, SpaceX rescheduled the maiden Falcon Heavy flight in September 2015 to occur no earlier than April 2016, but by February 2016 had postponed it again to late 2016. The flight was to be launched from the refurbished Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A . In August 2016, the demonstration flight was moved to early 2017, then to summer 2017, to late 2017 and to January 2018. At
8580-417: The first large batch of 60 Starlink satellites, beginning to deploy what would become the world's largest commercial satellite constellation the following year. In 2022, most SpaceX launches focused on Starlink, a consumer internet business that sends batches of internet-beaming satellites and now has over 6,000 satellites in orbit. On 16 July 2021, SpaceX entered an agreement to acquire Swarm Technologies ,
8710-469: The first operational satellite of the Starlink internet satellite constellation came online. In subsequent years, Starlink generated the bulk of SpaceX's income and paved the way for its Starshield military counterpart. In 2020, SpaceX began to operate its Dragon 2 capsules to deliver crewed missions for NASA and private entities. Around this time, SpaceX began building test prototypes for Starship , which
8840-453: The first successful launch achieved on the fourth attempt on 28 September 2008. Musk split his remaining $ 30 million between SpaceX and Tesla, and NASA awarded the first Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract awarding $ 1.6 billion to SpaceX in December, thus financially saving the company. Based on these factors and the further business operations they enabled, the Falcon 1
8970-456: The fix to this problem was "pretty obvious", which led many to believe SpaceX was simply going to add more ignition fluid on future missions. As SpaceX was phasing out Block 3 and starting the transition to only use Block 5 hardware for future Falcon 9 launches, the Block 3 center core loss did not impact future SpaceX operations. The second stage fired three times before placing the dummy payload in
9100-460: The front of the LRV to power the communications relay unit or the TV camera. LRV batteries and electronics were passively cooled, using change-of-phase wax thermal capacitor packages and reflective, upward-facing radiating surfaces. While driving, radiators were covered with mylar blankets to minimize dust accumulation. When stopped, the astronauts would open the blankets, and manually remove excess dust from
9230-783: The greater war between Russia and Ukraine, Starlink was extensively used . In 2022, SpaceX's Falcon 9 also became the world record holder for the most launches of a single vehicle type in a single year. SpaceX launched a rocket approximately every six days in 2022, with 61 launches in total. All but one (a Falcon Heavy in November) was on a Falcon 9 rocket. In November 2023, SpaceX announced it would acquire its parachute supplier Pioneer Aerospace out of bankruptcy for $ 2.2 million . On 16 July 2024, Elon Musk posted on X that SpaceX would move its headquarters from Hawthorne, California , to SpaceX Starbase in Brownsville, Texas . Musk said this
9360-477: The ground at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station . As the boosters were from an older generation of the Falcon 9 booster, SpaceX has ruled out using any of their major parts for a third mission. Due to the high cost and lengthy manufacturing process of the grid fins , however, those were reused on future flights. The central core attempted to return to the autonomous spaceport drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" but failed to light two of
9490-435: The handle all the way back activated a parking brake. The control and display modules were situated in front of the handle and gave information on the speed, heading, pitch, and power and temperature levels. Navigation was based on continuously recording direction and distance through use of a directional gyro and odometer and feeding this data to a computer that would keep track of the overall direction and distance back to
9620-428: The hub. Dust guards were mounted above the wheels. Each wheel had its own electric drive made by Delco, a brushed DC electric motor capable of 0.25 horsepower (190 W) at 10,000 rpm, attached to the wheel via an 80:1 harmonic drive , and a mechanical brake unit. In the case of drive failure, astronauts could remove pins to disengage the drive from the wheel, allowing the wheel to spin freely. Maneuvering capability
9750-419: The integration and structural challenges of combining three Falcon 9 cores were much more difficult than expected. The plan was for all three cores to land back on Earth after launch. In December 2017, Musk tweeted that the dummy payload on the maiden Falcon Heavy launch would be his personal midnight cherry Tesla Roadster playing David Bowie's "Life on Mars", and that it would be launched into an orbit around
9880-469: The landing technology. The Falcon 9 prototypes performed vertical takeoffs and landings ( VTOL ). High-velocity, high-altitude tests of the booster atmospheric return technology began in late 2013. SpaceX launched the first commercial mission for a private customer in 2013. In 2014, SpaceX won nine contracts out of the 20 that were openly competed worldwide. That year Arianespace requested that European governments provide additional subsidies to face
10010-442: The launch "a quantum leap in space technology". Later, Elon Musk released a video highlighting the flight, and thanking fans. Life cannot just be about solving one sad problem after another. There need to be things that inspire you, that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be part of humanity. That is why we did it. We did for you. SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. , commonly referred to as SpaceX ,
10140-412: The launch sequence of a space vehicle. In the case of a rocket that must be self-destructed during its ascent, max q occurs at the point of self-destruction. Eventually, the vehicle lost control and spun erratically until the automated flight termination system was activated, which intentionally destroyed the rocket. Elon Musk, SpaceX, and other individuals familiar with the space industry have referred to
10270-413: The leading global commercial launch provider measured by manifested launches. In 2017, SpaceX formed a subsidiary, The Boring Company , and began work to construct a short test tunnel on and adjacent to the SpaceX headquarters and manufacturing facility, using a small number of SpaceX employees, which was completed in May 2018, and opened to the public in December 2018. During 2018, The Boring Company
10400-422: The mobility laboratory (MOLAB), then the lunar scientific survey module (LSSM), and finally the mobility test article (MTA). In early planning for the Apollo program , it had been assumed that two Saturn V launch vehicles would be used for each lunar mission: one for sending the crew aboard a Lunar Surface Module (LSM) to lunar orbit, landing, and returning, and a second for sending an LSM-Truck (LSM-T) with all of
10530-433: The need for a lunar surface vehicle, and revealed that studies had been underway at Marshall in conjunction with Lockheed, Bendix, Boeing, General Motors, Brown Engineering, Grumman, and Bell Aerospace. Saverio Morea was named LRV Manager at MSFC in 1961. Beginning in the early 1960s, a series of studies centering on lunar mobility were conducted under Marshall. This began with the lunar logistics system (LLS), followed by
10660-643: The need for wheel fenders to reduce dust contamination was found. The model was also extensively tested at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona , as well as the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland . During 1965 and 1967, the Summer Conference on Lunar Exploration and Science brought together leading scientists to assess NASA's planning for exploring the Moon and to make recommendations. One of their findings
10790-453: The new SpaceX South Texas launch site later that year. On 20 April 2023, Starship's first orbital flight test ended in a mid-air explosion over the Gulf of Mexico before booster separation. After launch, multiple engines in the booster progressively failed, causing the vehicle to reach max q later than planned. "Max q" is the theoretical point of maximal mechanical stress which occurs during
10920-541: The next most powerful rocket, United Launch Alliance 's Delta IV Heavy . In April 2011, SpaceX was planning for a first launch of Falcon Heavy from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the West Coast in 2013. It refurbished Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg AFB to accommodate Falcon 9 and Heavy. The first launch from the Cape Canaveral East Coast launch complex was planned for late 2013 or 2014. Due partly to
11050-410: The orbit of Mars at its furthest point from the sun. As the launch was a success, most planned events took place in the planned point of time. As the central core landing burn wasn't performed correctly, the exact time of the landing attempt is not known. The mission timeline was (all times approximate): In the above table, events are color coded. Although Elon Musk had publicly declared that there
11180-494: The payload had to be "something fun and without irreplaceable sentimental value". Sitting in the driver's seat of the Roadster is "Starman", a dummy astronaut clad in a SpaceX spacesuit. It has his right hand on the steering wheel and left elbow resting on the open window sill. Starman is named for the David Bowie song " Starman ". The car's sound system was looping the symbolic Bowie songs " Space Oddity " and " Life on Mars? ". It
11310-541: The previous February to provide the monetary rewards to winners in a contest to develop the best carbon capture technology . In August 2022, Reuters reported that the European Space Agency (ESA) began initial discussions with SpaceX that could lead to the company's launchers being used temporarily, given that Russia blocked access to Soyuz rockets amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine . Since that invasion and in
11440-526: The project through Russian contacts from Jim Cantrell . Musk returned with his team to Moscow, this time bringing Michael Griffin , who later became the 11th Administrator of NASA , but found the Russians increasingly unreceptive. On the flight home, Musk announced he could start a company to build the affordable rockets they needed instead. By applying vertical integration , using inexpensive commercial off-the-shelf components when possible, and adopting
11570-531: The reliable, safe and flexible lunar exploration vehicle we expected it to be. Without it, the major scientific discoveries of Apollo 15, 16, and 17 would not have been possible; and our current understanding of lunar evolution would not have been possible." The LRVs experienced some minor problems. The rear fender extension on the Apollo 16 LRV was lost during the mission's second extra-vehicular activity (EVA) at station 8 when John Young bumped into it while going to assist Charles Duke . The dust thrown up from
11700-544: The rocket explosion sent the company into a four-month launch hiatus while it worked out what went wrong. SpaceX returned to flight in January 2017. In March 2017, SpaceX launched a returned Falcon 9 for the SES-10 satellite. This was the first time a re-launch of a payload-carrying orbital rocket went back to space. The first stage was recovered again, also making it the first landing of a reused orbital class rocket. In July 2017,
11830-401: The rocket, between 2006 and 2008, all resulted in failures, which almost ended the company. Financing for Tesla Motors had failed, as well, and consequently Tesla , SolarCity , and Musk personally were all nearly bankrupt at the same time. Musk was reportedly "waking from nightmares, screaming and in physical pain" because of the stress. The financial situation started to turn around with
11960-451: The rover broke down at any point. The rovers were designed with a top speed of about 8 mph (13 km/h), although Eugene Cernan recorded a maximum speed of 11.2 mph (18.0 km/h), giving him the (unofficial) lunar land-speed record. The LRV was developed in only 17 months and performed all its functions on the Moon with no major anomalies. Scientist-astronaut Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17 said, "The Lunar Rover proved to be
12090-436: The rover was let down from the bay, most of the deployment was automatic. The rear wheels folded out and locked in place. When they touched the ground, the front of the rover could be unfolded, the wheels deployed, and the entire frame let down to the surface by pulleys. The rover components locked into place upon opening. Cabling, pins, and tripods would then be removed and the seats and footrests raised. After switching on all
12220-420: The same lunar module as the astronauts. In November 1964, two-rocket models were put on indefinite hold, but Bendix and Boeing were given study contracts for small rovers. The name of the lunar excursion module was changed to simply the lunar module , indicating that the capability for powered "excursions" away from a lunar-lander base did not yet exist. There could be no mobile lab—the astronauts would work out of
12350-410: The second stage to its database for tracking Solar System objects, and it is not expected to make any close encounters with Earth before 2091. The test flight was a viral event, attracting extensive news coverage and media attention worldwide, and becoming a subject of many Internet memes and parodies . With over 2.3 million viewers seeing the launch live, the webcast of the Falcon Heavy test flight
12480-403: The separation of the second stage and a payload. After a delay of over two hours due to high winds, the launch occurred at 3:45 PM EST, or 20:45 UTC, from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida; the Roadster was successfully placed in its orbit, and its two booster cores returned to land at Landing Zones 1 and 2 several minutes later. The sole objective not completed
12610-560: The successful #FalconHeavy launch. This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best! Former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver advocated the cancellation of the Space Launch System program as a result of the success of this demonstration. The chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation , K. Sivan, congratulated Musk and called
12740-539: The successful Moon landing of Apollo 11 , a request for proposal for the final development and building the Apollo LRV was released by Marshall. Boeing, Bendix, Grumman, and Chrysler submitted proposals. Following three months of proposal evaluation and negotiations, Boeing was selected as the Apollo LRV prime contractor on 28 October 1969. Boeing would manage the LRV project under Henry Kudish in Huntsville, Alabama . Kudish
12870-481: The surface, the commander drove the LRV to a position away from the Lunar Module so that the camera could record the ascent stage launch. The camera operator in Mission Control experienced difficulty in timing the various delays so that the LM ascent stage was in frame through the launch. On the third and final attempt (Apollo 17), the launch and ascent were successfully tracked. NASA's rovers, left behind, are among
13000-693: The surface, the vehicles, along with the lower stages were abandoned. As a result, the only lunar rovers on display are LRV-4, test vehicles, trainers, and mock-ups. As mentioned before, additional test units were built, like a static model, two 1/6 gravity models, a mass model. Replicas of rovers are on display at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas , the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida ,
13130-415: The test flight as a success. Musk said at the time that it would take "six to eight weeks" to get the infrastructure prepared for another launch. In October 2023, a senior SpaceX executive stated the company had been ready to launch the next test flight since September. He accused government regulators of disrupting the project's progress, adding the delay could lead to China beating U.S. astronauts back to
13260-406: The three engines during the landing burn. The core crashed into the ocean 100 metres (300 ft) away from the drone ship at 500 kilometres per hour (300 mph), causing damage to two of the drone ship's station-keeping thrusters. According to Elon Musk on the post-flight conference, the central core ran out of triethylaluminium - triethylborane (TEA-TEB) igniter fluid. Musk later stated that
13390-438: The usual procurement process and had P&VE's Advanced Studies Office directly task Brown to design, build, and test a prototype vehicle. While Bendix and Boeing would continue to refine concepts and designs for a lander, test model rovers were vital for Marshall human factors studies involving spacesuit-clad astronauts interfacing with power, telemetry, navigation, and life-support rover equipment. Brown's team made full use of
13520-408: The wheel covered the crew, the console, and the communications equipment. High battery temperatures and resulting high power consumption ensued. No repair attempt was mentioned. The fender extension on the Apollo 17 LRV broke when accidentally bumped by Eugene Cernan with a hammer handle. Cernan and Schmitt taped the extension back in place, but due to the dusty surfaces, the tape did not adhere, and
13650-544: Was $ 278 million to provide development funding for the Dragon spacecraft , Falcon 9, and demonstration launches of Falcon 9 with Dragon. As part of this contract, the Falcon 9 launched for the first time in June 2010 with the Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit , using a mockup of the Dragon spacecraft. The first operational Dragon spacecraft was launched in December 2010 aboard COTS Demo Flight 1 ,
13780-517: Was Arch Mission 1.2, which is a crystal disk containing Isaac Asimov's Foundation series of books, on the Tesla Roadster. There is a copy of Douglas Adams ' 1979 novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in the glovebox, along with references to the book in the form of a towel and a sign on the dashboard that reads " Don't Panic! ". A Hot Wheels miniature Roadster with a miniature Starman
13910-401: Was spun out into a separate corporate entity with 6% of the equity going to SpaceX, less than 10% to early employees, and the remainder of the equity to Elon Musk. In 2019 SpaceX raised $ 1.33 billion of capital across three funding rounds. By May 2019, the valuation of SpaceX had risen to $ 33.3 billion and reached $ 36 billion by March 2020. On 19 August 2020, after
14040-475: Was achieved in May 2020, when SpaceX successfully launched two NASA astronauts ( Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken ) into orbit on a Crew Dragon spacecraft during Crew Dragon Demo-2 , making SpaceX the first private company to send astronauts to the International Space Station and marking the first crewed orbital launch from American soil in 9 years. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) in Florida. In May 2019, SpaceX launched
14170-537: Was at the time the second most watched livestream ever on YouTube. Approximately 100,000 people watched the launch from Cape Canaveral. This launch won both the SpaceNews 's Award and Readers' Choice's Award of Breakthrough of the Year in 2018, and inspired technology enthusiasts and start-ups to pay tribute to the Falcon Heavy and its payload. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted: Congratulations @ElonMusk and @SpaceX on
14300-458: Was because the recently passed California AB1955 bill "and the many others that preceded it, attacking both families and companies". This new law in California bans school districts from requiring that teachers notify parents about changes to a student’s sexual orientation and gender identity. The headquarters officially moved to Brownsville, Texas in August 2024, according to records filed with
14430-488: Was completing a study for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on a small, uncrewed lunar roving vehicle for the Surveyor program . Ferenc Pavlics , originally from Hungary , used a wire-mesh design for "resilient wheels," a design that would be followed in future small rovers. In early 1963, NASA selected Marshall for studies in an Apollo Logistics Support System (ALSS). Following reviews of all earlier efforts, this resulted in
14560-436: Was conducted on January 24, 2018. Musk confirmed via Twitter that the test "was good" and announced the rocket would be launched in approximately one week. The mission was the test flight of the Falcon Heavy , intended to demonstrate the rocket's capabilities while gathering telemetry throughout the flight. The dummy payload for this test flight was a sports car, Tesla Roadster , owned by Elon Musk . SpaceX stated that
14690-453: Was designed for a top speed of 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h), although it achieved a top speed of 11.2 miles per hour (18.0 km/h) on its last mission, Apollo 17 . Each LRV was carried to the Moon folded up in the Lunar Module 's Quadrant 1 Bay. After being unpacked, each was driven an average of 30 km, without major incident. These three LRVs remain on the Moon. The concept of
14820-415: Was first used on 31 July 1971, during the Apollo 15 mission. This greatly expanded the range of the lunar explorers. Previous teams of astronauts were restricted to short walking distances around the landing site due to the bulky space suit equipment required to sustain life in the lunar environment. The range, however, was operationally restricted to remain within walking distance of the lunar module, in case
14950-442: Was given special recognition by NASA for developing the "resilient wheel". They consisted of a spun aluminum hub and a 32-inch-diameter (81 cm), 9-inch-wide (23 cm) tire made of zinc-coated woven 0.033-inch-diameter (0.84 mm) steel strands attached to the rim. Titanium chevrons covered 50% of the contact area to provide traction. Inside the tire was a 25.5-inch-diameter (65 cm) titanium bump stop frame to protect
15080-480: Was granted on 13 March 2024. On 14 March 2024 at 13:25 UTC, Starship launched for the 3rd time and for the first time Starship reached its planned suborbital trajectory. The flight ended with the booster experiencing a malfunction shortly before landing and the ship being lost during reentry over the Indian Ocean. On 4 June 2024, SpaceX received the launch license for Starship's 4th test flight. The licensure itself
15210-464: Was launched with sufficient velocity to escape the Earth and enter an elliptic orbit around the Sun that crosses the orbit of Mars , reaching an aphelion (maximum distance from the Sun) of 1.66 AU . During the early portion of its voyage it functioned as a broadcast device, sending video back to Earth for four hours. The Roadster remains attached to the second stage. This launcher demonstration made
15340-432: Was left at Hadley-Apennine ( 26°06′N 3°39′E / 26.10°N 3.65°E / 26.10; 3.65 ( Apollo 15 Lunar Roving Vehicle at Hadley–Apennine ) ). The rover used on Apollo 16 was left at Descartes ( 8°59′S 15°31′E / 8.99°S 15.51°E / -8.99; 15.51 ( Apollo 16 Lunar Roving Vehicle at Descartes Highlands ) ). The rover used on Apollo 17
15470-569: Was left at Taurus-Littrow ( 20°10′N 30°46′E / 20.16°N 30.76°E / 20.16; 30.76 ( Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle at Taurus-Littrow ) ) and was seen by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter during passes in 2009 and 2011. In 2020 the State of Washington designated the flown rovers as historic landmarks. Since only the upper stages of the lunar excursion modules could return to lunar orbit from
15600-473: Was mounted on a mast on the front center of the rover. The suspension consists of a double horizontal wishbone with upper and lower torsion bars and a damper unit between the chassis and upper wishbone. Fully loaded, the LRV has a ground clearance of 14 inches (36 cm). The wheels were designed and manufactured by General Motors Defense Research Laboratories in Santa Barbara, California . Ferenc Pavlics
15730-538: Was named after Star Wars ' s Millennium Falcon fictional spacecraft. In 2004, SpaceX protested against NASA to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) because of a sole-source contract awarded to Kistler Aerospace . Before the GAO could respond, NASA withdrew the contract, and formed the COTS program . In 2005, SpaceX announced plans to pursue a human-rated commercial space program through
15860-545: Was notable in that it was the first time that the FAA included a clause that would allow SpaceX to launch subsequent test flights without a mishap investigation, provided that they met a similar launch profile and used the same specification of hardware. The provision could prove to speed the development timeline. On 12 October 2024, SpaceX received FAA approval for Starship's 5th test flight. SpaceX launched Starship on its 6th test flight on 19 November 2024. A significant milestone
15990-558: Was obtained through flights on a KC-135A aircraft in a Reduced Gravity parabolic maneuver; among other things, the need for a very soft wheel and suspension combination was shown. Although Pavlics' wire-mesh wheels were not initially available for the reduced gravity tests, the mesh wheels were tested on various soils at the Waterways Experiment Station of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Vicksburg, Mississippi . Later, when wire-mesh wheels were tested on low-g flights,
16120-468: Was provided through the use of front and rear steering motors. Each series-wound DC steering motor was capable of 0.1 horsepower (75 W). The front and rear wheels could pivot in opposite directions to achieve a tight turning radius of 10 feet (3 m), or could be decoupled so only front or rear would be used for steering. The wheels were linked in Ackermann steering geometry , where the inside tires have
16250-592: Was replaced the following year in 1970 by LRV Project Manager Earl Houtz. As a major subcontractor, the General Motors Defense Research Laboratories in Santa Barbara, California , would furnish the mobility system (wheels, motors, and suspension); this effort would be led by GM Program Manager Samuel Romano and Ferenc Pavlics . Boeing in Seattle, Washington , would furnish the electronics and navigation system. Vehicle testing would take place at
16380-636: Was soon retired following its second successful, and fifth total, launch in July 2009. This allowed SpaceX to focus company resources on the development of a larger orbital rocket, the Falcon 9. Gwynne Shotwell was also promoted to company president at the time, for her role in successfully negotiating the CRS contract with the NASA Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier . SpaceX originally intended to follow its light Falcon 1 launch vehicle with an intermediate capacity vehicle,
16510-561: Was that the LSSM was critical to a successful program and should be given major attention. At Marshall, von Braun established a Lunar Roving Task Team, and in May 1969, NASA approved the Manned Lunar Rover Vehicle Program as a Marshall hardware development. The project was led by Eberhard Rees , Director of Research and Development at Marshall, who oversaw the design and construction of the rover, with Saverio Morea acting as project manager. On 11 July 1969, just before
16640-474: Was the first launch vehicle developed and was retired in 2009. The medium-lift Falcon 9 and the heavy-lift Falcon Heavy are both operational. Falcon 1 was a small rocket capable of placing several hundred kilograms into low Earth orbit . It launched five times between 2006 and 2009, of which two were successful. The Falcon 1 was the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit. Lunar Roving Vehicle The Lunar Roving Vehicle ( LRV )
16770-498: Was the landing of the central core; while its fate was initially ambiguous due to signal loss and heavy smoke, Musk confirmed several hours after the launch that the booster had not survived the recovery attempt. Because two of the three engines necessary to land were unable to reignite, the booster hit the water at 500 kilometres per hour (300 mph), 100 metres (300 ft) away from the drone ship. The final upper stage transfer burn to solar orbit produced an orbit that will be beyond
16900-403: Was traced to a failed two-foot-long steel strut that held a helium pressure vessel , which broke free due to the force of acceleration . This caused a breach and allowed high-pressure helium to escape into the low-pressure propellant tank , causing the failure. SpaceX first achieved a successful landing and recovery of a first stage in December 2015 with Falcon 9 Flight 20 . In April 2016,
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