Space

(NASA)Trump har lagt en beskyttende hånd over Elon Musks SpaceX

'This is an attack on NASA.' Space agency union speaks out against DOGE cuts in NYC

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies has stood on a Manhattan corner near Columbia University's campus (and above the "Seinfeld" diner) in NYC since 1966. But that's ending.

In April, GISS employees received word that their office was being shuttered as part of the administration's latest round of federal funding cuts. They had until May 31 to move out, and the space agency's largest union not taking it lying down.

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Space X med rekordraskt skifte av bærerakett for en GPS III satellitt

SpaceX to Launch Another GPS III Satellite in Record Turnaround

SpaceNews

SpaceX is gearing up to launch a Global Positioning System satellite for the U.S. military on May 30 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, marking another high-profile national security mission that shifted from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan to the Falcon 9 rocket.

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Raptor engine failure caused Starship explosion The flight lifted off from Starbase in Texas at 5:30pm CT on Thursday, 6 March, before the upper stage exploded, raining debris down in a dramatic light show that caused significant disruption to commercial aircraft in the area. Read more

Space

SpaceX’s Starship flight 9 breaks apart

written by Jake Nelson | May 28, 2025

Starship’s ninth test flight lifts off from Starbase in Texas. (Image: SpaceX)

SpaceX’s ninth Starship test flight ended in another failure, with the craft breaking up on re-entry after its Super Heavy boosters also broke apart.

The flight, which lifted off on Wednesday morning Australian time, successfully reached space unlike the explosions of both the seventh and eighth test flights shortly after liftoff earlier this year, following hardware adjustments by SpaceX prior to the flight.

Following in-flight leaks, however, SpaceX lost control of Starship’s attitude after approximately half an hour, causing it to spin in orbit, and it broke up over the Indian Ocean as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere; its payload doors had also failed to open in flight for a planned test deployment.

“As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly. Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test,” the company said in a statement on social media.

“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary.

“The most likely cause of Starship’s loss of attitude control during flight 9 appears to be a propellant leak or engine failure in the upper stage, leading to a spin during reentry. X posts and prior flight data suggest a leak disrupted control, similar to issues in flights 7 and 8.

“Structural vibrations may also contribute, but propulsion problems are more likely based on current evidence. SpaceX’s official report is pending for confirmation.”

This was the first time Starship had reused its Super Heavy boosters, which had been on flight 7 in January and were planned for a “hard splashdown” in the Gulf of Mexico; however, the boosters broke up approximately six minutes and 20 seconds into the flight.

Speaking on SpaceX’s launch webcast, communications team member Dan Huot said the Starship project is “impossibly hard”.

“You’re not going to reach it in a straight line. We’ve said there’s going to be bumps, there’s going to be turns. But seeing that ship in space today was a hell of a moment for us, so congratulations to every single person who put time, effort, sweat, anything, into that rocket,” he said.

The previous explosions of SpaceX’s seventh and eighth Starship test flights had disrupted commercial aviation in the area due to hazards from falling debris.