Questions tagged [spacex]
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, is a private space exploration company. It was the world's first privately held company to successfully launch a cargo mission into space , cargo to the ISS (International Space Station), land and reuse a booster, and a crewed mission into orbit. See the wiki for related tags.
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Why does the Falcon 9 have 9 engines?
What are the reasons for using 9 engines in the first stage of the Falcon 9? Why not 8 or 10? Looking at the Raptor engine, they seem to be looking at 9 engines again. Is there some specific advantage ...
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What makes 21st century fairings so valuable that they'd potentially be recovered and re-used?
I've read in @geoff's answer that SpaceX is doing some experimentation that may lead to fairing recovery capability. In fact I remember hearing Elon Musk mentioning a few years ago that it was being ...
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For the Starship SN8 flight, did they lose engines in flight?
Watching the first (only?) test flight of SN8 we saw them start flying with three Raptor engines firing and then one looked like it flamed out, with lots of fire inside the engine bay. Then later a ...
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Is the SLS irrelevant if the Falcon Heavy launch is successful this year?
My take is that, like so many bad, and good, NASA ideas, the SLS will get the axe after spending billions on the NASA subcontractor(s). Regardless if the SLS comes to full life cycle, NASA will not ...
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Why the soot pattern on the nosecone of Falcon Heavy side booster?
When a SpaceX booster is landed, we are used to seeing soot deposited all over it, usually in a specific pattern.
You can read more about that in this question:
Why the strange bands of soot of the ...
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What is the "emergency crush core"?
In his tweet Elon Musk said: "Rocket is extra toasty and hit the deck hard (used almost all of the emergency crush core)"
What is he talking about?
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SpaceX CRS-5 Launch: What is the footage that appears to contain bubbles?
I'm currently watching the live stream of the CRS-5 launch.
They've been cycling through several different camera angles including one which looks a lot like bubbles in water, or perhaps blobs of ...
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What work needs to be done before reusing Falcon 9?
In this article Elon Musk said that first stage of Falcon 9 which landed on the barge in April will be reused in June. Launching and landing wears material down, what parts need to be replaced and ...
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What is the cost breakdown for a Falcon 9 launch?
I don't know if this was already asked, but I'm very curious about the cost breakdown of a Falcon 9 launch.
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Why doesn't SpaceX land boosters in Africa?
Apart from the obvious answer that it'd take too long to get the booster back across the Atlantic, why doesn't SpaceX leave the main or centre booster in space a little bit longer and guide it to land ...
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Falcon 9 launch process - perception of launch speed
One of the things that drew attention from my local group of rocket-watchers with the Falcon 9/Crew Dragon launch is the perceived speed of the actual launch process. We have been conditioned for ...
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Why is SpaceX building the Big Falcon Ship before the Big Falcon Rocket?
I believe that SpaceX is planning on building the BFS (Big Falcon Spacecraft) before the BFR (Big Falcon Rocket), which serves as the first stage for the second-stage BFS. Does anyone know why they ...
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Why have SpaceX skipped the SpaceX Starship SN12, SN13, and SN14?
Something has happened to the SpaceX Starship SN11.
(For full details and answers regarding SN11, check out the question What happened to the SpaceX Starship SN11?)
Elon Musk recently posted this ...
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Does launching a device into orbit change earth's orbit?
Does launching a space shuttle or rocket change the earth's orbit?
After all, to get momentum in space you need to throw something out.
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How can Elon Musk's Tesla actually reach Mars orbit?
So the payload of the maiden Falcon Heavy flight will be... Elon Musks's Tesla
This is one part publicity stunt (it's going to be playing David Bowie's Space Oddity, if for nothing more than the ...
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