Tag: spacex

U.S. Air Force Halts Musk’s SpaceX Rocket Project on Pacific Atoll After Leftist Activists Raise Alarm Over Seabirds

The U.S. Air Force has scrapped its plans to test hypersonic rocket cargo deliveries using Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets from the remote Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean—all to protect a few seabird nests.

The decision, first reported by Stars and Stripes, comes just weeks after Reuters ran a story quoting so-called “experts” who raised concerns that the high-speed delivery project could disturb nesting tropical birds on the uninhabited atoll.

The Air Force had intended to use the atoll—an uninhabited U.S. territory located 800 miles southwest of Hawaii—as a launch and landing site for experimental rocket systems capable of delivering 100 tons of cargo anywhere on Earth in under 90 minutes.

The implications for battlefield logistics and humanitarian aid were monumental. But that vision has now been grounded.

Why? Because a handful of environmentalists raised concerns over the nesting patterns of tropical birds on the atoll.

A petition opposing the program gathered fewer than 4,000 signatures. In response, the Air Force initially promised an environmental review. Now, they’re outright exploring new locations.

Keep reading

Mexican Border State Demands Investigation of SpaceX Due to Beach Pollution

Officials in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas have announced that they will be requesting a federal investigation into SpaceX for polluting Mexican beaches after pieces of the company’s rockets have washed ashore in recent days.

Karina Lizeth Saldivar, the head of the Tamaulipas Secretariat for Urban Development and Environment, recently announced that they would be requesting that federal authorities in Mexico investigate the damages and potential damages that rocket fragments could cause.

According to Saldivar, the rocket pieces could pose a potential danger to locals and claimed that her agency would request a formal investigation by Mexican federal environmental agencies. It remains unclear if Mexico’s government could do anything about the issue.

Just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court shot down a lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers filed by Mexico’s government, Breitbart Texas reported. Just one day after the ruling, Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, claimed that her government would be pursuing other lawsuits in an attempt to place the blame for the country’s raging cartel violence on the United States instead of the country’s widespread corruption.

Keep reading

Musk Begins Decommissioning SpaceX Dragon Amid Fallout With Trump

Elon Musk announced on June 5 that SpaceX would begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft after President Donald Trump appeared to call for the termination of all of the government’s subsidies and contracts with him.

“In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately,” Musk wrote on X.

SpaceX Dragon crew and cargo capsules have been the backbone of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) spacefaring efforts for several years, operating the first cargo mission to the International Space Station in 2012, and launching its first crewed mission in 2020.

The company has taken up residence at Kennedy Space Center’s historic Launch Complex 39A, which is adding a launch tower for the behemoth Starship, and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40 in Florida.

SpaceX has also been contracted to provide one of the lunar landers for NASA’s Artemis program to return human beings to the moon, and it was set to develop the spacecraft that would strategically deorbit the International Space Station by 2030.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, at this time, remains America’s only means of human spaceflight.

Keep reading

Elon Musk Gets His Own Texas City After Voters Approve Incorporation of SpaceX’s ‘Starbase’

A remote section of southern Texas, home to Elon Musk’s SpaceX launch site, has officially been designated as a city.

Named Starbase, the area was incorporated following a successful vote by local residents on Saturday.

Of the 283 eligible voters, most of whom are SpaceX employees, 212 voted in favour while just six opposed, according to results from Cameron County.

Musk celebrated the outcome on his social media platform X, writing: “Starbase, Texas is now a real city!”

The newly incorporated city spans 1.6 square miles (3.9 sq km) — a once sparsely populated stretch of land that SpaceX began acquiring in 2012.

Starbase will be governed by a mayor and two commissioners, with authority over planning, taxation, and other municipal affairs.

Keep reading

Pentagon Considers Tasking Musk’s SpaceX With Military ‘Missile Tracking’ Satellite Program: REPORT

Tech billionaire and DOGE chief Elon Musk is constantly under fire these days by the lunatic left, but on the real world, where relevant things are in motion, he continues to excel and thrive.

His SpaceX company is reported to be about to considerably expand its share of military business, as the Pentagon considers overhauling a program to deploy hundreds of missile-tracking satellites into low orbit.

Washington Post reported:

“Competitors have fallen so far behind SpaceX that many fear they won’t be able to catch up, leaving NASA and the Pentagon with few other options as it faces increased competition in space from China and other nations. Musk’s hard-charging company rakes in billions of dollars from the U.S. government, flying everything from cargo to astronauts to some of the Defense Department’s most sensitive satellites. The company also operates more than 7,000 Starlink internet satellites in orbit, more than any other entity.”

Keep reading

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Capsule Docks With ISS To Rescue Stranded Boeing Astronauts

SpaceX delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) early Sunday as part of a NASA crew rotation mission that will bring home two Boeing Starliner astronauts stranded on the ISS for eight months. The lengthy delay occurred because the Biden-Harris regime sought to avoid optically displeasing headlines about Elon Musk rescuing the astronauts before the presidential election last November.

A little more than one day after launching from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Friday evening, the Crew-10 astronauts’ SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked at the ISS early Sunday morning. 

NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov entered the ISS shortly after opening the hatches between the ISS and the Dragon spacecraft around 0035ET.

Keep reading

CBS News Makes It Sound Like Abandoned Astronauts Were On Vacation

Reporting on Elon Musk’s SpaceX mission to rescue the two astronauts stranded on the ISS, CBS News made it sound like they have been on an extended holiday.

This X post linking to a story notes that NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have had a “9 month stay in space.”

Then within the story itself, CBS states “NASA’s next International Space Station crew blasted off Friday, finally clearing the way for Starliner astronauts Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita Williams to be ferried home next week by two other outgoing station crew members, finally closing out an extended space odyssey.”

The pair were not inter-railing around Europe, they were left in space by the Biden administration on purpose after the Boeing Starliner capsule they travelled in was deemed unsafe for return.

They were supposed to be in space eight days, and could have been brought back months ago by Musk, but the Biden administration refused his offer of help, presumably because he had endorsed Trump.

Keep reading

NASA’s Stranded Astronauts Confirm Biden Abandoned Them in Space — He Declined Elon Musk’s Rescue Offer For ‘Political Reasons’

NASA’s stranded astronauts have acknowledged that Joe Biden deliberately abandoned them in space for political purposes.

Barry Wilmore and his crewmate Sunita Williams have been stuck on the International Space Station since July last year after their Boeing Starliner ran into technical issues.

At a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Wilmore was asked about Elon Musk’s claim that Joe Biden declined his offer to bring them back on a SpaceX flight several months ago for “political reasons.”

“I can only say that Mr Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual,” Wilmore said.

Wilmore went on to say he and his partner at the “utmost respect” for Musk and Trump.

I can tell you, at the outset, all of us have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk, and obviously respect and admiration for our President of the United States, Donald Trump.

We appreciate them, we appreciate all they do for us, for human spaceflight, for our nation. We’re thankful that they’re in the positions they’re in.

The words they’ve said — politics — I mean, that’s part of life. We understand that, and there’s an important reason why we have a political system, and the political system that we do have.

And we’re behind it 100 percent. We know what we’ve lived up here. We know the ins and outs and the specifics that they may not be privy to.

And I’m sure they have some issues that they’re dealing with, information that they have that we are not privy to.

So when I think about your question, that’s part of life. We are on board with it, we support our nation, we support our nation’s leaders and we’re thankful for them.

During an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience last week, Musk explained how Biden had declined his offer and intentionally “pushed the return date past the inauguration date.”

Keep reading

SpaceX Starlink Needed to Save FAA From Failing Verizon Air Traffic Control

The Verizon communication system to air traffic control is breaking down very rapidly. The FAA assessment is single digit months to catastrophic failure, putting air traveler safety at serious risk.

The Starlink terminals are being sent at NO COST to the taxpayer on an emergency basis to restore air traffic control connectivity.

The situation is extremely dire.

The FAA is on the verge of canceling Verizon’s bloated $2.4 billion contract and handing it to Starlink—a move that would bring faster, safer, and more reliable air traffic control services.

Verizon’s system? Outdated and expensive. Starlink? Faster, cheaper, and proven. SpaceX engineers are already fixing the FAA’s mess.

The FAA’s aging air traffic control systems was exposed by a 2023 national airspace shutdown. They are high-risk, with 51 of 138 systems unsustainable, including 17 critical ones over 30 years old.

There are risks include outages disrupting air travel, endangering safety, and causing economic losses, worsened by the failing $2 billion Verizon system from 2023.

There are modernization delays, with some projects unfinished for a decade, heighten failure risks amid 6.2% annual air traffic growth.

Keep reading

Mysterious US Military Space Plane Begins Advanced Maneuvers in Orbit

In a cutting-edge milestone for orbital innovation, the U.S. military‘s secretive X-37B space plane has begun advanced aerobraking maneuvers to shift its orbit.

Launched on its seventh mission (OTV-7) in December 2023 via SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, the X-37B has been orbiting the Earth in a highly elliptical path, reaching well beyond the altitude at which satellites normally stay in sync with the planet’s rotation before rapidly closing in near Earth’s atmosphere.

Now, instead of relying on fuel, the space plane is using atmospheric drag to reduce its orbit gradually, a process that could extend mission durations significantly.

Although information has been released about the space plane’s capabilities, much about it remains a mystery, including exactly what it is used for.

Keep reading