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SpaceX Crew Dragon joins Falcon 9 for last mate before astronaut launch debut

SpaceX Crew Dragon arrives at Launch Complex 39A, May 15, 2020, in preparation for astronaut launch (Credit: NASA - Kim Shiflett, 05/15/20)

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NASA and SpaceX are less than two weeks away from the first crewed mission to launch from U.S. soil in nearly a decade. But there’s still work to do before the craft blasts off towards the International Space Station.

On Friday, May 15, the Crew Dragon spacecraft journeyed from a fueling facility at Cape Canaveral’s Air Force Station to launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Tucked inside the SpaceX hangar, the craft will undergo testing and checkouts before being attached to it Falcon 9 launcher in a few days.

The Dragon was filled up with hypergolic fuel (hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide), which its built-in escape system and onboard thrusters use to maneuver.

Liftoff is scheduled for May 27 at 4:33 p.m. EDT (2033 UTC). At that time, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will rocket towards space, and synch up with the space station less than 24 hours later. During their time on orbit, the duo will put the Crew Dragon’s systems to the test.

Hurley will get to manually pilot the autonomous spacecraft, ensuring the control systems are working as expected. Then the spacecraft will begin the docking process. But before Dragon can attach itself to the space station, it has to be prepped for launch.

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This week, SpaceX crews will inspect the Dragon’s electrical and mechanical attachments before attaching it to the Falcon 9. Using a massive crane, the crew will hoist the Dragon onto the rocket. The duo will then be loaded onto SpaceX’s transporter and make the trek up to the launch pad.

Hurley and Behnken know this pad well. Both astronauts flew their previous missions after launching from this pad. The crew is set to make the trip to Kennedy this week, arriving on May 20. They’ve been in official mission quarantine since May 13, although the duo has quarantined with each other for several weeks now, with minimal contact with other non-essential staff members.

Once the Dragon and Falcon are on the launch pad, SpaceX engineers will take some time to inspect and examine the vehicles before putting the Falcon through some routine pre-launch testing, including a fueling run and a static fire test.

The next major hurdle before launch will be a flight readiness review, which will take place on May 21. If that goes as planned, there will be a final launch readiness review on May 25th. In the meantime, after they arrive at the launch site, Behnken and Hurley will undergo some last-minutes training, make sure their spacesuits are fitting correctly, and do a full launch practice run on Saturday, May 23.

According to NASA, there is still a lot of work to be done ahead of the May 27th launch date, but currently, everything is on schedule. Once on station, Behnken and Hurley will stay up to four months on the orbital outpost before returning to Earth.

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Elon Musk

SpaceX posts Starship booster feat that’s so nutty, it doesn’t even look real

The Super Heavy booster’s feat was so impressive that the whole maneuver almost looked like it was AI-generated.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

SpaceX has shared a video of a remarkable feat achieved by Starship’s Super Heavy booster during its 11th flight test.

The Super Heavy booster’s feat was so impressive that the whole maneuver, which was captured on video, almost looked like it was AI-generated.

Super Heavy’s picture perfect hover

As could be seen in the video shared by SpaceX, Starship’s Super Heavy booster, which is nearly 400 feet tall, smoothly returned to Earth and hovered above the Gulf of America for a few seconds before it went for its soft water landing. The booster’s picture-perfect maneuver before splashing down all but capped a near-flawless mission for Starship, which is about to enter its V3 era with Flight 12.

The booster’s balance and stability were so perfect that some users on X joked that the whole thing looked AI-generated. Considering the size of Super Heavy, as well as the fact that the booster was returning from space, the hovering display all but showed that SpaceX is dead serious about keeping its dominant lead in the spaceflight sector.

Starship V2’s curtain call

As noted in a Space.com report, Flight Test 11 achieved every major goal SpaceX had set for the mission, including deploying Starlink mass simulators, relighting Raptor engines in space, and executing a stable reentry for both the Starship Upper Stage and the Super Heavy booster. The feat also marked the second time a Super Heavy booster has been reflown, a milestone in SpaceX’s quest to make the entire Starship system fully reusable.

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Starship’s V2 vehicle will now give way to the upgraded Starship V3, which is designed for faster turnaround and higher payload capacity. The Starship program is expected to pursue even more aggressive targets in the coming months as well, with Elon Musk stating on social media platform X that SpaceX will attempt a tower catch for Starship Upper Stage as early as spring 2026.

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Elon Musk

Starship’s next chapter: SpaceX eyes tower catch after flawless Flight 11

Elon Musk has revealed the tentative timeframe for Starship’s next milestone that would push the spacecraft’s reusability to a whole new level. 

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Credit: SpaceX

Elon Musk has revealed the tentative timeframe for Starship’s next milestone that would push the spacecraft’s reusability to a whole new level. 

Following Flight 11’s flawless mission, Musk noted on X that SpaceX will be aiming to catch the Starship Upper Stage with its launch tower as early as spring 2026. This should pave the way for SpaceX to start optimizing Starship for maximum reusability.

Flight 11 closes the Starship V2 chapter on a high note

Starship’s eleventh flight, which launched from Starbase, Texas, achieved every major mission objective. The Super Heavy booster completed a successful ascent, hover, and soft splashdown in the Gulf of America, while the upper stage executed an orbit burn, deployed Starlink simulators, and returned with a controlled reentry over the Indian Ocean.

This mission officially closed the chapter on the second-generation Starship and first-generation Super Heavy booster, and it set the stage for a redesigned vehicle built for orbital payload missions, propellant transfer, and beyond. It should be noted that Elon Musk has mentioned on X that Starship V3, at least if things go well, might be capable of reaching Mars.

Elon Musk confirms tower catch attempt set for spring

After Flight 11’s success, Musk confirmed that SpaceX will attempt to catch the Starship Upper Stage with its launch tower arms, fondly dubbed by the spaceflight community as “chopsticks,” in the coming months. Musk’s announcement came as a response to an X user who asked when the tower could start catching the Starship Upper Stage. In his reply, Musk simply wrote “Springtime.” 

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Starship’s reusability is a key feature of the spacecraft, with SpaceX aiming to achieve a launch cadence that is almost comparable to conventional aircraft. For such a scenario to be feasible, launch tower catches of both Starship’s Upper Stage and its Super Heavy booster have to be routine.

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Elon Musk

SpaceX is preparing to launch Starship V2 one final time

The mission will test reentry dynamics, new landing burn configurations, and heat-shield upgrades.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

SpaceX is preparing to launch its final Starship V2 rocket on October 13, 2025. The launch closes the curtain on Starship V2 and marks the start of the ambitious spacecraft’s V3 era. 

Liftoff for Flight 11 is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET from Starbase in South Texas, with a 75-minute launch window. The mission will test reentry dynamics, new landing burn configurations, and heat-shield upgrades ahead of the transition to the next-generation Starship V3.

Starship V3 and beyond

Elon Musk confirmed on X that Starship V3 is already in production and could be “built & tested” and perhaps even flown before the end of 2025. The new version is expected to feature major performance and scale improvements, with Musk stating that Starship V3, provided that things go well, might be capable of reaching Mars, though V4 is more likely to perform a full-scale mission to the red planet. 

“Only one more V2 left to launch,” Musk wrote back in August following Starship’s successful Flight 10 mission. In another post, Musk stated that “Starship V3 is a massive upgrade from the current V2 and should be through production and testing by end of year, with heavy flight activity next year.”

Starship V2’s final mission

Flight 11 is designed to push the limits of Starship V2. SpaceX engineers have intentionally removed heat-shield tiles in vulnerable areas to analyze how the vehicle handles atmospheric reentry under stress, as noted in a Space.com report. The test will also refine subsonic guidance algorithms and new landing burn sequences for the Super Heavy booster that would be used for Starship V3.

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“Super Heavy will ignite 13 engines at the start of the landing burn and then transition to a new configuration with five engines running for the divert phase. Previously done with three engines, the planned baseline for V3 Super Heavy will use five engines during the section of the burn responsible for fine-tuning the booster’s path, adding additional redundancy for spontaneous engine shutdowns. 

“The booster will then transition to its three center engines for the end of the landing burn, entering a full hover while still above the ocean surface, followed by shutdown and dropping into the Gulf of America,” SpaceX wrote in a post on its official website.

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