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.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
15 votes
1 answer
3k views

What is involved in clearing air space for an orbital launch?

When the Nov 25th, 2013 SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch was scrubbed on a Monday, next launch opportunity was reported as Thursday (Thanksgiving) since the Tues/Wed days are the busiest day in the year ...
geoffc's user avatar
  • 79.3k
6 votes
2 answers
457 views

Why is the SES launch going to an apogee of 80,000 km?

Why is the apogee of the Falcon 9 SES launch going clear out to 80,000 km? GEO is only 36,000 km or so, it seems like a waste to go so far beyond it.
PearsonArtPhoto's user avatar
  • 121k
9 votes
2 answers
983 views

Why did the US lose almost all commercial launch opportunities?

With the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 V1.1 Nov 25th (Assuming it succeeds), it will apparently be the first US Commercial launch (I assume to GEO, since Orbital, with all the commercial small sats ...
geoffc's user avatar
  • 79.3k
25 votes
3 answers
3k views

When SpaceX claims to build 4 engines/week, which engines do they mean?

In this Tweet (dated 11 Sept 2013) Peter de Selding reported that Gwynne Shotwell of SpaceX said: SpaceX's Shotwell: We're building 7 Falcon 9 fairings/yr now, 15 in 2014, & 4 engines/week ...
geoffc's user avatar
  • 79.3k
2 votes
1 answer
512 views

Falcon 9 1.1 demo flight (flight 6) - Was the second stage burn meant to test deorbit?

On F9 flight 6, the first demo of the V1.1 configuration, the putative rationale for the extra second stage burn was to demonstrate relight capabilities for Geosync, and really, any orbit that ...
geoffc's user avatar
  • 79.3k
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

What are the mystery Falcon 9 v 1.1 objects?

There are 20 objects in orbit associated with the Falcon 9 v 1.1 launch. So far only 1 has been identified. 5 were payloads of the launch, plus the booster and some debris. Bottom line, 11 objects ...
PearsonArtPhoto's user avatar
  • 121k
12 votes
1 answer
2k views

What went wrong, Falcon 9 1.1 first flight with first stage landing attempt?

They are reporting that the three engine relight in the upper atmosphere worked. But the relight of a single engine, lower down for pretend landing on the water generated too much torque and the fuel (...
geoffc's user avatar
  • 79.3k
17 votes
1 answer
978 views

Did the ISS have to adjust its course when the SpaceX Dragon capsule was detached?

We had this question which discussed if space craft had to be corrected in their orbits from the movements from the people inside. (No as their net movement cancels each force out) Following on from ...
user avatar
15 votes
4 answers
1k views

Vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) vehicle falling orientation

The SpaceX Grasshopper vehicle (formally a VTVL vehicle) tests have been increasing the height that their tests can climb to before doing the vertical landing. Throughout all these tests it keeps ...
AlanSE's user avatar
  • 16.2k
13 votes
1 answer
1k views

What are the differences between the Falcon 9 (1.0) and the Falcon 9 (1.1 or F9R)?

With the change at the 6th launch from the original Falcon 9 design for the first five launches, to the new design, either called Falcon 9 v1.1 or Falcon 9R, it would be useful to understand the ...
geoffc's user avatar
  • 79.3k
13 votes
3 answers
3k views

What portion of SpaceX's revenue comes from private sources?

SpaceX is often called a "commercial" company and participates in NASA's Commercial Crew Program. In SpaceX's early days, all of SpaceX's revenue came from non-government sources. But today, SpaceX ...
Erik's user avatar
  • 10.1k

1
25 26 27 28
29