|
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the company has made numerous advancements in rocket propulsion, reusable launch vehicles, human spaceflight and satellite constellation technology. , SpaceX is the world's dominant space launch provider, its launch cadence eclipsing all others, including private competitors and national programs like the Chinese space program. SpaceX, NASA, and the United States Armed Forces work closely together by means of Government contractor, governmental contracts. SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 with a vision of decreasing the costs of space launches, paving the way to SpaceX ambition of colonizing Mars, a sustainable colony on Mars. In 2008, Falcon 1 successfully launched into orbit after three failed launch attempts. The company then pivoted towar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starlink
Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by Starlink Services, LLC, an international telecommunications provider that is a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to around 130 countries and territories. Timestamp 12:00. It also aims to provide global mobile broadband. Starlink has been instrumental to SpaceX's growth. SpaceX began launching Starlink satellites in 2019. , the constellation consists of over 7,600 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) that communicate with designated ground transceivers, and Starlink comprises 65% of all active satellites. Nearly 12,000 satellites are planned, with a possible later extension to 34,400. SpaceX announced reaching over 1 million subscribers in December 2022 and 4 million subscribers in September 2024. The SpaceX satellite development facility in Redmond, Washington, houses Starlink research, development, manufacturing, and orbit control facilities. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SpaceX Starbase
SpaceX Starbase—previously, SpaceX South Texas Launch Site and SpaceX private launch site—is an industrial complex and rocket launch facility that serves as the main testing and production location for SpaceX Starship, Starship launch vehicles, as well as the headquarters of the American space technology company SpaceX. Located in Starbase, Texas, United States, and adjacent to South Padre Island, Texas, Starbase has been under near-continuous development since the late 2010s, and comprises a spaceport near the Gulf of Mexico, a production facility, and a test site along Texas State Highway 4. When initially conceptualized in the early 2010s, its stated purpose was "to provide SpaceX an exclusive launch site that would allow the company to accommodate its launch manifest and meet tight launch windows." The launch site was originally intended to support launches of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles as well as "a variety of Reusable launch vehicle, reusable suborb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SpaceX Dragon 2
Dragon 2 is a class of partially reusable spacecraft developed, manufactured, and operated by the American space company SpaceX for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) and private spaceflight missions. The spacecraft, which consists of a reusable space capsule and an expendable Service module, trunk module, has two variants: the 4-person Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon, a replacement for the SpaceX Dragon 1, Dragon 1 cargo capsule. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, and the capsule returns to Earth through splashdown. Crew Dragon's primary role is to transport crews to and from the ISS under NASA's Commercial Crew Program, a task handled by the Space Shuttle until it was Retirement of the Space Shuttle, retired in 2011. It will be joined by Boeing Starliner, Boeing's Starliner in this role when NASA certifies it. Crew Dragon is also used for commercial flights to ISS and other destinations and is expected to be used to transport people to and fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SpaceX Launch Vehicles
SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch service provider, launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals. SpaceX manufactures and operates two members of the Falcon 9 family, the Falcon 9 Block 5 medium-lift launch vehicle and the Falcon Heavy heavy-lift launch vehicle – both of which are powered by SpaceX Merlin engines and employ VTVL technologies to Reusable launch system, reuse the first stage. As of 2024, the company is also developing the fully reusable SpaceX Starship, Starship launch system, which will replace Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon. SpaceX's first launch vehicle, the Falcon 1, was the first Private spaceflight, privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to be launched into orbit, and used SpaceX's Merlin and Kestrel (rocket engine), Kestrel engines for its first and second stages, respectively. It was launched five times from Omelek Island between 2006 and 2009 – the Falcon 1e and Falcon 5 variants were plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in the world since 2021; ''Forbes'' estimates his net worth to be . Born to a wealthy family in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk emigrated in 1989 to Canada. He received bachelor's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 before moving to California, United States, to pursue business ventures. In 1995, Musk co-founded the software company Zip2. Following its sale in 1999, he co-founded X.com, an online payment company that later merged to form PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in 2002. That year, Musk also became an American citizen. In 2002, Musk founded the space technology company SpaceX, becoming its CEO and chief engineer; the company has since led innovations in reusable rockets and commercial spaceflight. Musk joined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reusable Launch Vehicle
A reusable launch vehicle has parts that can be recovered and reflown, while carrying payloads from the surface to outer space. Rocket stages are the most common launch vehicle parts aimed for reuse. Smaller parts such as fairings, boosters or rocket engines can also be reused, though reusable spacecraft may be launched on top of an expendable launch vehicle. Reusable launch vehicles do not need to make these parts for each launch, therefore reducing its launch cost significantly. However, these benefits are diminished by the cost of recovery and refurbishment. Reusable launch vehicles may contain additional avionics and propellant, making them heavier than their expendable counterparts. Reused parts may need to enter the atmosphere and navigate through it, so they are often equipped with heat shields, grid fins, and other flight control surfaces. By modifying their shape, spaceplanes can leverage aviation mechanics to aid in its recovery, such as gliding or lift. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starbase, Texas
Starbase, formerly Boca Chica Village or Kopernik Shores, is a city in Cameron County, Texas, United States, at the mouth of the Rio Grande. It was formed in the late 1960s, and is still extant as of 2025, although the village proper has changed greatly since 2018 as SpaceX came to purchase much of the land of the village. It lies east of the City of Brownsville on the Boca Chica peninsula, and forms part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville and the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan areas. It is situated on Texas State Highway 4, immediately south of the South Bay lagoon, and is located about north of the mouth of the Rio Grande. Although the name Kopernik Shores is no longer in popular use, it’s still used occasionally in official contexts per the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The population was 500 as of 2025. Numerous construction projects are underway including a community center, school, clinic, and additional housing. In 2014, the village was cho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SpaceX Starshield
Starshield is a business unit of SpaceX creating purpose-built low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites designed to provide new military space capabilities to U.S. and allied governments. Starshield was adapted from the global communications network Starlink but brings additional capabilities such as target tracking, optical and radio reconnaissance, and early missile warning. Primary customers include the Space Development Agency (SDA), National Reconnaissance Office and the United States Space Force. As of 2025, at least 118 Starshield satellites have been launched, with the latest batch of 22 satellites being launched in January 2025 as part of NROL-167. While SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell has indicated that there is little information she is allowed to disclose about Starshield, she has noted "very good collaboration" between the intelligence community and SpaceX on the program. The U.S. Congressional Research Service reports that future satellites in Starshield's pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gwynne Shotwell
Gwynne Shotwell ( Rowley, previously Gurevich; born November 23, 1963) is an American businesswoman and engineer. She is the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, an American space transportation company, where she is responsible for day-to-day operations and company growth. , Shotwell is listed as the 28th most powerful woman in the world by ''Forbes''. She was ranked 54th on '' Fortune'''s list of Most Powerful Women in 2023. In 2020, ''Time'' magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2018, she was listed as the most powerful female engineer by '' Business Insider''. Early life Shotwell was born in Evanston, Illinois, as the middle of three daughters to a brain surgeon and an artist, and was raised in Libertyville, Illinois. In 1982, she graduated from Libertyville High School. In 1969 when she was five years old, she watched a television broadcast of the Apollo 11 mission with her family, but remembers finding it "boring" an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States's civil list of government space agencies, space program, aeronautics research and outer space, space research. National Aeronautics and Space Act, Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the American space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo program missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with the Commercial Crew Program and oversees the development of the Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft and the Sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Spaceflight
Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be telerobotic, remotely operated from ground stations on Earth, or Autonomous robot, autonomously, without any direct human involvement. People trained for spaceflight are called astronauts (American or other), ''cosmonauts'' (Russian), or ''taikonauts'' (Chinese); and non-professionals are referred to as spaceflight participants or ''spacefarers''. The first human in space was Soviet Union, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who launched as part of the Soviet Union's Vostok program on Cosmonautics Day, 12 April 1961 at the beginning of the Space Race. On 5 May 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space, as part of Project Mercury. Humans traveled to the Moon nine times between 1968 and 1972 as part of the United States' Apollo progr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
