[Elon on Twitter] Aiming to launch next week
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1382582177943015431

Submitted April 15, 2021 at 08:32AM by gabe565
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Crew-2 Prelaunch Discussion & Updates Thread
Crew-2 Prelaunch Discussion & Updates ThreadThis is your r/SpaceX host team bringing you live coverage of the first crew rotation long duration flight!Quick FactsWill be added shortlyEventsWill be added shortlyTimelineTimeUpdateThread postedWebcastsNASA TV on YoutubeLinks & ResourcesComing soonParticipate in the discussion!First of all, launch threads are party threads! We understand everyone is excited, so we relax the rules in these venues. The most important thing is that everyone enjoy themselvesPlease constrain the launch party to this thread alone. We will remove low effort comments elsewhere!Real-time chat on our official Internet Relay Chat (IRC) #SpaceX on SnoonetPlease post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!Wanna talk about other SpaceX stuff in a more relaxed atmosphere? Head over to r/SpaceXLounge

Submitted April 15, 2021 at 09:56PM by ElongatedMuskrat
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NASA delays starting contract with SpaceX for Gateway cargo services
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Submitted April 16, 2021 at 06:42AM by spacerfirstclass
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New info about Starlink/Starship from Gwynne's April 14 MIT talk
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Submitted April 16, 2021 at 06:15AM by spacerfirstclass
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Official: SpaceX's Starship is the only vehicle selected to move forward as the Human Landing System for NASA's Artemis program, beating out Blue Origin and Dynetics.

Starship will attempt to land the first humans on the Moon since 1972.

By: @Michael Baylor

SpaceX Starship Wins!! (As everyone already knew by now. But that's the official announcement).

#WenMoonLanding!

By: @Chris B - NSF

New render of SpaceX's Starship for NASA's lunar missions with humans!

By: @Michael Baylor

As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX Human Lunar Lander
Article
@EverythingScience @SpaceX

HLS source selection statement
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Submitted April 16, 2021 at 11:38PM by cohberg
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Is SpaceX Really Worth $74 Billion?
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Submitted April 16, 2021 at 06:23PM by JakedHavoc
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SpaceX on Twitter: Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete – targeting Thursday, April 22 at 6:11 a.m. EDT for launch of Dragon’s second operational mission to the space station
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1383375176985759747

Submitted April 17, 2021 at 01:25PM by hitura-nobad
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Starbase Production Diagram - 18th April 2021 https://t.co/WUvNVbSls6
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Submitted April 18, 2021 at 02:31AM by brendan290803
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SpaceX on Twitter: SpaceX and NASA completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities with the four Crew-2 astronauts
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1383772720500903942

Submitted April 18, 2021 at 03:27PM by Exatrynzir
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet.

Ingenuity took this shot of its shadow while hovering over the Martian surface. It used its navigation camera, which autonomously tracks the ground during flight.

The Ingenuity team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California confirmed the flight succeeded after receiving data from the helicopter via NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover at 10:46 a.m. UTC

“Ingenuity is the latest in a long and storied tradition of NASA projects achieving a space exploration goal once thought impossible,” said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk. “The X-15 was a pathfinder for the space shuttle. Mars Pathfinder and its Sojourner rover did the same for three generations of Mars rovers. We don’t know exactly where Ingenuity will lead us, but today’s results indicate the sky – at least on Mars – may not be the limit.”

Early video of flight

Read more | #Mars2020
@EverythingScience

First Video of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter in Flight

In this video captured by NASA’s Perseverance rover, the agency's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter took the first powered, controlled flight on another planet

Stitched together from multiple images, the mosaic is not white balanced; instead, it is displayed in a preliminary calibrated version of a natural-color composite, approximately simulating the colors of the scene as it would appear on Mars

The solar-powered helicopter first became airborne at 7:34 a.m UTC – 12:33 Local Mean Solar Time (Mars time) – a time the Ingenuity team determined would have optimal energy and flight conditions. Altimeter data indicate Ingenuity climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 3 meters and maintained a stable hover for 30 seconds. It then descended, touching back down on the surface of Mars after logging a total of 39.1 seconds of flight.

Video | #Mars2020
@EverythingScience

SpaceX Booster Reuse: Improvements We’ve Seen
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Submitted April 19, 2021 at 08:23PM by Kyle_M_Photo
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SpaceX in letter to FCC: no "close call" between a Starlink and a OneWeb satellite last month. Additionally, OneWeb "chose to publicly misstate the circumstances of the coordination" but later offered to "retract" those statements in an FCC meeting.
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Submitted April 21, 2021 at 04:12AM by falsehood
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Bill Nelson backs NASA decision on lunar lander in confirmation hearing
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Submitted April 21, 2021 at 07:20PM by skpl
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Fun and Games with the rocket equation: Or, the dry mass of Lunar Starship must very very low?
An interesting tidbit that might have gotten overlooked in the Lunar Starship excitement. My reading of it says that all orbital refueling is happening in LEO and only in LEO. Lueters, in the selection letter, said that her anxiety about the huge number of launches required was alleviated by the fact that it all happens in LEO (as opposed to near the moon for the other two). Well, that is an interesting datapoint. That tells me that given a dry mass of a ship, an ISP, and a propellant mass, I can tell you how much cargo that ship can land on the moon. Pretty simple Tsiolkovsky equation stuff. So, I did the math.https://imgur.com/a/y5FTRndNote, I also assumed no aerobraking. The ship, minus the cargo has to burn back from the moon and back into LEO. ISP I selected at 350 seconds, and DeltaV from LEO to lunar surface of 7 km/s from this plot: https://sites.google.com/site/exosnews/ula/cislunar-1000 Oberth Effect disregarded.The results are very interesting. There are no solutions that close with a dry mass of 100 tons up to at least a propellant mass of 3600 tons (I didn't calculate further). For a more reasonable estimate of propellant at 1200 tons, no solutions close unless the dry mass of Starship is less than 20 tons!So, what is going on? SX and NASA know how to sling the Tsiolkovsky equation. There is little conceivable way that Lunar Starship masses less than 20 tons. We know the approximate propellant load of a full Starship is in the neighborhood of 1200 tons. We have no reason to think there will be aerobraking (and this would add to the dry mass anyway). The ship has to come back to LEO (that is where it is being refueled! Right out of the mouth of Lueters!). ISRU might be possible, but not early on.A 100 ton ship with a 100 ton cargo just won't close. Like, not even close. So, what am I missing?Code (scientist grade MATLAB) available on request

Submitted April 20, 2021 at 11:06PM by SyntheticAperture
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VICE News interview with Jared Isaacman about the Inspiration4 mission, the future of space travel, and Crew Dragon
https://youtu.be/yANw40QhCSw

Submitted April 21, 2021 at 10:15PM by CaptainBrant
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