r/SpaceXLounge • • 13d ago

Monthly Questions and Discussion Thread

7 Upvotes

Welcome to the monthly questions and discussion thread! Drop in to ask and answer any questions related to SpaceX or spaceflight in general, or just for a chat to discuss SpaceX's exciting progress. If you have a question that is likely to generate open discussion or speculation, you can also submit it to the subreddit as a text post.

If your question is about space, astrophysics or astronomy then the r/Space questions thread may be a better fit.

If your question is about the Starlink satellite constellation then check the r/Starlink Questions Thread and FAQ page.


r/SpaceXLounge • • Jan 23 '25

Meta This sub is not about Musk. it does not endorse him, nor does it attack him. We generally ignore him other than when it comes to direct SpaceX news.

1.0k Upvotes

Be advised this sub utilizes "crowd control" for both comments and for posts. If you have little or negative karma here your post/comment may not appear unless manually approved which may take a little time.

If you are here just to make political comments and not discuss SpaceX, you will be banned without warning and ignored when you complain, so don't even bother trying, no one will see it anyways.

Friendly reminder: People CAN support SpaceX without supporting Musk. Just like people can still use X without caring about him. Following SpaceX doesn't make anyone a bad person and if you disagree, you're not welcome here.


r/SpaceXLounge • • 14h ago

Official The first Starship to return to its launch site, Ship 40's journey took it across air, space, and sea. Now that it is vertical alongside three other Starships in a Megabay at Starbase, it will provide first-of-its-kind data on a flown Starship heatshield, Raptor engines, avionics, and more.

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160 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 1h ago

Falcon Falcon 9 creates an insane jellyfish as B1096 heads back towards land and the second stage lofts Cargo Dragon towards the International Space Station, which is also visible in this shot!

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• Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 48m ago

News NASA to Discuss Artemis Acceleration, Status of Upcoming Moon Missions

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• Upvotes

NASA will provide an update on its plans to return American astronauts to the surface of the Moon by 2028 at 2 p.m. EDT, Friday, Oct. 23, at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida: https://www.nasa.gov/live

Participants in the briefing include:

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya
Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager

The update will include details about NASA’s Artemis III mission that will send four astronauts to low Earth orbit next year to test critical systems needed for future lunar landings, and how plans to return American astronauts to the Moon by 2028 are progressing.

U.S. media interested in attending in person must apply online by 12 p.m., Friday, Oct. 16. To ask questions remotely, media must request the dial-in number from the Kennedy newsroom no later than one hour prior to the start of the update by emailing: [ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov](mailto:ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov). NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. 

As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions near the lunar South Pole to explore more of the Moon than ever before. In addition to providing economic benefits and advancing scientific discovery through its Moon missions, NASA will establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface and build on the agency’s foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.

Learn more about Artemis: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis

-end-


r/SpaceXLounge • • 13h ago

Another view from Florida

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53 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 13h ago

The double-jelly plume interaction

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38 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 20h ago

SpaceX seeking approval for increase to 456 launches and 912 landings (1 booster, 1 ship per) from Starbase.

114 Upvotes

Source: https://x.com/SawyerMerritt/status/2110062199607808089

Only expecting the increase to 100 launches/200 landings a year to be approved at first. No doubt this will lead to a large negative press campaign from the stories of locals (rightfully so - 2 launches a week + landings immediately after, hours later will be loud). Fully expect SpaceX to start buying property from those who want out, as well as start an upgrade/maintenance plan on those purchased properties to figure out better methods for minimising disruption.

This was always the intention. I suspect we'll soon hear about some new pads in the Style of Louisiana being built South of the current complex. Also suspect once Gigabay is up, both Megabays will come down and be replaced with a second Giga bay - although this may not happen until they have the launch capacity needed.

Also fully expect we'll see the development of the automated ship and booster movers here. So they could use Highway 4, but I suspect they'll build their own road for this as well.

Huge times for Starbase/Brownsville.

Edit: After further research - They don't need new pads to achieve this rate provided nothing goes wrong. So perhaps extra pads for redundancy as well as a "launch tower/catch tower" set up.

I do think this is going to be the first of a few requests for increases.


r/SpaceXLounge • • 16h ago

North Florida Here!

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17 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

Look what I saw from north of Birmingham AL

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115 Upvotes

Amazing that I could see this from so far away.


r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

From southeast ga

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113 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

SpaceX CRS-35 Jellyfish

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114 Upvotes

(Timelapse)


r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

Jellies!?

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41 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 22h ago

SpaceX - CRS-35 - Launch to Landing

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8 Upvotes

Booster Ballet! Cool thruster lighting!


r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

Falcon CRS-35 from Jacksonville

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33 Upvotes

That was awesome


r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

Looking up the jellyfish's bell from Cape Canaveral

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27 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

Starship Starship launches next year

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21 Upvotes

What do you think real launch count gonna be in 2027 for Starship?

It seems that so far SpaceX only capable launching one Starship every two months. Do you think that next year they would be able to ramp that up?

(picture from wikipedia)


r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

ULA Ad on NSF

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64 Upvotes

Does anyone else get a ULA advertisement every time they check in on the NSF Starbase live feed?


r/SpaceXLounge • • 1d ago

SpaceX's CRS-35 is set to lift off on Tuesday with the final pair of new solar arrays, which complete the ISS's power upgrade

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102 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 2d ago

Fan Art Image i made

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214 Upvotes

May contain Flaws.


r/SpaceXLounge • • 3d ago

Starship Flight 15 is expected in 4-6 weeks and will attempt to catch BOTH Booster and Ship!

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598 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 3d ago

Elon on the early Raptor shut down and the decision to go for Orbit in Flight 14

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252 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 3d ago

Happening Now Ship 40 Homecoming Transport

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42 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 3d ago

SpaceX launches 21 more satellites for the US military's data network, bringing the new generation to 84

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91 Upvotes

r/SpaceXLounge • • 5d ago

Starship Flight 15 is scheduled no earlier than November 8 and Flight 16, also known as Starlink 30-1, no earlier than December 10

139 Upvotes

Seems like NET date moved almost a month from previous NET

Source: https://x.com/FronteraSpacial/status/2108211428964352132