SpaceX early this morning successfully launched 21 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The satellites included 13 with direct-to-cellphone capabilities. The first stage completed its 21st flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The 2025 launch race:
15 SpaceX
6 China
1 Blue Origin
1 India
1 Japan
According to an article today in the San Antonio Express-News SpaceX has been routinely not paying its bills to construction contractors hired by it to build things in Boca Chica, and almost three dozen have had to file liens against the company to get their money.
A San Antonio Express-New review of Texas property records found at least 29 contractors — and six in San Antonio — have filed 77 liens against SpaceX since March 2022. Their total value is up from $2.5 million in May. Since then, SpaceX has settled at least six liens but gained another 44.
Though it’s unclear whether the money is owed by SpaceX, its general contractors or subcontractors, landowners are ultimately responsible for unpaid construction bills on their properties under Texas law. The liens are a legal mechanism for contractors and suppliers to secure their claims.
The article admits repeatedly that its information is incomplete, and that many of these liens might already be settled. It also admits that the failure to pay might not be by SpaceX, but as landowner with the most money, it is the biggest target capable of forcing payment by others.
It is also likely, with the amount of work and expansion that is going on at Boca Chica, such liens are somewhat expected, especially because they seem to be a relatively small amount compared to the billions that SpaceX is spending in the area.
Thus, though the article appears to suggest SpaceX is a deadbeat company, it also appears the article might also be part of the propaganda press’s effort to slander Elon Musk wherever it can.
Regardless, if SpaceX is behind in paying its bills, it needs to fix this issue now.
The satellite startup Astranis, which already has five small satellites placed in orbit by SpaceX, has announced a new SpaceX launch contract for launching its next five satellites later this year.
By making its geosynchronous satellites small, like cubesats, the company is challenging the recent trend away from these high orbits. In the past five years very few new big geosynchronous communications satellites have been built or launched, because they can’t compete with the cheaper low-orbit smallsats.
Astranis is bucking that trend, partly because of its small satellites, and partly because SpaceX’s launch costs are so much less than anyone else’s.
SpaceX today successfully launched more Starlink satellites (either 22 or 23), its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The first stage completed its 17th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The 2025 launch race:
14 SpaceX
6 China
1 Blue Origin
1 India
Artist’s rendering of Haven-1 interior.
Click for original.
With the launch of Vast’s single module space station Haven-1 still scheduled for August, SpaceX and Vast have jointly requested research proposals (here and here) for station’s first manned mission, expected to be a four person 30-day flight soon thereafter. From the Vast press release:
Building on their established partnership, the two companies seek high-impact research projects to support humanity on Earth and advance our capacity to live and work in Earth orbit and beyond. Submitted proposals will be evaluated based on scientific and technical merit, feasibility, and alignment with mission objectives. Approved research proposals will be able to leverage the capabilities of the Haven-1 Lab, Dragon spacecraft, and/or private astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS).
Haven-1 is the only one of four commercial space stations being designed or built that has taken no NASA money. It also appears it will be the first to launch, thus putting it an excellent position to win the larger space station contract from NASA to build its much larger Haven-2 station.
Though neither SpaceX nor Vast are offering any funding for these proposals, they offer researchers access to space quickly and with relatively little bureaucracy (something all scientists routinely face in working with NASA). Researchers who fly on that first mission will also become well positioned to win further NASA research space station contracts later on.
Axiom this week publicly introduced the international crew and passengers for its fourth tourist flight to ISS, presently planned for this spring.
During a Thursday press conference, former NASA astronaut and Axiom commander Peggy Whitson introduced her team. Shubhanshu Shukla will pilot the fourth mission to the ISS. He has been a fighter pilot for 15 years and will be the first Indian pilot to travel to the ISS.
The private mission also carries the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to stay aboard the space station. Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski is an ESA astronaut representing Poland. Tibor Kapu is a mechanical engineer who was selected as an astronaut for Hungary’s Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) program in May of last year.
Axiom had made deals with India, Poland, and Hungary years ago to fly astronauts in space, and this flight fulfills those deals. Launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, their Dragon capsule will spend 14 days in space, most of which will be docked to ISS.
SpaceX tonight successfully launched the first satellite in a constellation of two Spanish communications satellites, the Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The first stage completed its 21st flight. Because of the fuel needed to get the satellite into its proper orbit, the stage was not recovered.
The 2025 launch race:
13 SpaceX
6 China
1 Blue Origin
1 India
In releasing a new update on its Iphone operating system, Apple quietly revealed that it has joined T-Mobile’s partnership with SpaceX to use a subconstellation of Starlink satellites with direct-to-cellphone capability, thus acting as orbiting cell towers to fill in gaps in T-Mobile’s service.
Originally spotted by Bloomberg, it seems that Apple has secretly worked with SpaceX and T-Mobile U.S. to provide an alternative satellite service. This is quite a surprise, as T-Mobile had previously specified Starlink as an option for Samsung phones, like the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Fold 6. Meanwhile, Apple has an in-house Satellite connection service due to a partnership with Globalstar Inc.
However, the Bloomberg report states that a select number of iPhone users have been able to enable the Starlink beta through T-Mobile. While we don’t know which models will be compatible as of yet, T-Mobile told Bloomberg that the full release will support the vast majority of iPhones.
The system is being tested right now, but still requires FCC license approval.
Yesterday Elon Musk posted what appeared to be a completely silly tweet stating that Trump “has asked SpaceX to bring home the 2 astronauts stranded on the Space_Station as soon as possible. We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long.”
Since a Dragon capsule for bringing these astronaut back to Earth is already docked to ISS and is scheduled to return in April, there is nothing really new about Musk’s tweet. Moreover, that April return was delayed an extra two months because of SpaceX, not Boeing or Biden. The company had requested that extra time to prepare the next crew capsule for launch, because it is a new capsule never used before.
It is of course possible that Trump requested SpaceX and NASA to reconsider this extra two month delay, and move the crew return back to February, but that change would either require SpaceX to find a different older capsule for the next crew, fly the new capsule sooner than planned, or have the total number of NASA astronauts on ISS reduced to just one until the new capsule launches with the new crew in March. None of these options seems wise.
I suspect nothing will change, and Musk was merely trolling the press. And the press mostly fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.
Most of these stories fail to outline the reasons for the most recent delays, having nothing to do with Biden. The last four especially make it sound as if SpaceX has suddenly been enlisted for a rescue mission, a claim that is utterly false.
None have been able to get any confirmation of any change of schedule from NASA or SpaceX, suggesting that Musk’s tweet was entirely blarney that a smart press would have ignored without that confirmation. Our stupid mainstream press however could not do that. It went whole hog based on nothing.
Until NASA announces a change in schedule there simply is no story here, and that’s what I am reporting.
SpaceX today successfully launched another 21 Starlink satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The first stage completed its 20th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. At this time the first iteration of the direct-to-cell Starlink sub-constellation is largely complete, and the company has begun beta testing using these satellites directly with smartphones on Earth.
The 2025 launch race:
12 SpaceX
6 China
1 Blue Origin
Both China and SpaceX successfully completed launches since last night.
First, China placed a classified technology communications test satellite in orbit, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China. No further details about the satellite were released. Nor did China’s state-run press provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages and four strap-on boosters, all using very toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed inside China. UPDATE: One of the four strap-on boosters crashed next to a home.
Then SpaceX this morning launched 23 more Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its 23rd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The 2025 launch race:
11 SpaceX
6 China
1 Blue Origin
Though the live stream tonight started after launch, SpaceX tonight successfully placed 21 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Kennedy.
The first stage completed its eighth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The 2025 launch race:
9 SpaceX
4 China
1 Blue Origin
