The Verge - Falcon Heavy launch: all the updates about SpaceX’s game-changing rockethttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52801/VER_Logomark_32x32..png2018-03-10T19:42:28-05:00http://www.theverge.com/rss/stream/167377412018-03-10T19:42:28-05:002018-03-10T19:42:28-05:00Elon Musk and the creator of Westworld made an inspirational trailer for the Falcon Heavy launch
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<figcaption>Photo by Bryan Bishop / The Verge</figcaption>
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<p id="mxE7oc">A surprise guest joined the cast and creators of HBO’s <em>Westworld</em> at the end of the show’s SXSW panel on Saturday. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, a friend of show creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, appeared as a way to end the panel on a note of “optimism”, in Nolan’s words, while also showing the audience an inspirational trailer that Nolan created promoting the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16971200/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-success-roadster-orbit-elon-musk">February launch</a> of the SpaceX Heavy Falcon rocket.</p>
<p id="ZATMXx">“One of the things that I really used to, when I was a kid, spend an unhealthy amount of time thinking about was space, and spaceflight,” Nolan said, noting that he had grown up watching Super 8 footage of Saturn rocket launches, but that the fervor and excitement that space exploration once fostered has faded. “And so I was having...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/10/17105322/elon-musk-spacex-falcon-heavy-westworld-jonathan-nolan-trailer-sxsw">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/10/17105322/elon-musk-spacex-falcon-heavy-westworld-jonathan-nolan-trailer-sxswBryan Bishop2018-02-17T09:00:01-05:002018-02-17T09:00:01-05:00Track Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster in space with this aptly named website
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<img alt="The tesla roadster floats through space with a mannequin behind the wheel." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/4oIhaICsHYXHIfM3xOu0wfiX3IM=/69x0:783x476/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58726285/tesla.0.gif" />
<figcaption><em>The Tesla roadster in space.</em> | Video: SpaceX</figcaption>
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<p id="BHgd3B">Last week, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk launched his now-famous red Tesla Roadster into space, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/6/16981144/spacex-tesla-falcon-heavy-roadster-live-stream">atop the first Falcon Heavy rocket</a>. Cameras mounted on the car <a href="https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/6/16981144/spacex-tesla-falcon-heavy-roadster-live-stream">live-streamed the Starman’s journey for a few hours</a>, giving us some unforgettable shots of Earth before going black. But if you want to know where the first car cruising our Solar System is right now, there’s a website for that — aptly called <a href="http://Whereisroadster.com">Whereisroadster.com</a>.</p>
<p id="XVFE3O">The website was created by engineer <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kd7uiy/">Ben Pearson</a>, who’s been passionate about space since he was in third grade. “I read every book in my little library that I could about space and space exploration stuff,” he tells <em>The Verge</em>. The day of the Falcon Heavy launch, he saw that people online were asking questions about tracking the...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/17/17019796/where-is-roadster-website-tesla-spacex-elon-musk-falcon-heavy">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/17/17019796/where-is-roadster-website-tesla-spacex-elon-musk-falcon-heavyAlessandra Potenza2018-02-10T09:00:02-05:002018-02-10T09:00:02-05:00Elon Musk made history launching a car into space. Did he make art too?
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<figcaption>Starman: a possible instance of installation art | SpaceX</figcaption>
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<p id="gnfIDD">There was no shortage of media from Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launch this week. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk338VXcb24&feature=youtu.be">A computer-rendered animation </a>prepared us all for the spectacle, set to David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” as a kind of galactic music video. Everything was live-streamed as it happened. Then afterward, the viral video clip of the two booster rockets landing in tandem after the successful launch was certainly impressive, even if the third booster missed its mark. But the real iconic image from the launch, the one most likely to stand the test of time, is of the cherry-red Tesla Roadster that Musk embedded in the capsule of the payload rocket. A gleaming convertible floating through (actual, real) space, its wheels not spinning at all, an...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/10/16997124/elon-musk-spacex-tesla-art-starman-advertising">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/10/16997124/elon-musk-spacex-tesla-art-starman-advertisingKyle Chayka2018-02-09T09:00:01-05:002018-02-09T09:00:01-05:00What it was like to watch the Falcon Heavy fly
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<figcaption>Image: SpaceX</figcaption>
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<p id="26vp7B">I’m standing in the middle of a wide, grassy field, peering at a tiny, smoking rocket three miles in the distance. Hundreds of reporters, producers, and photographers are all standing around me, staring at the same spot. The seconds tick away on a giant electronic countdown clock located on the field’s edge. With just 20 seconds left on the clock, I hear a flight controller’s voice boom over a loudspeaker behind me: “SpaceX Falcon Heavy: go for launch.” </p>
<p id="9JFFLI">It’s actually happening.</p>
<p id="asdgQU">Even now, I can’t quite believe the rocket I’m looking at is about to fly. I’ve been waiting for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch since I first began reporting on space five years ago. The mission seemed like it would forever be just over the horizon. First...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/9/16988630/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-report-video">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/9/16988630/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-report-videoLoren Grush2018-02-08T05:21:56-05:002018-02-08T05:21:56-05:00Elon Musk’s Tesla overshot Mars’ orbit, but it won’t reach the asteroid belt as claimed
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<p id="R3B3A4">Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16971200/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-success-roadster-orbit-elon-musk">which launched on top of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy on Tuesday</a>, is going farther out into the Solar System than originally planned. The car was supposed to be put on a path around the Sun that would take the vehicle out to the distance of Mars’ orbit. But the rocket carrying the car seems to have overshot that trajectory and has put the Tesla in an orbit that extends beyond the Red Planet’s path. However, the Tesla won’t be making it to the asteroid belt, <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/961083704230674438">as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk originally claimed</a>. </p>
<p id="vUBUcw">After launch, the Tesla cruised through space for a good six hours — <a href="https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/6/16981144/spacex-tesla-falcon-heavy-roadster-live-stream">a trip that was also live-streamed by SpaceX</a>. This “coast” phase was meant to show off a special orbital maneuver for the US Air Force before the...</p>
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https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16983744/spacex-tesla-falcon-heavy-roadster-orbit-asteroid-belt-elon-musk-marsLoren Grush2018-02-07T13:27:31-05:002018-02-07T13:27:31-05:00The best photos and videos of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch
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<figcaption>Photo: SpaceX</figcaption>
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<p id="ElSxjM">After years of waiting and months of delays, SpaceX finally launched the Falcon Heavy rocket into the skies of Florida yesterday. The launch was mostly a success, though the rocket’s center core booster was lost.</p>
<p id="rUIniL">Overnight, SpaceX published some of its own images of the rocket’s ascent and of the seemingly synchronized landing of the two side boosters at Cape Canaveral. But there was a glut of professional, semi-professional, and amateur photographers on the grounds and at the nearby beaches, all capturing their own unique perspectives of the historic launch. To top it all off, a few lucky sky-gazers in California even caught a glimpse of the Falcon Heavy’s upper stage performing its final burn, hours after takeoff, putting the infamous...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/7/16982052/spacex-falcon-heavy-photos-videos-watch-replay">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/7/16982052/spacex-falcon-heavy-photos-videos-watch-replaySean O'Kane2018-02-07T10:31:00-05:002018-02-07T10:31:00-05:00Here’s what’s next for SpaceX after Falcon Heavy’s first flight
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<figcaption>Photo: SpaceX</figcaption>
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<p id="9zvKBJ">The first launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket was mostly a success for SpaceX. The middle rocket core broke apart when it <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16980954/spacex-falcon-heavy-rocket-middle-core-failed-landing">crashed into the water</a> next to the company’s autonomous drone ship, and the Tesla payload <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16983744/spacex-tesla-falcon-heavy-roadster-orbit-asteroid-belt-elon-musk-mars">overshot its target</a>. But the launch was an otherwise excellent showcase of what the Falcon Heavy is supposed to be all about: big-time power to propel big-time payloads. </p>
<p id="yiXcFT">So what comes next for the private spaceflight company? The answer has three parts: one for each of SpaceX’s current and future rockets. There is, of course, the Falcon Heavy itself. But it’s partially made up of Falcon 9s, reliable rockets in their own right, and the current money-makers for SpaceX. Also, last year, Elon Musk announced the Big Falcon Rocket, or...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/7/16983040/spacex-falcon-heavy-rocket-launch-schedule-spaceflight">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/7/16983040/spacex-falcon-heavy-rocket-launch-schedule-spaceflightSean O'Kane2018-02-07T06:47:44-05:002018-02-07T06:47:44-05:00Sending a Tesla into space wasn’t such a dumb idea
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<img alt="Tesla Roadster" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5CHwnV66EnlVM4if97Yqnf-FRP0=/0x0:2713x1809/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58603695/27449864329_d2424bc280_o.0.jpg" />
<figcaption><em>Tesla Roadster</em> | <a href="https://flic.kr/p/HPDJjV">SpaceX / Flickr</a></figcaption>
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<p id="QyUfJf">Maybe it’s my instinctive distrust of bored billionaires treating the world as their playground, but I’m always dubious about Elon Musk’s various moonshot projects. He seems to be <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/27/16941256/elon-musk-boring-company-flamethrower-instagram-running">enjoying it all a little too much</a>. Latest among his outlandish ideas was the concept of <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/22/16811944/elon-musk-spacex-tesla-roadster-mars-falcon-heavy">sending a Tesla out into space</a> with yesterday’s historic <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16971200/spacex-falcon-heavy-launch-success-roadster-orbit-elon-musk">Falcon Heavy rocket launch</a>. I thought it was just another indulgence of a febrile mind, but then I saw the Earth fly-by videos and suddenly it all made sense.</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">I really like this starman.gif sequence I just screengrabbed -- the Moon makes a little appearance at lower left and right <a href="https://t.co/EEO0ViL9ET">pic.twitter.com/EEO0ViL9ET</a></p>— Emily Lakdawalla (@elakdawalla) <a href="https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/961043701282713601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2018</a>
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<p id="fx8a53">Elon Musk, the master salesman of our times, has found the...</p>
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<a href="https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/7/16984284/tesla-space-falcon-heavy-launch-elon-musk">Continue reading…</a>
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https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2018/2/7/16984284/tesla-space-falcon-heavy-launch-elon-muskVlad Savov