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SpaceX lands Starship rocket SN15 after check flight

SpaceX lands Starship rocket SN15 after test flight

The Starship prototype SN15 missile lands on the company’s landing pad in Boca Chica, Texas on May 5, 2020.

SpaceX

Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched and landed the latest prototype of his Starship rocket on Wednesday in the fifth test flight at high altitude of the system.

The spaceship’s prototype rocket, serial number 15 or SN15, flew up to 10 kilometers, or approximately 33,000 feet.

“Spaceship is nominally landing!” Musk tweeted after landing. Nominal is a space industry term used to denote when things go according to plan.

SN15 was the first Starship prototype that was not destroyed after a test flight at high altitude. While a small fire broke out at the base of the rocket after landing, the fire appeared to be contained a few minutes later.

The company is developing Starship to bring cargo and people on missions to the moon and Mars.

Earlier this month, NASA placed an almost $ 3 billion contract with SpaceX to build a lunar variant of Starship to bring astronauts to the surface of the moon for the agency’s Artemis missions. While Musk’s company continued to advance Starship development, NASA stopped SpaceX work on the HLS program after Jeff Bezos ‘Blue Origin and Leidos’ subsidiary Dynetics each filed protests against NASA’s procurement.

The SN15 flight was similar to what SpaceX has conducted over the past six months with the test flights of the prototypes SN8, SN9, SN10 and SN11. While each of the previous missiles was successfully launched and several development goals were achieved, all four prototypes were explosively destroyed – SN8 and SN9 on impact during the landing attempts, SN10 a few minutes after landing and SN11 just before the landing attempt.

The Starship prototypes are about 150 feet tall, or about the size of a 15-story building, and are each powered by three Raptor rocket engines.

It’s made of stainless steel and is the early version of the rocket that Musk unveiled in 2019.

The Starship prototype SN15 rocket is on the company’s launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX

SpaceX noted in a statement on its website that the SN15 has “vehicle enhancements in terms of structure, avionics and software” compared to previous Starship prototypes.

“Specifically, a new, improved avionics suite, an updated fuel architecture in the tail skirt, and a new design and configuration for Raptor engines,” said SpaceX.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which has an inspector at the SpaceX facilities to monitor the test flights, conducted a “breakdown” investigation of the SN11 flight.

Last week, the FAA announced the approval of the next three Starship launches – SN15, SN16, and SN16 – and said it would “verify that SpaceX has implemented corrective actions resulting from the SN11 breakdown investigation”.

The FAA approved multiple launches “because SpaceX makes few changes to the launcher and relies on the FAA-approved method to calculate the risk to the public.”

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World News

SpaceX lands Starship SN10 rocket after a high-altitude flight take a look at

SpaceX lands Starship SN10 rocket after a high-altitude flight test

The Starship prototype SN9 starts at the company’s development facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

SpaceX

SpaceX’s spaceship prototype exploded for the first time shortly after landing after a high-altitude flight test on Wednesday.

The cause of the explosion, or whether it was intentional, was not immediately clear.

The company test flew with the Starship rocket Serial Number 10 or SN10. SpaceX wanted to launch the prototype to an altitude of 10 kilometers or an altitude of 32,800 feet.

The Starship prototype stands about 150 feet tall, or about the size of a 15-story building, and is powered by three Raptor rocket engines. The rocket is made of stainless steel and represents the early versions of the rocket introduced in 2019.

Musk’s company develops Starship with the goal of bringing cargo and people on missions to the moon and Mars.

The SN10 flight was similar to SpaceX’s December and February when it tested the SN8 and SN9 prototypes. Both earlier missiles served multiple development goals – including testing aerodynamics, turning off the engines one at a time, and turning them around to align for landing – but both prototypes exploded on impact when attempting to land and couldn’t slow down enough.

As with the SN8 and SN9, the goal of the SN10 flight was not necessarily to reach the maximum altitude, but rather to test several important parts of the spacecraft system. SpaceX fired all three engines to take off, then shut them off one by one as the rocket neared its intended altitude.

SN10 then transferred propellant from the main tanks to the collection tanks before turning for the “belly flop” reentry maneuver – allowing it a controlled descent through the air with the missile’s four flaps. In the final moments of the descent, SpaceX turned the rocket over and brought it back into a vertical orientation. The Raptor engines were fired to slow down for landing.

Starship is one of two “Manhattan projects” that SpaceX is developing at the same time. The other is the Starlink satellite internet program. Musk previously estimated that Starship would cost around $ 5 billion to fully develop, although SpaceX has not yet disclosed how much it has spent on the program.

The company raised $ 850 million in its most recent capital raise, valued at $ 74 billion, last month.

Musk remains “very confident” that Starship “will be safe enough for human transportation by 2023” – an ambitious target as the company began serious development and testing of the missile in early 2019.

But Musk’s schedule is crucial, as Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has paid to fly a spacecraft around the moon until 2023. Maezawa announced Tuesday that he is inviting eight members of the public to join his DearMoon mission, which will be a six-day trip to the moon and back.

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Business

Frontier Cancels Flight, Citing Maskless Passengers

Frontier Cancels Flight, Citing Maskless Passengers

A Frontier Airlines flight from Miami to New York’s La Guardia Airport was canceled Sunday evening after a large group of passengers, including several adults, refused to wear masks.

On Monday morning, the airline was charged with anti-Semitism for the treatment of passengers who are Hasidic Jews, as well as demands for investigations by the Anti-Defamation League of New York and other groups. Frontier held firm to its position that passengers had refused to comply with federal regulations requiring them to wear masks.

Some cell phone videos that have surfaced do not show the confrontation between the passengers and Frontier crew members, only the aftermath. The footage from the plane appeared to show members of the group wearing masks. Some passengers said the episode escalated because only one member of the group, a 15-month-old child, was not carrying a child.

Videos of passengers exiting the plane amid the chaos and taped by others on the flight have been posted on Twitter by the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council. In one video, a passenger says, “This is an anti-Semitic act.”

Another video showed a couple holding a maskless baby in a car seat when children heard crying, and one woman explained that the young children in her group, sitting in the back of the plane, had removed their masks to eat.

In a third video, a passenger says “This is Nazi Germany” as the couple and the small child walk up the aisle of the plane to the exit.

A Frontier Airlines spokeswoman said in a statement that “a large group of passengers have repeatedly refused to comply with the US government’s mask mandate.”

“Several people, including several adults, have been repeatedly asked to wear their masks and refused to do so,” said Jennifer de la Cruz, the spokeswoman. “Due to the continued refusal to comply with the federal mask mandate, refusal to disembark, and aggression against the flight crew, local law enforcement agencies were engaged. The flight was eventually canceled. “

But members of the group said they wore masks.

“We are law abiding citizens, law abiding people,” said Martin Joseph, who traveled with 21 members of his family, including his children and grandchildren. “We have young children. We understand that the mask must be worn and everyone must wear a mask and that is the law. We keep a million percent. “

Mr. Joseph said his daughter and her husband were sitting in the back row with their 15-month-old child and two other couples and their children. All are Hasidic Jews, said Mr. Joseph, although he added that one of the couples was not related to him.

Updated

March 1, 2021, 9:49 p.m. ET

He said a flight attendant asked his daughter to put a mask on her baby. She argued that her son did not have to wear a mask because of his age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires masks only for passengers who are at least 2 years old.

“Then they announced that all three couples would have to get off the plane in the back of the plane before they could take off,” said Mr. Joseph. “The babies were crying, the people were crying, the mothers were crying.”

Another passenger on the plane, Temima Stark, said she was sitting with her husband and child when the commotion started. She said she saw airline employees approaching passengers in the background. Everyone seemed to be wearing masks, she said, except for the baby who was eating.

As the passengers got off the plane, Ms. Stark, who was not traveling with the group, said she saw airline employees pulling each other up. Several other passengers interviewed on video reiterated the claim. Frontier Airlines did not comment directly on the allegation.

“The whole plane just went crazy,” she said.

A few minutes after disembarking, Ms. Stark said, the remaining passengers were ordered off the plane.

On Monday, the New York Anti-Defamation League called for a “full and transparent investigation” on Twitter, citing “obvious # anti-Semitic comments from the occupation or others”.

When asked about the allegations of anti-Semitism, Ms. de la Cruz, a spokeswoman for Frontier, said the airline is looking into “any situation that requires a passenger to be removed from a flight.”

“Like many other airlines,” she said, “Frontier has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to masks on our flights.” This becomes clear at the time of purchase, before and during the check-in process at the gate and on board the aircraft. “

Wearing masks and other public health measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus became a hotspot in the New York area during the summer as Covid-19 spread rapidly in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. The city’s health authorities said at the time they were particularly concerned about a significant increase in transmission between some of the city’s Hasidic communities. Similar tensions simmered in Israel.

When asked about the confrontation aboard the Frontier flight, Yossi Gestetner, founder of the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council, said: “Regardless of what started this whole mess, people certainly blame airline staff for doing so unacceptable and needs to be addressed. “

“The airline wants the public to believe that 12 people, some of whom are unrelated other than belonging to the same ethnic group, decided to go to the airport and on the plane wearing masks and leave with masks on, as seen on videos however, to act together remove all masks while seated, ”he said. “It’s contrary to logic.”

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Business

FAA orders inspections of Boeing 777s after engine failure on United flight

FAA orders inspections of Boeing 777s after engine failure on United flight

Residents take photos of debris that fell from the engine of a United Airlines aircraft in the Broomfield neighborhood outside of Denver, Colorado on February 20, 2021. A United Airlines flight suffered a fiery engine failure shortly after taking off from Denver on Feb. 20 en route to Hawaii, where massive debris is falling on a residential area before a safe emergency landing, officials said.

Chet Strange | AFP | Getty Images

United Airlines announced on Sunday that 24 of its Boeing 777s will be temporarily decommissioned after one of the aircraft suffered an engine failure over the weekend.

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration announced on Sunday that the agency would order the inspection of some Boeing 777 jetliners powered by the same Pratt and Whitney engine, the PW4000.

The Japanese aviation authority has ordered airlines to suspend flights from aircraft with this type of engine until further notice, according to the FAA. United is the only US airline with this type of engine in its fleet, the agency added.

United Flight 328, a Boeing 777-200 bound for Honolulu, landed at Denver International Airport shortly after take-off on Saturday afternoon after the right engine failed.

No one was injured in the flight, which carried 229 passengers and 10 crew members, but debris, including part of the engine cover, fell in nearby Broomfield, Colorado.

Federal investigators said their initial investigation found two of the correct motor’s fan blades were broken.

The National Transportation Safety Board said one of the engine’s fan blades broke near its root, while another broke halfway. Other engine fan blades were also damaged, the NTSB said in an initial report late Sunday.

“We checked all available safety data after yesterday’s incident. Based on the initial information, we concluded that the inspection interval for the hollow fan blades, which applies only to this engine model, which is only used in Boeing 777 aircraft, has been extended should be, “FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a statement.

United has another 28 of these aircraft in its fleet that are currently in storage. Airlines parked or retired dozens of planes after demand plummeted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Engine makers Pratt and Whitney, a unit of Raytheon Technologies, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Similar incidents

Such incidents are rare but have occurred in recent years.

In February 2018, another United Airlines 777-200, equipped with Pratt and Whitney PW4077 engines, suffered an engine failure over the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii after a fan blade broke. This comes from an NTSB report published in June. The flight made it safely to Honolulu with 364 passengers and 10 crew members.

In April 2018, a passenger was killed when a fan blade broke off the engine of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, broke a window and briefly sucked the passenger outside.

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Business

United Flight Sheds Particles Over Broomfield, Colo., After Engine Failure

United Flight Sheds Debris Over Broomfield, Colo., After Engine Failure

A United Airlines flight with 331 people on board suffered an engine failure on Saturday afternoon in the suburbs of Boulder, Colorado, throwing debris in three neighborhoods before landing safely in Denver.

No injuries have been reported, officials said.

Flight 328 took off from Denver International Airport at 12:15 p.m. local time, said Alex Renteria, an airport spokeswoman.

The FAA said in a statement that the aircraft, a Boeing 777-200, had a “right engine failure” shortly after takeoff and that there were reports of debris “near the aircraft’s flight path”.

The flight was being routed from Denver to Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport when the episode happened.

David Gonzalez, a United press representative, said the flight had 321 passengers and 10 crew on board. The flight was picked up by rescue workers as a precaution when it returned to Denver.

He said all passengers and crew had left the plane and were taken to an airport terminal. “We are now working on getting our customers on a new flight to Honolulu in the next few hours,” he said.

Police in Broomfield, Colorado, about 15 miles southeast of Boulder, said unspecified parts of the plane fell in three neighborhoods around 1:08 p.m. local time.

A video on Twitter showed a burning engine with parts of its case missing.

Rebecca Schulte, a resident, said she saw two pieces that were just a few doors away from her home. She describes how she heard a “low noise” that she compared to an empty dump truck going over a pothole, and then she heard sirens.

As she investigated further, she found a “large metal ring” that landed on the front stairs of a nearby house and hit the handrail.

“How it missed the house is a mystery to me,” she said. She said the metal ring was about 10 feet wide.

In a video on Twitter, passengers can hear cheering when the plane lands safely.

The aircraft was a different model than the Boeing 737 Max, which was on the ground in March 2019 after two fatal crashes.

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Entertainment

Regé-Jean Web page and Emily Brown Hug Earlier than London Flight

Regé-Jean Page and Emily Brown Hug Before London Flight

Dear reader, it seems Bridgerton Star Regé-Jean Page may have found Romance IRL. On February 9, before a flight to London, he was seen hugging writer and athlete Emily Brown. Phew, this smolder is hard to miss! The two were in a good mood as they hugged amid the snowflakes. Both wore long puffer coats and winter clothes.

Regé-Jean is particularly private about his relationship status. Of course, the audience tried to establish love relationships with him Bridgerton Costar Phoebe Dynevor, whom, like the Duke of Hastings, he skilfully bypassed on the dance floor. “I think all you need to know is in front of the camera. That’s why we presented it so nicely for you,” he joked during an interview with Access Hollywood. He added, “All the sparks that have flown from the beautiful scripts given to us, and so I think the sparkling script material is more than enough.”

The actor has yet to confirm or comment on his relationship with Emily, and she has remained similarly silent. Maybe it’s because Regé already has a lot on his plate – what about his Saturday night live Hosting gig is coming up. For the moment we let the following photos tell the story.

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Health

Spirit Airways hires pilots, flight attendants in hopes of Covid restoration

Spirit Airlines hires pilots, flight attendants in hopes of Covid recovery

A Spirit Airlines jet lands at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 25, 2020.

Ethan Miller | Getty Images

Spirit Airlines plans to train new pilots and flight attendants as early as next month as the low-cost airline positions itself for travel recovery after the onset of the pandemic.

“We will be a great tenant again,” said CEO Ted Christie on Thursday. “The growth in the aerospace industry will be recreational and we are this guest’s primary server.”

Christie said the airline plans to hire for other positions this year. Spirit last trained a class of new pilots in May and new flight attendants last February, a spokesman said.

The airline declined to say how many employees it plans to hire this year. It ended last year with 8,756 employees, including 2,497 pilots and 4,028 flight attendants.

The airline is also recalling some workers who have taken vacation. These programs have helped avoid involuntary vacation days for unionized workers, who make up the majority of their staff. Some of these employees, such as B. Pilots must also meet federally mandated training requirements before they can return to work.

“Our training needs can only handle so much that they have to be gradual,” said Christie of the company’s hiring plans.

According to FactSet data, Spirit lost $ 428.7 million in 2020, the first annual net loss since at least 2007. U.S. airlines combined lost more than $ 34 billion to the pandemic last year, executives than the the worst crisis in the industry.

Spirit now, like others, hopes that the introduction of vaccines will help revitalize air travel. The airline expects to reach the capacity level of 2019 by the middle of the year.

“Using vaccines to reduce the total number of Covid cases should lead to more confidence in the traveling public and easing restrictions,” Christie said.

The turnaround will take some time.

Spirit and other airlines saw weaker than expected demand as Covid cases increased late last year and early 2021, and vaccine spreading began slowly. New travel restrictions like the Covid test requirements for international flights to the US also affected bookings.

Helane Becker, airline analyst at Cowen & Co., predicted that Spirit’s first-quarter sales will decrease 46% from pre-pandemic levels, and estimated a lower loss per share in 2021 than previously expected, in part is due to higher costs associated with preparing for growth during recovery. “

Spirit’s shares fell more than 8% to $ 30.01 on Thursday, but the share price still rose nearly 23% that year, more than most U.S. airlines.

Late Thursday, the House Financial Services Committee made a proposal for additional $ 14 billion wage support for airlines that have already received $ 40 billion from the government to pay workers during the pandemic. The new round of relief would oblige airlines to keep their workforce through September 30 and would be part of the Biden government’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

Unions, American Airlines and United Airlines have backed another round of relief as the threat of new vacation days for up to 27,000 employees if the current package expires after March 31.

When asked if he is supporting additional aid even though the airline is hiring, Christie said, “Our industry has to be fair in all cases, so there cannot be selective aid. To the extent that the government decides to either accept the existing one expand program or modify, then I think it is to be expected that all airlines will benefit from there. “

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Business

FAA chief Steve Dickson sees ‘disturbing enhance’ in flight disruptions

FAA chief Steve Dickson sees 'disturbing increase' in flight disruptions

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration told CNBC on Thursday that there had been a worrying spike in disruptions on commercial flights in recent days, prompting the regulator to put in place a tougher enforcement policy.

“In the past few days, there have been an increasing number of incidents on board where passengers have disrupted flights due to their behavior,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson told Squawk on the Street.

He said the episodes were partly due to leaflets violating face mask guidelines implemented during the coronavirus pandemic and also after Trump’s deadly uprising in the U.S. Capitol last week.

The FAA’s new enforcement policy comes from airlines and airports improving security ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week.

For example, American Airlines will pause alcohol service on flights to and from Washington and Baltimore from Saturday to Thursday. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline also implemented this suspension following the Capitol uprising last week.

Delta Air Lines does not allow passengers flying to airports serving Washington to check firearms, CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC on Thursday.

Dickson said his new FAA command will temporarily bolster his longstanding approach to flight disruption.

Instead of issuing warnings or advice, the FAA intends to take legal action against “any passenger who attacks, threatens, intimidates or disturbs crew members,” a press release said. The order is valid until March 30th.

“I say inspectors, I tell my attorneys at the FAA law firm that we need to speed up fact-gathering on all of these subjects [incidents] and we will take immediate enforcement action in appropriate situations, “Dickson told CNBC.

In a letter viewed by CNBC on Monday, two key House Democrats urged the FAA to take action against unruly passengers. Lawmakers pointed to media reports of politically motivated disruptions in the days following the forcible seizure of the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.

Dickson agreed to the need to protect flight crews and passengers alike.

“Every time we see a trend like this, we need to take action because traveling on a commercial airline in the US is the safest form of travel in human history,” he said. “I want to make sure it stays that way.” “”

– CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.

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Business

FAA chief points stern warning to vacationers after politically motived flight disruptions

Flight attendant unions raise alarms about disruptive travelers after pro-Trump riots at Capitol

A flight attendant collects trash on a flight aboard a Boeing 737 Max from Dallas Fort Worth Airport to Tulsa, Oklahoma, December 2, 2020.

Carlo Allegri | Reuters

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Saturday that travelers will face grave consequences for unruly behavior on airplanes. This is a stern warning following multiple incidents on board last week with pro-Trump chanting and passengers refusing to wear masks requesting to fly on U.S. airlines.

“The FAA will take tough enforcement action against anyone who threatens the safety of a flight. Penalties range from fines to imprisonment,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a statement.

Unruly passengers can face fines of up to $ 35,000.

Alaska Airlines said Friday it banned 14 passengers on a flight from Washington DC to Seattle. The travelers “were not mask-conforming, vocal, argumentative and harassed our crew members. Their behavior was unacceptable,” said Ray Lane, spokesman for Alaska Airlines. “We apologize to our other guests who felt uncomfortable on the flight.

Videos of multiple incidents were shared on social media. An American Airlines pilot on a Washington-to-Phoenix flight warned travelers that he would “park this plane and drop people off in the middle of Kansas” in order to convince passengers to “behave” on board.

“At American, we take our customers’ safety seriously and value the trust they place in our team to look after them throughout their journey,” American said in a statement. The pilot made an announcement emphasizing the importance of following the instructions of the crew members and complying with the mandatory guidelines on face covering. “

Earlier this week, some passengers sang “traitors” on a Delta Air Lines flight with Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah. Delta said his “crew got involved quickly and solved the problem”.

On another flight this week, American Airlines flight attendants turned on the lights and ordered passengers to take their seats after passengers yelled at and cursed each other. This comes from a video shared by Twitter user @MaranieRae who said she was on the flight.

“I expect all passengers to follow the instructions of the crew members for their safety and the safety of the flight,” said Dickson. “The FAA monitors and tracks all commercial passenger flights in real time, and there are reporting mechanisms in place for crew members to identify any number of safety concerns that may arise in flight.”

Dickson said unruly behavior could distract crews and compromise crew members’ ability to perform safety-related duties.

Dickson’s testimony comes after flight attendant unions this week raised safety concerns over politically motivated flight disruptions after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol and demanded that the presidential election results be overturned.

“The mob mentality behavior that occurred on multiple flights to the DC area yesterday was unacceptable and threatened the safety of every single person on board,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents approximately 50,000 flight attendants United, Alaska and more than a dozen other airlines said Wednesday.

The airlines had taken precautions and moved crews to airport hotels after the politically motivated uprising in the Capitol. American Airlines has stopped serving alcohol on flights to Washington DC.

“We should work harder to keep problems on the ground,” the AFA told flight attendants after the FAA warned on Saturday. “Make sure you strictly adhere to the masks before pushing back. Work as a crew, communicate, and bring your concerns to the flight deck and supervisors.”

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Health

One 18-Hour Flight, 4 Coronavirus Infections

One 18-Hour Flight, Four Coronavirus Infections

The versions of the coronavirus that all seven carried were genetically virtually identical – strongly suggesting that one person among them initiated the outbreak. This person, who the report calls Passenger A, actually had a negative test four or five days before boarding, the researchers found.

Updated

Jan. 7, 2021, 7:57 p.m. ET

“Four or five days is a long time,” said Dr. Kamar. “Ideally, you should ask about the results of rapid tests done hours before the flight.”

Even restrictive “Covid-free” flights, international bookings that require a negative result, give people a day or two before departure to get a test.

The results are not final, warned the authors, led by Dr. Tara Swadi, an advisor to the New Zealand Ministry of Health. However, the results “underscore the value of considering all international passengers arriving in New Zealand as potentially infected, even with pre-departure testing, social distancing and separation and personal protective equipment used during the flight,” the concluded Researcher.

Previous studies of the risk of infection in air travel have not clearly quantified the risk and it is believed that on-board air filtration systems reduce the risk of infection among passengers, even if a flight involves one or more infected people. However, at least two recent reports strongly suggest in-flight outbreaks pose a risk: a flight from Boston to Hong Kong in March; the other from a flight from London to Hanoi, Vietnam, also in March.

On the flight to Hong Kong, the analysis found that two passengers boarding in Boston infected two flight attendants. On the flight to Hanoi, the researchers found that 12 out of 16 people who later tested positive were in business class and that proximity to the infectious person strongly predicted the risk of infection.

Airlines’ policies vary widely, depending on the flight and airline. During the first few months of the pandemic, most US airlines had a policy of blocking seats or rescheduling passengers if a flight was nearly 70 percent full. However, during the holidays, those guidelines were largely ditched, said Scott Mayerowitz, editor-in-chief at The Points Guy, a website that covers the industry.