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A Starship Technologies delivery robot entered a Tallinn intersection against a 'no walk' signal during rush hour, forcing an oncoming bus to brake hard and injuring at least nine passengers. The robot reportedly continued on its route after striking the bus, prompting a transport official to say its departure could legally amount to fleeing the scene of a traffic accident.
SpaceX's fully stacked Starship launch vehicle measures 407 feet, combining the 236.2-foot Super Heavy booster and the 170.6-foot Starship spacecraft. It is currently the tallest and most powerful rocket ever flown, generating 18.1 million pounds-force of liftoff thrust, up from the 16.7 million pounds-force recorded during its first full-stack launch in April 2023, when booster exhaust damaged the launch pad and scattered debris across 385 acres.
A member of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel stated that SpaceX's Artemis lunar landing plan would require nearly 22 separate Starship launches to fill an orbital propellant depot before a single crewed Moon mission could proceed. This figure far exceeds the much lower launch counts Elon Musk has previously suggested for the architecture.
NASA detailed updated plans for returning astronauts to the Moon, confirming changes to how Orion will interact with SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon landers. Orion will now dock with Starship in high-Earth orbit rather than near the Moon, while Blue Origin's plan uses four New Glenn launches without orbital refueling and allows Blue Moon to meet Orion in low-lunar orbit. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency still targets a demonstration mission by summer 2027 and a crewed lunar landing by 2028.
SpaceX turned down three military launch contracts offered by the US Space Force, according to this week's Rocket Report roundup. Separately, a NASA safety panel said SpaceX's Starship may need up to 22 refueling flights to support a lunar landing mission.
At a quarterly meeting of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, member Charlie Precourt cited a new estimate that roughly 22 Starship launches would be required to fuel SpaceX's lunar lander for a single Artemis Moon mission. NASA has historically avoided confirming an exact figure, with earlier officials giving ranges from 'high single digits to low double digits' up to 'high teens.'
SpaceX executives said on an earnings call that the company plans to attempt catching both the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage at the Starbase tower during the rocket's 15th test flight, targeted for November. Elon Musk said data from Flight 14 gives SpaceX confidence to try the dual catch, while president Gwynne Shotwell said the FAA license is expected to permit return-to-launch-site landings over land, including northern Mexico.
Elon Musk announced during SpaceX's earnings call that the company plans to attempt catching both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage, known as 'Ship,' using the launch tower's mechanical arms on the vehicle's next test flight, possibly as early as next month. SpaceX shared a simulation video showing how the catch would work, marking the first attempt to recover the upper stage rather than let it splash into the ocean as in previous flights.
SpaceX reported $14.6 billion in third-quarter revenue, with its renamed 'Super Intelligence' division—covering Grok, Cursor, and a neocloud data center business with 1.7 GW of compute—now accounting for 52% of income. The company posted $4.4 billion in net income despite $19.6 billion in capital spending, aided partly by roughly $1 billion from bitcoin price gains and unspecified related-party income.
Elon Musk said during SpaceX's third-quarter earnings call that the company plans to try recovering both stages of its Starship system—the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft—during its next flight. The attempt would use launch-tower arms to catch the vehicle mid-air, aiming for what Musk called the first full recovery of an orbital launch system in history.
SpaceX has requested federal permission to conduct as many as 456 Starship launches annually from its Florida facilities, according to the report. The proposal would mark a massive increase from the company's current launch cadence, reflecting Elon Musk's long-stated goal of operating Starship with airline-like frequency.
Shares of SpaceX surged nearly 8% on Monday, reaching levels not seen since mid-June, following positive analyst notes and recent historic launches. The rally has elevated Elon Musk's net worth to over a trillion dollars once again. Analysts from Morgan Stanley highlighted upcoming AI product releases, Starship progress, and new contracts as key drivers for the stock's growth, with a target price of $300.