SpaceX is trying to kill a federal agency that accused it of labor violations. Ostensibly progressive brands have leaped to join in Elon Musk boasts that he’s a “free speech absolutist”, but that didn’t stop his rocket company, SpaceX, from firing eight workers who had criticized him for making light of reports that SpaceX had settled a sexual harassment claim against him. Not stopping there, SpaceX has moved to put the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the US’s top labor watchdog, out of business. Earlier this year, a day after the board accused SpaceX of illegally retaliating against th ..read more

The NLRB general counsel has accused US’s largest corporations of creating distractions to cover their law-breaking The US’s top labor lawyer has said her agency will not “succumb” to Amazon, Starbucks and SpaceX’s attempts to legally challenge the National Labor Relations Board and its ability to enforce federal labor law. Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB general counsel, accused some of the US’s largest corporations of “jumping on the bandwagon” in mounting legal challenges to the labor watchdog, which has found itself at the center of the ongoing battle between the companies and a wave of unioniz ..read more

Spacecraft’s cruise vessel flew around globe for first time, but lost contact in final stages before planned splashdown SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, was destroyed during its return to Earth after nearly completing its third test flight. The 120-metre system, which weighs about 5,000 tonnes when fully fuelled, took off from SpaceX’s spaceport, named Starbase, on the Gulf of Mexico in Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX aims to use the spacecraft to one day carry astronauts to the moon and Mars ..read more

SpaceX launched the third test flight of its Starship spacecraft, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, which aims to carry astronauts to the moon and, eventually, to Mars. It took off from SpaceX's spaceport, named Starbase, on the Gulf of Mexico in Boca Chica, Texas, entering space several minutes later. After 50 minutes, it lost contact with the spacecraft and the live feed cut to the control room. SpaceX were never intending to recover the parts after take-off. Two previous attempts ended in the explosion of the spacecraft's engine booster and the cruise vessel, which is designe ..read more

Trader Joe’s and SpaceX are among businesses challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board Upset by the surge in union drives, several of the best-known corporations in the US are seeking to cripple the country’s top labor watchdog, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), by having it declared unconstitutional. Some labor experts warn that if those efforts succeed, US labor relations might return to “the law of the jungle”. In recent weeks, Elon Musk’s SpaceX as well as Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s have filed legal papers that advance novel arguments aimed at ..read more

House Democrats write to company about Russia’s alleged use of satellite internet service in war against Ukraine US House Democrats are investigating SpaceX over whether Russia has accessed the company’s Starlink satellite internet service as part of its ongoing war against Ukraine, according to a letter sent to the company on Wednesday. The letter, authored by the Democratic representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Robert Garcia of California, comes after Ukrainian officials claimed in February to have found evidence Russian use of Starlink terminals for satellite internet, calling it a ..read more

Intuitive Machine’s Odysseus lander successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center, due to land on moon in a week Another private US company took a shot at the moon on Thursday, launching a month after a rival’s lunar lander missed its mark and came crashing back. Nasa, the main sponsor with experiments on board, is hoping for a successful moon landing next week as it seeks to jumpstart the lunar economy ahead of crewed missions ..read more

Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander sets off on SpaceX rocket from Cape Canaveral on weeklong journey A solar-powered lunar lander designed by a former Nasa engineer who became frustrated by the space agency’s bureaucracy lifted off from Florida early on Thursday on a mission to become the first private spacecraft to achieve a controlled moon landing. Odysseus, the working name for the uncrewed Nova-C lander built by the Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines, lit up the skies above Cape Canaveral shortly after 1am on a Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk’s SpaceX company ..read more

Decision to move rocket company comes after Musk said he would hold shareholder vote to move Tesla to Texas as well Rocket company SpaceX has moved its state of incorporation to Texas from Delaware, CEO Elon Musk has announced. “SpaceX has moved its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas! If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, I recommend moving to another state as soon as possible,” Musk said on the platform ..read more

The delay to Nasa’s 10-year lunar programme gives us time to beef up the treaties governing the exploitation of extraterrestrial resources It has been a grim time for lunar exploration. Scientists and space engineers had earmarked 2024 as the year that humanity would begin its return to the moon in earnest. An ambitious programme – largely funded through Nasa’s $2.6bn commercial lunar payload services (CLPS) initiative – was drawn up. Its forerunner projects included the launch of the robot lander, Peregrine, last week – to be followed by a crewed mission, Artemis II, that would put four peopl ..read more