All posts tagged "spacex"

Bannon demands probe into Elon Musk's drug use as MAGA feud escalates

Steve Bannon is demanding a special counsel investigation into fellow MAGA bro Elon Musk’s federal contracts as well as his alleged drug use, The Daily Beast reported.

Bannon told the podcast, "Sunday Night with Chuck Todd," that there should be formal investigations into Musk, who has admitted to using the drug Ketamine to treat depression, and who received $38 billion in federal subsidies over the past 10 years.

"The best way to do it is as a special counsel that can kind of oversee everything," Bannon said of his proposed investigation.

“Pull the security clearance for the drugs, temporarily. Investigate the whole drug situation,” Bannon said.

In May, The New York Times reported that Musk's drug use has included Adderall, ecstasy, and mushrooms, and has concerned those around him. President Donald Trump called Musk a "big-time drug addict" and speculated that drugs may have "had a role in their blow-up last week," The Beast reported.

"The White House has refused to say whether Musk was drug tested during his time as de-facto head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency," the report said, adding that Bannon agreed with Todd's assertion that Musk “never would have passed a security clearance as must a mid-level staffer.”

Although both Bannon and Musk have supported MAGA, the two have rarely gotten along.

Musk has called Bannon a “communist r------” and a “criminal" for serving four months in prison after defying a Jan. 6 House Committee subpoena.

Bannon told Todd that Musk's SpaceX should be "nationalized," and voiced concern over Musk's Starlink being installed in the White House. "The War Room" podcaster also claimed that Musk was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and expressed his dismay at reports that Musk nearly received a Pentagon briefing about potential U.S. military action in China before Trump put an end to it.

“Why would you need a briefing at a highly classified level, in the tank, at the Pentagon on the China war plan?” Bannon asked Todd.

Read The Daily Beast article here.

Elon Musk's new brainchild promises a dark and desperate future

On Saturday, the town of Starbase, Texas, was born. The town includes Elon Musk’s SpaceX launch facility and company-owned land covering 1.6 square miles.

If Musk and Donald Trump have their way, America as a whole could eventually be Starbase, Texas.

Consider:

Starbase is a company town. That company is Musk’s SpaceX. Its new mayor, Bobby Peden, is a SpaceX vice president. He was the only name on the ballot. Its two commissioners are also SpaceX employees. The local measure creating Starbase passed 212 to 6. Almost everyone who voted works for SpaceX or has a relative who does.

America is starting to look like one big national company town. The largest 1 percent of U.S. corporations now own a record 97 percent of all U.S. corporate assets. Fewer big corporations dominate every American industry, and they’re exerting more political influence than ever. Musk and Trump are twisting tax laws and regulations in favor of even fewer big corporations.

Starbase is hardly a democracy. It’s the brainchild of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, who founded the town because he didn’t want to deal with local regulations in getting approvals for his space launches. Musk’s DOGE has hamstrung federal agencies under whose authority SpaceX falls, such as the EPA and FAA — which just decided to allow him to go from five Starship launches a year to 25.

America, too, is looking less and less like a democracy. One man posts executive orders on social media, often without explanation or reason — and entire industries are created or destroyed, hundreds of thousands of jobs are terminated, universities and law firms are threatened, and legal residents of the United States are abducted without court hearings. Several of his advisers have disdained democracy and openly admired authoritarian Viktor Orbán’s Hungary and the late Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore.

It’s hard to know what’s happening in Starbase. There’s no independent press, and Starbase has explained little about its plans for the new city. Reporters can’t simply wander in and interview whomever they wish.

It’s getting to be that way in America too. We don’t know what Trump is going to do next or why. The White House selects the reporters and outlets it wants in its press pool. Some big outlets, such as The Washington Post and CBS, are owned by the super-rich who want to curry favor with Trump and don’t want to anger him, so they limit what their outlets can say.

Starbase is harming the environment. The first integrated Starship vehicle launched from the site in April 2023 exploded in midflight, igniting a 3.5-acre fire south of the pad site in Boca Chica State Park and sending debris thousands of feet into the air. State and federal regulators fined SpaceX for violations of the Clean Water Act and said the company had repeatedly polluted waters in the Boca Chica area.

America’s environment is also endangered — due in part to Musk and Trump, who are eviscerating environmental protections in favor of large private profit-making ventures like, well, Musk’s Starship.

Starbase is the brainchild of a single multibillionaire. He plans to live there part of the time with some of his 14 children and their four mothers, and he ultimately decides all important matters for the town.

America is the part-time home of many of the world’s billionaires, who also have outsized influence over important matters the nation deals with.

Finally, Starbase is insular. It will not share its tax revenue with anyone else. Because it’s incorporated separately, the town will keep for itself all the revenue generated by its property-owning taxpayers.

Trump’s America is becoming as insular as Starbase. Trump has all but eliminated USAID along with medical and humanitarian aid to war-ravaged people around the world. He’s cutting trade and deporting residents with student visas and green cards who don’t toe the company line.

So is Musk’s Starbase the future of America? Only if we let it become so.

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.

'Appalling!' Critics aghast as Elon Musk wins new government contract

Concern over Elon Musk's increasing power in Washington, D.C. is growing rapidly now that the Federal Aviation Administration plans to use the billionaire's SpaceX’s Starlink to upgrade its networks.

The FAA posted on X Monday night, "This week, the FAA is testing one terminal at its facility in Atlantic City and two terminals at non-safety critical sites in Alaska."

The news comes as Musk's Department of Government Efficiency plans to make staffing cuts at the FAA, which has many observers crying foul. This isn't Musk's first potential conflict of interest, however. There's plenty of government interplay with Musk's other companies, including Tesla, Neuralink, and SpaceX.

CNN pundit S.E. Cupp recounted on Tuesday how Musk "reportedly fired a bunch of workers at the FDA that were looking at his Neuralink program" for possible approval.

ALSO READ: 'Gotta be kidding': Jim Jordan scrambles as he's confronted over Musk 'double standard'

"So, yes, he's got his hands in a lot of pots," Cupp continued. "And it's not just that he stands to gain financially; it's that he's overseeing agencies that are regulating his businesses, which is a little like, you know the old saying, ... making the arsonist the fire chief — but also head of HR, head of accounting — and then awarding him a contract for accelerants, is kind of like what all of this is."

Host Dana Bash added, "It just reminds me of the game I like to play: What if this was George Soros, right? And Barack Obama or Joe Biden doing all of this."

On Musk's social media platform X, users pointed out about what Cupp called, "all of these obvious conflicts."

Liberal pundit @ArtCandee posted, "The FAA has agreed to use SpaceX’s Starlink internet system to manage US airspace. Yet another contract for Elon Musk to profit from while he's slashing funding for others. The conflict of interest is appalling!"

Media outlet @TheTNHoller wrote, "Wild. Bond villain stuff. Conflict of interest doesn’t even begin to describe this. The national security concerns here are off the charts."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

Flawed Boeing mission to return to Earth with SpaceX: NASA

Two U.S. astronauts who arrived at the International Space Station aboard Boeing’s Starliner will have to return home with rival SpaceX, NASA said Saturday.

“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson told reporters.

The return of Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams has been delayed by thruster malfunctions of the Boeing spacecraft.

The decision marked a fresh public relations headache for Boeing, meaning the two astronauts will have to spend a total of eight months in orbit, not the eight days as originally planned.

After years of Starliner development delays, the spacecraft had finally lifted off in early June carrying veteran astronauts Wilmore and Williams to the ISS.

But while studying problems with the craft’s propulsion system, NASA had to put their return on indefinite hold.

Engineers at Boeing and NASA were concerned Starliner might not have the propulsive power to wrest itself out of orbit and begin the descent toward Earth.

NASA officials said Saturday they had opted for the highly unusual option of bringing the astronauts back from the flying laboratory not on their own craft, but aboard a previously scheduled SpaceX vehicle in February.

Under the new plan, the SpaceX Crew-9 mission will take off in late September, but carrying only two passengers instead of the originally planned four.

It will remain moored to the ISS until its scheduled return in February, bringing back its own crew members plus their two stranded colleagues.

The approach represents a further blow to the already tarnished image of U.S. giant Boeing, whose airplane arm has been beset in recent years with concerns about safety and quality control.

Ten years ago, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle, NASA ordered new vessels from both Boeing and SpaceX that could ferry astronauts to and from the ISS.

With two such vehicles available, NASA reasoned, there would always be a backup in case one of the two experienced problems.

But Elon Musk’s SpaceX beat Boeing to the punch and has been the lone vehicle used to taxi astronauts for the past four years.

This year’s crewed Starliner flight, which followed years of delays and disappointments during the craft’s development, was meant to be a last test of the vehicle before it enters regular operations.

NASA has said the astronauts on the ISS have plenty of supplies, are trained for extended stays and have plenty of experiments to conduct.

Boeing Starliner launch scrubbed in final minutes of countdown

Cape Canaveral (AFP) - The first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spaceship was dramatically called off Saturday with just under four minutes left on the launch countdown clock, for reasons that aren't yet clear.

It was the second time the test mission to the International Space Station was scrubbed with the astronauts strapped in and ready to lift off, and yet another setback for the troubled program, which has already faced years of delays and safety scares.

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are waiting to be safely removed from the capsule. Mission commander Wilmore had earlier given a short but rousing speech telling tens of thousands of people tuning into the live feed that "It's a great day to be proud of your nation."

The former U.S. Navy test pilots, who each have two spaceflights under their belts, were previously called back to quarantine after an aborted launch attempt on May 6 due to a faulty valve on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

A backup date is available for Sunday, but it's not yet known whether the Starship will be ready to launch.

Starliner is poised to become just the sixth type of US-built spaceship to fly NASA astronauts, following the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs in the 1960s and 1970s, the Space Shuttle from 1981 to 2011, and SpaceX's Crew Dragon from 2020.

Vital test

NASA is looking to certify Boeing as a second commercial operator to ferry crews to the ISS — something Elon Musk's SpaceX has already been doing for the US space agency for four years.

Both companies received multibillion-dollar contracts in 2014 to develop their gumdrop-shaped, autonomously piloted crew capsules, following the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 that left the U.S. temporarily reliant on Russian rockets for rides.

Boeing, with its 100-year history, was heavily favored over its then-upstart competitor, but its program fell badly behind amid embarrassing setbacks that mirrored the myriad problems afflicting its commercial airline division.

These ranged from a software bug that put the spaceship on a bad trajectory on its first uncrewed test, to the discovery that the cabin was filled with flammable electrical tape after the second.

While teams were working to replace the faulty valve that postponed the previous launch attempt, a small helium leak located in one of the spacecraft's thrusters came to light.

But rather than replace the seal, which would require taking Starliner apart in its factory, NASA and Boeing officials declared it safe enough to fly as is.

Manual flying

Earlier Saturday, Wilmore and Williams emerged from the historic Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building, exchanging thumbs-up signs and waves with their families before boarding a van that took them to their launch pad.

When they do fly, they will be tasked with putting Starliner through the wringer, including taking manual control of the spacecraft.

Starliner is set to dock with the ISS for eight days as the crew carry out tests, including simulating whether the ship can be used as a safe haven in the event there is a problem on the orbital outpost.

After undocking, it will re-enter the atmosphere and carry out a parachute and airbag-assisted landing in the western United States.

A successful mission would offer Boeing a much-needed reprieve from the intense safety concerns surrounding its 737 MAX passenger jets.

It's also important for more immediate reasons: the Urine Processor Assembly on the ISS, which recycles water from astronauts' urine, suffered a failure this week and its pump needs to be replaced, Dana Weigel, NASA's ISS program manager, told reporters.

This mission is thus tasked with carrying spare equipment, which weighs around 150 pounds (70 kilograms). To make way for it, two astronauts' suitcases containing clothes and toiletries had to be pulled off, meaning they'll need to rely on backup supplies kept on the station.

Elon Musk defends ketamine use, dismisses investor worries

WASHINGTON — Elon Musk suggested his use of drugs benefits Tesla investors in an interview released Monday, saying he takes prescribed ketamine to treat his "negative frame of mind."

The 52-year-old tycoon confirmed he takes the anesthetic — typically used for pain management and to treat depression -- following reports in the US media that his drug use was spooking investors.

“Ketamine is helpful for getting one outside out of a negative frame of mind," Musk told former CNN host Don Lemon in an interview published on social media on Monday.

SpaceX's Starship 'lost' upon re-entry on third test flight

SpaceX's massive Starship rocket successfully blasted off into the atmosphere for its third unmanned test flight but was then destroyed while returning to Earth on Thursday, the company said.

A test flight of around one hour was planned, after which both rocket stages were to land in the sea.

But the splashdown in the Indian Ocean was unsuccessful and the Starship was destroyed.

"The ship has been lost," a SpaceX commentator said on the company's live stream. Nevertheless, SpaceX said the third test achieved significantly more of its objectives than the previous two launches, which also failed.

SpaceX launch set for NASA science probe once targeted by Trump

A NASA satellite that will look at the tiniest parts of the air and ocean is set for an overnight launch from the Space Coast after a years-long path to the launch pad that staved off repeated attempts by the Trump administration to cancel the mission.

The Plankton, Aerosol Cloud Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite was on the chopping block of Trump’s annual proposed NASA budgets several times as he sought to steer funds away from some climate-focused missions and shift money to deep-space efforts.

SpaceX lines up launch Sunday, pushes Canaveral cargo launch to Tuesday

SpaceX is set to send up another Starlink launch from Kennedy Space Center on Sunday night while prepping for a unique cargo launch from Cape Canaveral now targeting Tuesday.

A Falcon 9 rocket is set to lift off at 6:15 p.m. Eastern from KSC’s Launch Complex 39-A on a southerly trajectory carrying another 23 satellites for the growing internet constellation.

Backup launch options run through 9:55 p.m. and on Monday beginning at 5:39 p.m.

SpaceX launches 1st human spaceflight of the year on Axiom Space mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX carved its way through cloudy skies on the Space Coast, sending up a four-man crew on a private mission to the International Space Station.

The quartet rode on the Crew Dragon Freedom, making its third trip to space atop a Falcon 9 rocket that blasted off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A at 4:49 p.m. Eastern time on the Ax-3 mission for Houston-based Axiom Space.

The first-stage booster made its fifth flight, coming back for a landing at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Landing Zone 1, sending a sonic boom across parts of Central Florida.