Fairing plays a huge role in rocket launches. Acting as a two-piece protective layer, SpaceX has designed two fairing halves with special netting to catch them when they fall. Without any programming beforehand, fairing halves use a parachute to slow them down. Ships must be positioned correctly to catch these.
SpaceX finally managed to catch both fairing halves of a Falcon 9 rocket launch today. CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk made an exciting announcement on Twitter:
Both fairing halves caught from space by @SpaceX ships!
For all previous launches, recovery attempts for catching both fairing halves remained unsuccessful. Only a single half was retrieved back in June 2019, and once more in January 2020.
In addition to re-using old components, managing to catch both fairing halves can save up to $6 million. As reported by Techcrunch, Elon Musk also has plans to “capture Crew Dragon capsules as they return to Earth”. This would prove to be a safe option once the fairing system is perfected.
SpaceX is targeting early March for the next major milestone in its Starship program, with CEO Elon Musk confirming the company’s next launch is roughly six weeks away. Musk shared the update on X, simply stating “Starship launch in 6 weeks,” setting the stage for what’s expected to be a pivotal test flight for the […]
Starlink’s ever-growing satellite constellation is getting very good at dodging trouble — a lot of it. According to a recent report filed by SpaceX with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Starlink satellites performed roughly 300,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in 2025 alone. The figures, first reported by New Scientist, offer a rare look at just how crowded […]
As Winter Storm Fern bears down on large swaths of the U.S., T-Mobile is temporarily unlocking SpaceX’s Starlink-powered cellular service for free, giving customers a satellite-based fallback when traditional networks go dark. The move was first reported by PCMag, which said T-Mobile has activated its T-Satellite service at no cost for customers in potentially impacted […]
