<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a>&#8216;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/spacex" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpaceX</a> made headway in the second test flight of its Starship rocket despite the demo on Saturday ending with explosions.
The spacecraft, which one day may take humans back to the Moon and possibly to Mars with the help of reusable rockets, successfully took off without a crew from the coast of southern <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/texas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Texas</a> and separated from its booster.
Though the vehicle and its booster <a href="https://apnews.com/article/spacex-starship-test-flight-launch-37c0893ddf605270b16a33ae64d69a85" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly exploded</a> one after the other in the minutes that followed over the Gulf of Mexico, meaning SpaceX did not reach its goal of having the Starship reach orbit and then splash down into Pacific Ocean, the company said the test will provide &#8220;invaluable data&#8221; to help it continue perfecting the model.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Watch Starship’s second integrated flight test → <a href="https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK">https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK</a> <a href="https://t.co/cahoRQ72lm">https://t.co/cahoRQ72lm</a>
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1725852544587727145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster and made it through a successful stage separation. The booster experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly after its boostback burn following the successful stage separation while Starship&#8217;s 6 second stage Raptor engines fired for several minutes as the Ship climbed to an altitude of ~150 kilometers,&#8221; SpaceX said in a <a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
&#8220;With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary,&#8221; the company added.
This weekend&#8217;s launch appears to have been a marked improvement over SpaceX&#8217;s test flight in April, which resulted in an explosion when the ship and booster <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spacex-provides-details-on-its-massive-rockets-explosion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">failed to separate</a>.
“They have fixed issues identified in their first flight and got further than ever before with this type of vehicle,” said Phil Larson, a White House space adviser during former President Barack Obama’s administration who later helped with communications at SpaceX, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/18/science/spacex-starship-launch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to The New York Times</a>. “The magic of engineering is that it is all about learning, iterating the design, and reflying again soon.”
Still, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) <a href="https://twitter.com/FAANews/status/1725926691074150467" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> a statement that described what transpired during the test on Saturday as a &#8220;mishap,&#8221; though the agency stressed that the &#8220;anomaly&#8221; did not lead to any reports of injuries or public property damage.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Just inspected the Starship launch pad and it is in great condition! 
No refurbishment needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch.
Congrats to <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Spacex</a> team &amp; contractors for engineering &amp; building such a robust system so rapidly! <a href="https://t.co/py5m1uhtEi">pic.twitter.com/py5m1uhtEi</a>
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1726328010499051579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;The FAA will oversee the [SpaceX-led] mishap investigation to ensure SpaceX complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements,&#8221; the FAA added.
In a <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1726328010499051579" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> to X on Sunday, Musk said the Starship launch pad was in &#8220;great condition&#8221; after he inspected it and noted that no refurbishment was &#8220;needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch.&#8221; He also congratulated the SpaceX team and contractors for &#8220;building such a robust system so rapidly.&#8221;

SpaceX’s Starship rocket launches

SpaceX Finds ‘Success’ In Explosive Second Rocket Test Flight

SpaceX Finds 'Success' In Explosive Second Rocket Test Flight

Elon Musk

Space

SpaceX

Technology

U.S.

Daily Wire host <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/matt-walsh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Matt Walsh</a> blasted critics of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/spacex" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpaceX</a> CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> after the rocket company’s landmark test of Starship ended in an explosion.
Starship, the largest rocket constructed in the history of mankind, successfully <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spacex-provides-details-on-its-massive-rockets-explosion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">climbed</a> 24 miles from a SpaceX launch facility in Texas during a test flight last week. A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1wcilQ58hI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">livestream</a> from the event showed that the rocket exploded amid the stage separation, after which the booster should have turned around and landed on the surface of the Earth. SpaceX confirmed that the successful launch was <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649045802332073986" target="_blank" rel="noopener">followed</a> by a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” an optimistic term for an explosion, but noted that insights from the test would assist the firm with future launches.
Walsh, whose podcast “<a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshShow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Matt Walsh Show</a>” is now available on Twitter, observed that the rocket launch was “met with jeers and mockery from the peanut gallery.” He added that leftist news outlets and the “snickering idiots” on social media claimed “the explosion was some sort of cosmic retribution for Musk’s ideological crimes” rather than recognizing that trial and error are fundamental components of true innovation.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Ep. 1150 &#8211; The Left’s Plot To Intimidate And Silence Me Has Failed Once Again <a href="https://t.co/JZaUGfjH5l">https://t.co/JZaUGfjH5l</a>
— The Matt Walsh Show (@MattWalshShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshShow/status/1650578859287273496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“You have to walk before you can run; you have to get your rocket twice the size of a Boeing 777 into the stratosphere before you can get into outer space,” Walsh commented. “This is what science and discovery are supposed to look like. This is how they work: innovation is a series of failures. As long as you learn from them, the process is working exactly as it should.”
Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1649050306943266819" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> that employees “learned a lot” for the next test launch. SpaceX engineers will “continue to review data” ahead of the next flight, the company <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649046001968381952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> last week as executives congratulated team members “on an exciting first integrated flight test” of the Starship rocket.
“You can’t achieve anything worthwhile without taking risks, and if you take risks, you’re guaranteed to fail at least some of the time. Anybody who takes risks and never fails isn’t really taking risks at all. This is what separates risk-takers from everybody else: the risk-taker has the courage to fail,” Walsh continued. “Many people in our culture don’t understand this point because we live in a world where so much of the innovation and discovery has already happened. The trials and errors, those were all suffered before we were born. This is the story of modern society: we inherited a world of luxury, where everything comes easy and quickly handed to us on a silver platter, and we assume that it always must have been this way.”
<a class="c-link" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-8054">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Musk, in addition to leading SpaceX, serves as chief executive of Tesla and recently acquired Twitter. He said in a recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-torture-myself-elon-musk-sheds-light-on-just-how-enormous-his-workload-is" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> that he works between 80 and 120 hours each week.
Walsh repeatedly cited President Theodore Roosevelt’s famous remarks in his “Man in the Arena” speech, an <a href="https://www.worldfuturefund.org/Documents/maninarena.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">address</a> that the commander-in-chief delivered in France one year after he left the White House, and noted that the words of the Bull Moose hang on the wall in his office. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,” Roosevelt said. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds.”

Matt Walsh

Matt Walsh Blasts Leftist ‘Peanut Gallery’ For Mocking Elon Musk After Rocket Exploded: ‘Innovation Is A Series Of Failures’

Matt Walsh Blasts Leftist 'Peanut Gallery' For Mocking Elon Musk After Rocket Exploded

Media

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/spacex?_gl=1*1luprrf*_ga*NzUzNDA5ODIxLjE2NzkzMjkzNzM.*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTY4MjExOTE1OS4xMzAuMS4xNjgyMTIyODI5LjE0LjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpaceX</a> revealed that the company’s massive Starship <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/space" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rocket</a> exploded in a test flight because of a failure in the stage <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/technology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">separation</a> between the vessel and its booster.
Starship, the largest rocket constructed in the history of mankind, successfully climbed 24 miles from a SpaceX launch facility in <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/texas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Texas</a> on Thursday morning. A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1wcilQ58hI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">livestream</a> from the event showed that the rocket exploded amid the stage separation, after which the booster should have turned around and landed on the surface of the Earth.
SpaceX confirmed that the successful launch was <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649045802332073986" target="_blank" rel="noopener">followed</a> by a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” the term for an explosion preferred by chief executive <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk?_gl=1*1luprrf*_ga*NzUzNDA5ODIxLjE2NzkzMjkzNzM.*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTY4MjExOTE1OS4xMzAuMS4xNjgyMTIyODI5LjE0LjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a>.
“The vehicle experienced multiple engines out during the flight test, lost altitude, and began to tumble,” the company said in a <a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-test" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “The flight termination system was commanded on both the booster and ship. As is standard procedure, the pad and surrounding area was cleared well in advance of the test, and we expect the road and beach near the pad to remain closed until tomorrow.”
Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1649050306943266819" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that employees “learned a lot” for the next test launch scheduled to occur in a few months. Engineers will indeed “continue to review data” ahead of the next flight, the firm <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649046001968381952" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> as executives congratulated team members “on an exciting first integrated flight test of Starship.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Liftoff of Starship! <a href="https://t.co/4t8mRP37Gp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/4t8mRP37Gp</a>
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649043715686793218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
Starship is nearly 400 feet long and has a liftoff mass of 5,500 tons. Both the Starship vessel and the Super Heavy booster are powered by Raptor engines, which burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane. The two components of the rocket are each <a href="https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">capable</a> of landing themselves on the surface of the Earth, while SpaceX plans to eventually refuel the vessels in low-Earth orbit in between departures to the moon and Mars.
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and we learned a tremendous amount about the vehicle and ground systems today that will help us improve on future flights of Starship,” the statement from SpaceX continued.
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
The launch on Thursday was the second attempt this week to test Starship. Another launch initially slated for Monday was nixed due to a frozen booster valve. Starship was not carrying any people or satellites on board for the launch.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
View of Starship liftoff from South Padre Island <a href="https://t.co/JrXCZLrQEy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/JrXCZLrQEy</a>
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649187977644630017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
Musk, who recently acquired social media firm Twitter, had provoked <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tesla-investors-are-worried-that-elon-musks-work-with-twitter-could-hurt-automaker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unease</a> among SpaceX and Tesla investors concerned he would be distracted from leading the two companies. The billionaire entrepreneur has nevertheless <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1600964083913588736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarked</a> that he continues to oversee Tesla and SpaceX, where the teams “are so good that often little is needed” from him. He intends to reduce the time he spends at Twitter and eventually appoint someone else to run the platform.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on the integrated test flight. “Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/SenBillNelson/status/1649054379029458949" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commented</a> on social media. “Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test and beyond.”
Musk started SpaceX with the objective of establishing permanent human settlements on Mars. He noted in an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-torture-myself-elon-musk-sheds-light-on-just-how-enormous-his-workload-is" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> last year that he works roughly 80 hours each week, an arrangement he finds “pretty sustainable.”

US-SPACE-AEROSPACE-SPACEX-STARSHIP

SpaceX Provides Details On Its Massive Rocket’s Explosion

SpaceX Reveals Why Its Massive Rocket Exploded

Business

SpaceX&#8217;s new rocket exploded minutes after leaving the launch pad on Thursday, sending the fiery remnants hurtling back to Earth.
The rocket, nearly 400 feet long, was planned to take off from its base in the southern tip of Texas and fly almost entirely around the world. That trip was cut short, though, after the rocket failed to separate from its booster minutes after launch.
&#8220;As of right now, we are awaiting stage separation where the Starship should separate from the super-heavy booster,&#8221; a female commentator can be heard saying just before the 4-minute mark in a video of the launch that can be viewed below.
The announcers watching the launch then began to grow concerned about the rocket&#8217;s failure to separate.
&#8220;Right now, it looks like we saw the start of the flip, but, obviously, from what we are seeing from the ground cameras, the entire Starship stack continues to rotate. We should have had separation by now. Obviously, this does not appear to be a nominal situation,&#8221; a male announcer says.
&#8220;Yeah, it does appear to be spinning,&#8221; the other announcer said, &#8220;but I do want to remind everyone that everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake.&#8221; The rocket exploded as she finished the sentence.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The tallest and most powerful rocket ever built launching. The liftoff of SpaceX Starship <a href="https://t.co/meav59yVmn">pic.twitter.com/meav59yVmn</a>
&mdash; Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1649045478456295433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The rocket was supposed to take off, separate from its booster, speed off to the east, and circle the globe before crashing into the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/spacex-starship-launch-elon-musk-d9989401e2e07cdfc9753f352e44f6e2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>.
Thursday&#8217;s rocket launch was the second attempt this week to get Starship off the ground. A planned Monday launch was scrapped because of a frozen booster valve.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1681913061093000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1nSUp7X_GMxrPR-OuaxTA7">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
The outcome of Thursday&#8217;s launch was not entirely unexpected. SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/spacex-starship-elon-musk-second-launch-attempt-bf932aaf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> prior to the launch that &#8220;there&#8217;s a million ways this rocket could fail.&#8221; Starship was not carrying any people or satellites on board for the launch.
SpaceX put out at <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649045802332073986">statement</a> over Twitter after the launch, joking that the rocket suffered a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” before the booster could be separated.
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” SpaceX said.

SpaceX Starship

WATCH: SpaceX Rocket Explodes Minutes After Launch

Air and Space

Texas

Twitter CEO <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> said during an interview Tuesday night that the government needs to have a plan to physically shut down the power grid in areas that house &#8220;heavy duty&#8221; artificial intelligence servers in case mankind ever lost control of the AI.
Musk told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that &#8220;really heavy duty intelligence&#8221; would be concentrated in only a limited number of areas on earth and that it&#8217;ll be so concentrated that they can be located from space using their heat signature.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not suggesting we go and blow up the service centers right now, but there may be some &#8212; it may be wise to have some sort of contingency plan where the government&#8217;s got an ability to shut down power to these service centers,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Like you don&#8217;t have to blow it up. You can just cut the power.&#8221;
When asked at what point it might be time to cut the power, Musk said if humans &#8220;lost control of some super AI, like for some reason, like the things that would normally work to do a passive shutdown, like the administrator passwords, if they somehow stop working where we can&#8217;t slow down or get out.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Elon Musk says there should be some kind of “Off Switch” in the case that we lose control of A.I. <a href="https://t.co/dIlXIs4feR">pic.twitter.com/dIlXIs4feR</a>
&mdash; Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1648486741190524928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
TRANSCRIPT:
<blockquote>TUCKER CARLSON: You&#8217;ve heard people say we should just blow up the server farms because there&#8217;s no way that once this gets rolling, there&#8217;s no way to slow it down. What do you think of that?
ELON MUSK: Well, the really heavy duty intelligence is not going to be distributed all over the place. It&#8217;ll be in a limited number of service centers. If you say like very &#8212; like very sort of deep A.I., heavy duty A.I.
It&#8217;s not going to be in your laptop or your phone. It&#8217;s going to be in a situation where there&#8217;s like 100,000 really powerful computers working together in a service center. So it&#8217;s not like subtle and there are &#8212; there are limited number of places where that can happen.
In fact, you could &#8212; if you can just &#8212; you can just look at the heat signature from space.
CARLSON: Yeah.
MUSK: And it’s &#8212; it&#8217;ll be very obvious. Now, I&#8217;m not suggesting we go and blow up the service centers right now, but there may be some &#8212; it may be wise to have some sort of contingency plan where the government&#8217;s got an ability to shut down power to these service centers. Like you don&#8217;t have to blow it up. You can just cut the power.
CARLSON: And what would trip &#8212;
MUSK: And we’ll cut connectivity as well. That&#8217;s another way.
CARLSON: Right. But what would trip that switch, do you think, in your mind, what would be the threshold that you&#8217;d have to pass to warrant the government cutting off your power or cutting off your signal?
MUSK: Well, I mean, I guess if we lost control of some super A.I., like for some reason, like the things that would normally work to do a passive shutdown, like the administrator passwords, if they somehow stop working where we can&#8217;t slow down or get out.
I&#8217;m not sure. I don&#8217;t have a precise answer, but if there&#8217;s something that we&#8217;re concerned about and are unable to stop it with software commands, then we probably want to have some kind of hardware off switch.
CARLSON: Yes.
MUSK: I think you know, can&#8217;t hurt.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-warns-of-grave-danger-that-ai-could-pose-to-humanity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk Warns Of Grave Danger That AI Could Pose To Humanity</a>

Tesla Motors Inc. CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang Speak At GPU Technology Conference

Musk: Governments Need To Have Plan To Cut Power To ‘Heavy Duty’ AI Servers In Case Humans Lose Control

Musk: Governments Need To Have Plan To Cut Power To 'Heavy Duty' AI Servers In Case Humans Lose Control

Artificial Intelligence

SpaceX launched 54 Starlink satellites into orbit early Wednesday in a record 60th launch for 2022.
The Falcon 9 rocket carried the upgraded Gen2 versions of the satellites during a 4:34 a.m. Eastern Time launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
&#8220;Under our new license, we are now able to deploy satellites to new orbits that will add even more capacity to the network,&#8221; Jesse Anderson, SpaceX production and engineering manager, <a href="https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-5-1-group-launch" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during the live stream of the launch. &#8220;Ultimately, this enables us to add more customers and provide faster service, particularly in areas that are currently oversubscribed.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Watch Falcon 9 launch 54 Starlink satellites to orbit → <a href="https://t.co/wGq3KkoDyY">https://t.co/wGq3KkoDyY</a> <a href="https://t.co/sHdWRcsqZV">https://t.co/sHdWRcsqZV</a>
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1608032463124860928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Falcon 9’s first stage rocket successfully landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission was the 60th of 2022, a new record for SpaceX. The company notes 197 total <a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/">launches</a>.
<div class="flexcontentblock animate">
The mission marked the eleventh launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first-stage booster, which previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, Ax-1, Nilesat 301, and now six Starlink missions, <a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl5-1-pl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the mission description.
</div>
<div class="flexcontentblock animate">
The launch marked the first of Starlink’s upgraded network, called the Gen2. The new devices can now deploy satellites to new orbits that will add even more capacity to the Starlink network.
&#8220;Ultimately, this enables us to add more customers and provide faster service – particularly in areas that are currently over-subscribed,&#8221; the description noted.
</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Falcon 9 launches 54 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit; completes SpaceX’s 60th mission of 2022! <a href="https://t.co/MIstToPIyL">pic.twitter.com/MIstToPIyL</a>
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1608050353131642880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On December 1, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) <a href="https://www.space.com/spacex-fcc-approval-7500-starlink-satellites" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> SpaceX to deploy up to 7,500 Gen2 satellites. SpaceX has also applied to eventually add a total of almost 30,000 satellites into orbit.
Starlink seeks to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet in remote and rural locations worldwide. The company made global headlines earlier this year when Musk provided Starlink services to Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia in February. The assistance has offered critical communications help to Ukrainians following attacks on the nation&#8217;s power grid.
Starlink also provided internet satellite kits in Florida following Hurricane Ian.
&#8220;They&#8217;ve donated the cost associated with all of the coverage, so we want to thank SpaceX and thank Elon Musk for that. A large device, you can put it different areas in the community that are having problems and they can get a 13-mile radius and they can support over 1,000 users at a given time,&#8221; Gov. DeSantis (R-FL) <a href="https://www.wptv.com/weather/hurricane/gov-ron-desantis-hurricane-ian-update-10-1-22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in October.
In addition to Starlink launches, SpaceX has been involved in a variety of other international projects, including the launch of Japan’s first <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spacex-prepares-to-launch-first-private-japanese-mission-to-moon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">privately-led mission</a> to the moon.
The ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1 launched earlier this month from Florida. The Mission 1 lander is making its four-month journey ahead of Japan’s first unmanned lunar landing. Only the U.S., the former Soviet Union, and China have successfully conducted a soft landing on the moon’s surface.
The mission is expected to land on the moon’s surface near the end of April 2023.

SpaceX Launches Record 60th Flight Of The Year

NASA

Starlink

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/spacex">SpaceX</a> Falcon 9 rocket conducted its record-setting 15th mission on Saturday, further extending the company&#8217;s record for reusable rocket missions.
The launch of Falcon 9 included 54 Starlink internet satellites that lifted off from NASA&#8217;s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Saturday afternoon.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Liftoff! <a href="https://t.co/nOImtbIbpr">pic.twitter.com/nOImtbIbpr</a>
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1604228215718834176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The rocket&#8217;s booster returned to Earth about nine minutes after liftoff, landing aboard a SpaceX droneship off the coast of Florida in the Atlantic Ocean.
&#8220;Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, completing the 15th launch and landing of this booster!&#8221; SpaceX tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, completing the 15th launch and landing of this booster! <a href="https://t.co/0AXCXTSPRb">pic.twitter.com/0AXCXTSPRb</a>
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1604231025311129600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Over four dozen Starlink satellites were released into orbit about 15 minutes after launch. SpaceX leader Elon Musk stated that the successful mission marked three perfect orbital launches in 36 hours.
Starlink has more than 3,500 satellites in orbit to date, with plans to add up to 30,000 total. The launch was also part of a busy period that experienced three SpaceX launches in less than three days.
&#8220;Congrats to SpaceX Team on 3 perfect orbital launches within 36 hours!!!&#8221; Musk tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Congrats to SpaceX Team on 3 perfect orbital launches within 36 hours!!!
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1604234568814546945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On Friday, Falcon 9 launched NASA&#8217;s SWOT water-watching satellite from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission to low-Earth orbit is &#8220;an internationally developed mission to conduct the first global survey of Earth’s surface water,&#8221; <a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=SWOT-pl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the mission description from SpaceX.
&#8220;It aims to provide a new understanding of the ocean’s role in climate change and improve the data humanity relies upon for fresh water management,&#8221; it added.
The SWOT satellite will undergo calibration and testing with plans to start collecting data in about six months in its mission to measure the world&#8217;s bodies of water.
“Warming seas, extreme weather, more severe wildfires – these are only some of the consequences humanity is facing due to climate change,” <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-launches-international-mission-to-survey-earth-s-water" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The climate crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and SWOT is the realization of a long-standing international partnership that will ultimately better equip communities so that they can face these challenges.”
A Friday mission from Cape Canaveral also sent two European telecom satellites into orbit.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Watch Falcon 9 launch the <a href="https://twitter.com/SES_Satellites?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SES_Satellites</a> O3b mPOWER mission to orbit → <a href="https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK">https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK</a> <a href="https://t.co/SqeA1SSTsu">https://t.co/SqeA1SSTsu</a>
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1603881621706244096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The continued efforts by Starlink seek to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband internet in remote and rural locations worldwide. The company made global headlines earlier this year when Musk provided Starlink services to Ukraine after the nation was invaded by Russia.
Two days after the Kremlin&#8217;s invasion began, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Mykhailo Fedorov called on SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to provide Starlink internet service to Ukraine.
“@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand,” Fedorov tweeted.
Hours later, Musk personally responded to the request.
“Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route,” Musk wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route.
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1497701484003213317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 26, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-russia-missile-strikes-hit-key-ukrainian-television-tower" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, Musk also made Starlink services available in Iran after protests led to its government blocking the internet in September.

SpaceX Launches Record-Setting Mission, Sends 54 Starlink Satellites Into Orbit

Science

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/tesla" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tesla</a> CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> has devoted much of his energy over the past several weeks to improving <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>, leading investors behind the electric automaker to express concern about possible reputational harm to the brand.
The billionaire entrepreneur’s $44 billion takeover of the social media company has provoked <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/extremely-messed-up-elon-musk-blasts-activist-groups-for-pushing-advertisers-to-ditch-twitter-destroy-free-speech-in-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considerable ire</a> from leftists since his major points of emphasis have rested upon ensuring freedom of expression and nixing efforts to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-acknowledges-left-wing-censorship-machine-has-it-out-for-conservatives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">limit the reach</a> of conservative accounts. Musk has also provided copies of emails to third-party journalists revealing former Twitter executives’ efforts to suppress non-leftist speech and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-fourth-installment-of-the-twitter-files-is-released" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remove</a> former President Donald Trump.
As turmoil at the social media company continues to unfold, Future Fund Managing Partner Gary Black, whose company owns $50 million of Tesla stock, <a href="https://twitter.com/garyblack00/status/1602434691725918211" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that markets show the Tesla brand “has been negatively impacted by the Twitter drama.” Although electric vehicle buyers were once “proud to drive their Teslas to their friends or show off Teslas in their driveways,” the controversial takeover of Twitter is “hurting Tesla’s brand equity.”
“As Warren Buffett famously said: ‘In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine,’” he added, expressing hope that any damage to the Tesla brand is temporary and suggesting that the company <a href="https://twitter.com/GerberKawasaki/status/1602688949432221696" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appoint</a> a new interim chief executive. Ross Gerber, a longtime backer of Tesla and the head of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, <a href="https://twitter.com/GerberKawasaki/status/1602472214535671808" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> who is running the automaker on a day-to-basis during the “critical time” for the company.
A handful of high-profile left-wing social media users have <a href="https://twitter.com/heathercampbell/status/1602168483038760960" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/mkarolian/status/1602317378494373890" target="_blank" rel="noopener">screenshots</a> of their canceled Tesla Cybertruck preorders, informing the company that Musk’s acquisition of Twitter motivated their decisions.
Net favorability of Tesla among Democrats decreased 20.3% between October and November, the time frame of Musk’s Twitter purchase, according to a <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2022/11/17/elon-musks-politically-polarizing-effect/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> from Morning Consult. On the other hand, net favorability among Republicans increased 5.5% over the same period. SpaceX, the reusable rocket venture that Musk founded with the mission of establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars, likewise fell 4.5% in net favorability among Democrats and rose 1% among Republicans.
“For Tesla and SpaceX, the partisan spillover effects could have profound implications,” Morning Consult said. “If the Tesla brand becomes increasingly right-leaning, that could put it out of alignment with core electric vehicle purchasing profiles, which lean more liberal.”
Musk has <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1600964083913588736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarked</a> that he continues to oversee Tesla and SpaceX, where the teams “are so good that often little is needed” from him. The serial entrepreneur <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/11/16/spacex-tesla-twitter-ceo-elon-musk-i-frankly-dont-want-to-be-ceo-of-any-company/?sh=2e8350b47848" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in court last month that he holds no desire to be a chief executive “of any company.” He expects to gradually reduce the time he spends at Twitter and eventually appoint someone else to run the platform.
Musk has made headlines for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nature-is-healing-elon-musk-responds-as-silicon-valley-ceos-follow-his-lead-and-dismiss-surplus-employees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissing</a> two-thirds of employees at Twitter with no apparent impact on the platform’s operations. The move has led to a wave of cost-cutting layoffs throughout the startup and venture capital sectors. “Nature is healing,” Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1602009421022113792" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, appearing to reference Silicon Valley’s former environment of scrappy founders stretching every dollar and focusing intently on business outcomes rather than social activism.
Beyond the dismissals, Musk has told remaining workers at Twitter that they should expect “extremely hardcore” working hours if they desire to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-elon-musk-tells-twitter-staff-to-work-long-hours-at-high-intensity-or-hit-the-road" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stay</a> at the company, constituting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/musk-remote-work-is-no-longer-acceptable-at-tesla" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alignment</a> with the cultures of Tesla and SpaceX. He added that the firm would become “much more engineering-driven,” implying a pivot away from “design and product management” emphases.

Tesla Investors Are Worried That Elon Musk’s Work With Twitter Could Hurt Automaker

Tesla Investors Worried Elon Musk Twitter Acquisition Could Weigh On Brand

Economy

Tesla

Twitter

SpaceX is preparing to launch Japan&#8217;s first privately-led mission to the moon.
The ispace HAKUTO-R Mission 1 is set to blast off on Sunday at 2:38 a.m. ET from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the same day that NASA&#8217;s Orion capsule is expected to return from its Artemis 1 moon mission.
The Falcon 9 used in the launch is the world&#8217;s first orbital-class reusable rocket. It generates more than 1.7 million pounds of thrust at sea level. Sunday&#8217;s planned launch would be the fourth flight for the powerful rocket.
Following liftoff, the Mission 1 lander will make its four-month journey ahead of Japan&#8217;s first unmanned lunar landing. Only the U.S., the former Soviet Union, and China have successfully conducted a soft landing on the moon&#8217;s surface.
The mission is expected to land on the moon&#8217;s surface near the end of April 2023.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="ispace HAKUTO-R Lunar Lander Introduction" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q49UdKvoj8I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The Japanese space company ispace, established in 2010, seeks to &#8220;lay the groundwork for unleashing the moon&#8217;s potential and transforming it into a robust and vibrant economic system,&#8221; according to its founder.
“We look forward to contributing to NASA’s Artemis program as a commercial lunar transportation service and pioneering the development of future industries and connecting the Earth to the Moon and beyond,” <a href="https://ispace-inc.com/news-en/?p=3939" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace.
The United Arab Emirates will also be part of the mission. The moon rover aboard the lander is a 22-pound robot named Rashid, the Middle East&#8217;s first such rover to reach the moon.
A new mission control located at the <a href="https://www.mbrsc.ae/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre</a> in Dubai will monitor the Rashid rover during its operations on the lunar surface. Rashid is expected to investigate an unexplored moon region for about two weeks while gathering data on soil, dust, and electrically charged particles, including taking thousands of images.
The Rashid Space Centre&#8217;s objective is to become the first Arab nation to reach another planet, setting its sights on a manned Mars landing by 2117. <a href="https://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hope probe</a> reached the martian surface in 2021, making UAE the first Middle Eastern nation to do so.
The Falcon 9 will also transport a tiny NASA cubesat called Lunar Flashlight. The device will hunt for icy water inside craters near the moon&#8217;s south pole.
&#8220;We are bringing a literal flashlight to the moon — shining lasers into these dark craters to look for definitive signs of water ice covering the upper layer of lunar regolith,&#8221; Barbara Cohen, Lunar Flashlight principal investigator at NASA&#8217;s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a <a class="hawk-link-parsed" href="https://phys.org/news/2022-11-nasa-lunar-flashlight-smallsat-readies.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-url="https://phys.org/news/2022-11-nasa-lunar-flashlight-smallsat-readies.html" data-component-tracked="1">statement</a>.
&#8220;I&#8217;m excited to see our mission contribute to our scientific understanding of where water ice is on the moon and how it got to be there,&#8221; Cohen added.
The SpaceX launch was initially scheduled for November 30. The mission has experienced multiple setbacks related to updates to Falcon 9.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
After further inspections of the launch vehicle and data review, we&#39;re standing down from tomorrow&#39;s launch of <a href="https://twitter.com/ispace_inc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ispace_inc</a>&#39;s HAKUTO-R Mission 1; a new target launch date will be shared once confirmed
&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1598106762850500609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The live stream of the launch will be available at <a href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=ispace-m1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpaceX.com</a>, with coverage starting 15 minutes before liftoff.
Monday, December 12 at 2:31 a.m. ET is the scheduled backup date in the case of a delay.
The launch is not the only moon mission in recent months. NASA&#8217;s Artemis 1 mission conducted a near-moon operation to test ahead of its next planned human landing on the lunar surface scheduled for 2024 or 2025.
Several additional countries have announced new or expanded plans for major space projects. Last month, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol <a href="https://spacenews.com/134853-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that his government would establish a space agency similar to NASA by the end of the year. Plans include a robotic moon landing in 2032 and on Mars in 2045.
Three Chinese astronauts <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/04/1140637573/china-astronauts-tiangong-space-station" target="_blank" rel="noopener">returned</a> to Earth on Sunday after six months aboard China&#8217;s new Tiangong station. The nation began work on its own space station after being excluded from the International Space Station over concerns about connections between China&#8217;s space agency and the People&#8217;s Liberation Army.
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/china-launches-first-of-two-remaining-modules-needed-to-complete-permanent-orbiting-space-station" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, another long-term goal of the Tiangong Space Station is to serve as the refueling station for an upcoming Hubble-like telescope that China hopes to launch in 2024. China plans to put its first astronauts on the moon and send a Mars sample return rover to the red planet by 2030.
India&#8217;s space agency also has a program in development to launch a space station into orbit by 2030. It will be designed to hold a small crew for up to 20 days at a time and be entirely led by Indian astronauts, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/11/could-the-quad-help-with-indias-space-station-dreams/#:~:text=Kailasavadivoo%20Sivan%2C%20then%20the%20chairman,station%20would%20be%20fully%20indigenous." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to</a> the Diplomat.
The <a href="https://www.esa.int/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">European Space Agency</a> includes 22 member nations and has often partnered with many of NASA&#8217;s missions in recent years, including its Artemis program.

HAKUTO-R

SpaceX Prepares To Launch First Private Japanese Mission To Moon

Japan

World

How does he find the time?
Multibillionaire Elon Musk is busy running the electric vehicle company Tesla, launching rockets into the cosmos via SpaceX as he aims to put a man on Mars, and now he&#8217;s the top twit on Twitter, tweeting his little heart out.
But somehow he also oversees a bizarre program to design brain implants for humans — which new reports say has led to the deaths of some 1,500 animals on which the devices are being tested.
Musk said last week that a wireless &#8220;brain chip&#8221; developed by Neuralink could go into human clinical trials within six months. But a new report says since 2018, the company has killed about 1,500 animals, including more than 280 sheep, pigs and monkeys, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/musks-neuralink-faces-federal-probe-employee-backlash-over-animal-tests-2022-12-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Reuters.
The global news agency also said the medical device company &#8220;is under federal investigation for potential animal-welfare violations amid internal staff complaints that its animal testing is being rushed, causing needless suffering and deaths,&#8221; according to documents reviewed by Reuters and sources familiar with the investigation and company operations.
Reuters also said the the federal probe, which had not been previously reported, was &#8220;opened in recent months by the US Department of Agriculture&#8217;s Inspector General at the request of a federal prosecutor, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.&#8221;
It&#8217;s not the first time Neuralink has come under fire. In February, an animal rights group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), filed a complaint, claiming monkeys have been killed in botched surgeries to implant the chips.
&#8220;The group alleged that surgeons used the wrong surgical glue twice, which led to two monkeys suffering and ultimately dying, while other monkeys had different complications from the implants,&#8221; Reuters reported.
Treatment of monkeys burst into the headlines again last week when the PCRM launched a new <a href="https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/ahead-elon-musks-show-and-tell-doctors-group-reveals-disturbing-truth-behind" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>. The site says Neuralink&#8217;s experiments at the University of California, Davis, &#8220;resulted in chronic infections, seizures, paralysis, internal bleeding, and declining psychological health.&#8221;
&#8220;Hundreds of pages of public records revealed animals suffering from sloppy experiments that resulted in chronic infections, seizures, paralysis, internal bleeding, and declining psychological health before they were killed,&#8221; the site said.
&#8220;In two separate incidents, experimenters filled holes in monkeys’ skulls with an unapproved adhesive, which seeped through to the animals’ brains. In one monkey, the adhesive caused bleeding in her brain, and she vomited so much from the resulting side effects that she developed open sores in her esophagus,&#8221; the PCRM said.
“When it comes to Neuralink, Elon Musk is just a modern-day P.T. Barnum,” said Ryan Merkley, director of research advocacy with the Physicians Committee. “He’s a showman who makes big promises while hiding the grisly details from the public. We’re pulling back the curtain on him.”
Musk, though, says surgeries on animals are used only at a later stage of research in an effort to confirm that the device works rather than to test early hypotheses.
&#8220;We’re extremely careful,&#8221; he said, to make sure that testing is &#8220;confirmatory, not exploratory,&#8221; <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/12/06/musks-neuralink-investigated-over-killing-1500-animals-in-tests-17884516/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the UK&#8217;s Metro.
The federal probe will determine if that&#8217;s true.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

Elon Musk: Running Tesla And Twitter, Heading To Mars — And Killing Monkeys?

Elon Musk: Running Tesla And Twitter, Heading To Mars -- And Killing Monkeys?

animal rights

Animals

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/spacex" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpaceX</a> employees who were fired after writing a letter publicly criticizing CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> for his “behavior” and “values” are taking their case to the federal government.
The individuals, who encouraged the rocket company to “swiftly and explicitly separate itself from Elon’s personal brand” over the summer, filed unfair labor practices charges with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/17/business/spacex-workers-elon-musk.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from The New York Times.
Former employees claimed that they had been invited into a meeting with SpaceX Vice President of Falcon Launch Vehicles Jon Edwards, who allegedly criticized their endorsement of the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/16/23170228/spacex-elon-musk-internal-open-letter-behavior">letter</a>. Nine employees were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/get-woke-go-broke-spacex-fires-employees-who-wrote-a-letter-blasting-elon-musks-behavior-and-values" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventually fired</a> over the document after SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell wrote in an email that “we have too much critical work to accomplish and no need for this kind of overreaching activism.”
The letter cited an alleged incident during which a flight attendant accused Musk of exposing himself several years ago, touching her, and offering to buy her a horse in exchange for an erotic massage. Shotwell <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spacex-president-tells-employees-she-does-not-believe-elon-musk-sexual-misconduct-allegations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissed the claims</a> in a message to the company, although the former employees claimed they had pressed Edwards about the incident during the meeting.
The document also came after Musk announced that he would <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-tips-hat-toward-ron-desantis-to-be-next-president-of-the-united-states" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote</a> for Republicans in the midterm elections. The world’s richest man formerly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/get-woke-go-broke-elon-musk-says-woke-mind-virus-makes-netflix-unwatchable-as-shares-plummet-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identified</a> the “woke mind virus” as the “biggest threat” to civilization.
“Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” according to the letter, which purportedly represented employees “across the spectra of gender, ethnicity, seniority, and technical roles.”
Lawyers who filed charges on behalf of eight former SpaceX employees said that the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/national-labor-relations-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">guarantees</a> access to collective bargaining privileges, likely renders the dismissals illegal. The National Labor Relations Board is granted authority to “arbitrate deadlocked labor-management disputes, guarantee democratic union elections, and penalize unfair labor practices by employers.”
The new legal action occurs weeks after Musk purchased social media platform Twitter and instituted reforms designed to promote freedom of expression. Musk has already <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-elon-musk-sends-blunt-message-to-3700-fired-twitter-employees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reduced headcount</a> by half and fired a handful of employees who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitter-employee-calls-out-elon-musk-on-twitter-it-doesnt-end-well-for-the-employee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">publicly criticized</a> him.
An attorney for the company, for example, posted a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/member-of-twitter-legal-team-blasts-elon-musk-in-message-to-company-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">message</a> viewable to all staff arguing that Musk was introducing the risk of violating a previous settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission by allegedly telling engineers to “self-certify compliance” with regulations. The message also contained a number of secondary grievances against Musk, including the accusation that he does not care about “human rights activists” or “dissidents.”
Musk told the public that he purchased the company in order to facilitate open dialogue between citizens with differing opinions. “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” the multibillionaire wrote in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-elon-musk-explains-why-he-bought-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”

SpaceX Employees Fired For Writing Letter Blasting Elon Musk’s ‘Behavior’ And ‘Values’ Take Their Case To The Feds

SpaceX Employees Fired For Openly Criticizing Elon Musk Take Their Case To The Federal Government

General

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/elon-musk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elon Musk</a> is the chief executive of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/tesla" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tesla</a> and <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/spacex" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpaceX</a>, as well as the leader of several smaller pet projects, such as Neuralink and The Boring Company. Following his acquisition of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a>, one of the world’s largest social media platforms, the multibillionaire gave the world a view into just how busy his schedule can be.
“You know, my workload has recently increased quite a lot,” Musk said during a virtual <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-says-i-have-too-much-work-my-plate-2022-11-14/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> at the B20 summit in Indonesia. “I mean, I have too much work on my plate, that is for sure. No doubt about it.”
When asked about business leaders who want to become the “Elon Musk of the East,” the world’s richest man commented that his lifestyle is not necessarily one to be desired. &#8220;I&#8217;d be careful what you wish for. I&#8217;m not sure how many people would actually like to be me,” he said. “They would like to be what they imagine being me, which is not the same thing as actually being me. The amount that I torture myself is next level, frankly.&#8221;
Four years ago, Musk said during an <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/05/elon-musk-on-working-120-hours-a-week-youll-go-bonkers.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Recode that he has worked 120 hours per week, although he finds working 80 hours per week “pretty sustainable.” According to a Harvard Business Review study, the average chief executive works 62.5 hours per week.
“There were times when, some weeks &#8230; I haven’t counted exactly, but I would just sort of sleep for a few hours, work, sleep for a few hours, work, seven days a week. Some of those days must have been 120 hours or something nutty,” he explained. “The pain level for hours increases exponentially. It’s like nonlinear above 80.”
Musk is presently worth $189 billion, according to an <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/elon-r-musk/#xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimate</a> from Bloomberg Billionaires Index. A South African by birth, Musk moved to Canada as a teenager and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in economics and physics. Among his first ventures was Zip2, a company that provided city guide software to newspapers, and online bank X.com, which later merged with another startup to become PayPal.
Musk founded SpaceX, which manufactures and launches reusable rockets, in 2002, and became an early investor in electric vehicle maker Tesla two years later. The latter company has a market capitalization of $594 billion, constituting the seventh-largest company in the world.
The entrepreneur acquired Twitter last month for $44 billion after initiating the purchase earlier this year. He released a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-elon-musk-explains-why-he-bought-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> explaining that the deal was motivated by a desire to foster an open dialogue and free expression. “The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” he said. “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
Beyond his business ventures, Musk began what appears to be a political epiphany during the government lockdowns that gripped the nation two years ago. He said he grew increasingly frustrated as California officials prevented a major Tesla factory from reopening, prompting the entrepreneur to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-says-tesla-moving-headquarters-from-california-to-texas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">move</a> the company’s headquarters to Texas. He <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musk-take-the-red-pill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">encouraged</a> other Americans to “take the red pill” and <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1287818109651431427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1287818109651431427%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Felon-musk-announces-hes-switching-to-vote-republican" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noticed</a> that leftists were “losing the middle” of the political spectrum. Ahead of the most recent midterm elections, he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-elon-musk-issues-blanket-endorsement-of-gop-in-house-senate-races-cites-benefits-of-shared-power" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cited</a> the benefits of a divided government while urging his fellow citizens to vote for Republican candidates.

‘I Torture Myself’: Elon Musk Sheds Light On Just How Enormous His Workload Is

Elon Musk Does Not Recommend His Own Work Schedule

Celebrities

Menu

Streaming Now