After a two-day silence on Twitter during his visit to China, Elon Musk took to the platform on Thursday to express his enthusiasm for SpaceX‘s achievement of sending 38 astronauts to orbit.
In a tweet, SpaceX commemorated the third anniversary of its first human spaceflight, extending gratitude to NASA, Inspiration4‘s all-civilian mission, and Axiom Space
“38 astronauts to orbit so far,” said Musk in a tweet in regard to the SpaceX launch.
On May 30, 2020, NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley made history by launching aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. The successful Falcon 9 launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center marked the first time NASA astronauts traveled to space in a commercial spacecraft since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, described the milestone as a dream come true for him and the entire company.
Last week, SpaceX launched Axiom Space‘s Ax-2 mission to the ISS. The mission marked the Dragon’s 10th human spaceflight with the four-member crew aboard a Dragon spacecraft named Freedom. After ten days in orbit, the spacecraft undocked from the spacecraft and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere on Tuesday.
During his trip to China, Musk maintained a quiet presence on Twitter, which marked the longest period of silence since June 2022 when he contemplated purchasing the social media platform. Before that, Musk had been posting on Twitter every day in 2023.
Musk was focused on the trip to China for his business trip maintaining good relations with the country as he was schedule to visit Tesla’s Shanghai plant.
“Starship payload is 250 to 300 tones to orbit in expendable mode,” said Musk about the ship. “Improved thrust and ISP from Raptor will enable 6,000 ton liftoff mass.”
SpaceX has launch over 1,700 metric tons for the spaceship to orbit.
The Raptor 3 had 18% more thrust than the Raptor 2.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Alberto Arellano and Saba Fatima
