A field journal of the unexplained, the ancient & the astronomical
SpaceX-Tesla
From Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin to Europe's Ariane and China's stainless-steel rockets, SpaceX's rivals are copying its ideas, trying new ones, and mostly running behind. This autumn, several of them are also grounded.
By Darrell Wallen · Oct 26, 2026 · ≈29 min listen · Read →
SpaceX-Tesla
From a 2023 launch that ended in an explosion over the Gulf of Mexico to its first trip to orbit, Starship has been built in public, one failure at a time. Its next flight aims to catch both stages out of the sky, but the schedule has slipped before.
By Darrell Wallen · Oct 26, 2026 · ≈29 min listen · Read →
SpaceX-Tesla
From a first version that flew just five times to a booster that has flown 37 times, Falcon 9 rewrote the economics of spaceflight. Now SpaceX's founder says winding it down is "inevitable," but the timing depends on Starship.
By Darrell Wallen · Oct 26, 2026 · ≈25 min listen · Read →
SpaceX-Tesla
SpaceX began as a long shot to make life multiplanetary. In 2026 it is a public company, the dominant launch provider, and a major artificial intelligence business. Here is where its plans stand, what the evidence supports, and what critics say.
By Darrell Wallen · Oct 26, 2026 · ≈27 min listen · Read →