Air Force Research Laboratory has awarded an $8.5 million contract to SpaceX to enhance manufacturing technologies used to produce hypersonic-capable thermal protection systems, Space News reported Monday.

William Gerstenmaier, a former NASA senior leader who has been serving as a consultant at SpaceX over the past year, will assume the duties of Hans Koenigsmann as vice president of the company's build and flight reliability engineering group, CNBC reported Tuesday.

SpaceX has sent its Falcon 9 launch vehicle to orbit carrying 143 spacecraft including 10 small satellites that will serve as part of the company’s Starlink broadband constellation, CNBC reported Sunday.

SpaceX has agreed to become Satellogic’s preferred provider of rideshare launch services in support of the latter's plan to develop its Earth Observation Constellation by 2022. Under a new partnership between the two companies, Satellogic said Tuesday its Earth observation satellites will launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, with the first mission scheduled for June this year.

Intuitive Machines has selected SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to deploy a lunar lander that will carry an ice drilling instrument and a mass spectrometer as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

SpaceX has received approval from the Federal Communications Commission to launch 10 Starlink satellites into polar orbit using a Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-1 small satellite rideshare mission, SpaceNews reported Saturday.

Florida, the state that houses U.S. launch operations, hosted a total of 31 launches with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance in 2020, exhibiting a significant growth in liftoff records from previous years, Florida Today reported Friday.

An updated SpaceX-built spacecraft is slated to leave the International Space Station Jan. 11 following the delivery of over 6.4K pounds of research equipment, hardware and crew supplies to the orbital outpost.

Exolaunch has initiated its launch campaign that will integrate 30 small satellites from the U.S. and Europe aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rideshare mission. The launch is scheduled for no earlier than January 2021. “Through our partnership with SpaceX, Exolaunch has become the bridge for multiple European smallsat developers and others from around the world interested to launch on Falcon 9,” said Jeanne Medvedeva, vice president of Launch Services at Exolaunch.

SpaceX has brought a classified satellite from the National Reconnaissance Office into orbit via the company's Falcon 9 rocket, CBS News reported Saturday.

SpaceX is slated to launch an updated Dragon space vehicle aboard the Falcon 9 rocket Dec. 5 to the International Space Station as part of NASA's 21st Commercial Resupply Services mission.

SpaceX has sent to space a satellite designed to monitor sea levels across the globe under a U.S.-U.K. partnership. The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a mission to collect sea level data, support ship navigation and inform weather forecasts, NASA said Sunday.

SpaceX has announced its intent to update its fleet of space vehicles into reusable platforms by 2022 to support national security missions, SpaceNews reported Thursday.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station Monday and brought a team of astronauts from NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency aboard the orbiting laboratory.

NASA certified SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft to transport humans to space, following the completion of a flight readiness review. The space agency said Wednesday it signed the Human Rating Certification Plan to approve Crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket for manned transportation.