SpaceX closed a troubled but instructive chapter in its Starship rocket program Monday with a near-perfect test flight that carried the stainless steel spacecraft halfway around the world from South Texas to the Indian Ocean.

The rocket's 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines roared to life at 6:23 pm CDT (7:23 pm EDT; 23:23 UTC), throttling up to generate some 16.7 million pounds of thrust, by large measure more powerful than any rocket before Starship. Moments later, the 404-foot-tall (123.1-meter) rocket began a vertical climb away from SpaceX's test site in Starbase, Texas, near the US-Mexico border.

From then on, the rocket executed its flight plan like clockwork. This was arguably SpaceX's most successful Starship test flight to date. The only flight with a similar claim occurred one year ago Monday, when the company caught the rocket's Super Heavy booster back at the launch pad after soaring to the uppermost fringes of the atmosphere. But that flight didn't accomplish as much in space.

"Starship's eleventh flight test reached every objective, providing valuable data as we prepare the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy," SpaceX posted on X.

SpaceX's 11th Starship flight climbs away from Starbase, Texas. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX didn't try to recover the Super Heavy booster on this flight, but the goals the company set before the launch included an attempt to guide the enormous rocket stage to a precise splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of South Texas. The booster, reused from a previous flight in March, also validated a new engine configuration for its landing burn, first reigniting 13 of its engines, then downshifting to five, then to three for the final hover.

That all worked, along with pretty much everything else apart from an indication on SpaceX's livestream that Starship's Super Heavy booster stage lost an engine early in its descent. The malfunctioning engine had no impact on the rest of the flight.

Flight 11 recap

This was the fifth and final flight of Starship's second-generation configuration, known as Version 2, or V2. It was the 11th full-scale Starship test flight overall.

It took a while for Starship V2 to meet SpaceX's expectations. The first three Starship V2 launches in January, March, and May ended prematurely due to problems in the rocket's propulsion and a fuel leak, breaking a string of increasingly successful Starship flights since 2023. Another Starship V2 exploded on a test stand in Texas in June, further marring the second-gen rocket's track record.

But SpaceX teams righted the program with a good test flight in August, the first time Starship V2 made it all the way to splashdown. Engineers learned a few lessons on that flight, including the inadequacy of a new metallic heat shield tile design that left a patch of orange oxidation down the side of the ship. They also found that another experiment with part of the ship's heat shield showed promising results. This method involved using a soft "crunch wrap" material to seal the gaps between the ship's ceramic tiles and prevent super-heated plasma from reaching the rocket's stainless steel skin.

Technicians installed the crunch wrap material in more places for Flight 11, and a first look at the performance of the ship during reentry and splashdown suggested the heat shield change worked well.

Dan Huot from SpaceX's communications office demonstrates how "crunch wrap" material can fill the gaps between Starship's heat shield tiles. Credit: SpaceX

After reaching space, Starship shut down its six Raptor engines and coasted across the Atlantic Ocean and Africa before emerging over the Indian Ocean just before reentry. During its time in space, Starship released eight Starlink satellite mockups mimicking the larger size of the company's next-generation Starlink spacecraft. These new Starlink satellites will only be able to launch on Starship.

Starship also reignited one of its six engines for a brief maneuver to set up the ship's trajectory for reentry. With that, the stage was set for the final act of the test flight. How would the latest version of SpaceX's ever-changing heat shield design hold up against temperatures of 2,600° Fahrenheit (1,430° Celsius)?

The answer: Apparently quite well. While SpaceX has brought Starships back to Earth in one piece several times, this was the first time the ship made it through reentry relatively unscathed. Live video streaming from cameras onboard Starship showed a blanket of orange and purple plasma enveloping the rocket during reentry. This is now a familiar sight, thanks to connectivity with Starship through SpaceX's Starlink broadband network.

What was different on Monday was the lack of any obvious damage to the heat shield or flaps throughout Starship's descent, a promising sign for SpaceX's chances of reusing the vehicle and its heat shield over and over again, without requiring any refurbishment. This, according to SpaceX's Elon Musk, is the acid test for determining Starship's overall success.

An onboard camera captured this view of Starship during the final minute of flight over the Indian Ocean. At this point of the flight, the vehicle—designated Ship 38 as seen here—is descending in a horizontal orientation before flipping vertical for the final moments before splashdown. Credit: SpaceX

In the closing moments of Monday's flight, Starship flexed its flaps to perform a "dynamic banking maneuver" over the Indian Ocean, then flipped upright and fired its engines to slow for splashdown, simulating maneuvers the rocket will execute on future missions returning to the launch site. That will be one of the chief goals for the next phase of Starship's test campaign beginning next year.

Patience for V3

It will likely be at least a few months before SpaceX is ready to launch the next Starship flight. Technicians at Starbase are assembling the next Super Heavy booster and the first Starship V3 vehicle. Once integrated, the booster and ship are expected to undergo cryogenic testing and static-fire testing before SpaceX moves forward with launch.

"Focus now turns to the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy, with multiple vehicles currently in active build and preparing for tests," SpaceX wrote on its website. "This next iteration will be used for the first Starship orbital flights, operational payload missions, propellant transfer, and more as we iterate to a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle with service to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond."

Starship V3 will have larger propellant tanks to increase the rocket's lifting capacity, upgraded Raptor 3 engines, and an improved payload compartment to support launches of real Starlink satellites. SpaceX will also use this version of the rocket for orbital refueling experiments, a long-awaited milestone for the Starship program now planned for sometime next year. Orbital refueling is a crucial enabler for future Starship flights beyond low-Earth orbit and is necessary for SpaceX to fulfill Musk's ambition to send ships to Mars, the founder's long-held goal for the company.

It's also required for Starship flights to the Moon. NASA has signed contracts with SpaceX worth more than $4 billion to develop a human-rated derivative of Starship to land astronauts on the Moon as part of the agency's Artemis program. The orbital refueling demonstration is a key milestone on the NASA lunar lander contract. Getting this done as soon as possible is vitally important to NASA, which is seeing its Artemis Moon landing schedule slip, in part due to Starship delays.

None of it can really get started until Starship V3 is flying reliably and flying often. If the first Starship V3 flight goes well, SpaceX may attempt to put the next vehicle—Flight 13—into orbit to verify the ship's endurance in space. At some point, SpaceX will make the first attempt to bring a ship home from orbit for a catch by the launch tower, similar to how SpaceX has caught Super Heavy boosters returning from the edge of space.

But first, ground crews are wrapping up work on a second Starship launch pad designed to accommodate the upgraded, taller Starship V3 rocket. Monday's flight marked the final launch from Pad 1 in its existing form. The differences with the second launch pad include its flame trench, a common fixture at many launch pads around the world. Pad 1 was not built with a flame trench, but instead features an elevated launch mount where the rocket sits prior to liftoff.

SpaceX is expected to overhaul Pad 1 in the coming months to reactivate it as a second launch pad option for Starship V3. All of this work is occurring in Texas as SpaceX prepares to bring online more Starship launch pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX says it will need a lot of pads to ramp up Starship to monthly, weekly, and eventually daily flights.

Read full article

Comments

This should be an easy call:

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport won’t broadcast a video of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying Democrats caused the federal government shutdown.

The airport isn’t showing the video, which Reuters reported began airing at airports across the country Thursday, due to its “political nature,” according to Port of Seattle officials.

“The Port of Seattle will not play the video on its screens at SEA Airport, due to the political nature of the content,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We continue to urge bipartisan efforts to end the government shutdown and are working to find ways to support federal employees working without pay at SEA during the shutdown.”

And it’s spreading:

Airports in more than a half-dozen U.S. markets have declined to display a video in which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem blames congressional Democrats for the government shutdown and anyrelated travel delays, citing the political nature of its content, according to local authorities.

Officials that oversee airports serving Buffalo, Charlotte, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, said the video could violate internal policies that bar political messaging or contravene state or federal laws that prohibit the use of public resources for political activity.

If Noem wants to air propaganda about the Trump shutdown, the virtues of murdering pets, etc. she can pay ad rates for it. Airing it as an official government communication is tinpot dictator stuff.

The post Refusing to violate the Hatch Act appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

Marvel Studios has dropped the first teaser for Wonder Man, an eight-episode miniseries slated for a January release, ahead of its panel at New York Comic Con this weekend.

Part of the MCU's Phase Six, the miniseries was created by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of Five Rings) and Andrew Guest (Hawkeye), with Guest serving as showrunner. It has been in development since 2022.

The comic book version of the character is the son of a rich industrialist who inherits the family munitions factory but is being crushed by the competition: Stark Industries. Baron Zemo (Falcon and the Winter Soldier) then recruits him to infiltrate and betray the Avengers, giving him super powers ("ionic energy") via a special serum. He eventually becomes a superhero and Avengers ally, helping them take on Doctor Doom, among other exploits. Since we know Doctor Doom is the Big Bad of the upcoming two new Avengers movies, a Wonder Man miniseries makes sense.

In the new miniseries, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, an actor and stunt person with actual superpowers who decides to audition for the lead role in a superhero TV series—a reboot of an earlier Wonder Man incarnation. Demetrius Grosse plays Simon's brother, Eric, aka Grim Reaper; Ed Harris plays Simon's agent, Neal Saroyan; and Arian Moayed plays P. Clearly, an agent with the Department of Damage Control. Lauren Glazier, Josh Gad, Byron Bowers, Bechir Sylvain, and Manny McCord will also appear in as-yet-undisclosed roles

Rounding out the cast is Ben Kingsley, reprising his MCU role as failed actor Trevor Slattery. You may recall Slattery from 2013's Iron Man 3, hired by the villain of that film to pretend to be the leader of an international terrorist organization called the Ten Rings. Slattery showed up again in 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, rehabilitated after a stint in prison; he helped the titular Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) on his journey to the mythical village of Ta Lo. We only get a brief glimpse of him in the teaser, getting his makeup done for a shoot, so it's unclear whether he'll be a hero or villain or perhaps neutral comic relief this time around.

The one-minute teaser leans into the meta-humor with gusto. It opens with an online interview with Von Kovak (Zlatko Buric), fictional in-universe director of the Wonder Man reboot, who drones on about "superhero fatigue" while insisting that his project will reinvent the superhero genre. Simon was a huge fan of the original Wonder Man—we catch a glimpse of young Simon in a theater with his dad as a cheesy scene involving Wonder Man battling laser-armed soldiers plays on the screen. So naturally he's thrilled about the reboot, especially since it's in the early days of development and Kovak has not yet begun casting. Clearly, this is his big break, as an actor, stuntman, and superhero.

Wonder Man will debut on Disney+ in January 2026.

Read full article

Comments

Approximately every human being on the planet has been texting me about the Qatar air base story:

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the Pentagon has agreed to host a new Qatari Emiri Air Force facility in Idaho, saying that the nation has played a “core part” in securing the Gaza peace deal.

Hegseth made the announcement during an enhanced honor cordon arrival ceremony at the Pentagon for Qatar’s Minister of Defense Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

“Today, we’re announcing a letter of acceptance in building a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho,” Hegseth said.

Qatar is a small country that has purchase extremely fast, extremely expensive fighter jets. In this Qatar is similar to Singapore, which… also has an airbase in Idaho.

The U.S. Army Flight Training Detachment includes six Army National Guard pilots who fly with RSAF pilots. The arrangement is one of several arrangements the RSAF has with the U.S. military. RSAF pilots rotate through the training station in Arizona to train in desert environments and alongside U.S. pilots.

“It’s the best job I’ve had in the Army by far,” said Denton. “It’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of uniqueness to working with other countries. It’s rewarding to break through those cultural barriers, and you can see the smile on their faces when they go out and accomplish something.”

While at the OCTC, Denton said RSAF pilots conducted individual and crew-level qualifications and worked with Marine Joint Terminal Attack Controllers to simulate providing close air support. Each engagement is recorded, allowing crews to review their training run while receiving real-time feedback from senior pilots, master gunners and range personnel.

So… it is not an arrangement without precedent. It is true that there are a variety of fishy things going on with Trump’s relationship with Qatar (and some of those are manifesting in the effort to broker an Israel-Hamas deal), and it is quite possible that this represents a payoff for Qatar. But it’s not nearly as surprising or alarming when you appreciate why countries that have basically no airspace might want to conduct training in Idaho, which has rather a substantial amount of airspace.

That said, fun to watch MAGA freak:

Never thought I’d see Republicans give terror financing Muslims from Qatar a MILITARY BASE on US soil so they can murder Americans.

I don’t think I’ll be voting in 2026.

I cannot in good conscience make any excuses for the harboring of jihadis.

This is where I draw the line. pic.twitter.com/24OdLMw14Y

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) October 10, 2025

Photo Credit:By Airwolfhound from Hertfordshire, UK – F-15QA, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151156385

The post The Qatar Thing appeared first on Lawyers, Guns & Money.

New York Comic Con (NYCC) has kicked off with an extended teaser for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, a new Game of Thrones spinoff series based on George R.R. Martin's novella series, Tales of Dunk and Egg.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms adapts the first novella in the series, The Hedge Knight, and is set 50 years after the events of House of the Dragon. Per the official premise:

A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros: a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.

Peter Claffey co-stars as Ser Duncan the Tall, aka a hedge knight named "Dunk," along with Dexter Sol Ansell as Prince Aegon Targaryen, aka "Egg," a child prince and Dunk's squire. The main cast also includes Finn Bennett as Egg's older brother, Prince Aerion "Brightflame" Targaryen; Bertie Carvel as Egg's uncle, Prince Baelor "Breakspear" Targaryen, heir to the Iron Throne; Tanzyn Crawford as a Dornish puppeteer named Tanselle; Daniel Ings as Ser Lyonel "Laughing Storm" Baratheon, heir to House Baratheon; and Sam Spruell as Prince Maekar Targaryen, Egg's father.

A squire and his hedge knight: Dexter Sol Ansell plays "Egg" (l) and Peter Claffey plays Dunk (r). Credit: YouTube/HBO

This being a Game of Thrones series, there's also an extensive supporting cast. Ross Anderson plays Ser Humfrey Hardyng; Edward Ashley plays Ser Steffon Fossoway; Henry Ashton as Egg's older brother, Prince Daeron "The Drunken" Targaryen; Youssef Kerkour as a blacksmith named Steely Pate; Daniel Monks as Ser Manfred Dondarrion; Shaun Thomas as Raymun Fossoway; Tom Vaughan-Lawlor as Plummer, a steward; Steve Wall as Lord Leo "Longthorn" Tyrell, Lord of Highgarden; and Danny Webb as Dunk's mentor, Ser Arlan of Pennytree.

It's a good rule of thumb in the Game of Thrones universe not to get too attached to any of the characters, and that probably holds true here, too. But Knight of the Seven Kingdoms also seems to be aiming for a different, lighter tone than its predecessors, judging by the teaser, which has its share of humor. Martin has said as much on his blog, although he added, “It’s still Westeros, so no one is truly safe.”

Since Dunk is a humble hedge knight, there are lots of scenes with him trudging through mud and rain, and jousting will apparently feature much more prominently. "I always love Medieval tournaments in other pictures," Martin said during a NYCC panel. "We had several tournaments in Game of Thrones, they were in the background, but not the center. I wanted to do something set during a tournament. I sent (the TV writers) a challenge: Let’s do the best jousting sequences that were ever done on film. My favorite was 1952’s Ivanhoe.”

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms debuts on HBO on January 18, 2026.

Read full article

Comments

Cards Against Humanity, the often-vulgar card game, has launched a limited edition of its namesake product without any instructions and with a detailed explanation of each joke, "why it’s funny, and any relevant social, political, or historical context."

Why? Because, produced in this form, "Cards Against Humanity Explains the Joke" is not a game at all, which would be subject to tariffs as the cards are produced overseas. Instead, the product is "information material" and thus not sanctionable under the law Trump has been using—and CAH says it has obtained a ruling to this effect from Customs and Border Patrol.

"What if DHS Secretary and Dog Murderer Kristi Noem gets mad and decides that Cards Against Humanity Explains the Joke is not informational material?" the company asks in an FAQ about the new edition. (If you don't follow US politics, Noem really did kill her dog Cricket.) Answer: "She can fuck right off, because we got a binding ruling from Trump’s own government that confirms this product is informational and 100% exempt from his stupid tariffs."

Pre-orders for the $25 product end on October 15, and it will allegedly never be reprinted. All profits will be donated to the American Library Association "to fight censorship."

This is the way

Now, I would never claim that Cards Against Humanity is a particularly highbrow form of entertainment; for instance, the website promoting the new edition opens with "Trump is Going to Fuck Christmas" in giant white letters. (That headline refers to Trump's tariffs... I hope.)

"This holiday season, give your loved ones the gift of knowledge, give America’s libraries the gift of cash, and don’t give Donald Trump a fucking cent," the site says.

Some of the cards and their explanations are more literate than you might expect. For instance, English majors and poetry lovers may recognize the source of this quotation, found on one of the game's cards, as the final lines of T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men":

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Cards Against Humanity mucks this up a bit by printing the final line as "Not with a bang, but with _____________" (extra comma, extra "with"). Ouch. But it redeems itself slightly by adding a nice note about the time and context of the composition, noting that the "humor comes from a juxtaposition of the poem's grandiloquent language with Cards Against Humanity's often crude, low-brow jokes." Hopefully, it inspires at least a few people who have never before heard the name "T.S. Eliot" to read some of his verse.

(If you want to give it a go, the greatest hits are probably "The Waste Land," "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "The Hollow Men," "Journey of the Magi," "Ash Wednesday," and Eliot's long late masterpiece "The Four Quartets." Eliot is also responsible for the poems that served as the basis of the musical "Cats," which eventually became a feature film featuring human performers who at one point in development had feline buttholes. According to reports from inside the production, "The job of editing out all of the buttholes was ultimately left to one crew member who was hired specifically to excise unintended buttholes." Eliot would have hated everything about this sentence.)

CAH has done this sort of thing before. In 2017, the company bought a small plot of land in Texas on the US/Mexico border to "make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for Trump to build his wall." In 2024, CAH sued SpaceX, saying that the rocket company had moved construction equipment onto CAH's Texas land without permission.

Read full article

Comments