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Aerospace company SpaceX and its founder Elon Musk were sued Wednesday by a group of engineers who say they were illegally fired after raising concerns over alleged sexual harassment and discrimination toward women.

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The eight engineers a group of four women and four men say Musk demanded they be fired in 2022 after circulating a letter criticizing the billionaire. The letter also asked the company to clarify its harassment policies and enforce them more consistently.

Musk knowingly and purposefully created an unwelcome hostile work environment based upon his conduct of interjecting into the workplace vile sexual photographs, memes, and commentary that demeaned women and/or the LGBTQ+ community, the plaintiffs said in the complaint, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday and first reported by Reuters.

Female engineers were routinely subjected to harassment and sexist comments because of SpaceXs pervasively sexist culture, and their complaints were ignored, the lawsuit says.

To have been terminated for protesting SpaceXs utter failure to take basic measures to prevent sexual harassment is patently retaliatory, wrong, and actionable, said Anne B. Shaver, who represents the plaintiffs, in a statement.

After the group reported their concerns regarding their firing to the National Labor Relations Board, the agencys prosecutors issued a complaint alleging the employees were illegally fired. SpaceX later sued the NLRB and the case is still ongoing.

Wednesdays filing comes as a new report from The Wall Street Journal claims that Musk repeatedly approached female employees at SpaceX for sex and to have his children. That includes a woman who left SpaceX after Musk asked her to have his babies, as the Journal reports, and a woman who Musk pursued a sexual relationship with that he met while she was interning for the company.

The untruths, mischaracterizations, and revisionist history in your email paint a completely misleading narrative, SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell told The Journal after being contacted for comment. I continue to be amazed by what this extraordinary group of people are achieving every day even amidst all the forces acting against us. And Elon is one of the best humans I know.

In March, SpaceX was sued by an employee who alleged that executives had ignored complaints of sexual harassment. She is not a member of Wednesdays lawsuit.

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Elon Musk and SpaceX face a new sexual harassment lawsuit over retaliation and pervasive sexism - Quartz

Starship, a fully reusable megarocket developed by SpaceX, has completed just four live tests and broken the Earths atmosphere. But founder Elon Musk is shooting far above that past the Moon, past Mars, and onto Uranus.

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During a Sunday night livestream where Musk showed off Starlinks internet services, Xs live-streaming capabilities, and his decent Diablo IV skills Musk made a number of proclamations about his vision for interstellar advancement. Chief among them was reaffirming that SpaceX will attempt to land on Mars by 2027.

I think well launch the first Starship to Mars in less than three years. And things will really go exponential from there, he said.

Musk added that maybe three ships will go on the first mission to Mars. Assuming landing isnt problematic, SpaceX will attempt to send 20 or 30" ships a few years later and 100 ships on the third attempt, eventually ramping up to 1,000 ships going to Mars every rendezvous.

Thats ambitious, but bold proclamations are nothing new for Musk. In October, he said it would sort of feasible for an uncrewed test landing on Mars within the next four years. Still, Musk has had to push back his Mars ambitions in the past, having first predicted a manned flight to the red planet in 2024. That doesnt appear particularly close to happening.

On Sunday, Musk also talked about his new goal reaching the seventh planet in the solar system.

We definitely want our rocket to reach Uranus. Its a stretch goal to reach Uranus, Musk said during the livestream, later adding in a post that, My dream is to reach Uranus.

On one hand, thats a very ambitious goal that should it be achieved would be a major milestone in human history. On the other, its entirely likely to be a juvenile joke, something Musk has never steered clear from. His 4/20" joke involving Tesla eventually cost him and Tesla $20 million in fines apiece and resulted in him being forced to step down as Teslas chairman. The company also famously makes Models S, E, X, and Y electric cars.

SpaceX has so far conducted just a handful of unmanned tests of Starship, the most recent of which was last week. Musk on Sunday said he expects a fifth launch in about a month, pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. Previous attempts required at least three months of inquiry from regulators and adjustments from engineers.

Among the improvements to Starship will be the replacement of its heat shield with new tile about twice as strong as used in its fourth test.

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Elon Musk wants SpaceX's Starship to land on Mars and Uranus - Quartz

A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Jan. 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX kicked off the weekend with the launch of another batch of its Starlink satellites. The mission, dubbed Starlink 8-8, added 20 more satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation, including 13 that have Direct to Cell capabilities.

Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base happened 5:58 a.m. PDT (8:58 a.m. EDT, 1258 UTC). The launch came less than 12 hours after SpaceX launched 22 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and roughly 48 hours after launching the fourth flight of its Starship rocket from southern Texas.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1061 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for a 21st time, tying B1062 as the companys flight leaders. B1061 previously launched two quartets of astronauts (Crew-1 and Crew-2), two multi-satellite rideshare missions (Transporter-4 and Transporter-5) as well as nine previous Starlink missions.

A little more than minutes after liftoff, B1061 landed on SpaceXs droneship, Of Course I Still Love You. It marked the 92nd landing on OCISLY and the 318th booster landing to date.

On June 1, Michael Nicolls, SpaceXs vice president of Starlink Engineering, noted that the 11 Starlink launches in May included 26 Direct to Cell Starlink satellites which presented over 8 percent of the sats needed for initial direct-to-cell service.

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SpaceX launches 20 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

The National Reconnaissance Office launched an undisclosed number of next-generation spy satellites into orbit today.

The mission, called NROL-146, was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California early Wednesday morning, and comprise the beginning of a future constellation of intelligence satellites.

This mission is the first launch of the NROs proliferated systems featuring responsive collection and rapid data delivery. NROL-146 represents the first launch of an operational system following demonstrations in recent years to verify cost and performance, the NRO said.

The agency hasnt disclosed how many satellites are in the first launch or how many they want in the constellation in total.

While details remain scarce, Reuters previously reported that SpaceX and Northrop Grumman are working together to build the classified satellite network for the NRO.

The spy agency, whose operations are highly classified, is expanding its space architecture so it can collect more data for the Pentagon and intelligence community. The NRO has previously said it plans to quadruple the number of satellites it has in orbit.

Over the next decade, we will continue to increase the number of satellites operating across

multiple orbitscomplementing the NROs cutting-edge, highly-capable satellites that are the

traditional hallmark of the NROby adding responsive, proliferated systems, Troy Meink, principal deputy director of the NRO, said in a statement. Our proliferated systems will increase timeliness of access, diversify communications pathways, and enhance our resilience.

The NRO is planning about half a dozen launches for the new architecture this year, with additional launches expected through 2028, according to the agency.

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SpaceX launches first batch of new spy satellites for NRO - Defense One

The SpaceX launches just keep on coming.

A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch 23 more of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida today (May 23), during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). It will be the third mission in the past two days for the company.

SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, starting about five minutes before the window opens.

Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky

The Falcon 9's first stage will come back to Earth about 8 minutes after launch, if all goes according to plan. It will make a powered, vertical touchdown on the droneship "Just Read the Instructions," which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

It will be the 13th launch and landing for this particular first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description.Half of its 12 flights to date have been Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, will carry the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) tonight, deploying them about 65 minutes after liftoff.

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!

Tonight's action comes on the heels of a SpaceX doubleheader. On Wednesday (May 22), the company launched the NROL-146 mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from California and a batch of Starlink satellites from Florida's Space Coast.

SpaceX has now launched 52 orbital missions this year, 36 of which have been dedicated to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.

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SpaceX to launch 3rd mission in 2 days this evening - Space.com