SpaceX

Elon Musk backed SpaceX launched the 'Falcon 9' rocket from the Kennedy Space Center with four ‘NASA Crew-2’ astronauts to the International Space Station on April 23. The astronauts will join seven others aboard the orbiting laboratory in a day-long journey. After launching the company’s third human spaceflight in less than a year, Musk said “it’s hard to believe that we’re here doing this…It feels like a dream.”

NASA on April 16 announced a $2.9 billion contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX for its requirement of a spacecraft to take two humans to the Moon under Artemis 2024 mission. NASA chose SpaceX over Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and American defense contractor Dynetics Inc. Moreover, the US’ space body also confirmed to perform test flights before sending humans to the Moon in the first-ever commercial lander possibly carrying a woman.

NASA has selected SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket to lift the Astrobotic Technology's lander that carries its Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), the water-hunting rover, to the moon in 2023. VIPER aims to land on the Southern pole of the Lunar surface in Falcon Heavy's first moon visit. It is the same site where astronauts are supposed to land under the Artemis mission slated for 2024.

Cryptocurrency Dogecoin on April 1 reached a new high of $0.7 as it has spiked 29% since mid-February after Tech mogul Elon Musk tweeted to take it to "literal moon". Musk had tweeted, "SpaceX is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal Moon", helping the cryptocurrency to take off from its last $0.634. Earlier, in another instance, Dogecoin's value had increased 25% after Musk published a one-word tweet in February.

Stargazers were left in awe after the night sky over the US states of Washington and Oregon was lit by streams of fireballs on March 26. Initially assumed to be a meteor shower, Astronomer Jonathan McDowell from National Weather Service tweeted that it was space debris. Several other experts clarified that the debris was from SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch in early March, which was reentering Earth.