space yacht new years

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Fresh Start New Year's Celebration

SATURDAY  (WARM-UP SESSION)

• TCHAMI & MALAA (No Redemption)
• ACRAZE B2B NOIZU
• ELI & FUR
• KALEENA ZANDERS
• CHOCOLATE SUSHI

SUNDAY (NEW YEAR'S EYE)

• ODESZA (Sundown DJ Set)
• LOUIS THE CHILD (Playground Set)
• PHANTOMS (DJ Set)
• BLU DeTIGER (DJ Set)
• GENTLEMENS CLUB
• TODD EDWARDS
• AMPRS&ND
• CHRIS LORENZO
• JUSTIN MARTIN
• TOWNSHIP REBELLION
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Space Yacht Anniversary: Tech My House

Blast off into the new year for SPACE YACHT’s Anniversary Weekend! 🚀 Their legendary Big Bass Ting comes to Academy LA Fri 1/6 and Tech My House returns to Exchange LA Sat 1/7, featuring out of this world secret lineups. 💫

Limited FREE entry w/ RSVP→ insom.co/spaceyacht

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CROCUS Yacht: An 48 Meter Beauty by Admiral

PHI Yacht – Royal Huisman’s $45 Million Superyacht

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SPACE Yacht – The Stunning $25M Superyacht

True to its name, SPACE yacht offers far more volume than one would expect in a length of 44.65-meters.

She was built by Feadship De Voogt Naval Architects , a Dutch yacht builder that is renowned for creating some of the world’s most impressive superyachts.

She was designed by Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design , and her interior was penned by Donald Starkey , who is a sought-after designer that has become synonymous with several of the world’s most famous custom luxury yachts. 

The construction was finished in 2007, but she was again refitted in 2018, which included a full repaint and extensive mechanical works. 

She is currently sailing under the Cayman Islands flag, the 2nd most popular flag state for superyachts, with a total of 1251 yachts registered.

Additionally, this luxurious yacht has a few sister ships.: Harle, TV, Gladiator, Megan, and Blue Sky.

SPACE yacht interior

The SPACE yacht interior styling is mature and contemporary, with huge picture windows. She is adorned with leather and fabrics in soft earth tones, wooden floors, and ceiling panels for a welcoming ambiance.

She features an exquisite interior with dazzling detail work that has created an authentic beach house on the water.

Her sky lounge boasts a 55 TV in the forward bulkhead, sofa seating to starboard, and a lounge area with a sofa and armchairs for easy relaxation. 

There is also U-shaped seating facing a hidden 55 TV to starboard, and a spiral glass staircase enables easy access.

Specifications

The SPACE yacht is one of 6 F45 Vantage models built by Feadship and has only ever been used privately, but she is MCA LY2 compliant for commercial use.

She is powered by twin MTU 12V 2000 M70 engines at 1055 horsepower (or 788 kilowatts), giving her a top speed of 14.5 knots, a cruising speed of 12 knots, and an economical speed of 10 knots.

She has a transatlantic range of 4,500 nautical miles and is equipped with stabilizers to provide stability underway and at anchor.

Compared to other similarly sized motor yachts, her volume is 119.59 GT above the average.

This luxurious yacht measures 146.5ft and features a spacious sun deck with a raised circular jacuzzi surrounded by an arc of sun pads. 

Outside, you can find lounge seating, a bar, open-air dining beneath the hardtop, and a versatile space aft for sun lounging, entertainment, or exercise to ensure an adventure of a lifetime.

She boasts unmistakable timeless lines and well-defined curves that are a Feadship yacht signature.

The SPACE yacht was bought for US $25 million and has an annual running cost of around US $2.5 million.

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How Space Yacht Takes the Pain Out of Signing Records

Jul 13, 2021

Multi-platform event and culture brand Space Yacht started six years ago with the simple intention of throwing a dope party. They quickly amassed a cult following of industry heads and dance music fans. Crowded into a tiny Hollywood club each Tuesday, Space Yacht established a reputation for taste making secret lineups, mid-week debauchery, and 1 am pizza.

In many ways, they carried the torch that Steve Aoki lit in the mid-aughts with Dim Mak Tuesday’s. Yet they did it with their own brilliantly conceived aesthetic that has led its founders, Henry “Hidden Hen” Lu and Rami “Londonbridge,” Perlman, to become a unique pair of personalities in dance music.

Their weekly LA events, nationwide club takeovers, and curated festival stages were an engine for massive pre-COVID growth. However, when the industry stopped in its tracks in March of 2020, they had to pull a hard left. And though their shenanigans were confined to the small screen, they entered a period of creative growth.

They fully embraced technology and became thought leaders in the budding NFT space . They also remarkably flipped the script on the process of running a label. They’ve spent nearly a year broadcasting their A&R sessions to the world via their Twitch show, Tune Reactor which airs Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4 PM PT.

“I don't know if it's the future of A&R, but it's our signature way of doing A&R,” Perlman says about their two-hour listening sessions.

Tune Reactor is an interactive listening party the duo established at the height of the pandemic. For a small donation producers get live feedback from the boys. It’s invaluable for producers who never know if their demo submissions to other labels ever get heard.

Perlman explains that “It's enabled people to actually reach the label and know that the label is listening.” The process of shopping music as an up-and-coming producer is daunting. Without contacts in the industry, young artists grow accustomed to being outright ignored by most labels.

Lu adds, “So that that all of a sudden solves that issue that all artists have, because you know where to find us. That's when you get the most focus. That is actually when I'm going to listen and give you real feedback, because that's the give and take of the show.”

Lu goes on to explain that the show wasn’t designed as an A&R platform, it just ended up that way. The pandemic put the founders in an unhealthy place mentally. And the online community that they’d begun to create with their live streams was helping them stay sane and relevant.

“We wanted to build our stature as entertainers. because in the absence of nightclubs, we were like, we don't have that, but we have ourselves. So let's try to make ourselves be more of a music influencer using this downtime. And, you know, number one, it worked. But number two, the byproduct of that was like, whoa, this is like A&R plus!”

They wanted to merge a music review show with a reaction video, hence the name Tune Reactor. They’ve always been champions of new music, and Space Yacht parties have a reputation for breaking talent. So, Tune Reactor was a natural step toward creating a record label.

The model they’ve created has been a success story. The label has released nearly 100 records including the recent Tech My House Vol. 2 compilation. The cross-pollination of new and established acts makes the story that much more compelling. Remarkably 90% of the songs on the new compilation came from Tune Reactor.

They insist that this hasn’t replaced traditional A&R. They still have a demo inbox. However, the community they’ve created around Tune Reactor has only served to make their brand stronger.

Tune Reactor is a donation-based show. An idea they both struggled with early on. Lu says they were both worried about taking money from creators, especially in such a crucial time for the industry.

It’s important to consider the serious value prop for the price of a cup of coffee Lu says. “You're getting rich, on demand feedback.” He explains. “Our thesis is supposed to be that we want to get you in a place where people can pay you vast amounts of money to play gigs, or to sign you, or decide to manage you.”

Their prime example is Ranger Trucco an artist discovered on Tune Reactor. When they heard his song “Tiffany” they were immediately struck by his tongue-in-cheek lyrics and bubbling tech-house beats. Space Yacht didn’t just sign him to the label, they picked him up for a management deal.

Tune Reactor has served several purposes through the pandemic. It was a platform for Perlman and Lu to keep Space Yacht’s name on the industry’s lips. It’s a community-building project, label feeder, and it’s also reinvigorated a long-lost feeling in its hosts.

“It's really, for me recreated that teenage feeling of chills down my spine,” Lu begins. “Like arm hair standing up. That feeling and having that record, making that part of my job has really given me brand new energy. This kind of immediacy, and the ability to kind of have it on the record and the stakes are real.”

You can tell that the label is truly excited about the music because the reactions are raw and unfiltered. No formula or algorithm decides if they should release something. All that matters is how it makes them feel. It's validating for young producers to see the discovery process happen in real-time. It's also undeniably important to dance music culture.

Lu continues, “There's nothing in the Space [Yacht] ecosystem that's not accessible to someone who we think we can be a…I like to call it a torchbearer for. That that has been the core cause for excitement to me is when those records do pop up. And we kind of can tell, we can read each other's body language even through the camera. It's like, 'oh, shit, it's unanimous consent. The whole team is gonna be behind this.”

Tune Reactor Airs Monday's , Wednesday's, and Friday's at 4pm PT.

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130+ superyachts flock to St Barths for New Year's celebrations

St Barths might be one of the smallest islands in the Caribbean chain, but each year the finest vessels in the superyacht fleet make the pilgrimage to the petite island in time to ring in the new year.

According to data provided by BOATPro's Global Fleet Tracker , there are 131 yachts more than 24 metres in length currently anchored off the leeward shores of St Barths, four of which surpass the 100-metre mark. While the total figure falls slightly short of the 142 visiting yachts recorded in 2019, it marks the triumphant return of the fleet following several years of disruption. Take a look at some of the most impressive vessels at anchor...

1. Rising Sun

Length: 138m

At 138 metres in length, the Lürssen -built Rising Sun should be easy to spot from Gustavia, if not for her sheer size then for her distinct glass panels that run the length of the two upper decks. She was commissioned by tech mogul Larry Ellison and was the last ever design of Jon Bannenberg .

2. Infinity

Length: 117m

Not only is Infinity the second largest yacht in St Barths for New Year's Eve, but she is also one of the newest. Upon delivery in May 2022, she was both the largest launch by shipyard Oceanco and the largest yacht to be built in the Netherlands. Although her reign was shortlived as she has since been supplanted by Project Y721 (thought to be named Koru ). Her design team includes Espen Øino , Lateral Naval Architects , Sinot Yacht Architecture & Design and David Kleinberg Design Associates .

Length: 110m

Kaos , or Jubilee as she was first introduced to the world, was the flagship of the Oceanco fleet when she was delivered in 2017. Despite her size, she flaunts a slender profile thanks to the design talents of Igor Lobanov who created "fake decks" and smoked glass to mask her true height. Her iconic profile still remains following a year-long refit after changing hands in 2020, in one of the largest brokerage deals secured in recent years.

4. Bravo Eugenia

Length: 109m

Bravo Eugenia has the proportions of a sports yacht with an elongated bow and slender form. Her design is the work of studio Nuvolari Lenard and she is powered by a hybrid engine with a waste heat recovery system and single-tier engine room. This layout helps free up valuable space for two helipads, a wellness centre, and a large tender garage beneath the foredeck.

5. Moonrise

Length : 100m

Feadship's 100 metre Moonrise returns to the French Caribbean island for the second year in a row to watch the fireworks on New Year's Eve. Her clean lines and minimal exterior saw Moonrise win a World Superyacht Award in 2021 in the Displacement Motor Yachts 3,000GT and Above category, although her interior remains a well-kept secret.

6. Christina O

Length : 99m

Christina O is a familiar sight anchored off of Gustavia in the run-up to the new year. She started as a Canadian anti-submarine frigate but was famously rescued and rebuilt by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis after the Second World War, who bought her for her scrap value of $34,000. Today she is the ultimate party vessel with a starry past, with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Greta Garbo and Grace Kelley having all graced her decks.

Length: 96.6m

Faith is one of the biggest Feadship launches to date and has been spotted in St Barths following a recent refit. Her list of amenities include a nine-metre glass-bottomed swimming pool, a sundeck gym and two 10-metre custom tenders to whisk guests to shore. Alternatively, nights spent on board are best spent on the sundeck, where guests will find a wood-fired pizza oven and wine cellar. Owners can also retreat to a private deck for aperitifs around a firepit.

Length: 96m

Vava II was the largest yacht to be built in the UK when she was completed at the beginning of 2012 and the last yacht built by Devonport Yachts, following its acquisition by Pendennis Shipyard. Her exterior design was by British studio RWD , while the interior contract was awarded to Remi Tessier .

Length: 95.2m

The 95.2 metre Lürssen Kismet was commissioned by owner Shahid Khan, who was looking to upgrade his 68 metre yacht by the same name. She is easy to pick out among the crowd thanks to her two-tone "champagne and caviar" exterior, twin helipads and distinctive bowsprit. Inside is just as flash, dressed in exotic materials such as black marble, solid honey onyx, and rare mahogany timber with glimmers of gold. A dramatic, curved staircase with curled wrought ironwork sits at the centre of the yacht, with a two-storey video wall acting as a moving backdrop.

10. Madsummer

Length: 95m

Lürssen's Madsummer was commissioned by an owner in the market for a new plane, as well as a boat. As a result, the sundeck was reinforced to serve as a seaplane berth with a crane hidden in the bulwark. Other highlights of this 95 metre include a helideck on the foredeck, a brightly coloured interior by Laura Sessa, a spa and a 12 metre swimming pool.

Other favourites spotted sitting off of St Barths include Project X and Nebula , which are spending their first New Year's on the island after delivery in 2022, as well as the newly refitted Force Blue and Coral Ocean . 

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Happy birthday: Space Yacht celebrates six years [Q&A]

Los Angeles-based event and music promotion company Space Yacht recently celebrated its six-year anniversary with its first-ever Tech My House label compilation and a 15-hour livestream event that foregrounded a slew of ascendant house artists. Space Yacht was founded in 2015 by Henry Lu and Rami Perlman, who have since forged Space Yacht’s quest of “showcasing the next generation of dance music” into more than 150 shows, including event showcases at festivals such as Electric Daisy Carnival , Beyond Wonderland , Miami Music Week , SXSW , Coachella , and more. What started as a secret party occurring each Tuesday in Hollywood’s tiny Golden Box venue, Space Yacht has organically grown into a platform for the talents that Lu and Perlman believe in.

In commemoration of Space Yacht’s six-year anniversary came the label’s very first compilation, Tech My House Vol. 1 , which spanned 17 tracks from Mikey Barraeneche, Casmalia, Luke Andy, Qlank, Ocean Roulette, Ranger Trucco, SkiiTour, and many more. Space Yacht and Desert Hearts also collaborated on TECH MY HOUSE, a 15-hour livestream event that broadcast 18 DJ sets.

Dancing Astronaut  caught up with Lu and Perlman to gain insight on their Space Yacht journey, what they look for when signing tracks, and their future post-pandemic. Tech My House Vol. 1 and the interview can be found below.

How did you first become involved in dance music and how did this prompt your transition into curating your own events?

Perlman : “Dance music has always been a part of my life both as a fan and artist. I first started DJing back in college, in the early 2000’s, where I got heavily into house and drum ‘n’ bass. It wasn’t until years later that I got into events.

Henry and I met while working at a social media company, and we often worked late. I’d play him some demos of a new project I was producing, which eventually turned into LondonBridge, and we quickly realized that we were into similar styles of music. It was me wanting a place where I could perform, which then became the place for everyone to perform. The community vibe and opportunities within it became apparent quickly, and we nurtured it into where we are today. But all of this revolves first and foremost around our love for dance music and dance music culture.”

Lu : “In the beginning, I got involved as a student at UC San Diego volunteering at concerts and eventually became one of the coordinators for the big annual bash Sun God Festival (it was a huge school, so we planned our concert for 20,000 people every year). It was such a thrilling experience that I stuck around wanting to do more. Oddly enough, UC San Diego has some of the industry’s biggest power players as its alumni. 

Fast foward, I’m interning at Z-Trip’s management and Windish Agency (now Paradigm), all through connections I made at UCSD. Throughout all of these unpaid internships, I started multiple businesses of my own to sustain my lifestyle, and this is where I found my life calling—starting things from nothing and causing a ruckus.

Throwing events was just my manifestation of wanting to create something from nothing. It’s my way of thrill-seeking. It’s the most liberating feeling to work on my own terms at all times. In another life, Space Yacht totally could have been an app or tech platform. It feels strange to say this, but it’s not necessarily music or even events that I am primarily obsessed with. I’m obsessed with  creating . I just happen to love the music that I love, and when I met Rami, it was house music.”

Can you share some takeaways from your experience heading Space Yacht for the past six years?

Lu : “I’m absolutely blown away that an off-the-cuff idea we came up with became globally known and impactful across the industry. We never planned for this. We’ve learned an immense amount in the past six years, and the takeaway I’d like to share to the world is to just go for it. Obviously, come up with a plan and a fallback, but ultimately you will need to take action and follow through.”

Perlman : “My main takeaway is that consistency and quality are king. Just like a great restaurant, growing a brand is about providing the consumer with the best product possible, and being consistent with it—same goes for everything we do at Space Yacht.  Another takeaway is how strong and loyal our community is. The fact that we are still able to engage and even grow our brand in these crazy times is a testament to the love that people have for the brand and the culture. It’s truly humbling, and we don’t take it for granted.” 

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when going about throwing events throughout the years and how were you able to overcome them?

Perlman : “One of the main challenges was always about answering the question ‘how do we keep it fresh?’ When we started, there were only a few parties going on, but over the past three years there has been an explosion of dance music events, both large and small. Since so many of the DJs live in LA, it was always a challenge to make sure our lineups were unique and featured both new artists and fan favorites. It always kept us on our toes. To this day, we have a high bar for who we book and why. Like our label, it always starts with the music.”

Lu : “Being able to focus in a sea of distraction has been a growing pain both for myself and Space Yacht as a whole. We’re pulled different directions at all times, and the thing that has helped us find peace has always been to think back to why it is that we’re here. Knowing what you want and what your mission is the key!”

Moving forward, how do you plan to overcome the live event-related obstacles introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Lu : “I’m not sweating. The events will come back. Until then, we’re going to get good at all the things we’ve wanted to get good at. Instead of trying to expend our energy fighting the obstacle, we completely leaned into it.” 

Perlman : “To me, we are just scratching the surface of what Space Yacht could become. Before COVID, the entire identity of the brand revolved around events. Our curatorial voice was only represented in the lineups we put together. Now, we get to play in a bunch of different sandboxes, from signing records we love to creating clothing lines to livestreaming on Twitch to  producing NFT collections   All of these new disciplines are new ways for the brand of Space Yacht to be creatively expressed. A lot of our new business initiatives just started over the past 12 months. It’s exciting!”

At what moment or period of time did it become apparent that your brand was going to grow a lot more bigger than expected, and do you see another point in the future where that might happen again?

Lu : “At some point, folks started lining up around the block, and I had to turn town celebrity types at the door simply because I literally could not fit another person in the venue. My thought was ‘well, where do we go from here?'”

Perlman : “I think when we moved the party to Sound Nightclub in Hollywood is when it really started to explode. Sound is known as on of the best clubs in LA for underground dance music, and the team that runs the club is best in class (they run and book the Yuma tent at Coachella).

The combination of the club, our brand, and our fans was a perfect marriage. Word started to spread like wildfire after that. I think we are in our second or third phase of growth right now since we’ve had to move everything online. The funny thing is that we are streaming to way more people than could fit in the 600-capacity club, so in a sense, we are still growing even without live events.”

Will you aim to keep these events more intimate upon the return of in-person programming?

Lu : “Absolutely, yes. In fact, now that we don’t have the pressure of packing out clubs, our music programming lanes have opened up significantly. We now have time to listen to music that we wouldn’t have as DJ bookers and it’s already showing in our label signings. Our attitude towards music is that we are here as  scholars —there’s so much we don’t know, and it’s on us to see for ourselves. We simply share with the world all the things that excite us.”

Perlman : “Our brand is predicated on the idea of not sticking to one particular genre. House and bass genres are the most popular in our world, but we’ve been releasing drum ‘n’ bass records on the label and are planning a ton of niche compilations this year. I think we just follow the music that is interesting to us, and there are no rules when it comes to that. We can’t wait to get back to live events, but only when it’s safe to do so.”

What do you consistently look for when you’re listening to demos, looking for music to sign?

Perlman : “It’s always music first. It’s cool if someone has social media presence or things going on in their career, but we never prioritize that, even though we probably should. It’s always about the quality of the material.

One thing we do look for is a hook, whether it be a vocal or synthline. It has to be catchy and memorable. We think the TECH MY HOUSE  compilation set the bar really high, so we are becoming more and more particular about what we sign. There is so much good music out there!”

Lu : “The main signing criteria is that we light up and share the collective feeling that know exactly what to do with the piece of music to nurture it within our ecosystem. If we are struggling to find a vision for it, at least in terms of what we can do to help, it’s usually a no.”

What’s something you want new fans to keep in mind when they discover the artists who first got their start on your platform?

Perlman : “Remember to support these artists! It can be through a simple follow or sharing their track on social media, or donating when they play livestreams. Most of these people have day jobs and are trying to find their way. Any support you can give them is valuable.”

Lu : “Come curious! There’s just so much more we can do with a fan or attendee who’s genuinely open-minded.”

Now that you’re six years in, what are some of your goals for Space Yacht moving forward?

Perlman : “The growth of the label and apparel business are both really exciting. We’ve already signed the next six months of releases and are planning some massive compilations for the third and fourth quarters.

We are also super excited about the crypto-art NFT movement that we’ve been lucky to be a part of. Our first two collections  sold out in three minutes and people have been asking us to make more. A lot of people are just starting to find out about the space and huge artists like deadmau5 and 3LAU have already jumped into it. We see this as something that can intersect with the label as well as being its own thing. Our next crypto art drop is on Nifty Gateway on March 8, so look out for that!”

Lu : “We just started our Twitch and YouTube pages, and I can’t wait to hit our first few milestones. It’s going to help us reach a much more global audience once we get it together.”

Featured image: Martin Cabrera Lopez

Tags: henry lu , interview , label compilation , londonbridge , Q&A , Space Yacht , tech my house

Categories: Features , Music

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Space Yacht Announces Official Return to Los Angeles

Photo Credit: Raveloids

After getting everyone back in a groove with a fantastic boat party, Space Yacht sets its sights on returning to Los Angeles this September.

When the music industry screeched to a halt last year and the pandemic took hold, professional party-throwers Space Yacht didn’t skip a beat. Instead of taking some time off, they kicked the brand into high gear by dominating the livestreaming realm, launching a label to support rising artists, and even were some of the first to fully embrace the growing NFT market. Now, with shows beginning to return, they’ve set their sights on bringing forth a showcase to mark their grand return to Los Angeles .

While they’ve curated some stages at pod concepts and begun hosting shows elsewhere, including a recent boat party that was brimming with talented artists, many were wondering when they’d bring back a night in LA. Today, they gifted their faithful following with that answer as Space Yacht Returns To Los Angeles was unveiled. Set to take place on Saturday, September 25 at a location that’s still to be revealed, this night out with the Space Yacht crew will be one that attendees won’t soon forget.

Related: Get inside the mind of Space Yacht’s Founders Henry Lu and Rami Perlman by checking out our interview with the dynamic duo!

True to form, Space Yacht haven’t unveiled the lineup for this showcase in the City of Angels, yet, at least. But their track record of bringing some of the best artists in the scene to take the stage speaks for itself, and based on the details in the ticket link, those attending can expect a night of house vibes to satiate their cravings. Make sure to follow them on social media for the latest updates and details!

GA tickets and VIP options for Space Yacht Returns to Los Angeles are available now via Nightout . Don’t sleep on this show if you’re looking to get your fix of house vibes and want to lose your mind on the dancefloor.

Follow Space Yacht on Social Media:

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  SoundCloud  |  Twitch

Grant Gilmore

Grant Gilmore’s authoritative voice as a media professional lends credibility not common to EDM journalism. As the founder of EDM Identity he has effectively raised the bar on coverage of the past decade’s biggest youth culture phenomenon. After ten years of working for nonprofit organization Pro Player Foundation, Gilmore launched EDM Identity as a media outlet offering accurate informative coverage of the rave scene and electronic music as a whole. Although they cover comprehensive topic matter, they have taken special care in interviewing the likes of Armin van Buuren, Adventure Club, Gorgon City, Lane 8 and Afrojack. In addition to household names, they have also highlighted unsung heroes of the industry through their ID Spotlight segment. Whether he’s covering it or not, you can expect to find Grant Gilmore attending the next big electronic music event. To find out what’s next on his itinerary, follow him via the social links below.

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Here's What Your $5 Billion Space Yacht Could Look Like

Spencer's proposed space super yacht Destiny is designed to cruise in Earth's orbit, offering a striking view of our planet. In illustrations, the 300-foot-long ship cuts a remarkable profile—its bulbous body seems almost butterfly-like, with its four sails outstretched like wings in midflight. Like PayPal Galactic, Destiny is an idea for a market that doesn't exist yet. Still, this image of Destiny offers a glimpse into John Spencer's vision of spacefaring luxury, one he's been working toward for decades.

"We're getting into things that have probably never ever been thought of before from a real world perspective," he says. "All the things we take for granted we have to redesign."

For Destiny, this includes how the beds will be designed to prevent passengers from drifting away in their sleep, and how dining rooms will be laid out so food won't float away. Even the material Destiny will be made of has yet to be invented. While many of his designs seem to be far-fetched today, Spencer is hopeful that the space yacht will be real and in orbit within 15 years.

The ship's hull will be made of a dozen spheroid inflatable sections, which will be expanded and fused together in orbit. Destiny is meant to stay in space after being built and never reenter Earth's atmosphere, so the body sections must maintain their shape and integrity in the vacuum environment of space over the course of the yacht's life.

Spencer, a space architect and designer by trade, wrote in his book Space Tourism: Do You Want to Go? that spherical structures are ideal for space because their symmetry makes them stable and strong. Each section will have an interior webbed support that will limit how far it can expand.

"The sections of the yacht, some of them are just large volumes, some of them have multiple rooms, it depends on where you are," Spencer said. "Aft is for crew quarters and storage, front is for entertainment."

Power and Propulsion

Because Destiny will be an orbital yacht, it will not need the massive engines and large fuel reserves required to escape Earth's atmosphere. In fact, it won't have an engine at all. The ship will be outfitted with maneuvering modules with thrusters. The modules, which will be 2-feet deep, 2-feet wide, and 4-feet long, will be positioned strategically along the hull. Should the ship need to maneuver to avoid space debris or another ship, the modules can be operated wirelessly from the bridge. Spencer says that he is exploring the use of flywheels to power the thrusters.

In fact, Spencer envisions his space yacht as totally wireless. There will be no single power distribution system—long-life batteries will power all of the ship's 300 to 400 electrical devices. Each water and waste-management unit is self-contained with its own recycling, purification system, and reserve water supply. "[It] frees the designers to get pretty outrageous in terms of design because you're not dealing with strict plumbing and electrical," Spencer says.

As the batteries run out of juice, they will be brought to a charging station by a small army of service robots. The bots will also monitor the water and waste-management systems.

Destiny's four distinctive sails are more than ornamentation. They'll double as solar panels, absorbing the light and heat from the sun and using some of the power generated to charge the batteries onboard, while dissipating the excess. Spencer doesn't know what the material he'll need for Destiny's sails or hull will actually look like. Undeterred, he has dubbed the yet-to-be-discovered material Futuretanium. No word yet whether it will be an alloy of unobtanium.

Float Sphere

Passengers will be able to enjoy the benefits of zero gravity in the orb situated in the middle of Destiny's hull. The 60-foot-wide float sphere will offer 120-degree views outward and toward Earth. Spencer describes it as a "big friggin' open space where you can really experience zero gravity" and float around. "Living in zero gravity is the most unique experience you can have going to space," he says. "That's why the float sphere is such a prominent aspect of Destiny's design."

Creature Comforts

Destiny wouldn't deserve the classification of super space yacht if it didn't come with a few space-age amenities. Airflow will be monitored by mobile airflow compensators, or "bugs," that will silently follow passengers around to keep the air comfortable, dispensing hot or cold air as needed and responding to voice commands.

In Spencer's vision for the ship, Destiny's hospitality staff will offer massages, chefs will be brought on board to provide meals, and astronomy experts will explain to passengers what they are seeing as the gaze out the viewports.

There will even be a floating hot tub in the float sphere, though an orbital spa won't look quite like its earthbound counterparts. Spencer's plan for the "Hot Sphere" involves a layer of water surrounding a mechanical sphere, which heats the water and sprays bubbles. No solid outer layer is needed since water naturally forms a sphere in zero gravity. Gyroscopes will keep the mobile Jacuzzi in place.

And Finally, Price

All this innovation will be expensive. Anyone looking to buy a Destiny-class space yacht will have to cough up a cool $5 billion to $6 billion. It's enough to make the six-figure price tag people are paying to book a seat on the first suborbital tourism flights look like a bargain.

Why the name "Destiny," anyway? Spencer had two reasons: "It was literally my destiny to work on these things. Plus anyone who is going to spend five or six billion bucks on one of these things is going to have a bit of an ego and will want a cool name."

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SpaceX's third test flight of Starship achieves many, but not all, flight goals

The much-anticipated third test flight of SpaceX's giant Starship rocket Thursday accomplished more than any previous flight, but there's still work to do as the rocket ended in a loss of the ship over the Indian Ocean.

Still, it was much better than the two earlier flights last year that both ended in flames.

With less than an hour to go, t he fully stacked SpaceX Starship began propellant loading for Starship Flight Test 3 (IFT-3) . Stream poured from the first and second stages as the rocket readied for launch from its pad in Boca Chica, Texas.

See the Next Lunch from Florida Is there a launch today? Upcoming rocket launch schedule for SpaceX, NASA in Florida

Starship, which according to the SpaceX live stream, provides twice the thrust of the Saturn V, which took astronauts to the Moon. The ship promises full reusability and a quick relaunch time once fully operational.

The world watched as the clocked moved towards T-0 on Thursday. SpaceX had planned multiple benchmarks that this flight needed to achieve and on a live stream, they talked viewers through those steps.

Moving quickly towards T-0, all thirty-three raptor engines roared to life as planned, and as soon as the thrust to weight ratio reached over 1, the huge rocket sprung off the pad with massive force.

This flight, Starship successful separated from the Super Heavy booster and lit its engines in the vacuum of space as it sped to orbital velocity.

While coasting in space for more than 40 minutes, the vehicle successfully demonstrated the opening and closing of the payload “Pez” doors, which in the future will deploy Starlink satellites. This was a one of the milestones SpaceX had aimed to accomplish.

The vehicle also successfully demonstrated propellant transfer in space. This will be essential for Starship to reach its goal of bringing astronauts to the Moon and Mars.

Starlink satellites were used during the mission to send back views of Earth and essential data to mission control.

However, the SpaceX team did not accomplish an orbit relight demonstration or a landing burn, as Starship headed for a hard landing in the Indian Ocean.

At T+49 minutes, the vehicle began reentry with the friction of the atmosphere giving the ship a hot glow. The SpaceX live stream continuously emphasized that this is “fastest and furthest that Starship has ever flown.”

As the live stream views stopped, SpaceX eventually announced that the vehicle had been lost.

The company had not made any announcements on the test as of press time.

Did Starship meet its goals?

Speaking to FLORIDA TODAY ahead of the launch, founder and managing partner of Space Capital and an investor in SpaceX, Chad Anderson said that in order to be a successful test flight SpaceX was "looking at nominal first stage performance. Successful separation of Starship from the first stage in their hot firing, and Starship reaching orbit. If those things happen, this test flight will be a success.”

He said that SpaceX was seeking fuel transfer inside of starship and successfully open and close payload doors.

While Starship did not successfully land in this test, it reached almost all of these goals in Thursday’s test flight.

Anderson predicted that NASA is watching closely as it plans on using Starship to land astronauts on the lunar surface, that is after transferring to the ship in lunar orbit, during Artemis 3, NASA's return-to-the-moon mission slated for no earlier than fall 2026.

How did Thursday's launch test compare to previous two flights?

Thursday's launch took SpaceX much further along than the other two flights.

The first test flight happened in April 2023  but the vehicle only rose to 39 km (24 mi) over the Gulf of Mexico before leaking propellant caused a fire in the Super Heavy booster. This resulted in SpaceX losing communication and control of Starship.  According to SpaceX, the Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) — a self-destruct safety system —took over, detonating the vehicle just under 4 minutes into the flight.

The second test flight was in November 2023 and according to the SpaceX website, Starship reached space for the first time. However, trouble with liquid oxygen supply to an engine occurred during the flight. The issue caused the failure of one engine, leading to the fiery ending everyone saw.

When is Starship Launching from Cape Canaveral?

The Space Coast may get to see Starship launch up close in the coming years.

SpaceX officials hope a new Starship-Super Heavy launch complex becomes operational by 2026 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, pending environmental approval.

SpaceX's preferred Starship site: Launch Complex 37, where United Launch Alliance sends the retiring Delta IV rockets into orbit. 

SpaceX has much work ahead of them. Before Starship can launch from Cape Canaveral, it must go through must more testing — and the launch site must pass environment reviews.

“The FAA will be heavily involved in making sure something is safe before it flies from here. In fact, even down there in Boca Chica, Texas, the FAA has been involved quite a bit,” said Don Platt, an associate professor of space systems from Florida Institute of Technology, who spoke to FLORIDA TODAY ahead of Thursday's launch. “Before it ever ends up launching from here, it will be a much safer system than they tested on that first one.”

 Next Starship Launch?

SpaceX has not yet announced the 4 th flight test, yet SpaceX CEO Elon Musk commented on X days ago that the company is seeking at least six more flights of Starship from Texas this year.

In a reply to to Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) of Arts Technica and author of LIFTOFF, a book on the history of SpaceX, Musk stated “Hopefully, at least 6 more flights this year”.

Contact Space Reporter Brooke Edwards at [email protected].

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Starship Reaches New Heights in 3rd Orbital Test On SpaceX’s 22nd Birthday: Videos

The spacecraft made it much further into flight than during two previous tests..

SpaceX today (March 14) launched the third orbital test flight of Starship from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. A prototype Starship upper stage and a Super Heavy rocket booster successfully performed a number of tests while in space, marking a key milestone in SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ’s dream to colonize Mars.

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The giant two-stage spacecraft, weighing about 5,000 tons, made it much further into flight than during two previous tests in April and November 2023. The Starship upper stage also reached orbital velocity for the first time. The entire test lasted about 48 minutes. The November 2023 test lasted only eight minutes.

During the test, Starship completed a propellant transfer demonstration, moving fuel from one tank to another within the spacecraft. The test is a key component in Starship’s future use as a moon lander for NASA’s Artemis program. SpaceX also tested opening and closing a payload bay door on Starship, which would be used in future Starlink missions to deploy satellites. However, engineers will need to review data to determine if the payload door test was successful.

A webcast of the test showed views of Starship re-entering Earth’s atmosphere after coasting in space for a little bit. but SpaceX lost communication with the spacecraft earlier than expected.

“Starship will take humanity to Mars,” Musk posted on X after the test flight.

Today also marks the 22nd anniversary of SpaceX’s founding in El Segundo, Calif. The company’s chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell posted on X, congratulating the company’s engineering team for carrying out a successful test.

SpaceX has another mission later today to launch 23 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

Starship will take humanity to Mars pic.twitter.com/BMBNI2mMKF — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024

Happy birthday to @SpaceX ! What a day! HUGE congratulations to the entire team for this incredible day: clean count (glad the shrimpers could get out in the nick of time!), liftoff, hot staging, Super Heavy boost back and coast (and likely a couple engines making mainstage… pic.twitter.com/D3YUPIgKNH — Gwynne Shotwell (@Gwynne_Shotwell) March 14, 2024

Key moments of Starship’s third orbital test:

Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/FaNcasuKaq — SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024

Hot-staging separation:

Starship’s Raptor engines have ignited during hot-staging separation. Super Heavy is executing the flip maneuver pic.twitter.com/T593ACilyD — SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024

Coasting in space:

Starship is coasting in space pic.twitter.com/ZFUXMUkufW — SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024

Re-entering the atmosphere:

Starship re-entering Earth's atmosphere. Views through the plasma pic.twitter.com/HEQX4eEHWH — SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024

• SEE ALSO : Trevor Noah Just Launched a Comedy Special on Fortnite: What to Know

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• ‘People Don’t Want to Be Inside’: How the Outdoors Became Yachtmakers’ Most Coveted Design Element

A new generation of owners looking to breathe fresh life into once-stuffy spaces.

Kevin koenig, kevin koenig's most recent stories, azimut’s new 72-foot yacht has one of the largest flybridges in its class. we hopped onboard..

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Benetti ’s latest design concept and the smaller Oasis deck that preceded it are just two examples of how clients are looking to replace starched salons and prim dining rooms with larger, easier-living exterior spaces. This also includes a preference for foldout rear decks, reimagined bows, and balconies that extend when activated, all of which are in evidence on Bilgin ’s 263-foot Leona , which showcases how to design every conceivable square foot across the yacht toward enhancing the outside environment. 

That trend “has really gained steam,” says Dickie Bannenberg, of yacht-design house Bannenberg & Rowell . “Now it’s all balconies, beach clubs, and shell doors everywhere you look. And it’s not just on 200-foot boats, either—it extends down into production models.” 

Andrew Collett, team principal at U.K.-based design firm RWD , which conceived both the Oasis and the Veranda deck configurations, says the change in tack is driven by a new generation of owners who are “seeking spacious areas that blend indoor and outdoor living, with clear views of the water.” 

The pandemic intensified demand for airier layouts, says Collett, much as tuberculosis impacted modernist architecture in the 20th century, when residential blueprints began to include hospital-inspired sanctuaries with balconies and clean, well-lit interiors. And while he says that some of the aesthetic shift predated the pandemic’s lockdowns, it’s also true that “Covid heightened the appreciation for open-air environments and privacy. Now we’re just aligning with new preferences for health consciousness.” 

As with carbon fiber’s popularity in smaller boats, “the evolution of glass-related technologies makes possible what really wasn’t achievable in the past,” says Bernardo Zuccon of Studio Zuccon , designer of Sanlorenzo ’s 57Steel Virtuosity and many other glass-laden superyachts. “Since structural glass is at times stronger than steel, we’re seeing the extreme enhancement of transparent surfaces. That allows for great versatility in our designs.” 

Glass’s technical renaissance—and how the notion of boundaries has changed thanks to it—is evident on gigayachts including the 297-foot Dar, the 263-foot Excellence, and the 263-foot Artefact, but nowhere more so than the 141-foot catamaran This Is It, with a superstructure and hull made of more than 50 percent of the material. 

Other recent launches, including Sanlorenzo’s SX112, feature entirely open aft decks with cutaway sides, while Sanlorenzo’s X-Space and Baglietto ’s T52 maximize as much exterior square footage as their designers could justify across their tiered decks. 

“People don’t want to be inside,” says Bannenberg. “They want healthy outdoor living, and the designers are adapting accordingly.” Which means, for increasingly innovative superyacht concepts, the sky’s the limit. 

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New Year celebrations themed on space exploration held in Moscow

Tightrope walkers perform during the 2020 New Year Celebrations in central Moscow, Russia, on Jan. 2, 2020. The New Year festivities on Tverskaya Street of central Moscow is themed on space exploration this year. (Photo by Maxim Chernavsky/Xinhua)

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A rare nova ignites a 'new star' in the sky this year. Here's how to see it

A nova outburst visible to the naked eye is expected to decorate the night sky this year, offering a once-in-a-lifetime stargazing opportunity.

A nova outburst visible to the naked eye is expected to decorate the night sky this year, offering a rare skywatching opportunity. 

The star system offering us this opportunity is known as T Coronae Borealis (T CrB). It's located some 3,000 light-years away from Earth and consists of a red giant star and a white dwarf that orbit each other. When the white dwarf steals enough stellar material from its red giant companion, it ignites a brief flash of nuclear fusion on its surface, triggering what is known as a nova outburst.

The outburst will be visible in the constellation Corona Borealis, also known as the Northern Crown, which forms a semicircle of stars. The outburst is expected to occur between February and September 2024 and appear as bright as the North Star in our night sky for no longer than a week before fading again, NASA officials said in a statement . 

Related: Fastest nova ever seen 'rings' like a bell thanks to feeding white dwarf

"This could be a once-in-a-lifetime viewing opportunity as the nova outburst only occurs about every 80 years," NASA officials said in the statement. 

This recurrent nova, which last exploded in 1946, is just one of five observed within the Milky Way galaxy. To spot the outburst, viewers should point their gaze to Corona Borealis, which lies between the constellations Boötes and Hercules. The outburst will appear as a bright "new" star in the night sky. 

Generally, these binary stars have a magnitude of +10, which is far too dim to see with the unaided eye. However, during the outburst, the stellar system will have a magnitude of +2, which is comparable to the brightness of the North Star , Polaris, according to the statement. 

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"Once its brightness peaks, it should be visible to the unaided eye for several days and just over a week with binoculars before it dims again, possibly for another 80 years," NASA officials said. 

The explosive stellar pair consists of a white dwarf — a relatively small, dense stellar remnant — and a larger red giant star in the late stages of stellar evolution, meaning its outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous. The gravitationally-bound stars are close enough that, as the red giant grows unstable from its increasing temperature and pressure, it ejects its outer layers onto the white dwarf. The accumulation of matter heats the white dwarf's dense atmosphere enough to trigger a thermonuclear reaction that produces the nova we see from Earth. This cycle will continue once the nova dims as well, with the white dwarf collecting enough matter to create another outburst. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

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Samantha Mathewson joined Space.com as an intern in the summer of 2016. She received a B.A. in Journalism and Environmental Science at the University of New Haven, in Connecticut. Previously, her work has been published in Nature World News. When not writing or reading about science, Samantha enjoys traveling to new places and taking photos! You can follow her on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13. 

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• AboveAndBeyond There's a close-up photo of Corona Borealis with the location of the star marked at: https://visns.neocities.org/TMITHOA/TM_May.htm . Look under Discoveries/May 12th. It says there the 80 year "period" is only approximate, being based on two known eruptions, and since the last one was in 1946 it might be more like 2025-26 this time. But definitely check out Corona Borealis any clear night you get. Reply
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Voyager 1, First Craft in Interstellar Space, May Have Gone Dark

The 46-year-old probe, which flew by Jupiter and Saturn in its youth and inspired earthlings with images of the planet as a “Pale Blue Dot,” hasn’t sent usable data from interstellar space in months.

By Orlando Mayorquin

When Voyager 1 launched in 1977, scientists hoped it could do what it was built to do and take up-close images of Jupiter and Saturn. It did that — and much more.

Voyager 1 discovered active volcanoes, moons and planetary rings, proving along the way that Earth and all of humanity could be squished into a single pixel in a photograph, a “ pale blue dot, ” as the astronomer Carl Sagan called it. It stretched a four-year mission into the present day, embarking on the deepest journey ever into space.

Now, it may have bid its final farewell to that faraway dot.

Voyager 1 , the farthest man-made object in space, hasn’t sent coherent data to Earth since November. NASA has been trying to diagnose what the Voyager mission’s project manager, Suzanne Dodd, called the “most serious issue” the robotic probe has faced since she took the job in 2010.

The spacecraft encountered a glitch in one of its computers that has eliminated its ability to send engineering and science data back to Earth.

The loss of Voyager 1 would cap decades of scientific breakthroughs and signal the beginning of the end for a mission that has given shape to humanity’s most distant ambition and inspired generations to look to the skies.

“Scientifically, it’s a big loss,” Ms. Dodd said. “I think — emotionally — it’s maybe even a bigger loss.”

Voyager 1 is one half of the Voyager mission. It has a twin spacecraft, Voyager 2.

Launched in 1977, they were primarily built for a four-year trip to Jupiter and Saturn , expanding on earlier flybys by the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes.

The Voyager mission capitalized on a rare alignment of the outer planets — once every 175 years — allowing the probes to visit all four.

Using the gravity of each planet, the Voyager spacecraft could swing onto the next, according to NASA .

The mission to Jupiter and Saturn was a success.

The 1980s flybys yielded several new discoveries, including new insights about the so-called great red spot on Jupiter, the rings around Saturn and the many moons of each planet.

Voyager 2 also explored Uranus and Neptune , becoming in 1989 the only spacecraft to explore all four outer planets.

Voyager 1, meanwhile, had set a course for deep space, using its camera to photograph the planets it was leaving behind along the way. Voyager 2 would later begin its own trek into deep space.

“Anybody who is interested in space is interested in the things Voyager discovered about the outer planets and their moons,” said Kate Howells, the public education specialist at the Planetary Society, an organization co-founded by Dr. Sagan to promote space exploration.

“But I think the pale blue dot was one of those things that was sort of more poetic and touching,” she added.

On Valentine’s Day 1990, Voyager 1, darting 3.7 billion miles away from the sun toward the outer reaches of the solar system, turned around and snapped a photo of Earth that Dr. Sagan and others understood to be a humbling self-portrait of humanity.

“It’s known the world over, and it does connect humanity to the stars,” Ms. Dodd said of the mission.

She added: “I’ve had many, many many people come up to me and say: ‘Wow, I love Voyager. It’s what got me excited about space. It’s what got me thinking about our place here on Earth and what that means.’”

Ms. Howells, 35, counts herself among those people.

About 10 years ago, to celebrate the beginning of her space career, Ms. Howells spent her first paycheck from the Planetary Society to get a Voyager tattoo.

Though spacecraft “all kind of look the same,” she said, more people recognize the tattoo than she anticipated.

“I think that speaks to how famous Voyager is,” she said.

The Voyagers made their mark on popular culture , inspiring a highly intelligent “Voyager 6” in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” and references on “The X Files” and “The West Wing.”

Even as more advanced probes were launched from Earth, Voyager 1 continued to reliably enrich our understanding of space.

In 2012, it became the first man-made object to exit the heliosphere, the space around the solar system directly influenced by the sun. There is a technical debate among scientists around whether Voyager 1 has actually left the solar system, but, nonetheless, it became interstellar — traversing the space between stars.

That charted a new path for heliophysics, which looks at how the sun influences the space around it. In 2018, Voyager 2 followed its twin between the stars.

Before Voyager 1, scientific data on the sun’s gases and material came only from within the heliosphere’s confines, according to Dr. Jamie Rankin, Voyager’s deputy project scientist.

“And so now we can for the first time kind of connect the inside-out view from the outside-in,” Dr. Rankin said, “That’s a big part of it,” she added. “But the other half is simply that a lot of this material can’t be measured any other way than sending a spacecraft out there.”

Voyager 1 and 2 are the only such spacecraft. Before it went offline, Voyager 1 had been studying an anomalous disturbance in the magnetic field and plasma particles in interstellar space.

“Nothing else is getting launched to go out there,” Ms. Dodd said. “So that’s why we’re spending the time and being careful about trying to recover this spacecraft — because the science is so valuable.”

But recovery means getting under the hood of an aging spacecraft more than 15 billion miles away, equipped with the technology of yesteryear. It takes 45 hours to exchange information with the craft.

It has been repeated over the years that a smartphone has hundreds of thousands of times Voyager 1’s memory — and that the radio transmitter emits as many watts as a refrigerator lightbulb.

“There was one analogy given that is it’s like trying to figure out where your cursor is on your laptop screen when your laptop screen doesn’t work,” Ms. Dodd said.

Her team is still holding out hope, she said, especially as the tantalizing 50th launch anniversary in 2027 approaches. Voyager 1 has survived glitches before, though none as serious.

Voyager 2 is still operational, but aging. It has faced its own technical difficulties too.

NASA had already estimated that the nuclear-powered generators of both spacecrafts would likely die around 2025.

Even if the Voyager interstellar mission is near its end, the voyage still has far to go.

Voyager 1 and its twin, each 40,000 years away from the next closest star, will arguably remain on an indefinite mission.

“If Voyager should sometime in its distant future encounter beings from some other civilization in space, it bears a message,” Dr. Sagan said in a 1980 interview .

Each spacecraft carries a gold-plated phonograph record loaded with an array of sound recordings and images representing humanity’s richness, its diverse cultures and life on Earth.

“A gift across the cosmic ocean from one island of civilization to another,” Dr. Sagan said.

Orlando Mayorquin is a general assignment and breaking news reporter based in New York. More about Orlando Mayorquin

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