SpaceX

Elon Musk might still be having trouble with his social media venture, but on the space front he's crushing ... 'cause his company just successfully launched the largest rocket ever.

SpaceX blasted their Super Heavy-Starship rocket into orbit Thursday morning -- with liftoff taking place at their Boca Chica, TX facility ... and with this latest attempt marking their third time trying to get this massive beast out into the great beyond.

Considering they pulled it off, it's truly an impressive feat -- especially when you get a sense of the magnitude of this rocket ... which is quite literally the biggest one in human history.

The rocket, in full, stands at a whopping 394 feet and is nearly 30 feet wide -- it also includes two different components, the upper stage Starship and the Super Heavy booster. Word is, this thing can generate over 16 million pounds of thrust with its Raptor engines.

In other words, it's a monster of a machine ... and on Thursday, Elon and co. were finally able to get it up in the air and past our atmosphere, where it started a sub-orbital flight that's designed to traverse the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and much of the Indian Ocean.

The rocket is supposed to detach, with the booster dropping into the GOM -- and the upper stage touching down in the Indian Ocean ... yes, both can be done with controlled landings.

Eventually, SpaceX (and NASA) is hoping to use the Super Heavy-Starship to make trips to the moon ... something that hasn't been done for a long time, but which they wanna start back up again. Now that this test flight went off without a hitch (so far), it's within reach.

Elon Musk and Steve Jobs' signatures are a holy grail of sorts for tech enthusiasts ... and if you're willing to splash some serious cash, you might just get lucky and score one of their elusive autographs.

Talk about a coveted piece of history ... a bidding war is on over at RR Auction for a movie ticket stub signed by Jobs -- and there's also the super rare SpaceX business card signed by Musk himself!!

As you can see, Steve's signature is on the back of a movie ticket from 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" at Century Cinema 16 in Mountain View, CA.

Despite a little tear made by the usher before he signed it, the signature remains intact and in good condition.

It also comes with a detailed letter of provenance from the OG recipient, who says being a big Apple fan and suddenly spotting Steve and his fam at the cinema was a major deal.

The fan waited until the end of the movie to ask for his autograph -- and the wait paid off 'cause Steve dug out his own cinema ticket to sign as they didn't have a piece of paper.

Meanwhile, EM's signature on a SpaceX business card -- signed in black felt tip -- is like a piece of history from the forefront of space exploration.

Elon Musk says he's suing a media watchdog over a report he says is misleading advertisers to flee X ... and it sounds like he'll try taking 'em for every penny they're worth.

Here's the deal ... Elon and his new social media company have been in the crosshairs of controversy over the past few days -- and it mostly has to do with a story Media Matters published that suggested pro-Nazi ads were running alongside organic content from users.

Of course, that sounds scandalous ... and it dovetails with accusations of antisemitism that Elon himself faced this exact same week -- this after a Twitter response he fired off.

The Media Matters thing, though, is what EM is now squarely focused on in this epic warning. He took to X Friday night to announce he was hitting the courthouse first thing Monday morning in a plan to sue Media Matters over what he claims is misleading reporting.

Elon says, "The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company." He added, "Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them."

There was also an attached explanation to Media Matters' report -- which, again, suggested Nazi propaganda was somehow popping up on X ... and which seems to have spurred HUGE companies to either pause or outright suspend X advertising over the last 24 hours.

Those brands include Apple, Disney, WB, IBM, Lionsgate and others ... and that, of course, hurts Elon and X's bottom line. So, he's trying to rectify it all now with what he says is forthcoming legal action.

It's been a bumpy week for the guy ... but hey, at least his SpaceX Starship rocket got successfully launched today. That is, before it self-destructed after about 10 minutes or so.

Elon Musk dice que va a demandar a una empresa de medios por un informe que, a su juicio, está engañando a los anunciantes para que huyan de su plataforma X y suena como que irá por cada centavo que valga.

Este es lo que pasó, Elon y su nueva compañía de redes sociales han estado en medio de la controversia en los últimos días, y todo tiene que ver con una historia que publicó Media Matters que sugiere que se están colando anuncios pro-nazis junto con el contenido orgánico de los usuarios.

Por supuesto, suena escandaloso y calza con las acusaciones de antisemitismo que el propio Elon ha estado enfrentando esta misma semana, después de uno de sus comentarios en un tuit encendiera las alarmas.

Su advertencia, sin embargo, se centra principalmente en lo de Media Matters. El viernes por la noche apareció en X para anunciar que a primera hora del lunes iría a los tribunales para demandar a Media Matters por lo que considera información engañosa.

Elon dice: "En la fracción de segundo que el tribunal abra el lunes, X Corp presentará una demanda termonuclear contra Media Matters y TODOS los que se confabularon en este ataque fraudulento contra nuestra empresa". Y añade: "Su junta, sus donantes, su red de dinero oscuro, todos ellos".

También había una explicación adjunta al informe de Media Matters que, de nuevo, sugería que está apareciendo propaganda nazi de alguna manera en X y parece estar causando que grandes empresas pausen o directamente suspendan la publicidad en X en las últimas 24 horas.

Esas marcas incluyen Apple, Disney, WB, IBM, Lionsgate y otros, lo que por supuesto perjudica a Elon y a X en general. Así que ahora está tratando de rectificarlo todo con estas próximas acciones legales.

Ha sido una semana agitada para el tipo, pero bueno, al menos su cohete SpaceX Starship fue lanzado con éxito hoy. Es decir, antes de que se autodestruyera después de unos diez minutos más o menos.

Elon Musk is having the time of his life, dancing the night away in a huge crowd in Mexico for a huge music festival -- and it looks like SpaceX, Twitter and Tesla are officially on the back burner!!!

One of the world's richest men showed off a different side of himself in Cabo San Lucas Saturday night, jamming out with his hands up to some Rüfüs Du Sol with a swarm of other ravers around him.

Elon was feelin' the music at Sundream Baja, BTW -- a 2-weekend long festival, similar to Coachella, just outside San Jose Del Cabo.

Sure, his moves might need some work, but hey ... the guy's just not known for dancing.

Kinda makes sense he headed down to Mexico for some R&R ... Elon just named former NBCUniversal advertising exec Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter last week, following months of backlash from users who weren't cool with how he was running things.

Turns out, Twitter isn't the only thing in Elon Musk's life going up in flames ... because his highly-anticipated rocket launch just blew up only minutes after taking the skies.

Thankfully, the SpaceX Starship wasn't carrying any people or satellites when it took off in southern Texas Thursday morning for an around-the-world trip. All seemed fine to the folks on the ground until a massive explosion sent the rocket plummeting back down to Earth.

The rocket was careening out of control when it was intentionally blown up ... You hear mission control say, "It appears that the automatic flight termination system has been activated."

Starship is massive, 400 feet long and is both the biggest and most powerful ever built. This was the rocket's first launch -- it was supposed to originally go up Monday, but that was called off after a valve got stuck during fueling.

Elon apparently wasn't deterred by the explosion, tweeting out only a few minutes after the failure, "Congrats SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."

If you're a die-hard Elon Musk fan, then an exciting new auction might be right up your alley, because a couple of unique items from his past could be yours ... if you've got a ton of cash to spend, of course.

Auction house, GottaHaveRockandRoll is kicking off its new Pop Auction Wednesday, and two super rare, Musk-themed finds are in the mix ... one straight from the Tesla CEO's early days.

A rep for GottaHaveRockandRoll tells TMZ ... one collectible is his original business card for Zip2, Elon's first-ever company which licensed city guide software to newspapers. He founded it back in 1995 along with Greg Kouri and Musk's brother, Kimbal.

The card's expected to fetch upwards of $20K -- a ton of change for a piece of paper.

The other piece of history is a signed dollar bill which he inked with the phrase, "To the moon." As you know, Elon's been obsessed with space travel for some time. But, the phrase is also one he's used when promoting crypto like Dogecoin, so it could just be just a plug ... and an ironic one, writing it on legal tender.

Elon Musk may have just put his own foot in his mouth regarding his new baby, Twitter -- because he pissed off a U.S. Senator ... who has the power to investigate him, officially.

The Chief Twit got into a digital squabble Sunday with Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts ... this after the lawmaker sent EM an official letter asking for an explanation on why so many people have been able to impersonate others on Twitter, including Markey himself.

You see, a WaPo reporter recently did what a ton of others have done lately -- changing their profile names/pics and pretending to be another public figure. In this case, the journo was assuming Markey's identity to prove a point ... and the Senator wants some answers.

Markey was firm ... accusing Elon of putting profits over Twitter's integrity, to which the man in question fired back, "Perhaps it is because your real account sounds like a parody?"

He followed up by poking fun at the fact that Sen. Markey has a mask in his profile pic, but the legislator wasn't in a kidding mood. He appeared to threaten Elon with the prospect of Senate hearings if he didn't get his house in order ... beyond just Twitter, in fact.

Markey wrote in response, "One of your companies is under an FTC consent decree. Auto safety watchdog NHTSA is investigating another for killing people. And you’re spending your time picking fights online. Fix your companies. Or Congress will."

Elon left it there, but he started to get mocked as well by other reporters and pundits ... many of whom noted that he just might've screwed himself into a subpoena to testify -- seeing how Markey sits on a few key subcommittees that oversee exactly what Elon dabbles in in the private sector ... like Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Co. and now Twitter.

Elon Musk got into a big 'ol Twitter fight with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, trading jabs over the billionaire's intent to charge verified users a fee to maintain their status on the social media platform.

Musk -- Twitter's new owner -- announced this week he would implement a policy charging an $8 monthly fee for users to keep their blue check badges to prove their accounts are authentic. He originally set the price at $20, but then lowered it. It's unclear when he plans to make the $8 fee official.

This didn't sit well with many critics and AOC, who sent out a flurry of Tweets Tuesday/Wednesday, giving Musk a piece of her mind.

"Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that 'free speech' is actually a $8/mo subscription plan," the New York congresswoman tweeted.

AOC followed up with another zinger ... "One guy's business plan for a $44 billion over-leveraged purchase is apparently to run around and individually ask people for $8. Remember that next time you question yourself or your qualifications."

She even complained that her Twitter notifications weren't working properly.

Musk then got into it with her. The Tesla/SpaceX boss tweeted a photo of an AOC sweatshirt selling on her website for $58, seemingly defending his $8 subscription fee by showing she, too, is trying to monetize her business.

But, the Democratic lawmaker wasn't having it, tweeting ... "My workers are union, make a living wage, have full healthcare, and aren’t subject to racist treatment in their workplaces. Items are made in USA."

Musk fired back ... "Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8." AOC landed the last punch, though, declaring she had "gotten under a certain billionaire's skin" next to a laughing emoji.

Elon Musk is officially Twitter's new daddy -- at least according to Elon Musk -- who says he hopes the platform will continue to be a digital town square for years to come.

The Tesla/SpaceX boss explained his reasons for the $44 billion purchase Thursday, saying, "There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide in our society."

He continues, "In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost."

He says, "That is why I bought Twitter. I didn't do it because it would be easy. I didn't do it to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love. And I do so with humility, recognizing that failure in pursuing this goal, despite our best efforts, is a very real possibility."

Elon's Twitter bio reflects his new purchase as well, calling himself the "Chief Twit." There's also a video that circulated this week showing the guy roaming about headquarters with moving boxes.

Like we said ... it closes the book on what turned out to be a bitter acquisition -- one that almost didn't happen when Elon threatened to pull out at the last minute. Remember, he said he felt Twitter wasn't giving him enough info on bots and spam accounts ... and that the value of the company might not have been as high as he was willing to pay at first.

In his mind, it gave him every legal reason to walk away -- but Twitter wasn't budging without a fight. The old regime took him to court and was dead set on holding him to the original terms, and as a trial loomed ... Elon blinked first and agreed to go through with it.

There's been a lot of talk about what Elon might aim to change at Twitter now that he's in charge. You'll recall, this all started with his gripes about free speech being severely limited on the platform -- and all signs point to him loosening the rules a bit as far as what's acceptable to tweet ... much to the chagrin of many critics, including current employees.

Speaking of those folks, there've been recent reports claiming that Elon plans to gut at least 75% of Twitter's workforce -- while also bashing a lot of them as left-leaning. There've been protests to push back on this, but at this point ... it's Elon's show, and he calls the shots.

Elon Musk is begrudgingly agreeing to keep his satellite internet service up and running in Ukraine ... while complaining about how much money is going down the drain to do it.

The Tesla chief aired out his frustration on Twitter Saturday over a decision to potentially yank Starlink access out of Eastern Europe, apparently because it's too damn expensive ... and costing him and his company, SpaceX, a fortune to keep operating free of charge.

CNN says SpaceX honchos recently wrote D.C. to tell them they'd soon ask the Pentagon to start picking up the tab on Starlink as it pertains to Ukraine -- this after already burning through $80 million on their own dime ... with a projection of $100 mil by December.

Despite this report, EM himself is doing an about-face some 48 hours later. Now, he's saying 'screw it' ... we'll take the L and keep up the handouts, even if it puts us in the red.

He tweeted, "The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free." In response to someone saying no good deed goes unpunished, he said good deeds should still be done.

It's unclear if Elon's being sarcastic here, but on its face -- it sounds like he and SpaceX are gonna bite the bullet on this and keep their satellites afloat as the war with Russia rages on. That's surprising, because lately ... Elon has been accused of being a Putin sympathizer.

A few weeks ago, he offered a would-be solution to the conflict ... and there were some concessions he suggested for Russia, which a lot of people weren't happy about -- including Volodymyr Zelensky, who fired back at Elon publicly for seemingly changing his tune.

The president posed his own poll, simply asking ... "Which @elonmusk do you like more?" The options being ... "One who supports Ukraine" and "One who supports Russia." The overwhelming favorite was the former.

Elon Musk isn't just tooting his own horn when he says he doesn't need to keep his technology top secret to succeed, he's actually making a totally "gangsta" business move ... according to Daymond John.

The "Shark Tank" star was on TMZ Live Friday explaining why Elon's unwritten rule of not patenting Tesla and SpaceX innovations is paying off for him ... and others. First off, Daymond says patents can slow down companies, and often it's all about speed when it comes to getting a good product to market to beat out the competition.

As we've reported, Elon dropped his "no patent" bombshell while on "Jay Leno's Garage" this week -- explaining he's not the least bit afraid of going head-to-head with other companies or inventors.

In fact, DJ points out Elon's said he won't sue anyone who wants to use Tesla technology in good faith, so he's walking the walk ... allowing others to build off his ideas and create better tech to advance society.

Elon Musk is one cocky motherf***er -- because he's so confident he can stay ahead of the pack, he doesn't even bother to protect his innovations.

Elon appeared on CNBC's "Jay Leno's Garage" Wednesday night where the 2 guys tooled around Elon's Texas-based SpaceX Starbase facility and chatted it up.

At one point Jay asked if SpaceX had a patent on the materials he used to construct spaceships. Elon's response ... "I don't care about patents. Patents are for the weak."

Translation ... Elon's fine with competitors playing catchup with his creations, because he's betting on himself that he'll come up with something even better before they do.

Elon believes patents are just a buzzkill ... "They don't actually help advance things, they just stop others from following you."

Musk has followed his mantra in other ventures, including Tesla. Back in 2014, he sent a memo to Tesla staff, shunning patents and saying Tesla innovations are there "to attract and motivate the world's most talented engineers."

He had some choice words about getting such legal protection .. "[Patents] serve merely to stifle progress, entrench the positions of giant corporations and enrich those in the legal profession, rather than the actual inventors."

Elon Musk says he fell under a government microscope after smoking weed with Joe Rogan ... claiming the feds randomly drug tested him.

The world's richest man sat down for a podcast Tuesday with the Nelk Boys, recalling the backlash he got from Uncle Sam over what he says was one measly rip from a blunt while on Rogan's show.

Remember, Elon blazed it up with Joe back in September 2018, sparking up on camera while talking about Tesla's plans for an airplane. The video went viral and then Tesla's stock briefly plummeted on the heels of the smoke sesh.

Elon says the federal response was "pretty nutty" ... explaining the problem is ganja is still illegal federally, and because he runs SpaceX -- which holds lucrative government contracts -- the feds tested him for a range of illicit drugs.

It's interesting ... Elon claims the real driving force behind the random drug tests were his SpaceX competitors, who he says pressured the feds to test his urine.

Elon Musk thinks the Russian government is out to get him -- maybe kill him -- and he's exposing the threat he received that supports his theory.

Elon just tweeted, "If I die under mysterious circumstances, it's been nice knowin ya."

As for what prompted the tweet, a guy named Dmitry Rogozin, Chief of Russia's Space Agency, sent a statement to Russian media accusing Elon of assisting Ukraine in Russia's brutal war against the country.

Rogozin accused Elon of being "involved in supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment."

And then, the ominous warning ... “And for this, Elon, you will be held accountable like an adult – no matter how much you’ll play the fool.”

As for linking Rogozin's statement to Elon's tweet, it's pretty obvious ... Elon tweeted 6 minutes after Rogozin released his statement.

Elon's SpaceX Starlink terminals are now being used by Ukrainian forces to keep the Internet and therefore communications strong as Russia tries to disable it. It's a critical link in fighting the war.

Rogozin went on ... “From the testimony of the captured commander of the 35th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Dmitry Kormyankov, it turns out that the internet terminals of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite company were delivered to the militants of the Nazi Azov Battalion and the Ukrainian Marines in Mariupol by military helicopters.”

Musk's mom, Maye, was shaken by Elon's tweet, responding, "That's not funny."