SpaceX

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."

Elon Musk's making more history -- SpaceX just sent the first Black woman to the International Space Station for an extended period of time.

Jessica Watkins is one of four astronauts who were hurled into orbit early Wednesday morning -- part of a mission called Crew-4, which was using yet another Dragon rocket to make their daylong ascent.

The team went up around 1 AM PT, and they're expected to dock at the ISS later today, at about 5 PM PT. Crew-4 will stay up there for 5 months, before returning in September.

Like we said ... Watkins is the 1st woman of color who'll have been in space for an extended period of time. Guion Bluford was the first Black person to go up into space, period, back in 1983 -- and since then, more than a dozen African-Americans, in general, have gone up.

Now, as for what they're going to be doing at the ISS ... general upkeep, maintenance and research -- something the previous team, Crew-3, has been doing since November. They're all doing a bit of a trade-off here, and Crew-3 will come back home after Crew-4 settles in.

In the past 2 years -- after SpaceX landed a major contract with NASA -- Elon has sent up 26 people into orbit in what are now seemingly just run-of-the-mill trips into space. That's actually a good thing, because as you know ... EM seems to think the future is up there.

He's said he wants to eventually colonize Mars, so the more we're up in our galaxy ... presumably, that's for the better -- as we can then start inching our way further out.

Elon Musk might be the richest man on Earth, but he isn't consuming an absurdly large amount of stuff for himself -- in fact, it's the opposite ... because he's kinda homeless.

The Tesla chief made the startling revelation in TED interview that surfaced over the weekend -- in which he defended his many billions of dollars by arguing it actually isn't as problematic as some make it seem, because he isn't using any of that wealth on or for himself.

Watch ... EM says if he was spending upwards of a bil on himself with frivolous (and environmentally harmful) toys like a yacht or whatever -- sure, the criticism would be warranted. But, he says that's simply not what he uses his money for ... pointing out he doesn't even own a home at the moment.

That's absolutely shocking, but even more surprising is where he says he sleeps at night -- according to Elon, the dude bums it and couch surfs with his friends from all over the world.

He says he often stays in spare bedrooms of theirs rather than in any one house of his. This is a bit of a 180 from where he said he was living last year while discussing his Texas SpaceX headquarters ... where he was proud to shows off his 375-sq.-foot 1 bed.

Based on what he's saying here and now, Elon might've ditched that modest pad and opted for an even more stripped-down lifestyle ... AKA, no property at all.

Elon Musk is asking Vladimir Putin to put his dukes up -- and not just that, but he's posing the challenge in the dictator's native language ... with the ultimate stakes at play.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief dared VP to a battle of brawn Monday morning, doing so over Twitter of course ... where he wrote, "I hereby challenge Владимир Путин  to single combat." EM followed up by saying ... "Stakes are Україна."

The translation is pretty simple, he's just asking Putin to rumble -- noting that the winner takes Ukraine. As you know ... Elon has directly involved himself with the conflict (in a good way) by offering Internet support and other tech resources to help Ukrainians/deter Russia.

Just make sure Vlad and co. got the message, Elon asked ... "Вы согласны на этот бой? @KremlinRussia_E." That simply means, "Do you agree to this fight?"

Obviously, Elon seems to be kidding -- we don't think he expects Russia's President to take him on ... but just for the sake of argument, ya gotta wonder who might take the W  -- because they each have some fighting experience.

Perhaps more famous in throwing down would be Putin ... we've seen photos of the guy laying dudes out on the mat while dressed head to toe in martial arts gear, and he even has an honorary taekwondo black belt (which he was stripped of in the wake of him invading).

Less known is Elon's training ... he once told Joe Rogan that he trained in karate as a kid. On top of that, he said he's also dabbled in taekwondo, judo and a little jiu-jitsu.

It seems in this increasingly troubled world, all roads lead to Elon Musk, and that was evident again Saturday after he hopped on a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky says Musk is providing more Starlink satellite internet stations to some of Ukraine's "destroyed cities."

Musk assured Zelensky terminals are on the way to Ukraine ... courtesy of SpaceX.

Zelensky said, "Talked to @elonmusk. I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds. Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities."

And this is interesting ... Zelensky is confident about the future of Ukraine to add, "Discussed possible space projects. But I’ll talk about this after the war.”

There's been a massive number of internet outages in Ukraine, and Musk had said a few days ago he was stepping up to activate Starlink satellite internet service to the country.

The Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation had tweeted a plea to Musk a few days ago, "@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand."

Elon Musk has vowed to become a real-life action hero, saving the world -- or at least part of it -- by thwarting any attempt by the Russian Government to send the International Space Station hurtling toward earth.

Musk is reacting to a Russian space official who menacingly suggested the ISS could lose its trajectory and careen toward the U.S. or Europe if the Russians sabotage the craft. The official suggested sanctions could trigger the move. Russia controls the engines on the ISS, and it can direct the trajectory accordingly.

Musk's Twitter response ... a SpaceX logo.

Someone on Twitter inquired if E.M. was suggesting SpaceX would prevent the ISS from plummeting to earth. His response -- "Yes."

Musk acknowledged another tweet with the ISS, but one thing was missing -- any evidence of Russia. Instead, the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft was front and center.  Elon responded, "Good thread."

The ISS could do lots of damage for sure ... it weighs in at 500 tons.

As for how serious the threat, the Russian official said, "The ISS does not fly over Russia, therefore all the risks are yours. Are you ready for them?"

NASA says nothing's changing with respect to ISS operations. What's unclear ... can Russia do what it's threatening?

Don't count Musk out ... NASA has increasingly relied on SpaceX for space exploration.

Elon Musk can read a room -- getting ahead of potential groans and eye-rolls over him being named TIME's Person of the Year by sprinkling some adorableness on the ceremony ... courtesy of his kid.

The Tesla and SpaceX chief popped in for a Q&A Monday night in NYC, not too long after it was announced he was TIME's number 1 person for the entirety of 2021. His entrance turned out to be a big fat father-son love fest, 'cause EM trotted out X Æ A-12 for the sit-down.

It's pretty hilarious ... as soon as Elon comes into the room with X in his arm, just about everyone lets out the expected "awwwws" that come in the presence of any toddler.

X's appearance definitely softened any would-be tension that might've existed among the reporters and spectators there ... 'cause, as you may have read or heard, not everyone was all that thrilled with Elon getting the huge honor.

Nobody probably would've made a scene or anything, but bringing X along for the ride is definitely a good PR move on Dad's part.

As for the actual interview itself, Elon talked about a lot of stuff -- including whether he considered cars or rockets more important, and whether he'd ever get his ass up into space like his billionaire rival, Jeff Bezos.

Meanwhile, young X was on his best behavior (for the most part) ... not really fussing too much, and listening to his pops chat it up in what was almost certainly a new environment for him.

A SpaceX rocket blasted off Tuesday night for a mission of self-destruction ... and its end game is to save planet earth!

NASA commissioned Elon Musk's rocket company to hurl a Falcon 9 rocket into a nearly year-long journey which will end with the spacecraft bashing into a faraway asteroid.

Scientists want to see if the impact could actually change the asteroid's trajectory ... something that could be lifesaving if it were headed toward mother earth.

The spacecraft -- dubbed DART, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test -- left earthly terra firma at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Cali ... and the whole thing is kinda like a ripoff of "Armageddon."

DART is supposed to violently connect with Dimorphos -- an asteroid that measures 525 feet across -- at a speed of 15,000 MPH.

Scientists say the impact will not destroy the asteroid ... but the goal is to change its orbit.

It's complicated, but if the asteroid moves for a minimum of 73 seconds, the mission is considered a raging success!

SpaceX can check one more accomplishment off its list -- successfully completing an ISS mission, now that its astronauts have touched down on Earth in grand fashion.

Elon Musk's Dragon capsule safely landed Monday evening, parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico without a hitch ... but not before it was seen streaking across the night sky, especially in New Orleans -- where it looked like a shooting star, or even an asteroid.

This might've freaked some folks out ... but rest assured, it was just the Endeavor crew torpedoing back into our atmosphere after being up in orbit for more than 6 months. Indeed, this was the crew SpaceX/NASA shot into space back in April ... 'memba that?!?

The astronauts who went up were Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Akihiko Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet ... and they linked up with the International Space Station, where they've been doing research and fieldwork for this entire time.

Now that they're back, and the mission's apparently a success, Elon can proudly say he's helped get the U.S. back into space after a multi-year hiatus. The last time we were up there for an extended period of time was way back in the early 2010s, but that program was paused by NASA -- that is, until SpaceX jumpstarted things with this launch.

Pretty sweet feat ... and it definitely puts Elon higher on the billionaire's space race totem pole, alongside guys like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson -- who haven't gone quite as far up as SpaceX rockets/capsules have.

Oh, and BTW -- the team here had a little bathroom trouble on the way down ... NASA advised them not to use the onboard toilet -- due to malfunctions that made it inoperable -- so they had to improvise for their bodily functions. Yep, you guessed it ... diapers for everyone!!!

NBD, they handled the crappy situation with professionalism and humor.

SpaceX astronauts will be all wrapped up during their flight back from the International Space Station -- in diapers.

Those pesky toilet issues that plagued a previous flight back in September are back with a flourish.  Turns out the toilet is broken ... again. So, without a proper receptacle on the Dragon capsule, the crew will have to resort to cruder methods of release.

The NASA astronauts have been in the International Space Station and the plan is for them to return to earth Sunday. Astronaut, Megan McArthur, classically understated the problem by calling the situation "suboptimal."

The ride back to earth is 20 hours, so diapers are essential to avoid a disgusting mess.