SpaceX Restricts Ukraine's Starshield as Shuttle Goes Public

“Our armed forces did not receive a warning about these restrictions, and this led to the failure of a number of missions,” Serhiy Beskrestnov, who advises President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on weapons technologies, wrote on social media. Ukraine’s military says SpaceX restricted access to Starshield, a military-grade satellite internet service, hampering operations as Russian attacks increased.

A private switch over the battlefield

Beskrestnov said the restrictions applied to Starshield devices traveling over 100 miles per hour and were tied to “the current political situation.” SpaceX calls the devices that broadcast satellite internet to users “terminals”; operators can place them on vehicles or drones to guide them at high speeds. Ukraine’s armed forces have relied for years on Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service using satellites in lower earth orbit, and more recently on Starshield.

Ukraine’s defense ministry blamed SpaceX, saying the company unilaterally restricted Starshield terminals. The ministry said the limits complicate drone missions and reduce capacity for frontline logistics, reconnaissance and relaying signals. Some military operations, it said, had been jeopardized. SpaceX privately controls the service. Ukrainian officials say the effects reach military operations on the ground.

The Trump administration has pressed Ukraine to limit strikes on Russia and stop attacking Russian oil refineries so more diesel can reach global markets. High fuel prices have fueled inflation and weakened prospects for Mr. Trump’s Republican Party ahead of midterm elections next month. The account connects pressure over Ukraine’s military choices with fuel prices and electoral prospects in the United States. It doesn’t say the administration ordered SpaceX to impose the restrictions.

A public home, built with private and state money

In Los Angeles, the Space Shuttle Endeavour is set to go on public view at its permanent home in the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. Advance reservations begin Oct. 21 at 9:30 a.m., ahead of the center’s opening on Nov. 13. California Science Center members get early access beginning Monday at the same time.

The California Science Center’s 200,000-square-foot expansion will display Endeavour in a launch-ready position within a complete shuttle stack. The center calls it the world’s only display with an orbiter, solid rocket boosters and a rare surviving external tank. The expansion will double the museum’s exhibit space and include three multilevel galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery. Visitors can see more than 100 artifacts and 100 hands-on exhibits focused on science, technology and engineering.

Endeavour completed 25 successful space missions from 1992 to 2011. In 2012, it landed at LAX atop a modified Boeing 747, then made its final journey across Los Angeles to the California Science Center at Exposition Park. “Fourteen years after Space Shuttle Endeavour arrived at the California Science Center, following its incredible overland journey across Los Angeles and Inglewood, reservations will soon become available to see it in its permanent home this November,” said Jeffrey Rudolph, president and chief executive of the California Science Center.

Who paid, and who gets through the doors

The opening completes the third and final phase of a 33-year-long master plan, also described as a three-decade, $750-million plan to develop the museum. The expansion goal was $450 million. The EndeavourLA fundraising campaign helped acquire and temporarily display the shuttle and support exhibits, programs and operations. Donors included the Samuel Oschin Family Foundation, Korean Air, the Kresa Family Foundation, the state of California, corporate supporters and other foundations.

ZGF Architects designed the shuttle’s 20-story permanent home, and crews completed it in April. General admission to the California Science Center is free, but reservations for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, including the shuttle, are encouraged. Visitors can make them on the center’s website or by calling (213) 744-2019. A private company can limit battlefield communications. A public museum, by contrast, has a different funding mix. The account places both questions together: who controls essential infrastructure, and on what terms people can use it? Advance reservations begin Oct. 21 at 9:30 a.m.