Elon Musk's SpaceX program plans to break another important barrier in private space flight Tuesday with the re-launch of a previously-used Block 5 booster just three months after its initial flight. In conjunction with the re-launch, SpaceX announced plans to shorten re-launch times for the Block 5 booster to less than 24 hours by 2019, which would further solidify SpaceX's dominance of the private space flight market? Private space flight companies have been involved in a technological arms race for years on a number of different fronts. One of the most important fronts is the development of an inexpensive reusable rocket booster system that can be used to launch satelites and manned craft into space.

This weekend, SpaceX began what is slated to be its busiest week ever by successfully launching its largest payload to date: a communications satellite dubbed TelStar 19V. Perched atop the company's Cape Canaveral launch pad, a shiny new Falcon 9 rocket roared to life at 1:50 am Eastern on Sunday morning, lighting up the predawn sky. It was the 13th launch so far this year for SpaceX--and, notably, the first of three Falcon 9 Block 5 booster launches scheduled for the next 12 days. SpaceX equipped the Block 5 booster--known internally as B1047--with several upgrades designed to make it more capable than its predecessor, the Block 4. They include improved engines, a more durable interstage, titanium grid fins, and a new thermal protection system. Together they help the rocket pack a bigger punch, more safely, more often: On Sunday, the Block 5 not only delivered its hefty payload to orbit, it also landed aboard an autonomous drone ship waiting out in the Atlantic.

Early Friday morning, SpaceX will launch its 15th cargo mission to the International Space Station for NASA, sending up nearly 6,000 pounds of supplies on top of its Falcon 9 rocket. On board the vehicle are shipments of food and water for the six astronauts living on the ISS, as well as new science experiments and technologies to be tested out in microgravity. And within that haul includes the first ever AI robot "crew member" to live on the station. The robot's name is CIMON -- for Crew Interactive Mobile Companion -- and it looks a bit like a volleyball with a computer screen on one side. The screen displays a simplified cartoon face that the bot will use to interact with the humans on the ISS.

SpaceX marked the end of an era this morning as the last of its old-generation Falcon 9 rockets blasted beyond orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On board was a ball-shaped artificial intelligence robot nicknamed the'flying brain', which is designed to fly around the International Space Station and interact with a German astronaut. The rocket's Dragon cargo ship is also carrying an experiment to measure plant stress in space and a study of a new cancer treatment. It is expected to dock with the International Space Station next week. The launch formally ended the reign of the Falcon 9 Block 4 rocket as SpaceX makes way for its next-generation Block 5 boosters, which the company hopes to launch and re-use up to 100 times before they need replacing.