SpaceX

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he and Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk have discussed potential joint space projects, recalling the two had already partnered in launching Turkey's Türksat 5A communication satellite in early January.

Musk’s SpaceX delivered a Turkish communications satellite, Turksat 5A, to orbit on Jan. 8

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk in a phone conversation discussed cooperation in various fields, according to Turkey's Communications Directorate on Jan. 27. 

Space technologies was the main topic of discussion on the fields of cooperation between Turkey's public and private sectors and Musk's company, the directorate said.

The Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder's net worth was recorded at 8.5bn (£138.9bn) in New York on Thursday.

That was around .5bn more than Amazon Inc founder Mr Bezos, who has held the top spot since October 2017.

Mr Musk's increased wealth came as a result of a bounce in Tesla's share price.

Elon Musk, the outspoken and envelope-pushing founder and CEO of Tesla, overtook Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to become the world's wealthiest person, U.S. media reported on Jan. 7.

Musk is a major shareholder of the electric car company and has benefited from Tesla's surging share price over the last year. CNBC estimated his wealth at $185 billion.

SpaceX launched a Turkish communications satellite into orbit late on Jan. 7. 

The technology company's Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the U.S. state of Florida, carrying the Turksat 5A satellite.

Turkey plans to launch a communication satellite on the night between Monday and Tuesday next week, the country's transport and infrastructure minister announced on Dec. 30. 

Following the Turksat 5A satellite, the country will also launch another communication satellite, the Turksat 5B, in June, Adil Karaismailoğlu announced in Turkey's Black Sea province Ordu.

A new Chinese carrier rocket made its first flight on Tuesday under a long-term plan to develop reusable launch vehicles aimed at reducing mission costs and speed up launch schedules for commercial clients.

The medium-lift Long March 8 Y-1 blasted off at 12:37 p.m. (0437 GMT) from the southern Chinese island of Hainan carrying five satellites, state media reported.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk has launched the latest prototype of his Starship vehicle from Texas.

Codenamed SN8, the unmanned rocket lifted away from the Boca Chica R&D facility on what had been billed as a brief flight to 12.5km.

The 50m-tall vehicle crashed on touchdown but Mr Musk was delighted with how much the test outing achieved.

SpaceX's Starship prototype exploded while attempting to land on Dec. 9 after an otherwise successful test launch from the company's rocket facility in Boca Chica, Texas, live video of the flight showed.