China launches six technology test satellites
China today successfully placed a set of six technology test satellites into orbit, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in northeast China.
No word on where the rocket’s lower stages and four strap-on boosters crashed inside China. Furthermore, the upper stage of the Long March 6 rocket, which reaches orbit, has a history of breaking up and creating clouds of space junk. We have no assurance from China whether they have fixed this issue.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
43 SpaceX
20 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 43 to 35. (Note: this last number is corrected from the previous update, which was one number short.)
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China today successfully placed a set of six technology test satellites into orbit, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in northeast China.
No word on where the rocket’s lower stages and four strap-on boosters crashed inside China. Furthermore, the upper stage of the Long March 6 rocket, which reaches orbit, has a history of breaking up and creating clouds of space junk. We have no assurance from China whether they have fixed this issue.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
43 SpaceX
20 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 43 to 35. (Note: this last number is corrected from the previous update, which was one number short.)
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
“State Department Says Chinese Satellite Company Supporting Houthi Attacks on US Interests”
“(The Epoch Times)—The U.S. State Department has dismissed communist China’s self-proclaimed role as a ‘global peacemaker,’ saying that a Beijing-supported Chinese satellite company has directly supported the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group’s attacks on U.S. interests.”
“At a regular news briefing on April 17, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce confirmed that Chang Guang Satellite Technology ‘is directly supporting’ the Houthis and called such action ‘unacceptable.'”
“‘Considering the prominence given to the CCP and the central role of the Party Committee on the company’s Chinese-language website, it is notable that all mention of the CCP is conspicuously absent on the company’s English-language website, the report reads.”
https://basedunderground.com/2025/04/19/state-department-says-chinese-satellite-company-supporting-houthi-attacks-on-us-interests/
Count me as massively unsurprised.