Two launches last night, by China and Rocket Lab
The high pace of rocket launches this year continued last night, but in a rare exception this time it had nothing to do with SpaceX.
First, the Chinese pseudo-company Landspace successfully placed six radar satellites into orbit, its upgraded version of its Zhuque-2 rocket lifting off from the Jiuquan spaceport in China’s northwest.
No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China. Unlike its larger Zhuque-3 rocket, which has not yet flown but is being designed as a copy of a Falcon 9 with its first stage able to return to Earth vertically, the Zhuque-2 has no such ability.
Next, Rocket Lab successfully placed a commercial radar satellite into orbit, its Electron rocket lifting off from one of the company’s two launchpads in New Zealand. This launch was the third by Rocket Lab for the satellite company iQPS, and is the second in an eight-satellite launch contract with the company.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
59 SpaceX
27 China
6 Rocket Lab
5 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 59 to 45.
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The high pace of rocket launches this year continued last night, but in a rare exception this time it had nothing to do with SpaceX.
First, the Chinese pseudo-company Landspace successfully placed six radar satellites into orbit, its upgraded version of its Zhuque-2 rocket lifting off from the Jiuquan spaceport in China’s northwest.
No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China. Unlike its larger Zhuque-3 rocket, which has not yet flown but is being designed as a copy of a Falcon 9 with its first stage able to return to Earth vertically, the Zhuque-2 has no such ability.
Next, Rocket Lab successfully placed a commercial radar satellite into orbit, its Electron rocket lifting off from one of the company’s two launchpads in New Zealand. This launch was the third by Rocket Lab for the satellite company iQPS, and is the second in an eight-satellite launch contract with the company.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
59 SpaceX
27 China
6 Rocket Lab
5 Russia
SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 59 to 45.
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.
Site:
https://i-qps.net/project/#report
IPQS has purchased launches from quite a variety of companies before settling on Rocket Lab.
1) PSLV
2) Falcon 9
3) & 4) Epsilon Rocket No. 6 (Japan)
5) Rocket Lab
6) Falcon 9
7) SpaceX Bandwagon (ride share)
8) SpaceX Transporter-11 (ride share)
9) Rocket Lab
10) Rocket Lab
Site:
https://i-qps.net/project/#report
IPQS has purchased launches from quite a variety of companies before settling on Rocket Lab.
1) PSLV
2) Falcon 9
3) & 4) Epsilon Rocket No. 6 (Japan)
5) Rocket Lab
6) Falcon 9
7) SpaceX Bandwagon (ride share)
8) SpaceX Transporter-11 (ride share)
9) Rocket Lab
10) Rocket Lab
Willi Kusche: That’s a very revealing chronology. It shows how India and Japan started off as competitors, but have fallen away to SpaceX and Rocket Lab, with Rocket Lab eventually winning out because its Electron can place IPQS’s satellites in their correct orbit, as primary payload.
Or to put it more bluntly, American enterprise wins again.