SpaceX successfully launches four astronauts to ISS
Capitalism in space: SpaceX tonight successfully launched four astronauts to ISS on its Dragon capsule Resilience, using its Falcon 9 rocket.
They also recovered the first stage, landing it on its drone ship in the Atlantic. The routine manner in which SpaceX ran this launch is truly admirable. They make landing and reuse of the first stage so expected it is hard to believe that for fifty years rocket managers and engineers insisted it wasn’t doable.
They had one issue today, a failure of the capsule hatch to hold air pressure after closure. They calmly reopened the hatch, cleared the issue, added some lubricant, and closed the hatch, all in less than ten minutes.
Resilience will dock with ISS tomorrow evening.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race:
30 China
20 SpaceX
5 ULA
4 Europe (Arianespace)
4 Rocket Lab
The U.S. now leads China 32 to 30 in the national rankings.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX tonight successfully launched four astronauts to ISS on its Dragon capsule Resilience, using its Falcon 9 rocket.
They also recovered the first stage, landing it on its drone ship in the Atlantic. The routine manner in which SpaceX ran this launch is truly admirable. They make landing and reuse of the first stage so expected it is hard to believe that for fifty years rocket managers and engineers insisted it wasn’t doable.
They had one issue today, a failure of the capsule hatch to hold air pressure after closure. They calmly reopened the hatch, cleared the issue, added some lubricant, and closed the hatch, all in less than ten minutes.
Resilience will dock with ISS tomorrow evening.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race:
30 China
20 SpaceX
5 ULA
4 Europe (Arianespace)
4 Rocket Lab
The U.S. now leads China 32 to 30 in the national rankings.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
We’re definitely living in the Future….This never becomes not-amazing!
——-
-switching thought-tracts here;
A very nicely done piece of film–
“Riding the Booster: Up and Down in 400 seconds”
NASA 2012
https://youtu.be/527fb3-UZGo
8:31
-> “From launch to landing, a *space shuttle’s* solid rocket booster journey is captured, with sound mixed and enhanced by Skywalker Sound.”
Small point:
You wrote – “Resilience will dock with ISS tomorrow morning.”
Actually, it is a 27 hour trip to station.
“The four-person team is heading for a nearly six-month expedition on the space station, where the Dragon spaceship is due to dock at 11 p.m. EST Monday (0400 GMT Tuesday).” (spaceflightnow.com)
With NASA a loss of excitement and dread lead to routine and loss of funding.
With Elon a loss of disaster fans and dread leads to greater profitability.
Jeff: You are correct. I got my am and pm switched. Post is corrected. Thank you.
wayne noted: “We’re definitely living in the Future….This never becomes not-amazing!”
If Starship works as intended, we will be living even further into the future.
As Yakov Smirnoff would say: “What a country!”
David wrote: “With NASA a loss of excitement and dread lead to routine and loss of funding.
“With Elon a loss of disaster fans and dread leads to greater profitability.”
That is an important difference.
With NASA, funding from Congress is important, and that tends to require public interest.
With SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and other commercial companies, the funding comes from customers, and that tends to require lower prices.
These lower prices are allowing SpaceX and Rocket Lab to take a large portion of the market share of each of their niches, and Rocket Lab is helping to grow its own niche. Commercial companies with commercial customers do not need excitement, and they can afford to be routine. However, excitement seems to help.
As a bonus, the flying of members of the public, in the near future, can lead to public interest and excitement, which could add to the number of customers.