Russia launches Progress freighter to ISS
Russia today successfully launched a new Progress freighter to ISS using its Soyuz-2 rocket, bring almost three tons of supplies to the station..
The 2021 launch race:
4 SpaceX
3 China
2 Russia
1 Rocket Lab
1 Virgin Orbit
The U.S. still leads China 6 to 3 in the national rankings. That lead should widen this week with three American launches scheduled, two Starlink launches from SpaceX and one Cygnus freighter from Northrop Grumman.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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Russia today successfully launched a new Progress freighter to ISS using its Soyuz-2 rocket, bring almost three tons of supplies to the station..
The 2021 launch race:
4 SpaceX
3 China
2 Russia
1 Rocket Lab
1 Virgin Orbit
The U.S. still leads China 6 to 3 in the national rankings. That lead should widen this week with three American launches scheduled, two Starlink launches from SpaceX and one Cygnus freighter from Northrop Grumman.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
I’ll try to keep track of capacity per country launched during 2021. I’ll note capacity due to launcher failures too (with a minus instead of a plus sign, not affecting national total launch success).
As according to Wikipedia max capacity to LEO per rocket type (however LEO is defined, could be a short lived 200 km altitude, less than half the altitude of the ISS that needs yearly boosting to survive atmospheric drag). This simple method at least compares how much they COULD HAVE put in LEO (however it is defined, at lest one could adjust these numbers afterwards if someone knows a fair way to do that) And I of course use metric units, no body parts whether short nor long.
Until and including February 15th 2021:
WORLD 134,440 kg
USA 92,000 kg 68%
CHINA 27,200 kg 20%
RUSSIA 15,220 kg 11%
USA 92,000 kg
SpaceX (91,200 kg)
+ 4 of Falcon 9 Block 5 = 22,800 kg each
Rocket Lab (300 kg)
+ 1 of Electron = 300 kg each
Virgin Galactic (500 kg)
+ 1 LauncherOne = 500 kg as to SSO230km each
CHINA 27,200 kg
+ 2 of Long March 3B/E = 11,500 kg each
+ 1 of Long March 4C = 4,200 kg each
– 1 Hyperbola 1 = 300 kg LAUNCH FAILURE
RUSSIA 15,220 kg
+ 1 of Soyuz 2.1a = 7,020 kg each
+ 1 of Soyuz 2.1b = 8,200 kg each
Wikipedia’s list of launches in 2021:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight_launches_in_January%E2%80%93June_2021
LocalFluff: Thank you for this additional parameter. If you can add it to each of my launch race posts both I and my readers will be very grateful.
Small sat launchers represent 0.6% of world total mass capacity to LEO.
Yes, I intend to update it for precisely that purpose. Exclusively for your blog :-) Although I might miss a few of your updates.
Please come with feedback for improvements! I’ll add number of first stages reused and pro forma tonnage for that. Since it is different for reused and expended F9s and I will gladly make reasonable adjustments from the simple Wikipedia numbers for LEO capacity that I start out with now.