Another successful Falcon 9 launch
The competition heats up: SpaceX has successfully completed its fifth Falcon 9 launch of the year, putting a Turkmenistan’s first communications satellite into orbit.
This was the 18th consecutive successful launch for the Falcon 9, and the 13th in a row for its upgraded design. Not bad for a company that did not even exist a little more than a decade ago.
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The competition heats up: SpaceX has successfully completed its fifth Falcon 9 launch of the year, putting a Turkmenistan’s first communications satellite into orbit.
This was the 18th consecutive successful launch for the Falcon 9, and the 13th in a row for its upgraded design. Not bad for a company that did not even exist a little more than a decade ago.
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.
when does the booster come down? Will this be an attempt at a launchpad return?
The booster came down immediately, mere minutes after launch, crashing in the ocean. Because this mission was to put a heavier communications satellite in high geosynchronous orbit (24,000 miles high), not low Earth orbit, they needed all the first stage fuel for doing that. No attempt was made to land the first stage.
Their next first stage landing attempt is likely to be in June, during the next Dragon launch.
With every successful launch their dependability and reliability reputation grows. The engineering is solid, costs are low, and the new ideas are fun to watch, but their business will grow because they can be depended on to deliver payloads into space on schedule. This is how its done.
I was fortunate enough to witness this launch, coinciding with my visit to KSC that Monday. I’ve been wanting to see such a thing since I was a little kid, and that’s sure taken care of! The following video was taken by someone nearby – it actually captures the sound of the launch rather well (especially if you crank the volume, lol).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM7G0fxLlPU
You were very close. When I saw the next to last shuttle launch, we were much farther away.
Looking at a map, it turns out I was further away from the filmer than I thought, with a 5.5-mile view at the Saturn-V exhibit. Still pretty awesome.
There’s a lot of interesting things going on at KSC. One of the mobile launch pads has a tall Saturn-V-style tower mounted for the SLS (and perhaps other rockets?). Pad 39B is almost completely cleared of structures, with construction ongoing. Pad 39A still has its tower, with some shuttle-specific gear still visible, but now has a large horizontal hangar being built by SpaceX for the Falcon Heavy. It’s surprisingly close by to the pad, just outside its perimeter fence.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/musematt11/17215140730/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/musematt11/16782449193/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacexphotos/16872836499/