China launches three radar satellites
China today successfully launched three radar satellites, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from Taiyuan spaceport in northeast China.
The news report from China’s English state-run press made believe this launch was only one satellite, in contrast to its Chinese language press. It also did not provide information on where the rocket’s first stage crashed within China, nor whether any upgrades have been done to the Long March 6’s upper stage to prevent it from breaking apart and scattering low Earth orbit with space junk, as has now happened four times previously.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
102 SpaceX
48 China
11 Russia
11 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 119 to 71, while SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world, including American companies, 102 to 88.
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China today successfully launched three radar satellites, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from Taiyuan spaceport in northeast China.
The news report from China’s English state-run press made believe this launch was only one satellite, in contrast to its Chinese language press. It also did not provide information on where the rocket’s first stage crashed within China, nor whether any upgrades have been done to the Long March 6’s upper stage to prevent it from breaking apart and scattering low Earth orbit with space junk, as has now happened four times previously.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
102 SpaceX
48 China
11 Russia
11 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 119 to 71, while SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world, including American companies, 102 to 88.
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.
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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. 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.
It depends on how you count these things, of course (e.g., do Starship test flights 3, 4 and 5 count as “orbital”), but NSF offers a note about the Thursday Falcon 9 launch for NRO as a big milestone:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/10/launch-roundup-102124/
Richard M,
I would count the three most recent Starship IFT flights as orbital. All had Starships reaching orbital velocity, but in orbits whose perigees were below the Karman Line.
Dick Eagleson: I also count the last three Starship test flights as orbital, and thus add them to SpaceX’s launch total this year. As you say, they successfully reached orbital velocity.