China launches two GPS-type satellites
China today successfully placed two more of its BeiDou GPS-type satellites into orbit, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in the southwest of China.
This footage shows that the rocket’s core stage crashed near homes in China. No word on where the four strap-on boosters and second stage crashed. All use very toxic hypergolic fuels.
This launch continues China’s annual rush of launches at the end of the year. Since everything is owned and run by the Chinese government, one wonders if this pattern is because of the typical government mentality that requires agencies to rush to spend a lot at the end of each year so as to make sure their budgets are not cut.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
94 SpaceX
64 China
18 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
7 India
American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 108 to 64, and the entire world combined 108 to 100. SpaceX in turn trails the rest of the world (excluding other American companies) 94 to 100.
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:
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China today successfully placed two more of its BeiDou GPS-type satellites into orbit, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in the southwest of China.
This footage shows that the rocket’s core stage crashed near homes in China. No word on where the four strap-on boosters and second stage crashed. All use very toxic hypergolic fuels.
This launch continues China’s annual rush of launches at the end of the year. Since everything is owned and run by the Chinese government, one wonders if this pattern is because of the typical government mentality that requires agencies to rush to spend a lot at the end of each year so as to make sure their budgets are not cut.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
94 SpaceX
64 China
18 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
7 India
American private enterprise still leads China in successful launches 108 to 64, and the entire world combined 108 to 100. SpaceX in turn trails the rest of the world (excluding other American companies) 94 to 100.
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.
Here’s footage of that Long March 3B rocket taking off – together with video of a (that same?) 3B core stage crashing to the ground in Guangxi.
Michael McNeil: I have updated the post to include this footage and information. Thank you!