Rocket Lab launches seven satellites; recovers first stage from ocean
Rocket Lab today successfully used its Electron rocket to place seven smallsats into orbit, lifting off from New Zealand.
The first stage used parachutes to softly splash down in the ocean, where it was recovered for refurbishment and relaunch. As this stage is the first in which this full reuse will be attempted, the ability to refurbish the stage after its salt water swim remains the critical factor. We will not know its state until a complete inspection plus static fire engine tests are completed.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
47 SpaceX
26 China
9 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 India
American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 54 to 26, and the entire world combined 54 to 45, while SpaceX alone still leads the rest of the world (excluding other American companies) 47 to 45.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Rocket Lab today successfully used its Electron rocket to place seven smallsats into orbit, lifting off from New Zealand.
The first stage used parachutes to softly splash down in the ocean, where it was recovered for refurbishment and relaunch. As this stage is the first in which this full reuse will be attempted, the ability to refurbish the stage after its salt water swim remains the critical factor. We will not know its state until a complete inspection plus static fire engine tests are completed.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
47 SpaceX
26 China
9 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
5 India
American private enterprise now leads China in successful launches 54 to 26, and the entire world combined 54 to 45, while SpaceX alone still leads the rest of the world (excluding other American companies) 47 to 45.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
OT: I had never considered that there are standalone planets out in distant space. https://youtu.be/r5gbVonx37Q
The video says the Roman space telescope will launch in a few years and will detect more exoplanets. Would be fascinating to find out there are planets closer to our solar system than the nearest stars.
ULA still has not made the leaderboard. Wow. Half a year and a single launch. Man that assured access money is totally worth it.
”ULA still has not made the leaderboard. Wow. Half a year and a single launch.”
What payloads are sitting on the ground waiting for ULA? None. The delays are due to lack of payloads, not rockets.
”Man that assured access money is totally worth it.
ULA hasn’t gotten “assured access” money in years, but this hiatus shows why it was needed. ULA has rockets stacked up like cordwood but is waiting for payloads delayed for years by the government. That’s expensive, and the government has to pay for that.
ULA hasn’t gotten “assured access” money in years, but this hiatus shows why it was needed.
ULA during the Gass years made a decision to concentrate its business on government payloads. SpaceX did not. You see the results.
(But for the record, SpaceX has still somehow managed to launch 7 payloads for the U.S. government, not counting rideshare cube/small sats.)
“What payloads are sitting on the ground waiting for ULA? None. The delays are due to lack of payloads, not rockets.”
See Quick Space Links today:
“Apparently the customer, Amazon, could no longer tolerate the delays with Vulcan. It has to launch soon, because its license requires it to place a minimum of 1,600 satellites in orbit by 2026. Amazon also probably wanted off that first Vulcan launch because of the risks. Better to launch on the established and very reliable Atlas-5.”
Atlas V is a good rocket…but those RD-180s are running out, no?