Russia launches another 36 OneWeb satellites
A Russian Soyuz-2 rocket today successfully launched 36 more OneWeb satellites, raising the total of the satellite constellation in orbit to 358.
The launch was from Russia’s new spaceport Vostochny. As with all launches from Russia, the expendable first stage core and strap-ons landed inside Russia within designated drop zones. And as usual, no word from Russia on whether they landed on anyone’s head.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
34 China
23 SpaceX
17 Russia
4 Northrop Grumman
The U.S. still leads China in the national rankings, 35 to 34. With launches scheduled by both countries (two by the U.S. and one by China) over the next three days, these numbers will continue upward.
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A Russian Soyuz-2 rocket today successfully launched 36 more OneWeb satellites, raising the total of the satellite constellation in orbit to 358.
The launch was from Russia’s new spaceport Vostochny. As with all launches from Russia, the expendable first stage core and strap-ons landed inside Russia within designated drop zones. And as usual, no word from Russia on whether they landed on anyone’s head.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
34 China
23 SpaceX
17 Russia
4 Northrop Grumman
The U.S. still leads China in the national rankings, 35 to 34. With launches scheduled by both countries (two by the U.S. and one by China) over the next three days, these numbers will continue upward.
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.
A few days ago Edward made a very good observation “This is the middle of the end of the Soviet space program. The beginning of the end came when it was nationalized (centralized) in 2013.”
And for those who didn’t see it, I’ll repeat my statement from Oct 11th that “there was the economic stagnations from 2013, after the oil-model was exhausted, where Putin’s Decrees and the 12 national projects were an attempt to create a new economic model driven by supply-side investment. The sector of the economy that is the economic and foreign policy backbone of the Putin regime is the Oil & Gas sector. And the company that Putin cares about the most about is Rosneft which is the Russian state-owned oil company.
Post COVID we are seeing Putin once again derive great benefit from Russian Oil & Gas which increases state revenues, and can be used by Russia as a carrot and stick to drive its foreign policy goals with Europe and Ukraine.
So I would contrast the Russian Oil & Gas giant Rosneft to Roscosmos, and do it from Putin’s perspective. It’s easy to see which one is more important to the Russian state, and which one you would invest in, and which one you would cut 16% from its budget.”
Modern Russia has been described as a gas station with an army
Col B. – that gave me chuckle.
While Russia may be a gas station with an army, and while most countries have an army, I am much more concerned about Pakistan where it has been said that the Army and its Security apparatus have a country.