Russians successfully launch Progress to ISS
After a last minute scrub earlier this week, the Russians this morning successfully used their Soyuz rocket to launch a Progress freighter into orbit, bringing supplies to ISS.
It will take the freighter two days to rendezvous with ISS.
This launch extends the Russian leader over SpaceX for the most launches in 2017 to 17-15.
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After a last minute scrub earlier this week, the Russians this morning successfully used their Soyuz rocket to launch a Progress freighter into orbit, bringing supplies to ISS.
It will take the freighter two days to rendezvous with ISS.
This launch extends the Russian leader over SpaceX for the most launches in 2017 to 17-15.
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.
My guess is that Russia will end up with 19, and SpaceX, 18. (Each has four notional launches on the manifest for the remainder of 2017; fair guess is that Falcon Heavy and the two Rokot launches will slide to 1Q 2018).
But this is very likely the last year that Russia will end up ahead of SpaceX. How far the mighty have fallen.
Today the FCC approved licenses associated with a SpaceX launch from Florida, NET 10 November, with the booster returning to land, which does not align with any payloads on the manifest. There is a lot of guessing going on as to what it is. NSF thread: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43976.0
Robert,
It is kind of fun that you have created another space race, even if it is only we who read your site that watch it unfold. It looks like it could be a photo finish with a win by a nosecone.
Edward: Though I started noting the yearly launch race count in January and was among a few that were somewhat ahead of the curve, I’m not the only one now doing it. I think it is the normal consequence of healthy competition: People notice and get involved in the race. It is, as you say, fun!
A long time ago I wrote an essay for a small comic book fan publication about the importance of fun when we talk about space exploration. We don’t just do it because we learn something new or because it serves the particular interests of our nation. We do it because exploration is fun.
We must always remember the importance of fun in everything we do. It adds spark to the activity, and keeps us alive.
Ah, yes. That January 11 post is among my favorite posts. When people ask me how many launches there are each year, I tell them “a little under 100.” I had not realized, before this year, how far that had dropped for a while in the first decade of this century.
I agree that fun is important. Fun and enjoyment are what spice is for. (Spice in food, spice for life, etc.)