SpaceX and China complete launches
Both SpaceX and China completed launches in the past 12 hours. First, SpaceX last night launched a package of National Reconnaissance Office reconnaissance satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its eighth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The two fairings completed their seventh and thirteenth flights respectively.
Then, early today China launched a new communications satellite, its new Long March 7A rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport. Video of the liftoff can be seen here.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
69 SpaceX
29 China
8 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads the world combined in successful launches, 80 to 43, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 69 to 54.
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Both SpaceX and China completed launches in the past 12 hours. First, SpaceX last night launched a package of National Reconnaissance Office reconnaissance satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its eighth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The two fairings completed their seventh and thirteenth flights respectively.
Then, early today China launched a new communications satellite, its new Long March 7A rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport. Video of the liftoff can be seen here.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
69 SpaceX
29 China
8 Russia
8 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise still leads the world combined in successful launches, 80 to 43, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including other American companies, 69 to 54.
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.
SpaceX has already surpassed its 2022 launch total (61), and it is . . . not even July yet.
The juggernaut has truly arrived.
Since this is SpaceX’s last launch in June, the first half of the year has been at a rate that would give 138 launches by the end of the year, 134 of which would be falcons. This is close to the planned number of launches, and because SpaceX has been successful at still increasing its launch cadence, I think it is reasonable to expect them to succeed in their goal of 144 Falcons, but whether they can perform four more Starship tests by year’s end is questionable, but perhaps not impossible.
They need to launch falcons at a rate of three per week for the rest of the year, and Starship tests at a rate of one every 6½ weeks.
Jan……10
Feb…….9
Mar…..13 (1 was IFT-3 of Starship/Super Heavy)
Apr…..12
May….13
June…12 (1 was IFT-4 of Starship/Super Heavy, 1 was Falcon Heavy)
Terry: Thank you for tracking the monthly pace. Are you getting the counts here by searching, as I suggested?
Does it count as a launch if wasn’t supposed to be? Just wow. https://spacenews.com/chinese-rocket-static-fire-test-results-in-unintended-launch-and-huge-explosion/
David,
Thank you for that link and the other videos. I saw a video at another site, not as good as the one you posted. That was China’s test of the reusable Tian’ong-3 rocket. Here it
is.
David Eastman: Wow!
I am getting the monthly SpaceX launches by using https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches#2024
Of course I then need to manually add in any Starship/Super Heavy flights.
I note that SpaceX has maintained a launch rate of at least 12 per month for four straight months.
A happy tune
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9A8DU_LBP3s&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fforum.nasaspaceflight.com%2F&source_ve_path=OTY3MTQ&feature=emb_imp_woyt
From Terry’s count (thank you for doing that work):
The Falcons:
Jan: 10 in 4½ weeks = 2.3 per week
Feb: 9 in 4 weeks = 2.2 per week
Mar: 12 in 4½ weeks = 2.7 per week
Apr: 12 in 4¼ weeks = 2.8 per week
May: 13 in 4½ weeks = 2.9 per week
Jun: 11 in 4¼ weeks = 2.6 Falcons per week
Starship:
IFT-1, readiness: 8 months, license: 15 additional months
IFT-2, readiness: 5 months, license: 2 additional months
IFT-3, readiness: 3 months, license: 1 additional month (March 14)
IFT-4, readiness: 11 weeks, license: 1 additional week (June 6)
IFT-5, readiness could be 7 weeks, license could already exist (except the license specifies IFT4’s expended hardware)