SpaceX completes second launch today, placing another 21 Starlink satellite into orbit
SpaceX this afternoon completed its second launch today, its Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral and placing another 21 Starlink satellite into orbit.
The first stage completed its fourteenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. This launch followed the Falcon Heavy launch in the early morning hours from Cape Canaveral.
The leaders in 2023 launch race:
73 SpaceX
45 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India
American private enterprise now leads China in successfully launches 85 to 45, and the entire world combined 85 to 73. SpaceX by itself is now tied with the entire world combined (excluding American companies) 73 to 73.
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SpaceX this afternoon completed its second launch today, its Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral and placing another 21 Starlink satellite into orbit.
The first stage completed its fourteenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. This launch followed the Falcon Heavy launch in the early morning hours from Cape Canaveral.
The leaders in 2023 launch race:
73 SpaceX
45 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India
American private enterprise now leads China in successfully launches 85 to 45, and the entire world combined 85 to 73. SpaceX by itself is now tied with the entire world combined (excluding American companies) 73 to 73.
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.
The site for Project Kuiper (https://www.aboutamazon.com/what-we-do/devices-services/project-kuiper) claims 77 contracted launches with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and ULA. Given the current launch capability of these partners, curious if Musk X’d Bezos: “Got an F9 departing next Tuesday at 1900. Need a lift?’
Blair Ivey: It is those launch contracts that has caused some Amazon shareholders to sue the company, saying it chose badly by excluding SpaceX.
It would be mistake to rely on just SpaceX, but to not even consider it suggests the company’s board is not providing the shareholders full value on their shares.