SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites
The beat goes on: SpaceX early this morning launched another 22 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandeberg in California.
The first stage completed its 15th flight, landing successfully on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
85 SpaceX
52 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India
American private enterprise now leads China 97 to 52 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 97 to 81. SpaceX by itself is now leads the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 85 to 81.
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The beat goes on: SpaceX early this morning launched another 22 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandeberg in California.
The first stage completed its 15th flight, landing successfully on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2023 launch race:
85 SpaceX
52 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India
American private enterprise now leads China 97 to 52 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 97 to 81. SpaceX by itself is now leads the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 85 to 81.
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.
Matchbox is offering Dragon capsules, Falcon Heavy and Starship toys soon as part of the SKYBUSTERS range.
I see Estes is now selling a flyable Falcon 9 model too … though at $149, that would have been (even adjusted for inflation) pretty pricey for me back in my model-rocket days. An SLS model is also available,
(Now, if Mattel would bring back those Snake and Mongoose funny car replicas …)