SpaceX launches 25 more Starlink satellites
SpaceX this morning successfully placed another 25 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The first stage completed its sixth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The 2026 launch race:
10 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
SpaceX this morning successfully placed another 25 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The first stage completed its sixth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The 2026 launch race:
10 SpaceX
5 China
1 Rocket Lab
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News


If you didn’t notice, a couple of items for thought.
One, a fairing half had a number of hexagonal tiles, looking remarkably like Starship tiles, mounted on it. Will be interesting to see if we hear anything about this (or future) test. Not sure what data they get from a fairing reentry, velocities are much lower compared to Starship.
Two, the launch azimuth today was ~97.3°, which corresponds with a Sun-synchronous orbit at 470 km. Not their usual path. SECO velocity was correspondingly higher.
And a final note: We never saw the actual payload. Hmm? Was it REALLY 25 Starlinks? Curious observers will want to look to the skies at local sunset/sunrise. Should be easy to spot!
SpaceX, always throwing in little wrinkles when you least expect it.
Chuck,
There are things about TPS tile aerodynamics other than raw resistance to heat to be learned. SpaceX has taken advantage of Falcon 9 missions before to enhance its knowledge and may well do so again.
With all of the skilled sky-watchers out there – both professional and amateur – there would seem little point in attempted deception about either the nature or number of the payloads launched. The fact that the last two Starlink launches have been to this high inclination probably just indicates that SpaceX is now getting around to filling out the fraction of its constellation that can provide service in polar latitudes.
Providing more coverage for direct-to-cell service at low bandwidth might be the motivator here. It might also be that SpaceX anticipates more US War Department business at such latitudes given recent developments anent Greenland.