SpaceX launches 59 smallsats and tugs into orbit
Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched 59 smallsats and orbital tugs using its Falcon 9 rocket.
The first stage successfully completed its eighth flight, landing at Cape Canaveral. As I write this the upper stage is in the several hour-plus process of deploying the payloads.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
22 SpaceX
16 China
7 Russia
3 Rocket Lab
3 ULA
American private enterprise now leads China 31 to 16 in the national rankings, and the entire rest of the world combined 31 to 26.
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:
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched 59 smallsats and orbital tugs using its Falcon 9 rocket.
The first stage successfully completed its eighth flight, landing at Cape Canaveral. As I write this the upper stage is in the several hour-plus process of deploying the payloads.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
22 SpaceX
16 China
7 Russia
3 Rocket Lab
3 ULA
American private enterprise now leads China 31 to 16 in the national rankings, and the entire rest of the world combined 31 to 26.
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.
Well, after waiting over a year I have decided to cancel my reservations for StarLink. If I had an RV, I could sign up today and get it delivered in a week. But since I am a homeowner, no such luck. But maybe it has something to do with the fact that they charge a lot more for RV’s? Who knows. I really did not have a dire need for this as I have comcast which has been delivering me internet with blazing speeds for much less than what Starlink would charge me. I wanted this mostly because I hate comcast. I have been forced to use them most of my life. When everything worked, everything was great, but when you had a problem and you needed service, it was just like taking two red hot butter knives and sticking them into your eyes.
Fortunately I have not had little issues with them in the past few years and my feelings have softened.
Good luck Elon, and for those of you in the boondocks, this will be a great service for you. But I guess not for me.
Hi Bob,
Can you expand on the “tugs” part of this story?
Chris: Do a search on BtB for “tugs” and “orbital.”