SpaceX launches 60 more Starlink satellites; China launches Tianhe station module
Twas a busy evening. SpaceX successfully put 60 more Starlink satellites into orbit using its Falcon 9 rocket, with the first stage successfully completing its seventh flight, landing safely on the drone ship in the Atlantic.
China in turn successfully used its Long March 5B rocket to place in orbit the core module, dubbed Tianhe, of its planned space station. This is the first of eleven launches in the next two years to assemble the station’s initial configuration, including cargo and manned missions along the way.
The SpaceX live stream is at the link. I have embedded China’s English language live stream of the Tianhe launch below the fold. The launch is about 52 minutes in.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
12 SpaceX
10 China
7 Russia
2 Rocket Lab
The U.S. still leads China 17 to 10 in the national rankings.
Readers!
My July fund-raising campaign for 2021 has now ended. Thank you all for your donations and subscriptions. While this year’s campaign was not as spectacular as last year’s, it was the second best July campaign since I began this website.
And if you have not yet donated or subscribed, and you think what I write here is worth your support, you can still do so. I depend on this support to remain independent and free to write what I believe, without any pressure from others. Nor do I accept advertisements, or use oppressive social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
If you choose to help, you can contribute via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Twas a busy evening. SpaceX successfully put 60 more Starlink satellites into orbit using its Falcon 9 rocket, with the first stage successfully completing its seventh flight, landing safely on the drone ship in the Atlantic.
China in turn successfully used its Long March 5B rocket to place in orbit the core module, dubbed Tianhe, of its planned space station. This is the first of eleven launches in the next two years to assemble the station’s initial configuration, including cargo and manned missions along the way.
The SpaceX live stream is at the link. I have embedded China’s English language live stream of the Tianhe launch below the fold. The launch is about 52 minutes in.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
12 SpaceX
10 China
7 Russia
2 Rocket Lab
The U.S. still leads China 17 to 10 in the national rankings.
My July fund-raising campaign for 2021 has now ended. Thank you all for your donations and subscriptions. While this year’s campaign was not as spectacular as last year’s, it was the second best July campaign since I began this website.
And if you have not yet donated or subscribed, and you think what I write here is worth your support, you can still do so. I depend on this support to remain independent and free to write what I believe, without any pressure from others. Nor do I accept advertisements, or use oppressive social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
If you choose to help, you can contribute via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Shaping up to be a very busy year in launches. One day, we will cross the 100 flights per year and stay there.
Looking at Tianhe, it looks more like Mir and Zvezda than the Tiangong modules launched in the past. I was surprised to see a diagram published about the craft, normally China does not show such detail on diagrams, along with details on photographs that are photoshopped out, like for example the first Shenzhou vehicles.
DOS core block copy-so no big secret. LM-9 is what I want to see.
Caught up on the John Batchelor show 4/24 podcast and the episode is titled “PRC copies the Soviet Mir Space Station”!
Maybe Russia should just pay China for a copy to replace Zvezda!
Meanwhile that Long March 5B appears to be headed for an “uncontrolled” re-entry.
https://spacenews.com/huge-rocket-looks-set-for-uncontrolled-reentry-following-chinese-space-station-launch/
Gary: Thank you. I would have seen this tomorrow but your tip meant I got it up tonight.
Jay, well China did actually build a second one as backup, with no currently announced mission. It’ll be interesting to see what they end up doing with it. Lunar orbit? See below:
https://mobile.twitter.com/shuttlealmanac/status/1164511704752877574