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The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

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As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given 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.

 

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SpaceX launches another 49 Starlink satellites

Capitalism in space: SpaceX tonight used its Falcon 9 rocket to launch 49 Starlink satellites into orbit.

The first stage successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, completing its 10th flight. SpaceX now has three four first stages that have completed at least ten flights. (The correction comes from a comment by one of my readers below.)

The 2022 launch race:

3 SpaceX
1 Virgin Orbit
1 China

Genesis cover

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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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

7 comments

  • Alton

    Watching their launches in real time NEVER gets old……..
    Was there person in Dec 1972 for the last crewed Apollo moon launch.

  • geoffc

    Core 1051 – 11 flights
    Core 1049 – 10 flights
    Core 1058 – 10 flights
    Core 1060 – 10 flights

    So yes, 3 at 10, but also one at 11. So 4 at 10 or more flights.

    1061 trails at 5 flights, and 1062 at 4 flights.

  • geoffc

    Nice infographic of all the flightworthy cores…

    https://i.redd.it/2fkiiwfzknc81.png

    Packs a lot of data into a small space.

  • Richard M

    As Eric Berger noted, this was SpaceX’s eighth rocket launch in 50 days. That’s better than a launch a week.

    Pretty amazing cadence.

  • Geoffc: Nice graphic. Indicates that SpaceX now has a fleet of 18 reliable boosters, with a number unused but ready to go if needed, and all capable of launching hundreds of times. Essentially, the company no longer needs to spend much getting a Falcon 9 ready for launch, making those launches incredibly cheap when compared to past launch costs.

  • geoffc

    Alas, they still need to make a lot of second stages, but they are smaller and simpler than first stages. But a much smaller cost than a full booster that is discarded.

    Consider… They launched 32 times last year, so while they introduced only 1 or 2 new first stages, they built 32 second stages!

    And this year is looking like more! So the factory is not idle at all, which is also good for keeping costs manageable. (Building one core every 2 years (cough SLS cough) is a recipe for cost overruns).

  • Questioner

    “Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Causing More Streaks to Appear in Space Images”

    “Photo-bombing Starlink satellites are increasingly complicating ground-based observations”

    https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-s-starlink-is-causing-more-streaks-to-appear-1848385218

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

No registration is required. I welcome all opinions, even those that strongly criticize my commentary.

 

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