SpaceX launches another 60 Starlink satellites
Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched another 60 Starlink satellites, raising the constellation to more than 800 satellites.
The first stage successfully landed, for the sixth time, on a drone ship. The company also recovered both fairings, which were making their third flight. With one fairing’s recovery however the net broke on the ship, which might have damaged it this time.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race:
26 China
17 SpaceX
11 Russia
4 ULA
4 Europe (Arianespace)
The U.S. had regained the lead over China, 27 to 26, in the national rankings.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched another 60 Starlink satellites, raising the constellation to more than 800 satellites.
The first stage successfully landed, for the sixth time, on a drone ship. The company also recovered both fairings, which were making their third flight. With one fairing’s recovery however the net broke on the ship, which might have damaged it this time.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race:
26 China
17 SpaceX
11 Russia
4 ULA
4 Europe (Arianespace)
The U.S. had regained the lead over China, 27 to 26, in the national rankings.
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.
I still find it stunning…. Bob, I recall for the longest time on The Space Show, You commenting that commercial space was in “a holding pattern”….
17 private orbital launches in 10 months … I guess that pattern is almost broken…. We just need the competition to step up a little.
Lee Stevenson: In December SpaceX had predicted they would complete 21 launches in ’20. Right now they are right on course to do so, despite the Wuhan panic.
Bob Zubrin had Musk on the Mars Society Virtual conference this past Friday, and Musk was saying you need a real goal, in order to innovate. He said, we could have just aimed to beat Boeing and LockMart, and Zubrin jumped in, to say “You did beat them”. Was a great line.
Hi Bob,
By my count, this launch made 18 total Falcon 9 launches for 2020 to date. Which would tie their second best year so far (2017).
Their best year was 2018 with 21 launches. SpaceX has 12 more launches on the manifest for the remainder of 2020 . . . while we can be pretty sure that some will get pushed into the new year, it seems almost certain they’ll blow past 21 launches this year when it’s all said and done. Amazing to see how routine and frequent they’ve made it.
geoffc,
“Zubrin jumped in, to say “You did beat them”. Was a great line.”
I laughed out loud when Zubrin said that.
Richard M: You are apparently counting SpaceX’s launch abort test of Dragon early in the year. I only count launches that put payloads in orbit.
Hi Bob –
Ah. Ok, that makes sense. 17 it is!