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.
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 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
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.
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 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
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!