SpaceX launches another 60 Starlink satellites
Capitalism in space: SpaceX tonight successfully launched another 60 Starlink satellites using its Falcon 9 rocket.
The first stage completed its fifth flight, landing successfully on the drone ship in the Atlantic. Both fairings were also used.
The 2021 launch race:
4 SpaceX
2 China
1 Rocket Lab
1 Virgin Orbit
1 Russia
The U.S. now leads China 6 to 2 in the national rankings. SpaceX had planned another launch later this morning, but they have delayed that launch one day until tomorrow.
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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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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Capitalism in space: SpaceX tonight successfully launched another 60 Starlink satellites using its Falcon 9 rocket.
The first stage completed its fifth flight, landing successfully on the drone ship in the Atlantic. Both fairings were also used.
The 2021 launch race:
4 SpaceX
2 China
1 Rocket Lab
1 Virgin Orbit
1 Russia
The U.S. now leads China 6 to 2 in the national rankings. SpaceX had planned another launch later this morning, but they have delayed that launch one day until tomorrow.
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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Interestingly this was the Starlink-18 mission, which jumped ahead of Starlink-17 that has been delaying, one day at a time for over a week.
Also it was a 27 day reuse (jan 7th was last flight) so fastest turnaround (previous 38 days on a mission earlier in Jan, and before that 51 days) so far. And it is on a downward trend of time to refurb, which also means it is cheaper to refurb since one of the main cost drivers is man-hours.
geoffc—
great factoids!
Anyone done a back-o-the-envelope guesstimate on what the marginal cost to launch each starlink satellite, actually is?
Biden purposefully curtailing Musk and Spacex in order to give the Chinese an advantage?
” It is unlikely that the Biden administration seeks to continue that policy, as the Biden team attempts to stabilize deteriorating relations with Beijing over the next few years.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/feb/3/biden-cancels-elon-musks-adventures-in-space/
Nah, Joe Biden would never do something to give the Chinese an advantage over America regarding space. Silly.
I wonder if “The smartest guy”, Joe knows, his son Hunter, is advising him on China? Nah, again, silly.
SpaceX has become a space superpower all unto itself.
Elon needs to learn how to offer a bribe to the Bidens… offer to let Joe be ceremonial valet parking attendant on OCISLY, and Hunter can do the honors on JRTI.
Pretty soon, Elon’s walking into the Oval Office saying “Those drapes have GOT to go!!”