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I am now in the final week of my July fund-raising campaign for Behind the Black, celebrating its 14th anniversary. Thank you all, from the people who have donated small amounts to those who have given large sums. I cannot truly express how much your support means to me.

 

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 the past two weeks has the 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 refuses 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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SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites

More bunny action. SpaceX tonight successfully launched another 23 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The first stage completed its thirteenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Increasingly, SpaceX is treating its rockets and launchpads like the airlines treat their airplanes: They only have value if they are flying, and SpaceX is trying to keep both rockets and launchpads flying at all times.

The leaders in the 2024 launch race:

55 SpaceX
23 China
7 Russia
5 Rocket Lab

American private enterprise now leads the world combined in successful launches, 62 to 36, while SpaceX by itself leads the entire world, including other American companies, 55 to 43.

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. Or you can buy it directly from the author and get an autographed copy.

 
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

5 comments

  • Terry

    Would it be possible to see the per month totals for SpaceX so we can get a sense of launch cadence? This list is reminding me of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfes.

  • Terry: All you really have to do is divide the number of launches by the month to get a rough figure. At this moment this year SpaceX is exceeding 10 launches per month.

  • geoffc

    @Terry you can try NextSpaceFlight.com
    SpaceX link:
    https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/agency/upcoming/1/

    11 flights in May so far, 3 more scheduled. On track to 140+ at this pace.

    End of 5 months, and 54 flights (3 more to go, so assume 57 in 5 months is over 11/month)

  • Terry

    Geoffc, thanks for that link.

    Bob, doing that math is easy but it shows a back looking average. I’m interested in seeing how the SpaceX current and previous month launch totals are doing compared to the “12 per month” target. Seeing the “real time” cadence will help us better estimate the year-end totals for SpaceX.

    I have been using the “List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches” on Wikipedia, but of course that does not include any Starship launches.

  • Terry: One thing you can do is use BtB. Do a search of the words “launch” “race” “leaders”. That should get you every one of my launch posts. You can then quickly scan down them and get an idea of the monthly numbers.

Readers: the rules for commenting!

 

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