Comments on: SpaceX launches three payloads

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 06:21:48 +0000

There is one baptism of fire SpaceX perhaps hasn’t endured—the lightning strike:

R-7, perhaps the most rugged LV extant
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-jQVsI7erv8&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fup-ship.com%2F

Falcon itself came close:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixk6berYZUM

SLS facility too
https://phys.org/news/2022-08-nasa-moon-rocket-track-lightning.html

Saturn V still the champ
https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/ap12fj/a12-lightningstrike.html

Has any Falcon been directly hit?

By: Dick Eagleson

Dick Eagleson — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 22:38:39 +0000

Richard M,

Easy enough to do. And SpaceX is just going to keep making it easier and easier.

By: Richard M

Richard M — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 16:38:03 +0000

Hi Dick,

Belatedly, I realized that I put that comment on the wrong thread! Mea culpa.

By: Dick Eagleson

Dick Eagleson — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 00:34:33 +0000

Robert Zimmerman,

The primary payload wasn’t commercial, it was a classified satellite for the South Korean military. That’s why the launch webcast featured no video of the fairing separation or the payload deployments – just as on all those NROL missions SpaceX flies.

Richard M,

That record-breaking Dragon launch was F9’s previous launch, not this one. They come so quickly anymore that I know it’s hard to keep track. Five more scheduled in the next 7 days. If SpaceX manages that, it will make 15 for April, 51 for the YTD and an annualized rate of 153 – almost back to the annualized rate of 156 it had going in January when there were 13 launches. If SpaceX can maintain, or even modestly improve, its recent pace for the rest of the year, it could finish with a total in the lower 170s. We’ll see.

Jeff Wright,

It’s impressive that anyone can get three articles out of the development of a standard payload adapter, but I’m not getting any younger and I just couldn’t see spending the time needed to read those. Much better to come here and comment – though I also do so over at The Space Review when the subject interests me sufficiently.

By: mkent

mkent — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 23:36:30 +0000

”The rocket’s primary payload was a commercial satellite for a South Korean company.”

It was a military reconnaissance satellite for the Korean military.

By: Jeff Wright

Jeff Wright — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 21:06:44 +0000

The Space Review had a multi-part article on EELVs–the latest a history of ride-share adapter.

Not much on the rockets themselves

By: Richard M

Richard M — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:41:46 +0000

Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s Vice President of Launch, notes that this launch smashed an important SpaceX record:

“Congrats to the @SpaceX Dragon team on the third Dragon launch in 38 days!!! This smashes the previous record of three launches in 56 days last year. It’s not daily human flights, but at least we’re headed the right direction 😜🚀”

https://x.com/TurkeyBeaver/status/1914326450150269322

(Great photo of the Fram2 Dragon splashdown attached to that.)

SpaceX just keeps amazing us.