SpaceX launches two more Galileo GPS-type satellites for Europe
SpaceX this afternoon successfully launched two Galileo GPS-type satellites for Europe, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.
The first stage completed its 22nd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The fairings flew their for their 3rd and 8th times respectively. The launch was the second launch by SpaceX for Europe’s Galileo constellation. The European Commission was forced to award this multi-launch contract to SpaceX because Europe’s Ariane-6 rocket was four years behind schedule and not available when needed.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
92 SpaceX
38 China
11 Russia
10 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 107 to 60, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including American companies, 92 to 75.
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SpaceX this afternoon successfully launched two Galileo GPS-type satellites for Europe, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.
The first stage completed its 22nd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The fairings flew their for their 3rd and 8th times respectively. The launch was the second launch by SpaceX for Europe’s Galileo constellation. The European Commission was forced to award this multi-launch contract to SpaceX because Europe’s Ariane-6 rocket was four years behind schedule and not available when needed.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
92 SpaceX
38 China
11 Russia
10 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 107 to 60, while SpaceX by itself still leads the entire world, including American companies, 92 to 75.
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.
Jan……10
Feb…….9
Mar…..13 (1 was IFT-3 of Starship/Super Heavy)
Apr…..12
May….13
June…12 (1 was IFT-4 of Starship/Super Heavy, 1 was Falcon Heavy)
July……5 (FAA stand down of two weeks)
Aug.…12
Sep…….6 (5 at mid-month)
134 (12 flights monthly for remaining 4 months)
138 (13 flights monthly for remaining 4 months)
142 (14 flights monthly for remaining 4 months)
I am now projecting the 2024 SpaceX flights to total in the low 130 range now that open lawfare has erupted between SpaceX and the FAA. I would love to be proven wrong on this
Terry,
Thank you for the numbers. It looks to me as though there were 48 Falcon 9 launches in the 122 days of March through June. This cadence could come to 143.6 launches in a 365 day year (144 for this year). Since the cadence has not been improving much this past half year, SpaceX may be finding its maximum rate that it can launch Falcon 9s.
If I add in the Falcon Heavy launches, then there were 50 launches in the 122 day period, suggesting that SpaceX has a capability to launch 150 times in a 366-day year. Plus Starship launches.
I remember that a dozen years ago SpaceX had done a test to see if it could turn around their launch pad in 24 hours. It was a dry run without a launch beforehand. I do not remember whether they gave a report on how successful they were, but they did get a Falcon vertical on the pad within 24 hours. That part is relatively easy, but there is a lot of other work that gets done to prepare for a launch.