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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.

 

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"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


SpaceX successfully completes two Starlink satellite launches today

SpaceX today successfully completed two Starlink satellite launches, first putting 21 satellites in orbit from Vandenberg in the early morning hours and then launching another 23 satellites from Cape Canaveral in the evening.

Both first stages successfully landed on their drone ships, respectively in the Pacific and Atlantic. The first completed its sixteenth flight, the second its fourth flight.

The leaders in 2023 launch race:

76 SpaceX
46 China
13 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China in successfully launches 88 to 46, and the entire world combined 88 to 74. SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world combined (excluding American companies) 76 to 74.

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12 comments

  • Jeff Wright

    From sea to shining sea….

  • Questioner

    All of these extremely numerous SpaceX launches will be useless if Starlink doesn’t end up making enough money. What do we know about the commercial success of this business idea?

  • Questioner: Your question strongly suggests you don’t come here to learn, but to troll. For five years I have been documenting the viable profitability of both SpaceX and Starlink, in great detail. I have also noted that my reporting is confirmed by the almost $11 billion the investment community has eagerly poured into SpaceX, in support not only of Starlink but of Starship/Superheavy.

    Moreover, I have also stated repeatedly for the past year that the company will fail, if the government doesn’t get out of the way. That failure however will not be because of its lack of “commercial success” but of pure abuse of power by government officials.

    That you act like you don’t know these facts either means you are fooling yourself, or come here solely to troll.

  • pzatchok

    https://www.satellitetoday.com/broadband/2023/09/25/starlink-surpasses-2-million-subscribers/

    If they charge a flat fee of 100 bucks a subscriber they are bring in 200 million a month.
    Less than they projected but still profitable for the equipment in use.
    I can see once the full constellation is on operation they would only have to make a launch a month for replacements.

  • With reference to government getting in the way of SpaceX, Tesla, and other Elon Musk enterprise, the answer is the same as the enforcers from the organized crime, support us (monetarily and politically) or suffer the consequences. if Elon would just join the power cabal, he could do whatever he wants. Use X/Twitter to censor truth and conservatism. Support the queering of America in his companies. And, hire all of the spies that the Powers of The Left want.

  • wayne

    pzatchok-
    ->cash-flow is even better than that; (at my address) standard residential service starts at $120/month.
    (they also have a high-end antenna (like’ $2,500, that goes with their other high-end services)

    https://www.starlink.com/service-plans

  • Richard M

    Starlink 6-24 also set a new mark for heaviest mass delivered to orbit by a Falcon 9. SpaceX keeps testing its limits.

  • DB

    In a rational – or even reactionary – world, Washington would look at the cloud of Starlink units and be begging for Starship to put up some Thor or casaba howitzer about now. Between Iran, Ukraine, Taiwan, and wherever is next.

  • Col Beausabre

    Fourteen to go, 9 weeks…..

  • Richard M Lender

    SpaceX has what looks like…22 Falcon 9/ Falcon Heavy launches still on the schedule for 2023? (Source: RocketLaunch.Live)

    Of course, there is no guarantee all 22 will launch this year.

    If you look at just the last 365 days (as of yesterday), SpaceX has launched 90 rockets in that timeframe, which is a record, of course.

    It’s just astonishing what they are achieving now. Never take it for granted!

  • pzatchok

    I bet Falcon 9/heavy is running at a profit now will soon pay for its development and design. A few years at least.

    Starlink is running at a profit and is more than likely now paying for its total launch and construction costs. Plus paying down any past debts for design,construction and launch.

    200 million a month easily covers the cost of 4 launches a month plus upkeep and satellite construction.

  • Call Me Ishmael

    “Fourteen to go, 9 weeks…”

    That only gets them to 90, not 100.

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