SpaceX successfully launches 53 Starlink satellites
Capitalism in space: SpaceX this morning successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to send another 53 Starlink satellites into orbit.
The first stage completed its fifth mission, landing on the drone ship.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
21 SpaceX
15 China
6 Russia
3 Rocket Lab
2 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 29 to 15 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 29 to 24.
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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.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX this morning successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to send another 53 Starlink satellites into orbit.
The first stage completed its fifth mission, landing on the drone ship.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
21 SpaceX
15 China
6 Russia
3 Rocket Lab
2 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 29 to 15 in the national rankings, and the entire world combined 29 to 24.
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.
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.
This booster was interesting, B1052, since its first two flights were as Falcon Heavy side booster. Then three launches as standalone Falcon 9.
And it apparently slated to be turned back into a F-H side core for a launch this summer in August with its old buddy side booster that was never changed.
This does seem to suggest that the side cores are pretty much regular Falcon 9’s with minimal changes.
I get the impression there is little difference between side boosters, core boosters and stand alone F9s.
The flight profiles may be slightly different, but I am thinking that is managed with software.
Do we have data for “total mass to orbit” in addition to the launch count? Always wondered who was actually putting more stuff into space.
How about this site for tracking mass to orbit, at least for SpaceX…
Over 1.2 million kilos by SpaceX so far.
https://rocketstats.app/falcon9