SpaceX successfully launches 60 Starlink satellites
Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched 60 more satellites in its Starlink internet satellites, while also reusing for the first time a Falcon first stage for a fourth time, reusing a fairing for the first time. The first stage successfully completed a barge landing. No word on whether they were able to recover the fairings.
I have embedded the replay of the live stream below the fold. They now have proved the capability of recovering and reusing 70% of their rocket.
The leaders in the 2019 launch race:
22 China
17 Russia
11 SpaceX
6 Europe (Arianespace)
The U.S. now leads China 23 to 22 in the national rankings.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully launched 60 more satellites in its Starlink internet satellites, while also reusing for the first time a Falcon first stage for a fourth time, reusing a fairing for the first time. The first stage successfully completed a barge landing. No word on whether they were able to recover the fairings.
I have embedded the replay of the live stream below the fold. They now have proved the capability of recovering and reusing 70% of their rocket.
The leaders in the 2019 launch race:
22 China
17 Russia
11 SpaceX
6 Europe (Arianespace)
The U.S. now leads China 23 to 22 in the national rankings.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
Watching those landings never gets old!
50 successful launches on the run….. Superb!!
And with just 2 launches, SpaceX now has the largest satellite constellation now working.
It’s my understanding from other forums that the seas were too rough to attempt to recover the fairings and the ships were called back to port. This was to prevent damage to the arms that support the nets, rather than risk a costly repair. It would be cool to see SpaceX re-use fairings that are fished out of the sea as they should be better able to assess and absorb the risk of re-using them with their own launches. I wouldn’t be surprised to seem such an attempt in the future.