SpaceX successfully launches another 60 Starlink satellites
Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to place another sixty Starlink satellites in orbit, bringing that constellation to over 1,700 in orbit.
The first stage was making its second flight, and landed successfully on the drone ship in the Atlantic. Both fairings were reused, with one making a record fifth flight. Though the rocket has not yet deployed the satellites as I write this, it is expected in about a half hour and based on past history, should proceed with no problems. If there is an issue I will report it immediately.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
16 SpaceX
13 China
7 Russia
2 Rocket Lab
2 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 22 to 13 in the national rankings.
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.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"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
Capitalism in space: SpaceX today successfully used its Falcon 9 rocket to place another sixty Starlink satellites in orbit, bringing that constellation to over 1,700 in orbit.
The first stage was making its second flight, and landed successfully on the drone ship in the Atlantic. Both fairings were reused, with one making a record fifth flight. Though the rocket has not yet deployed the satellites as I write this, it is expected in about a half hour and based on past history, should proceed with no problems. If there is an issue I will report it immediately.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
16 SpaceX
13 China
7 Russia
2 Rocket Lab
2 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 22 to 13 in the national rankings.
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.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"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
The Falcon 9 going transonic made for an outstanding moment in the video.
Willi: Yeah, I really thought something had gone wrong at that moment. But no, simply breaking the sound barrier with some oomph.
I didn’t see the video…planes at that speed often have a condensation cone around them based on humidity. Is this what happened? If so- Musk should splice it with the prior landing footage. Tornadoes can lack a condensation funnel in low humidity-you look for the debris swirl.
Willi observed: “The Falcon 9 going transonic made for an outstanding moment in the video.”
A bit of an understatement, that. It sounds from the commentary that every single SpaceX employee was going ” Oh _ _ _ _!” Just a momentary catch in the voice, but speaks volumes.
That stuff never gets old.
Scott Manley just published a short video describing the physics behind this phenomenon. He includes a nice clip of the same thing happening during the Solar Dynamic Observatory launch.
I also noticed that the SpaceX employees’ cheering was especially loud after MECO and stage sep… events that have typically earned polite golf-claps lately! A lot of folks got a real scare.
The link to Manley’s video on the unusual transonic shock wave:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlkXVJQ0atE (1 minutes)