SpaceX successfully launches twenty OneWeb satellites
SpaceX tonight successfully launched twenty OneWeb satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The first stage completed its seventh flight, landing back at Vandenberg. The fairing halves completed their eleventh and thirteenth flights respectively.
SpaceX has done several launches for OneWeb, the chief competitor to its own Starlink constellation. It won the contract when Russian invaded the Ukraine and — in response to new sanctions imposed by Europe — refused to launch a planned OneWeb launch while confiscating the satellites. OneWeb responded by cancelling its last six Soyuz launches, worth as much as a billion dollars, and signed SpaceX and India’s space agency ISRO instead.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
102 SpaceX
46 China
11 Russia
11 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 119 to 69, while SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world, including American companies, 102 to 86.
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SpaceX tonight successfully launched twenty OneWeb satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The first stage completed its seventh flight, landing back at Vandenberg. The fairing halves completed their eleventh and thirteenth flights respectively.
SpaceX has done several launches for OneWeb, the chief competitor to its own Starlink constellation. It won the contract when Russian invaded the Ukraine and — in response to new sanctions imposed by Europe — refused to launch a planned OneWeb launch while confiscating the satellites. OneWeb responded by cancelling its last six Soyuz launches, worth as much as a billion dollars, and signed SpaceX and India’s space agency ISRO instead.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
102 SpaceX
46 China
11 Russia
11 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 119 to 69, while SpaceX by itself now leads the entire world, including American companies, 102 to 86.
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.
20 satellites, stubby nozzle and an RTLS (Return To Landing Site) recovery. I think that means a comparatively light load, compared to Starlink’s typical ship landing, full nozzle, and 23 satellites.