Successful SpaceX launch
Capitalism in space: SpaceX tonight successfully launched 58 Starlink satellites as well as three Planet earth observation satellites. The image to the right looks up at the exhaust from the nine firing Merlin engines of Falcon 9 rocket, about two minutes after launch.
That first stage also successfully landed, the third time this stage has completed a launch. The fairing halves were also reused.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race:
11 China
9 SpaceX
7 Russia
3 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 15 to 11 in the national rankings.
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 this year has the propaganda 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 refuse 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.
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Capitalism in space: SpaceX tonight successfully launched 58 Starlink satellites as well as three Planet earth observation satellites. The image to the right looks up at the exhaust from the nine firing Merlin engines of Falcon 9 rocket, about two minutes after launch.
That first stage also successfully landed, the third time this stage has completed a launch. The fairing halves were also reused.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race:
11 China
9 SpaceX
7 Russia
3 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 15 to 11 in the national rankings.
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 this year has the propaganda 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 refuse 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.
Video for this & the Rocket Lab launch, is absolutely amazing.
–I don’t think we’ve seen this type of back lit lighting before. (?) And we didn’t lose the picture on the barge.
My all time favorite scenes, for any rocket launch, is stage-separation. Can’t get enough of that stuff!
Apollo 4, S-IC/S-II Staging, lower camera
https://youtu.be/ieIqGedO-zg
3:00
Apollo 4, S-IC/S-II Staging, upper camera
https://youtu.be/lxcJu0iX8nA
2:59
AS-202 – Separation of S-IVB from S-IB and ignition
https://youtu.be/xMr_AGJprrg
2:20
Were the fairings new or used?
Used. Each half was from a different previous mission. Somewhere, the ghost of Eli Whitney – inventor of the concept of interchangeable parts – is smiling. Haven’t seen any word yet on whether re-recovery of these fairing halves was successful or not.
Kyle: I say so in the post: These were reused.
This is the second landing in a row where the barge camera never failed. Has SpaceX switched to using StarLink for the barge’s network connection? The phased-array dish should be able to handle vibrations far better than a traditional steered parabolic dish.