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.
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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.
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.
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.