Three launches today
Three launches today, two by China and one by SpaceX.
First China placed what its state-run press called a “communications technology test satellite” into orbit, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China.
China then placed nine smallsats into orbit, its Kinetica-1 (or Lijian-1) rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China. One of those satellites was for the United Arab Emirates.
In neither case did China’s press provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages crashed.
In between these launches SpaceX launched 27 more Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its 18th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
163 SpaceX (a new record)
81 China (a new record)
15 Rocket Lab
15 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 163 to 133.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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
Three launches today, two by China and one by SpaceX.
First China placed what its state-run press called a “communications technology test satellite” into orbit, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China.
China then placed nine smallsats into orbit, its Kinetica-1 (or Lijian-1) rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China. One of those satellites was for the United Arab Emirates.
In neither case did China’s press provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages crashed.
In between these launches SpaceX launched 27 more Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its 18th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2025 launch race:
163 SpaceX (a new record)
81 China (a new record)
15 Rocket Lab
15 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 163 to 133.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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

