Yes. SpaceX operates on the principle that he who yaps least yaps best. It’s Elon’s now-famous dictum that the best part is no part applied to launch commentary. More than half of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launches are Starlink missions and, on those, SpaceX applies Elon’s dictum very literally – there is no commentary, just the event call-outs on the mission control channel.

mkent: Thanks for the breakdown of the last Atlas-5 launches.

When Bruno said they hoped to do 9 more launches in 2025, it was in early August. At that time the company had only done two launches in 2025 (one each for Vulcan and Atlas-5). Since then it has managed two more launches, in a little more than a month.

So, the launch pace I listed was right until August, while the launch pace you list has been more correct since. If it maintains that pace for the rest of the year, ULA might reach nine total launches as predicted by Bruno in August.

We shall see. Forgive me if I remain skeptical at this point. Though I must make it clear I will be thrilled if they do it.

With this launch Kuiper now passes Spire’s Lemur constellation (110 operational satellites) to claim the fifth largest satellite constellation in the world, behind Starlink, OneWeb, SuperDove, and Starshield. Spire has sold some additional Lemurs to other customers, but its unified AIS / ADSB constellation reportedly numbers 110.

”The company says it hopes to launch about eight more times this year…”

I think that’s four more times for a total of eight.

”…its present launch pace of about one launch every three months…”

ULA has launched four times in the last five months.

”ULA now has twelve rockets in left in stock before the rocket is retired for good. Most I think are reserved for Kuiper launches.”

Six for Starliner, five for Kuiper, and one for Viasat.

4 ULA
4 Arianespace
2 Japan
2 India
1 Israel
1 Blue Origin
1 Northrop Grumman
0 ISAR Aerospace
0 Gilmour Space
0 Firefly
0 Astra
0 Relativity
0 ABL

FYI

Dick Eagleson: Typo fixed. Thank you.

As for the self-congratulatory commentary on both ULA and Blue Origin telecasts, it is a terrible mistake on their part. It only highlights their weaknesses rather than magnify their strengths.

Even when SpaceX was only beginning to do Falcon 1 launches in the 2000s it kept its commentary to a minimum. It let what happened speak for it, and that quiet confidence did more to sell the company than anything.

In the line comparing SpaceX’s launch total to that of the rest of the world, you’ve attributed SpaceX 125 launches, not the 124 shown right above in the individual rankings. 124 is correct.

Wayne,

Yeah, the amateur-night production values of ULA launch webcasts almost seem designed to underline the point that ULA is your father’s – and grandfather’s – launch services company. These webcasts are in color but have a retro black-and-white feel to them. Even the intern on this webcast seems like he stepped right out of mid-1950s Central Casting. I kept waiting for him to say something like, “Gosh-a-rooney.”

There is also an unseemly amount of self-congratulation and undeserved self-applied superlatives in the happy chat. Not as much as there is in Blue Origin webcasts of New Shepard launches, thank God, but it’s interesting that SpaceX does little or none of that in its own webcasts. I guess when you actually are numero uno you can just let your accomplishments speak for themselves.