Two launches today, by China and Russia
Both China and Russia completed launches today. First China put a Pakistani Earth observation satellite into orbit, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from Taiyuan spaceport in north China. China’s state-run press made no mention of where the rocket’s lower stages, using very toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed inside China.
Next Russia launched a Progress cargo capsule to ISS, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The freighter will dock with ISS in two days.
The leaders in the 2026 launch race:
49 SpaceX
23 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX continues to lead the entire world combined in total launches, 49 to 42.
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
Both China and Russia completed launches today. First China put a Pakistani Earth observation satellite into orbit, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from Taiyuan spaceport in north China. China’s state-run press made no mention of where the rocket’s lower stages, using very toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed inside China.
Next Russia launched a Progress cargo capsule to ISS, its Soyuz-2 rocket lifting off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The freighter will dock with ISS in two days.
The leaders in the 2026 launch race:
49 SpaceX
23 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX continues to lead the entire world combined in total launches, 49 to 42.
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
”7 Russia”
Progress was the 8th successful orbital launch for Russia in 2026. There were two in February, two in March, and four now in April. FYI.
mkent: Searching BtB, I count only three launches in April: April 17, April 23, and today.
What launch in April did I miss? Please send a link.
Falcon 9 = Ford F150
”…I count only three launches in April: April 17, April 23, and today. What launch in April did I miss? Please send a link.”
The Meridian launch on April 3rd.
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/russia-launches-classified-military-payload-china-has-a-launch-failure/
mkent: Thank you for catching this. I actually didn’t miss that Meridan launch when it happened. The error had occurred earlier. I have now gone back and corrected the numbers.
The BAIKONUR SPACEPORT tours look quite reasonable. Flight from Boston on Lufthansa only one stop. Was always a dream of mine to see a Soyuz launch.
GeorgeC,
I’d advise booking your tour soon then. Ukraine, I suspect, puts a pretty low priority on smearing the factory where the Soyuz is produced – at east for now. But if said factory is also doing military production to make extra money – and, given Roscosmos’s threadbare exchequer, this would be hard to rule out – the Ukes could decide to jump that site well up their target priority list at any time. If that happens, there won’t be any more Soyuzes to watch launch.