ULA launches 29 Leo satellites
ULA last night successfully launched another 29 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit, its Atlas-5 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
ULA is in the process of retiring the Atlas-5 rocket. It now has only eight Atlas-5 rockets left in stock, with two reserved for Leo launches and six for Boeing’s Starliner manned capsule (though there is a good chance some if not all of the Starliner launches will be switched to other payloads). Because its Vulcan rocket, intended to replace Atlas-5, is presently grounded, the company appears to be accelerating Atlas-5 launches, with this launch only about 24 days after the previous launch.
With this launch, Amazon now has 270 Leo satellites in orbit, out of the 1,616 it needs to launch by July to meet its FCC license requirement. Because it is not expected to meet that requirement, the company has asked for a time extension, which the FCC is presently considering.
As this was only the third launch by ULA in 2026, the leader board for the 2026 launch race remains unchanged:
50 SpaceX
23 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX continues to lead the entire world combined in total launches, 50 to 43.
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
ULA last night successfully launched another 29 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit, its Atlas-5 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
ULA is in the process of retiring the Atlas-5 rocket. It now has only eight Atlas-5 rockets left in stock, with two reserved for Leo launches and six for Boeing’s Starliner manned capsule (though there is a good chance some if not all of the Starliner launches will be switched to other payloads). Because its Vulcan rocket, intended to replace Atlas-5, is presently grounded, the company appears to be accelerating Atlas-5 launches, with this launch only about 24 days after the previous launch.
With this launch, Amazon now has 270 Leo satellites in orbit, out of the 1,616 it needs to launch by July to meet its FCC license requirement. Because it is not expected to meet that requirement, the company has asked for a time extension, which the FCC is presently considering.
As this was only the third launch by ULA in 2026, the leader board for the 2026 launch race remains unchanged:
50 SpaceX
23 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX continues to lead the entire world combined in total launches, 50 to 43.
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
Poor Atlas ..it is the middle child that pulls everyone’s weight.
He’s on the field trying to catch Elon while his brother Vulcan just tripped again getting off the short bus.
“You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone!”