ULA launches Amazon’s first 27 Kuiper constellation satellites; SpaceX launches more Starlinks
Two more launches today. First, SpaceX completed another Starlink launch, placing 27 satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California, with its first stage completing its 25th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
Next, ULA successfully launched the first 27 Kuiper internet constellation satellites for Amazon, its Atlas-5 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
As of posting the Kuiper satellites have not yet been deployed. As this was ULA’s first launch this year, the company is not included in the leader board for the 2025 launch race.
49 SpaceX
22 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 49 to 38. Two more launches are still scheduled for today, one by SpaceX placing more Starlinks into orbit, and a second a classified Angara launch out of its Plesetsk spaceport in northeastern Russia.
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Two more launches today. First, SpaceX completed another Starlink launch, placing 27 satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California, with its first stage completing its 25th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
Next, ULA successfully launched the first 27 Kuiper internet constellation satellites for Amazon, its Atlas-5 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
As of posting the Kuiper satellites have not yet been deployed. As this was ULA’s first launch this year, the company is not included in the leader board for the 2025 launch race.
49 SpaceX
22 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia
SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 49 to 38. Two more launches are still scheduled for today, one by SpaceX placing more Starlinks into orbit, and a second a classified Angara launch out of its Plesetsk spaceport in northeastern Russia.
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.
Striking that despite the record heavy payload, that Atlas V fairly zipped off the pad.
Five SRBs makes for a speedy departure.
I wonder if there were some improvements made on the down low.
RD-180 is just the RD-170 cut in half…going from four nozzles to two. RD-170 was the Zenit engine with F-1 level thrust.
Solid rocket improvements are less plumbing and more like having a good recipe.