Watching Astra’s next launch attempt tonight
UPDATE: Launch scrubbed. They will try again tomorrow.
Capitalism in space: Astra is now targeting 12 midnight (Eastern) tonight for its next and fourth attempt to reach orbit with its new rocket.
I have embedded the company’s live stream, provided by NASASpaceflight LLC and Astra Space Inc., below the fold.
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UPDATE: Launch scrubbed. They will try again tomorrow.
Capitalism in space: Astra is now targeting 12 midnight (Eastern) tonight for its next and fourth attempt to reach orbit with its new rocket.
I have embedded the company’s live stream, provided by NASASpaceflight LLC and Astra Space Inc., below the fold.
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
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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.
What happens to all of these little launch vehicles if SpaceX can (at least potentially) reduce the launch price to $ 300 / kg? Nobody is offering such a single rocket – let’s say with a payload of 200 kg – for $ 60,000. Not even for $ 600,000.
The military might want an ultra low cubesat spy asset during hostilities…launched via container…minimal plume.
Jeff Wright:
The refueling procedure with liquid oxygen is very cumbersome for a military application, where a reaction time or a few hours is important. In this case I would prefer deployable rockets with storable or even solid propellants at any time. There are also low-signature solid rocket propellants.
I tried watching it last night but there were delays and I went to bed. Found out this morning the launch was scrubbed and they will try again tonight at 9pm Pacific.