SpaceX launches 20 Starlink satellites
SpaceX tonight successfully launched 20 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The satellites included 13 of the Starlink direct-to-cell satellites. The first stage successfully completed its eighth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
113 SpaceX
51 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 131 to 76, while SpaceX by itself leads the entire world, including American companies, 113 to 94.
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SpaceX tonight successfully launched 20 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.
The satellites included 13 of the Starlink direct-to-cell satellites. The first stage successfully completed its eighth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2024 launch race:
113 SpaceX
51 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab
American private enterprise now leads the rest of the world combined in successful launches 131 to 76, while SpaceX by itself leads the entire world, including American companies, 113 to 94.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Jan……10
Feb…….9
Mar…..13 (1 was IFT-3 of Starship/Super Heavy)
Apr…..12
May….13
June…12 (1 was IFT-4 of Starship/Super Heavy, 1 was Falcon Heavy)
July……5 (FAA stand down of two weeks)
Aug.…12
Sep…….9
Oct…..12 (Another FAA stand down)(1 was IFT-5 of Starship/Super Heavy, 1 was Falcon Heavy)
Nov……7. (At mid-month)
129 (11 flights monthly for remaining 2 months)
131 (12 flights monthly for remaining 2 months)
133 (13 flights monthly for remaining 2months)
135 (14 flights monthly for remaining 2 months)
My projected range is now 129 to 135 flights in 2024, as compared to my last projection in mid-October of 128 to 137 flights.
The SpaceX launch pace quickened to 14 flights from mid-October to mid-November. It will be interesting to see if SpaceX can manage a record breaking 14 (or more) flights in the full month of November.
Unfortunately, 150 flights this year is completely out of the question as SpaceX would need to launch at a cadence of 21.5 flights per month starting November 1. Even 140 flights is out of reach now as they would need a cadence of 16.5 flights per month. SpaceX’s best month in 2024 is only 13 flights and they have only done that twice.
I am still projecting the 2024 SpaceX flight total to be in the low 130’s, but the chances of the mid-130’s has increased due to Musk targeting 30 flights for November and December.