Tag: freedom

Axiom’s ticket price for India’s astronaut on Ax-4 mission: $59 million

10:38 am

According to reports today in the India press, the price Axiom charged India’s space agency ISRO for training and then flying its astronaut on the just completed Ax-4 two-week mission to ISS was $59 million.

The expenditure by ISRO includes cost of [Shubhanshu] Shukla’s training for the mission as well as that of a seat on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft for the 20-day trip that launched Shukla, and three others — Peggy Whitson from the US, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary — to space.

Earlier reports had suggested Axiom was charging $70 million per ticket. If the $59 million is accurate and applies to the charges Poland and Hungary paid, then Axiom’s revenue for the flight was $177 million. From that it would have to pay SpaceX (for the launch and the use of its Grace capsule) and NASA (for the use of ISS). Based on past history, SpaceX likely charged around $70 million for the launch. The cost for using Grace is unknown. NASA’s fees for a two-week visit to ISS were probably around $10 million plus.

My guess, based on this very limited information, is that Axiom made some profit from the flight, ranging from $20 to $50 million.

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SpaceX planning to use Starship for manufacturing in space

10:00 am

It appears the enthusiastic investment response last week to the potential of using Varda’s re-turnable capsule for manufacturing in space (especially of pharmceuticals) has caught SpaceX’s interest. According to a news report yesterday, SpaceX has now begun developing a program to use Starship for the same purpose, delivering the raw materials in orbit for short or long periods while these products are produced automatically and then returning them for sale on Earth.

Under the plan, internally called Starfall, SpaceX’s Starship rocket would bring products such as pharmaceutical components to space in small, uncrewed capsules, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.

Starship would then deploy the capsules, which would spend time in orbit before reentering the atmosphere, where they could be recovered back on Earth, the person added.

This description by this anonymous source seems inaccurate however. Why even consider using these small separate capsules when the entire operation can be put inside Starship, which can then bring everything home when ready? Moreover, Starship’s ability to put a lot of mass in a large space up into orbit gives it an great advantage over the smaller capsules being developed by companies like Varda.

Either way, the advantages of weightlessness for producing products for profit are finally being realized, after decades of blockage by government intransigence. Since the Challenger accident in 1986 and Reagan’s order that the shuttle would no longer not be used for commercial purposes, NASA has forbidden production on its spacecraft and ISS of any products for sale afterward.

Now that the cost of launch has dropped significantly (Thank you Elon Musk!), many investors and companies are seeing great potential for manufacturing in space. And those profits will help feed a private space industry, making the government agency of NASA even more irrelevant.

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SpaceX completes its first launch for Amazon

11:39 pm

SpaceX tonight successfully launched 24 Kuiper satellites for Amazon’s internet constellation, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The first stage completed its first launch, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. This was the third new stage launched in 2025, and follows the company’s recent pattern of launching between one to three new stages per year. The two fairings completed their 27th and 28th flights respectively. As of posting the satellites had not yet been deployed.

This was SpaceX’s first launch for Amazon, out of an initial contract of three launches. The launch was also Amazon’s third Kuiper satellite launch, the previous two by ULA on its Atlas-5 rocket, launching 27 satellites each. While ULA seems poised to begin regular launches for Amazon, having a contract for 46 launches (with completed two), the contracts for Blue Origin’s New Glenn (27 launches, and ArianeGroup’s Ariane-6 (18 launches) are more uncertain. Neither company has achieved any launches on their contracts, and it is not clear when either company, especially Blue Origin, will ever begin regular launches.

This slow launch pace from these companies is a serious problem for Amazon, which is required by its FCC licence to get 1,600 satellites in orbit by July 2026. For this reason, there are rumors that Amazon might switching more launches to SpaceX, as it has the capability of to launch frequently.

We will have to wait and see.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

88 SpaceX
37 China
10 Rocket Lab
8 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 88 to 64.

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SpaceX launches 26 Starlink satellites

7:18 pm

SpaceX this evening successfully placed another 26 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage completed its fourth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

87 SpaceX
37 China
10 Rocket Lab
8 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 87 to 64.

SpaceX also has another launch scheduled in just a few hours from Cape Canaveral, launching 24 Kuiper satellites for Amazon. This is SpaceX’s first launch for Amazon, out of contract of three launches. It will also be the third Kuiper satellite launch, the previous two by ULA on its Atlas-5 rocket, launching 27 satellites each.

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Another win for a blacklisted professor

2:59 pm

Professor Timothy Jackson
Music historian Timothy Jackson

Fight! Fight! Fight! After the public University of North Texas (UNT) blacklisted and dismissed professor Timothy Jackson in 2020 from his job as editor of the music history journal he founded for daring to express some academic conclusions the faculty and students didn’t like, he sued.

After a five year battle, Jackson and the university have now settled out of court, with the terms of the settlement [pdf] largely a big win for Jackson.

First the background: In 2019 woke music theorist Philip Ewell of Hunter College in New York gave a presentation to the Society of Music Theory where he claimed 20th century music theorist Heinrich Schenker was a “virulent racist” whose “racist views infected his music theoretical arguments.”

Jackson, who had devoted his career studying Schenker and had co-founded at the university the Journal of Schenkerian Studies focused expressly on Schenker’s works, knew this was patently untrue. For example, Schenker was also a Jew who was a victim of German anti-Semitism and lost many relatives in the Holocaust, facts that Ewell somehow did not think important to mention. To counter Ewell’s historical slanders, Jackson decided to dedicate the next issue of the journal to this issue, presenting essays from both sides. He even asked Ewell to write an essay.

Ewell did not respond. In Jackson’s own essay he outlined in detail the historical facts — as he knew them as an expert on this subject — that put the lie to Ewell’s claims. As Jackson noted, “Ewell peddled a ‘conspiracy theory’ that is ‘part and parcel of the much broader current of Black anti-semitism.'”

Instead of celebrating this perfect example of free speech, the university immediately moved to punish Jackson.
» Read more

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The failed MethaneSat climate satellite apparently had problems from launch

10:24 am

According to a detailed New Zealand news report today, the failed MethaneSat climate satellite — funded and operated by the Environmental Defense Fund — apparently had significant problems during its short fifteen month life-span, going into safe mode many times, before failing completely last month.

An earlier report from this same news outlet described more fully the issues — which began in September 2024 only about six months after launch.

The mission’s chief scientist has now said more intense solar activity because of a peak in the sun’s magnetic cycle has been causing MethaneSAT to go into safe mode. The satellite has to be carefully restarted every time.

There has also been a problem with one of the satellite’s three thrusters, which maintain its altitude and steer the spacecraft. MethaneSAT says it can operate fully on two thrusters.

It appears there is a lot of unhappiness in New Zealand for spending $32 million on this project that was designed, built, and operated by an environmental activist organization with little space experience.

What is clear now is that the spacecraft likely got relatively little data during its fifteen month life span.

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Axiom’s commercial manned mission to ISS splashes down safely

8:56 am

Axiom’s fourth commercial manned mission to ISS successfully splashed down off the coast of California early this morning, returning its astronaut commander, employed by Axiom, and three government passengers from India, Poland, and Hungary after spending two weeks at the space station and eighteen days total in space.

For all three nations this was their second manned flight, and the first in more than four decades. All three had previously flown astronauts on Soviet era Soyuz missions, with Poland and Hungary’s astronauts visiting the Salyut 6 station in 1978 and 1980 respectively, and India’s astronaut visiting the Salyut 7 station in 1984.

The mission also marked the inaugural flight of SpaceX’s new Grace reusable manned Dragon capsule, the fifth such spacecraft in its fleet. SpaceX’s fleet is now larger that NASA’s space shuttle fleet ever was.

If you watch the live stream at the link, it is once again important to note that everyone you see on the screen, except for these three government astronauts, are employees of SpaceX or Axiom. There is no government involvement at all in the splash down procedure. It is entirely commercial and private affair.

In other words, who needs NASA for spaceflight? It clearly is not required.

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Renewing the heroic Superman of America

11:57 am

The heroic Superman as envisioned in the 1950s
George Reeves as the heroic Superman as envisioned
in the 1950s television show, emulated later by Richard
Donner in his 1978 movie. Click for show’s opening credits.

Not surprisingly, the newest Hollywood attempt to tell the story of Superman appears by all accounts to be on the verge of another movie disaster, for all the usual reasons. Though the first weekend receipts were acceptable, a closer look suggests they also have feet of clay. When compared with the 2013 attempt to reboot the 1978 classic Richard Donner film, the numbers do not look that good.

Now, look at the number of tickets sold:

Estimated tickets sold opening weekend:
MAN OF STEEL (14.3M)
SUPERMAN (10.7M)

Sometimes a win isn’t quite a win.

The article also notes that the movie is having problems attracting foreign audiences.

The reviews meanwhile have been horrible. Take for example this review:

I’ve seen a lot of superhero movies, and this one — given the level of investment involved, the promotional push, the iconic nature of the character and the importance to the future of DC and Warner Bros. — is by far the worst. I would have left the theater if I hadn’t gone with a friend. There are minor Marvel entries with more to their credit than this. It doesn’t even manage to be fun.

Why should this new movie about the first true American super-hero standing for “truth, justice, and the American way” be having problems at box office? Isn’t the story exactly the kind of thing audiences love and normally consume with eager anticipation?

The problem is that this modern Superman movie is not about “truth, justice, and the American way.” Instead, the film’s director and producer, James Gunn, decided it should instead be about “truth, justice, and the human way,” a statement that is not only meaningless and carrying far less substance, it is a slap in the face of the very noble American ideals of this very American legend.
» Read more

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Third Indian state announces a space policy to encourage private enterprise

9:37 am

India map

A third state in India, Andhra Pradesh, has now released its own space policy, designed to create what it calls “manufacturing clusters”, centered around India’s main spaceport at Sriharikota.

The A.P. Space Policy (4.0) 2025-30 is valid for five years from the date of issue (July 13, 2025), or till a new policy is announced. A technical committee will be constituted under the Commissioner of Industries to vet and process applications for land allotment in the Space Cities proposed to be developed along the Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor in Sri Sathya Sai district and in Tirupati (Routhasuramala).

The government will form an SPV, ‘AP Space City Corporation’, which will drive all initiatives related to the development of the above Space Cities, and serve as the central agency to coordinate infrastructure development, raise start-up funds, attract investments, facilitate industry partnerships, build partnerships to attract global demand, and liaise with all GoI [Government of India] entities for tapping the domestic demand.

The previous two state space policies in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, announced in April, had similar goals aimed at promoting the establishment of private aerospace companies within their regions.

Whether Andhra Pradesh’s policy will work carries uncertainties. Its advantage is that it is linked to India’s primary spaceport. Its disadvantage lies in the complex bureaucracy the state is creating in conjunction with these “Space Cities.” Such bureaucracies are rarely helpful for new businesses.

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Dragon capsule undocks from ISS carrying four Axiom’s passengers

8:47 am

After spending 18 days in space, 14 on ISS, the Dragon capsule early this morning undocked from ISS with a splashdown scheduled for early tomorrow.

The mission was financed by the space station company Axiom, and was commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, now employed by Axiom as a professional astronaut. The three paying passengers were all government astronauts from India, Poland, and Hungary.

The capsule, dubbed Grace, is the newest addition to SpaceX’s fleet of five manned reusable capsules, flying on its first mission.

Splashdown is scheduled for the wee hours of July 15th tomorrow off the coast of California. The live stream can be found here.

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SpaceX launches geosynchronous satellite for unnamed customer

11:42 pm

SpaceX tonight successfully launched a geosynchronous satellite for unnamed customer, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The first stage completed its thirteenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The fairings completed their fourteenth and eighteenth flights respectively. No information about the satellite was released, including ending the live stream right after the first stage landed while providing no information about the satellite’s orbit after stage separation.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

86 SpaceX
36 China
10 Rocket Lab
8 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 86 to 63.

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Judge narrows SpaceX lawsuit against California Coastal Commission

9:16 am

Though U.S. district judge Stanley Blumenfeld ruled in May that SpaceX’s lawsuit against California Coastal Commission for targeting the company because the commissioners did not like Elon Musk’s political views can proceed, in early July he also narrowed the lawsuit significantly.

Blumenfeld granted a motion to dismiss violations of the First Amendment and due process against the commission and individual members based on lack of standing, sovereign immunity and failure to state a claim, but allowed allegations of “biased attempts to regulate SpaceX’s activity” and unlawfully demanding a CDP to proceed.

“In sum, SpaceX has plausibly alleged a ripe, nonspeculative case or controversy over whether it must obtain a CDP to continue its Falcon 9 launches,” Blumenfeld said in his order. “The credible threat that defendants will bring an enforcement action and subject SpaceX to daily fines for not having a CDP — which defendants pointedly do not disavow — is sufficient to establish an actual injury under Article III [of the U.S. Constitution].”

It appears the judge acted to protect the commissioners themselves from direct liability, using the made-up concept from the 20th century that government employees are somehow wholly immune from any responsibility for their actions.

Nonetheless, SpaceX has a great case, and is very likely to win in court, a victory that could very well cause the coastal commission and the state of California serious monetary pain.

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