Tag: SpaceX

SpaceX launches three payloads

8:44 am

SpaceX yesterday successfully launched three different payloads on its third “Bandwagon” launch, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

The first stage completed its third flight, landing back at Cape Canaveral. The fairings completed their second and fifteenth flights respectively.

The rocket’s primary payload was a commercial satellite for a South Korean company. Next was a commercial weather smallsat from the startup Tomorrow.

The third payload was from the European company Atmos, and was intended to test its deployable heat shield designed to protect payloads returning from orbit. According to the company, preliminary data says the deployment and return went as planned.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

46 SpaceX
20 China (with a launch scheduled for this morning)
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 46 to 35.

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SpaceX launches cargo Dragon to ISS; Problems with Tenacity?

8:55 am

Early this morning SpaceX successfully launched a cargo Dragon to ISS, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The first stage completed its fifth flight, landing back at Kennedy. The capsule is on its fifth flight, and is carrying significantly more cargo than previous SpaceX cargo missions because it has had to replace much of the cargo that would have been launched on a Cygnus capsule whose launch was cancelled because it had been damaged during transport.

Furthermore, as part of their updates on this mission NASA officials revealed that Sierra Space’s cargo mini-shuttle, Tenacity, is facing more delays, and is now not expected to launch until late this year. This Dream Chaser spacecraft had begun ground testing early in 2024, with a first launch planned for shortly thereafter. For reasons that have not been explained, that ground testing has now been going on for more than a year, and will apparently continue for most of 2025. My guess is that the spacecraft has experienced engineering problems during that testing, and has required fixes that neither Sierra Space nor NASA wishes to reveal.

The result has been that NASA has had a shortage of cargo vehicles to keep ISS supplied. A significant number of science experiments had to be removed from today’s Dragon to make room for consumerables. NASA officials also stated publicly during this update that it is now definitely considering using Starliner as a cargo vehicle on its next flight, a plan that previously had only been hinted at.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

45 SpaceX (with another launch scheduled for later today)
20 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 45 to 35.

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SpaceX launches another classified satellite for National Reconnaissance Office

9:34 am

SpaceX early this morning successfully launched a classified reconnaissance satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

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

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

44 SpaceX
20 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 44 to 35.

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SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites

9:54 pm

Continuing its relentless launch pace, SpaceX this evening successfully launched another 27 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The first stage completed its 27th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. This is a new record for flights by a Falcon 9 booster, exceeding the space shuttle Endeavour’s record of 25 by two, and trailing the space shuttle Columbia by only one. The record for most reflights by a spacecraft is presently 39 by the space shuttle Discovery, followed by the shuttle Atlantis at 33. Expect several Falcon 9 boosters to exceed these numbers in the next two years.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

43 SpaceX
19 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 43 to 33.

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SpaceX completes two launches today

8:29 pm

SpaceX continued its relentless launch pace today, launching twice from opposite coasts.

First the company placed a National Reconnaissance Office surveillance satellite into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its 24th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

Next SpaceX launched another 21 Starlink satellites, including 13 configured for direct-to-cell capabilities, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Kennedy in Florida. The first stage completed its 10th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

42 SpaceX
19 China
5 Rocket Lab
5 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 42 to 33.

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Anti-Musk terrorists damage Musk statue in Brownsville

9:23 am

In another demonstration of their intolerance and willingness to commit violence and vandalism, anti-Musk terrorists have damaged a bust of Elon Musk in Brownsville that had been placed there by a French entrepreneur.

A 9-foot-tall statue depicting a bust of tech billionaire Elon Musk has been vandalized in South Texas. According to multiple posts across social media, the statue of the SpaceX CEO was vandalized not far from where the company’s Starbase facility sits near Boca Chica Beach.

“The recently installed Elon Musk statue, known as ‘Elonrwa,’ has been damaged. Visible patches of the outer layer appear to have been peeled off the face,” a Facebook user who goes by RGV.me said in an April 8 Facebook post. The Facebook post is accompanied by a photograph showing two areas where it appears a top layer of material has been stripped from the statue, revealing a white or pale gray layer underneath.

This senseless hate of Musk, almost certainly committed by supporters of the Democratic Party — which has been encouraging this violence because it sees Musk as an opponent — must end. And if the fools perpetrating this vandalism don’t come to their senses and stop voluntarily, they should be stopped by force and imprisonment. Just because you disagree with someone on policy does not give you the right to break the law.

And if you doubt this vandalism isn’t being spurred on eagerly by the leadership of the now vile and wholly evil Democratic Party, you need only watch that party’s Senate leader, Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York), practically endorse it when asked:
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Space Force gives SpaceX launch originally contracted to ULA

8:45 am

For the second time in less than a year, the Space Force has taken a launch away from ULA and given the payload to SpaceX to launch.

The GPS III SV-08 satellite, the eighth in the GPS III constellation, is now scheduled to launch no earlier than late May aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, the Space Systems Command announced April 7.

This marks the second time in recent months that the Space Force has reassigned a GPS launch from ULA to SpaceX. Last year, the GPS III SV-07 satellite was moved from a planned ULA Vulcan rocket launch in late 2025 to a SpaceX Falcon 9, which successfully launched on December 16 in a mission called Rapid Response Trailblazer.

Both switches were apparently triggered because of the delay in getting ULA’s new Vulcan rocket certified by the military, resulting in all of ULA’s launches in 2025 being pushed back significantly. That certification finally occurred a few weeks ago, but it appears the Space Force has decided that ULA won’t be able to get all those launches off this year as planned. It therefore decided to shift this launch to SpaceX.

This situation once again highlights the importance of private companies to move fast in the open competition of private enterprise. SpaceX has always done this, and thus it gets contracts and business that other companies that move with the speed of molasses lose.

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SpaceX launches 27 more Starlink satellites using a new first stage

8:16 pm

SpaceX today successfully placed 27 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage completed its first flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. In the past three years SpaceX has been launching about one to two new first stages per year in order to sustain its fleet, and this launch follows that pattern.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

40 SpaceX
18 China
5 Rocket Lab
4 Russia (with a manned Soyuz launch scheduled for the early morning hours)

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 40 to 31.

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Fram2: The first X-ray image taken in space

9:04 am

First X-ray taken in space
Click for original.

During the commercial and private Fram2 flight last week, the crew used equipment developed by two commercial companies, MinXray in Chicago and KA Imaging in Canada, to take the first X-ray images of a human being.

The picture to the right shows the hand of one of the crew, with a ring on one finger. From the press release:

Chicago-based MinXray is contributing its IMPACT system, a compact, battery-powered X-ray generator designed for use in remote environments, including space. Its rechargeable lithium-ion battery eliminates the need for external power sources, making it an ideal solution for microgravity applications.

KA Imaging’s Reveal 35C X-ray Detector was selected for this mission due to its cutting-edge SpectralDR technology. The Reveal 35C provides dual-energy subtraction imaging in a single exposure, generating three distinct images: soft tissue, bone, and a traditional digital radiograph.

Apparently the two companies have combined their resources to develop a fully portable X-ray machine small enough to be transported in a capsule, and partnered with the Fram2 team to test it in weightlessness for the first time. With refinements a larger machine could be sold and installed in space stations for both medical research as well as simple doctoring.

Because weightlessness causes the loss of bone density in the weight-bearing bones, such technology has long been critically necessary in orbit for studying and possible mitigating that problem. That after decades NASA failed to get it built and installed in ISS, yet a private mission made it happen, illustrates once again the advantages of a free and competitive private sector in space. NASA’s complex rules for getting experiments on ISS frequently acts to block some experiments. The lack of those rules on private missions allows for things to happen quickly.

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Space Force awards SpaceX, ULA, and Blue Origin $13.7 billion in launch contracts

10:41 am

The Space Force yesterday awarded a combined $13.7 billion in launch contracts to SpaceX, ULA, and Blue Origin, covering military launches through 2032.

The contracts, announced April 4 by the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command, are part of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 2 procurement, a cornerstone initiative designed to bolster the Pentagon’s access to space for its most sensitive and risk-averse missions.

SpaceX emerged as the leading contractor, securing $5.9 billion in anticipated awards, followed by ULA at nearly $5.4 billion and Blue Origin at nearly $2.4 billion. The three companies are expected to collectively perform 54 launches under the agreement between fiscal years 2025 and 2029.

Based on the contracts, SpaceX will do 28 launches, ULA 19, and Blue Origin 7. Since these launches include many military payloads that must go on “risk-adverse” rockets, the distribution of launches makes sense. While SpaceX’s rockets (Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy) are well proven to be reliable, both ULA and Blue Origin launch with new rockets, Vulcan and New Glenn respectively, that have barely yet left the factory. Vulcan has done only two launches, with the second having technical issues (supposedly resolved). Blue Origin has done only one successful launch, though it failed to land the first stage as planned.

The distribution however serves the needs of both the military and the American rocket industry. It gives the Pentagon redundancy, multiple launch providers. And it gives America the same, three competing rocket companies striving for business and profit.

The result is going to be a very vibrant American space effort, doing a lot of things having nothing to do with the Pentagon.

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Fram2 private manned mission splashes down safely

10:29 am

The Fram2 private commercial manned mission successfully ended today when SpaceX’s Resilience capsule splashed down safely off the coast of California.

The crew spent about four days in space, circling the Earth in the first polar orbit by a human crew.

This was SpaceX’s sixth privately funded manned mission. Three docked with ISS and were paid for by Axiom. Three flew independently, with two paid by Jared Isaacman and one by Chun Weng (which landed today). Plus Axiom has scheduled its next ISS commercial flight for May, 2025, using a new SpaceX capsule (bringing the company’s manned fleet to five spacecraft).

As I noted earlier this week, SpaceX is making space exploration profitable, which in turn makes the government irrelevant. And ain’t that a kick?

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Update on the private Fram2 manned orbital spaceflight

9:15 am

The crew of Fram2 in weightlessness

In the past day the crew of the private Fram2 manned orbital spaceflight have released several updates, describing their initial experience in weightlessness as well as releasing some images of themselves inside the Resilience capsule.

First, on April 1, 2025 the mission commander, Chun Wang, the billionaire who paid for the flight, posted a tweet describing how all four crew members experienced space sickness the first day in orbit.

The first few hours in microgravity weren’t exactly comfortable. Space motion sickness hit all of us—we felt nauseous and ended up vomiting a couple of times. It felt different from motion sickness in a car or at sea. You could still read on your iPad without making it worse. But even a small sip of water could upset your stomach and trigger vomiting.

Things however quickly settled down, allowing them to open the nose cone so that they could see out the large cupola window. They released the first images of the Antarctic, and followed soon after with the first images of themselves inside Resilience. The picture to the right, taken by Wang, shows is three crewmates, Jannicke Mikkelsen, Rabea Rogge, and Eric Philips clearly now enjoying the experience of weightlessness.

Still no word on a return date. The mission was initially supposed to last 3 to 5 days. We are now on day three, with no indications of a planned return date.

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Fram2 passengers take their first pictures of Earth’s polar regions

10:10 am

The Arctic as seen from Fram2

SpaceX yesterday released a short video of the first pictures of the Earth’s polar regions taken by its Fram2 passengers on the capsule Resilience.

The picture to the right is a screen capture from that film, looking out the capsule’s large cupola window in its nose. The capsule’s nosecone can be seen at the bottom, having hinged sideways out of the way during orbital operations.

The tweet provided little information about the images. For example, it did not say which pole was imaged. Since the ground and ice below is dark, we are likely looking at the north pole, which at this time of year is mostly in shadow. You can see what looks like the edge of the ice pack, partly hidden by clouds.

The flight is scheduled to last from three to five days, and is presently in its second day. Not much information from the crew in orbit has at this point been released. I suspect they are simply enjoying their experience in private, since they are not obligated to share it with the world.

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SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites; China launches test internet satellite

8:39 am

SpaceX yesterday successfully placed 28 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Thank you from several readers for letting me know that I missed it. This was the company’s first of two launches yesterday, the second of which was the Fram2 manned mission. I was so focused on that I missed the first.

The first stage completed its seventeenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

China in turn today launched a satellite to test new technology for providing the internet from orbit, its Long March 2D rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in China’s northwest. Little information was released about the satellite, and no information was released about where the rocket’s lower stages — using very toxic hypergolic fuels — crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

37 SpaceX
17 China
5 Rocket Lab
4 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 37 to 30.

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NASA approves SpaceX’s Starship to bid for some launch contracts

9:48 pm

NASA yesterday announced that it has added SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy rocket to its launch services program, thereby allowing the company to bid that rocket for some launch contracts.

The NLS II contracts are multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, with an ordering period through June 2030 and an overall period of performance through December 2032. The contracts include an on-ramp provision that provides an opportunity annually for new launch service providers to add their launch service on an NLS II contract and compete for future missions and allows existing contractors to introduce launch services not currently on their NLS II contracts.

This change is mostly bureaucratic in nature. SpaceX has not won a Starship launch contract from NASA. It has only been given the opportunity to bid that rocket in the future.

What is significant about this announcement is the change it signals in the way NASA’s bureaucracy functions. In the past these service contracts at NASA (and at the Pentagon) were routinely used to limit who could bid. NASA had to approve your company, and if it decided you weren’t good enough, or maybe didn’t like your politics, or possibly you weren’t one of the old-time big space companies the bureaucrats were buddies with, you stood no chance of getting in the game. For example, SpaceX had to sue the military when it would only allow ULA to bid while blocking any and all competitors.

These limits never made any sense. The best thing any customer can do is consider the products of as many businesses as possible, in order to get the best deal.

NASA decision here suggests its bureaucracy and management is loosening things up. Starship/Superheavy is not yet ready to put payloads in orbit, but this decision makes it possible for it to begin doing so, as soon as possible. No need to wait until it is 100% operational. NASA can now consider using it as a cheap way to launch some high risk missions during the testing period.

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Next SpaceX commercial manned flight set to launch on March 31, 2025

5:36 pm

The next SpaceX manned commercial spaceflight, dubbed Fram2, is now targeting a 9:47 pm (Eastern) launch on March 31, 2025 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying four private astronauts on their first flight, using SpaceX’s Resilience manned capsule on its fourth flight.

The crew consists of Malta resident Chun Wang, Vehicle Commander Jannicke Mikkelsen, Pilot Rabea Rogge and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Eric Philips. All four of them will fly to space for the first time on this mission that is being funded by Wang for an undisclosed amount.

I have embedded the Space Affairs live stream below. This will be the third straight private commercial flight for Resilience. Since its first flight for NASA to ISS in 2020, it has flown two missions paid for by Jared Isaacman, with the second mission including the first spacewalk by a private citizen.

This mission will break new exploration ground, as it will be the first manned mission to fly a polar orbit taking humans above both the north and south poles. All other human missions, by the U.S., Russia, and China, have always flown a range of orbits over the Earth’s equatorial regions. Because of this orbit, Wang named the mission Fram2 in honor of Fridtjof Nansen’s Fram ship that explored the north pole region and its icecap from 1893 to 1896.

As always, it is important in watching this launch to remember that there is no government employee involved anywhere. This mission is entirely private, run by a private company for profit, and flown by a customer who had the cash to pay for it.
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Two more launches today

11:27 pm

Since this morning’s launch by Rocket Lab, there have been two more launches. First, SpaceX placed another 27 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage completed its 24th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. This is presently SpaceX’s second most used booster, exceeded only by one that has flown 26 times.

Next China launched a communications satellite for use by its space station and other government space missions, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from Xichang spaceport in southwest China. No word on where the rocket’s core stage and four side boosters, all using very toxic hypergolic fuel crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

35 SpaceX
15 China
5 Rocket Lab
4 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successfully launches, 35 to 27.

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SpaceX launches reconnaissance satellite for National Reconnaissance Office

11:21 am

SpaceX today successfully placed a classified reconnaissance payload into orbit for National Reconnaissance Office, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The first stage completed its second flight, landing back at Cape Canaveral.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

34 SpaceX
14 China
4 Russia
4 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successfully launches, 34 to 25.

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China and SpaceX complete launches

9:03 am

Two more launches since yesterday. First, SpaceX successfully launched a National Reconnaissance Office classified surveillance satellite, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off shortly before midnight from Vandenberg in California.

The first stage not only completed its fourth flight, landing back at Vandenberg, it did so setting a new record for the shortest turnaround from its previous flight, only ten days previously. The fairings completed their fourth and seventh flights respectively.

China then followed, with its pseudo-company Galactic Energy placing six weather satellites into orbit, its solid-fueled Ceres-1 rocket lifting off from the Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China. China’s state run press provided no information on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China. This was the second launch for Galactic Energy this week, and the nineteenth overall, making it the most successful Chinese pseudo-company. That its rocket is solid-fueled tells us that it is based on missile technology, which also tells us that the company is not really an independent company as we conceive it in the west, but closely controlled and supervised by China’s military.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

33 SpaceX
14 China
4 Russia
4 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successfully launches, 33 to 25.

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Freedom capsule splashes down successfully

3:26 pm

SpaceX’s Freedom capsule has successfully splashed down off the coast of Florida, and has now been fished out of the water.

UPDATE: All four astronauts have now exited the capsule.

In watching the live stream, it is important to once again note that no one involved in this recovery operation is a government employee. The entire operation is being run by SpaceX, a private American company doing this work for profit.

It will take a bit more time before the astronauts come out of the capsule, as they must do some leak checks to make sure everything is safe.

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SpaceX launches 23 more Starlink satellites, including 13 with phone-to-satellite capabilities

2:54 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched another 23 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

The first stage completed its nineteenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

32 SpaceX
13 China
4 Russia
4 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successfully launches, 32 to 24.

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SpaceX’s manned Freedom capsule has undocked with ISS with its crew of four

12:39 am

SpaceX’s manned Freedom capsule tonight undocked with ISS, carrying with it the two astronauts that launched with it in September as well as the two astronauts that launched on Boeing’s Starliner capsule in June.

At 1:05 a.m. EDT Tuesday, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov undocked from the space-facing port of International Space Station’s Harmony module aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Splashdown is scheduled for 5:57 pm (Eastern) March 18, 2025 off the coast of Florida. I have embedded the NASA live stream below.

Normally the transfer of control of the station from the old crew to the new one takes about a week. In this case NASA cut that transfer time to only three days because of the political desire to get the Starliner astronauts home more quickly. The irony is that NASA decided to leave them up there for almost seven months more than planned in order to disturb its normal ISS launch and crew schedule as little as possible. This effort now to shorten their spaceflight by a few measly days seems quite trivial in comparison.
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Four more launches, two by SpaceX, following manned launch

10:33 am

Following SpaceX’s successfully launch of four astronauts to ISS yesterday afternoon, the launch industry upped the pace by completing four more launches in the next few hours, two by SpaceX, one by Rocket Lab, and one by China.

Beginning with SpaceX, it first launched another one of its Transporter missions, carrying about three dozen smallsat payloads, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg. The first stage completed its thirteenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The two fairings completed their eighth and eleventh flights respectively.

Five hours later the company launched another 23 Starlink satellites, the Falcon 9 lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida, with the first stage completing its eighteenth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Rocket Lab meanwhile successfully placed the first of eight commercial radar satellites into orbit for the Japanese satellite company iQPS, its Electron rocket launching from one of its two launchpads in New Zealand.

China in turn used its Long March 2D rocket to place two satellites into orbit, lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China. Its state-run press provided little information about either satellite. Nor did it provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages — using very toxic hypergolic fuel — crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

31 SpaceX
12 China
3 Russia
3 Rocket Lab

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successfully launches, 31 to 22.

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SpaceX launches new crew to ISS

10:16 pm

Falcon 9 first stage barreling home to Florida
Falcon 9 first stage barreling home to Florida tonight.

After a scrub two days ago due to a ground equipment issue, SpaceX tonight successfully launched a new crew of four to ISS, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Kennedy in Florida.

The Dragon capsule is Endurance, on its fourth flight. The first stage completed its third flight, landing back in Florida.

This launch will allow the two-person crews launched by Boeing’s Starliner capsule in June and SpaceX’s Freedom capsule in September to come back home on Freedom.

When it was decided not to allow the Starliner astronauts to come home on Starliner because of thruster issues on the capsule, NASA decided to keep its ISS launch schedule as normal as possible, thus forcing that crew to complete a mission of about eight months, with a planned return in February 2025. Initially their Starliner mission was expected to last anywhere from two weeks to two months-plus, depending on how well Starliner functioned while docked to ISS.
» Read more

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Pick a perfect March Madness bracket and SpaceX will award you a trip to Mars

10:55 am

College basketball fans now have a second motivation for predicting perfectly the team results during the March NCAA championship finals: SpaceX will award a perfect bracket a trip to Mars.

In a post from X’s business account, the platform officially announced their bracket challenge, partnered with their sponsor Uber Eats, announcing that anyone with a perfect bracket would win a trip to Mars as a part of the SpaceX program.

Those who are at least 18 years old and submit their bracket on X between March 16, after the CBS Selection Show, and the first game of the Round of 64 on March 20 will be eligible for the prize.

For those who don’t wish to travel to Mars, anyone who fills out a perfect bracket in the challenge could alternatively accept a prize of $250,000 and additional perks involved with the SpaceX program. This includes 1 year of free residential Starlink service, the chance to train like a SpaceX astronaut for a day, an opportunity to send a personal item of choice to space on a Falcon 9 launch, VIP viewing of a Starship launch.

If no one picks a perfect bracket (which is normally the case) a $100,000 prize was be awarded to the best non-perfect bracket.

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SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites but scrubs manned Dragon launch

8:37 am

SpaceX yesterday attempted two launches from its Florida launchpads, but only got one off. First the company placed another 21 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral. The first stage completed its 22nd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

In the second launch from the Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX had to scrub the launch because of a problem with the hydraulic system operating a support clamp arm. The flight is now rescheduled for no earlier than tomorrow at 7:03 pm (Eastern).

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

28 SpaceX
11 China
3 Russia
2 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world, including American companies, in total launches, 28 to 20.

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SpaceX launches NASA space telescope plus four solar satellites; China launches 18 communication satellites

8:43 am

Two launches to report: First, China yesterday successfully completed its first Long March 8 launch from its new launchpad at its coastal Wenchang spaceport, placing 18 satellites for SpaceSail internet constellation, the fifth group so far launched.

China’s state run press noted that the launchpad is designed to allow the Long March 8 rocket to launch every seven days, a pace needed to place these giant Chinese satellite constellations into orbit.

Next, in the early morning hours today SpaceX successfully launched two different NASA science missions, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

The prime payload was SPHEREx, a space telescope designed to make an all-sky survey. The secondary payload was PUNCH, four satellites forming a constellation to study the Sun.

The rocket’s first stage completed its third flight, landing back at Vandenberg.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

27 SpaceX
11 China
3 Russia
2 Rocket Lab

As happened last year, SpaceX handily leads the rest of the world, including American companies, in total launches, 27 to 20. This lead will be extended tonight should the company’s next manned Dragon launch to ISS go off as planned.

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SpaceX officials provide cause of loss Falcon 9 first stage after successful landing

9:45 am

Damaged Falcon 9 booster laying on its side on drone ship as it returns to port
The damaged Falcon 9 booster laying on its side
on its drone ship as it returns to port.

At a press conference yesterday, SpaceX officials outlined the results of its investigation into the loss of Falcon 9 first stage when it fell over on its drone ship shortly after a successful landing.

Speaking at a news conference following a flight readiness review for the Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station, Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of Build and Flight Reliability at SpaceX, said about 85 seconds into the launch of the Starlink 12-20 mission, there was a fuel leak in the first stage booster, tail number B1086, and kerosene sprayed onto a hot component of the engine. He said that caused it to vaporize and become flammable.

Because there wasn’t enough oxygen to interact with the leaked fuel, it didn’t catch fire during the ascent, he said. But about 45 seconds after B1086 landed on their droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ there was enough oxygen available to get into the engine compartment and a fire broke out. “It subsequently blew out the barrel panel on the side of the rocket, just like it was designed to. The fire was all contained in the engine compartment,” Gerstenmaier said. “Even if we would’ve had a problem during ascent, this shows that the fire and the damage would be contained in just a single engine out, which still allows us to accomplish the entire mission.”

The company is still working to determine the cause of the leak itself.

Though the article and video at the link make a big deal about the FAA grounding SpaceX’s Falcon 9 fleet, the agency’s actions here were quite trivial compared to its behavior when Biden was president. It grounded the fleet for only a few days, while SpaceX did its initial investigation, and then immediately accepted the above conclusions from SpaceX and lifted the grounding, even though the company has not yet determined the leak’s cause.

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