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First post updated.

It seems they fixed whatever the issue was. https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2022/06/25/cygnus-cargo-craft-fires-engine-for-limited-station-reboost/

Capstone launch upcoming.

Psyche will not be launched this year. So that opens a slot for someone else this year. https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/06/nasas-psyche-mission-wont-be-ready-for-launch-this-year/

https://spacenews.com/oneweb-to-resume-launches-in-fourth-quarter/

An article about ULA struggling to stay relevant. Not bad considering Bezos owns The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/22/ula-boeing-lockheed-martin-tory-bruno/

Delayed.

SpaceX is going after Dish Network. I doubt SpaceX is lying about the issues involved. https://spacenews.com/spacex-warns-5g-plan-would-deny-starlink-to-most-americans/

NASA funded from Congressional allocated funds for the specific purpose of SLS. "So: "Here's the money - and here is where you will spend it."

SpaceX specifically tumbles it to cause it to break up better.

I definitely didn't invest in SpaceX. It's not publicly traded. It can be done but not in the regular traditional way. I believe Galileo from Hyperchange managed to get in by becoming a LLC or something like that. I just invest in very traditional ways and buy shares of a company I hope and...

Sadly, Astra had a loss just before reaching orbital velocity. Just under eight minutes into the launch.

Launch Date: June 29 Launch Window: 5:04pm EDT (2:04pm PDT, 21:04 UTC) Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida Core Booster Recovery: ASDS - ASOG Booster: B1073.2 Fairings: TBD Mass: 3,500kg (7715 lbs) Orbit: GTO Yearly Launch Number: 27th A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will...

Pushed out to NET July 11.

Even Elon is skeptical the first one will reach orbit. The timing for the second one is about right for the guesses.

Launch Date: July 7 Launch Window: Launch site: LC-39A, NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida Core Booster Recovery: ASDS - ASOG Booster: B1058.13 Fairings: Reused Mass: 53 satellites - 15.6 tonnes Orbit: LEO Yearly Launch Number: 28th A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the 49th group of...

Second stage emitting it's latent fuel load before reentry. Picture taken in New Zealand:

Tesla did not survive by an Obama era bailout. The ATVM loan was a Bush Administration program. It was certainly helpful but far from proof that Tesla would have failed. Tesla had already gone public before they got the loan. One million as a starting point seems pretty reasonable. One...

Article about it. https://spacenews.com/cargo-dragon-mission-postponed-to-investigate-potential-propellant-leak/

Delays are coming.

I love how she is on board with Elon's vision with Starship and Super Heavy. It's all about the company's goal of making life multi-planetary. She, like Elon, realizes that some of what they intend to achieve will take longer than her lifetime. And as much as the media and some politicians...

Which is what happened to F9. It was stretched between V1.0, V1.1, and V1.2 FT. Block 5 didn't change the size but it did change the internal materials and external heat shielding. I expect a lot of similar things to happen with Starship and SH. I expect a similar 5 to 10 year process of...

Moderator personal note: I am on vacation for a couple weeks. I think I have all the potential launches lined up. The data will be off if anything changes or there is a delay. Upcoming are: June 8: Nilesat 301 - this one June 10: CRS-25 June 15: Starlink 4-19 June 18: SARah 1 (West Coast RTLS)

Weather is good.

Yikes! You walked into a buzzsaw there. ...You should really define what "driving" is... LOL What about "self"? "Full" has too many definitions. Does eating a meal before you activate it count? They sure sucked the playful fun out of it.

That gets SpaceX up to Crew 14. Six on the original contract, three added last year, and five more with this contract makes fourteen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Crew_Program The wording in the statement is pretty clear that NASA has lots of confidence in SpaceX and expects that...

They are assuming that ULA knows what they are doing. But yes. No question it isn't a fair playing field. Just wait until Super Heavy/Starship changes the whole game....

Favoritism. Even though it isn't supposed to happen, military procurement people go to work at Boeing or Lockheed after getting out. On a less cynical note, these contracts are begun years ahead of when they are finalized. So SpaceX wasn't quite the powerhouse superstar a few years back...

https://spacenews.com/space-force-identifies-national-security-launches-funded-in-2022-and-2023/

You have to wonder what Elon and SpaceX would come up with if they made cleaning up LEO a priority. The government would probably spend $10 to $20 billion just to come up with some paper solution. Elon/SpaceX could envision something great in a day and take a year or two to implement it.

It does make sense. It's used on the West Coast and the timing is right.

New information has arrived. So this will end up being a traditional GTO launch using one of the remaining regular boosters in the stable: B1062. The fate of B1049 remains to be seen or discovered.

Launch Date: June 18 Launch Window: 7:19am PDT (10:19am EDT, 14:19 UTC) Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA Core Booster Recovery: RTLS (unless the rideshare is too heavy to allow this) Booster: B1071.3 Fairings: Reused? Mass: 2200 kg (SARah 1) Orbit: SSO Yearly Launch Number...

Launch Date: June 17 Launch Window: 12:08:50pm EDT (9:08:50pm PDT, 16:08:50 UTC) Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida Core Booster Recovery: ASDS - ASOG Booster: B1060.13 Fairings: Reused Mass: 53 satellites - 15.6 tonnes Orbit: LEO Yearly Launch Number: 25th A SpaceX Falcon 9...

Commercial Crew:

https://spacenews.com/spacex-replacing-heat-shield-on-upcoming-crew-dragon-mission-after-failed-test/

Back on track:

I think it is both. The light payload is going for a direct injection into GEO from what I'm reading. I'm leaving the GTO on the first post until I get confirmation. If true, I'm sure they paid extra to get the direct injection and sacrificing a possibly reusable booster.

Another really spectacular launch, landing, and great images of a lot of payload being deployed. https://everydayastronaut.com/falcon-9-block-5-transporter-5-dedicated-sso-rideshare/

https://spacenews.com/nasa-plans-to-make-starliner-crew-assignments-this-summer/

https://spacenews.com/nasa-plans-early-june-rollout-of-sls-for-next-countdown-test/

Starliner will not launch on Vulcan at all, unless things change drastically. Primarily because Vulcan will not be human rated. ULA will need to drop a ton of money on Vulcan to get it human rated. My previous post with the Space News article confirms this.

https://spacenews.com/starliner-launches-to-remain-on-atlas-5/

Launch Date: June 8 Launch Window: 5:03pm EDT (2:03pm PDT, 21:03 UTC) Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida Core Booster Recovery: ASDS - JRTI Booster: B1062.7 Fairings: Reused Mass: 4100 kg Orbit: GTO Yearly Launch Number: 23rd A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch...

Launch Date: June 10 Launch Window: 10:22am EDT (07:22am PDT, 14:22 UTC) Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida Booster Recovery: ASDS Booster Type: B1067.5 Orbit: ISS in LEO Mass: 9,525 kg (20,999 lb) for Dragon (C208 - 3rd use) Dragon Return - TBD Yearly Launch Number: 24th A...

The legs have the crush cores and have been reasonably crushed from time to time. Never too bad on the landing itself. There have been a number of times the booster has arrived at port with a serious lean. Most of those have been due to rough weather in the transport back to port. The only...