SpaceX Wows With a Double Header of Final 2023 Rocket Launches

SpaceX on Thursday launched two rockets into orbit, only three hours apart, bringing its total number of launches to 98 in 2023. Space.com reports: The first SpaceX mission to take to the skies Thursday (Dec. 28) was a Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the U.S. military's secretive X-37B space plane, designed mission USSF-52. That blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 p.m. EST (0107 GMT on Dec. 29). This marked the second Falcon Heavy flight of 2023. Second up on the launch docket for Thursday, hours later, was a Falcon 9 liftoff carrying 23 SpaceX Starlink units to low Earth orbit from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This launch took place at 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 GMT on Dec. 29). This was SpaceX's 98th and final launch of 2023, and the 96th flight for a Falcon 9 rocket this year.

SpaceX's 97th launch overall for this year marked the seventh flight for X-37B, but the first time the space plane hitched a lift atop a Falcon Heavy rocket. The X-37B/Falcon Heavy launch had been scrubbed several times previously due to bad weather and an issue with ground equipment. The launch of 23 Starlink broadband satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida that capped off 2023 was also the 96th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket during this year. SpaceX's next launch is targeted for Jan. 2, 2024 and will see a further 21 Starlink satellites lift to orbit to join the over 5,500 internet supplying units currently orbiting Earth.

Woot

[christoban]

Quite the achievement!

Re:

[saloomy]

He is for more free speech than less. Pretty sure the Musk haters are either facists or jealous category (or short his stock for financial gain). Give his achievements, it's pretty irrational to consider him a fraud or fake at this point. We just paid him to get our top secret military plain into orbit, and get our astronauts to space. To call him a NAZI, is also dumb. NAZIs persecuted their political opponents and used the arm of the law to jail dissenters. He is clearly not that.

But fascists will be fa

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[davide marney]

Kick a*s and launch rockets!

Where's the Elon Musk snark

[Mirnotoriety]

Where's the Elon Musk snark?

Re: Where's the Elon Musk snark

[pezpunk]

*this story

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[sinij]

Elon Musk is an open, raging bigot and a sack of human trash in every possible way. Not sure what that has to do with his story.

While your are only a political troll, Elon also is a billionaire and manages multiple successful companies, including leading private rocket company. So keep this in mind while flaming Musk, you are not his equal.

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[saloomy]

He is either a fascist angry that Musk is providing a voice to people that disagree with him (a mortal sin in the eyes of a fascist), or just jealous that Musk is undeniably more intelligent, or wealthier.

Either way, Pezpunk is a shit-for-brains troll.

Re: Where's the Elon Musk snark

[sherrysj]

The whole world needs better oligarchs, and for Musk in particular to focus on his societal improvement businesses and not giving aid and comfort to fascists. Unfortunately for all of us, if Musk read Marcus Aurelius he certainly didnâ(TM)t take him to heart, with glimpses of Caligula slipping through.

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[drinkypoo]

I can't speak for anyone else, but.

Putting rockets into space and advancing rocket technology is something I approve of that Elon does with his money.

Why would I hate on him for doing what I want him to do, when he does so many things that are actually worthy of mockery?

Don't forget climate change

[Okian Warrior]

I can't speak for anyone else, but.

Putting rockets into space and advancing rocket technology is something I approve of that Elon does with his money.

Why would I hate on him for doing what I want him to do, when he does so many things that are actually worthy of mockery?

I particularly don't hate him for doing something about climate change.

Tesla is currently shipping at a rate of about 2m EVs a year (slope of the curve, with about 1m delivered this year [visualcapitalist.com]) and our current electrical grid is about 40% renewables, so that alone will make a *huge* dent in our carbon footprint.

And note that starlink is supplying internet access to Ukraine (for free, no less) and has the ability to bring the internet to lots of poor countries around the globe. Access to high quality education and communication in poor African countries, and other countries around the world, will bring huge humanitarian benefits.

I've never understood the snark against Musk from the left; I always thought that his actions to address the climate change emergency would have trumped any negative framing.

Then again, I've never understood the left much at all.

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[saloomy]

See, it's this kind of sad shit that really makes me question why people have beliefs without knowing. Musk kept starlink off in Crimea (which the Ukrainians wanted to use to blow up the Black Sea fleet) because that is observed by the US to be a part of Russia. Russia is all blacked out for Starlink because of US sanctions. IF Musk turned it on, he would have been in violation of US sanctions. A US company, subject to US law, can not provide service in Russia today. The only one with authority to overrule

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[sinij]

He's on record multiple times saying he wants Ukraine to surrender.

This is absolutely a lie. Musk points to evident reality that Ukraine has to negotiate with Russia to end this war. The only question is how many will die before that happens.

Ukraine is not on a path to win. 2 years into this war and Russia got its war production going, bypassed sanctions, and established conscription. Meanwhile Ukraine still fully dependent for basic operational needs on the NATO help.

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[saloomy]

Youre a fucking dumbass. Read, dipshit: https://www.federalregister.go... [federalregister.gov]
The US has had Crimea under sanctions since Obama declared it in an executive order in 2014. It is still in place. It basically means you cant conduct business there as an American.

See, this is what I mean. Shit for brains dumbasses make statement like this that are patently false and easy to look up. Do I think that the US thinks Crimea is a part of Russia? No. I didnt say that either. Having shit for brains must be murder on yo

Re: Don't forget climate change

[SuperDre]

It's not blocked in places where it might hurt, it's blocked in places where it doesn't have a license to broadcast. People think Musk is anti Ukraine and pro russian, but he just abides by the international laws. It's not Musk his fault if Ukraine uses hardware that might rely on internetservice outside the area the signal is allowed. He also could have done just nothing, so Ukraine would have to rely on even worse services within their own border.

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[jaa101]

It's not blocked in places where it might hurt, it's blocked in places where it doesn't have a license to broadcast.

Are you saying that Ukraine won't give Starlink a licence to operate over Crimea? Most, if not all, of the peninsula is in range of Starlink coverage based on ground stations in territory under the control of Ukraine.

Re: Don't forget climate change

[SuperDre]

Crimea is russian territory for quite a while already. So if the russians don't allow SpaceX to operate there, SpaceX has to abide by that. If they do operate there it might be seen as an act if war and gives Russia every right to start shouting down those satellites operating above russian territory.

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[jaa101]

Crimea is russian territory for quite a while already.

SpaceX is a US company. The US Department of State says "the United States does not and never will recognize Russia’s purported annexation of the peninsula. Crimea is Ukraine. [state.gov]" So for SpaceX, legally, Crimea is Ukrainian territory.

Of course Russia controls the ground there but, as I said, that doesn't prevent Starlink from providing service unless Russia can knock out all the ground stations within hundreds of miles or shoot down the satellites. A lot of them; in 2023 SpaceX launched 1984 Starlink

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[SuperDre]

You really are stupid as fuck aren't you. There are still international laws that prevent SpaceX from operating in Crimea. Because you don't like the Russians doesn't automatically mean you can do whatever you want. Yeah I know the americans think they can do whatever and whenever they want in the rest of the world to whomever they want, but reality is different. And let's face it, the russians have just as much cause to be in the east of Ukrain as the US had in Iraq, hell even more, as it was the people of

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[drinkypoo]

I've never understood the snark against Musk from the left; I always thought that his actions to address the climate change emergency would have trumped any negative framing.

Elon giveth with one hand (Tesla) and taketh with the other (attacking rail with false promises about developing his own public transportation system, hyperloop.) You're pretending one of those things didn't happen. Come to the real world, we have facts, and logic.

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[Mirnotoriety]

> Elon giveth with one hand (Tesla) and taketh with the other (attacking rail with false promises about developing his own public transportation system, hyperloop.) You're pretending one of those things didn't happen. Come to the real world, we have facts, and logic.

We'll need Hyperloop when the atmosphere becomes unbreathable.

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[greytree]

I want Ukraine to win, Russia winning would encourage the disgusting dictators of the world, and the free world must fund Ukraine's fight.

But Musk is correct when he says it is currently pointless trench warfare, throwing away lives ( Russian and Ukrainian ) for metres of land.
And he is a correct that there is a risk of it escalating to nuclear attacks.

I think his peace plans are wrong, and I think we should fund Ukraine so they can fight properly and win back their land.

But Musk is not a "Putin-loving fasc

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[sinij]

More so, Musk is entirely correct in reminding everyone that Russia has enough nukes to end all of us. So no matter how much we dislike Putin, we are very limited in what we can do to help Ukraine. Escalation to the point of direct engagement with Russian troops is absolutely not in the interest of US, as such path could lead to an all out nuclear war. Even if limited to Ukrainian territory (and why would it), free Ukraine that is also a radioactive wasteland is not a positive outcome.

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[saloomy]

That may be your opinion, but most people dont have Japanese style "every one of us shall die" mentality. So no, I am sure most people would rather be Russian than 6 ft deep.

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[sinij]

There is no doubt that living under Putin is not a desirable outcome for anyone. However, the reality of the situation is that the West is not going to directly engage in a military conflict with Russia over Ukraine, because nukes. At the same time, Ukraine is not up to the task of defeating Russia on its own. This likely means this conflict will drag on until Putin dies of old age, which may be decades or until there are no Ukrainians left willing to fight.

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[sinij]

Now, if they can only get rid of the Putin-loving fascist wanna-be running the company...

While there is no way to know for sure, it is likely that without Musk there would be no achievements like this. You only have to look at Bezos's Blue Origin to see the difference between a very good packaged goods manager and Musk. That is the difference between really good and exceptional, and if exceptional comes with some baggage - you ought to shrug and ignore it.

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[crow]

There's a fair argument to be made that Musk's superpower is to sell a dream as reality, and to do it so well that he actually gets enough investment money and really smart engineers to make it happen. But to do so, he does have to have a good level of engineering competence to recognize that the dream is really possible. He's sort of a Walt Disney, only with engineering instead of imagineering.

Now about the transphobic, antisemitic, and generally sociopathic behavior, well, that rather speaks for itself

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[greytree]

All those epithets coming from the demented woke just make him more of a centrist in the eyes of normal fucking people who don't believe women have penises or any of the other mad woke shite.

BOOKS about Elon Musk

[Futurepower(R)]

Book about Elon Musk: Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future [amazon.com]. The 39,719 global ratings are 4.6 out of 5. Published January 24, 2017

Another book about Elon Musk: Elon Musk [amazon.com]. The 9,421 global ratings are 4.7 out of 5. Published September 12, 2023

I've read part of the 2nd one. At present, I haven't seen enough information about why Elon Musk can be so much more successful than other people.

Like U.S. president Joe Biden, Elon Musk is sometimes sloppy when he talks publicly. Bu

cup holders

[LifesABeach]

curious.
how many