In 2021, Musk's SpaceX company conducted a total of 32 space launches, almost the sum of all other countries except China and the United States, accounting for about 63% of the 51 launches of the United States in the whole year. These 32 launches, all created by the Falcon 9 Block5 recyclable rocket, have a 100% launch success rate.
This year, SpaceX successfully conducted 32 orbital-level launches
Falcon 9 launch vehicle
Many people are concerned about how many spacecraft have been sent into space by musk's 32 launches of the Falcon 9. According to a small number of statistics, there are a total of 1217 satellites, which is almost 1/6 of the 7070 satellites in the world that have remained in the earth's orbit for so many years, and 989 of them are "Starlink" satellites. So far, the number of Satellite Chain satellites in orbit has exceeded 2,000.
989 are Starlink moons
And then there's that combination
It is worth mentioning that on January 24, 2021, a Falcon 9 Block5 rocket sent 143 satellites into orbit at a time, and it was in a sun-synchronous orbit, breaking the record of "one arrow and 104 stars" set by India in 2017, creating a new peak in the number of satellites launched by human spaceflight. The launch includes 10 of SpaceX's own Starlink satellites, 48 of Planetary Lab's Flock 4s satellites and 36 of Swarm Technologies' Space Bee small satellites.
Falcon 9 set a new record of 143 stars in one shot
A magnificent moment for the Falcon 9 launch
Twilight phenomenon at the time of Falcon 9 launch
More notably, in 2021, SpaceX launched six spacecraft, namely the April 23 Crew Dragon 2 spacecraft, the June 2 Cargo Dragon CRS-22, the August 29 Cargo Dragon CRS-23, the September 16 Inspiration 4 Space Tourism Dragon spacecraft, the November 11 Crew Dragon 3 spacecraft, and the December 21 Cargo Dragon CRS-24.
Inspiration 4 is the first all-civilian pure play tour spaceship
In contrast, other U.S. space teams launched only 2 Cygnus cargo spacecraft in 2021, while Russia launched 1 experimental module, 1 docking module, 3 Soyuz manned spacecraft and 3 Progressive cargo spacecraft. China's achievements are 1 core cabin, 2 "Shenzhou" manned spacecraft and 2 "Tianzhou" cargo spacecraft. Statistically, in 2021, the world has launched 18 spacecraft and 4 suborbital spacecraft, which is a huge progress in the space exploration of all mankind.
Russia's results are also good
But of all these launches, the most sci-fi is that on November 24, SpaceX launched NASA's DART asteroid interceptor with a Falcon 9 launch vehicle to a double asteroid system 483.6 million kilometers away. This is the first time that humans have intercepted and tested an asteroid close to Earth to avoid repeating the mistakes of the dinosaurs, and it sounds like more science fiction, more science fiction.
DART was mankind's first asteroid test interceptor
In this sci-fi launch, Falcon 9 also sent an Italian asteroid flyby imaging cubesat into space at the same time, in addition, a secret military satellite of the US Air Force also "hitchhiked" into the Earth's orbit. If you count this military satellite, SpaceX's number of satellite launches this year should be 1218, because the United States is not transparent in this area, so there is no way to carry out detailed statistics, the actual number is only a lot more.
In fact, the number of satellites launched is only a lot more
Falcon 9 booster
Falcon 9 liftoff
Of course, in 2021, other U.S. space teams are not idle, they launched a total of 80 satellites, 2 cargo ships, but 3 of them failed to launch, 18 satellites failed to enter orbit normally. Russia has launched 23 launches this year, sending a total of 2 capsules, 6 spacecraft and 295 satellites into orbit.
Firefly alpha exploding in the air
Rocket-3 for lateral drift
Compared with the number of rockets and satellites launched, the other two report cards handed over by SpaceX in 2021 are more noteworthy. The first is the 11th successful launch and recovery of the Falcon 9 rocket, numbered B1051, and the 100th recovery of the entire "Falcon" series of rockets, which means that the recyclable reusable rocket is fully mature. The second is the number of launched and orbiting "Starlink" satellites, more than 2,000, a project that many see as a "big flicker", and Musk and SpaceX are turning them into reality.
Falcon's booster recovery is too great
100th recycling