May 10, 2021

Bravo to SpaceX -- Successful Starship SN15 Landing

Following previous failures to successfully land prototypes of the Starship spacecraft, SN-15 scored a 100% success in completing the complex flight profile and landing gracefully on the pad. 

This is an important landmark towards making Starship a reliable and cost-effective spacecraft for orbital, point-to-point and lunar missions, as well as to take the first astronauts to Mars.

We may see SN-15 being used again and again to further advance the development.  

China Violated Their Own Promises with Long March 5B Crash

China's second reckless abandonment of Long March (LM) 5B boosters for uncontrolled reentry violated their own 2016 "White Paper on China’s space activities" because the 5B has no deorbit thruster, so every past and future 5B will threaten lives and property on earth.

"9. Space debris. China has improved the monitoring and mitigation of and early warning and protection against space debris... China has also made breakthroughs in protection design technologies, applying them to the protection projects of spacecraft against space debris. In addition, all Long March carrier rockets have upper stage passivation, and discarded spacecraft are moved out of orbit to protect the space environment."

http://english.gov.cn/archive/white_paper/2016/12/28/content_281475527159496.htm