SpaceX grinds satellite deployment.

They launched Falcon 9 to put another sixty satellites in orbit for SpaceX’s full-coverage internet Starlink project. Fun fact: there’s a thousand up there by now (out of a projected forty thousand). Another fun fact: that’s the ninth time the company used that booster.

I may be happier about this than the ongoing work on a no-fooling rocketship. The tests of their heavy rockets are genuinely exciting and fascinating, yes. No argument there. But this stuff with the Falcons is what’s going to end up making space a hell of a lot cheaper to exploit. And I’m very happy that somebody’s doing the tedious work involved.

They think they’ve figured out why SpaceX’s Falcon 9 blew up on the pad.

Short version: big leak in the cyrogenic helium system apparently lead to a Big Boom with the liquid oxygen. And I mean big:

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what You Will Not Go To Space Today looks like.

Tweet of the Day, @SpaceX Landed Their Falcon 9 First Stage Successfully edition.

Let me be honest: I didn’t do anything nearly this awesome today. But that’s OK. It’s not always about me.