Here is a list of some active rocket companies.
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The charts made me look something up: whether any of SpaceX’s rockets has ever achieved actual reusability, which is the main way Musk has promised to reduce costs. It turns out that exactly one specific rocket has been reused 24 times since it first launched in 2021. Not one model. One specific rocket, the B1067 booster.
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/308606/20241205/spacex-falcon-9-flies-24-times-successfully-demonstrating-reusability-now-eyeing-25th-flight.htm
Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Starship will soon attempt its 8th attempt to achieve LEO without exploding soon after launch. It’s not even its final configuration, which will be wider, not just taller as the last 3 iterations have been.
Prediction: NASA will use SLS and Artemis to get to the Moon. not Starship. https://www.flyingmag.com/modern/how-artemis-will-land-humans-on-the-moon/
Musk’s imploding obsession with DOGE and politics in general, and his posting on X, have fatally undermined his attention span with SpaceX and Tesla, both of which are losing value by the week, perhaps permanently.
Vehicle Type Version Flights
B1067 Falcon Block 5 26
B1063 Falcon Block 5 24
B1071 Falcon Block 5 23
B1062 Falcon Block 5 23
B1061 Falcon Block 5 23
B1069 Falcon Block 5 22
B1076 Falcon Block 5 21
B1073 Falcon Block 5 21
B1060 Falcon Block 5 20
B1077 Falcon Block 5 19
B1058 Falcon Block 5 19
B1078 Falcon Block 5 18
B1080 Falcon Block 5 17
B1075 Falcon Block 5 17
B1051 Falcon Block 5 14
B1081 Falcon Block 5 13
B1082 Falcon Block 5 11
B1049 Falcon Block 5 11
B1083 Falcon Block 5 9
B1052 Falcon Block 5 8
B1085 Falcon Block 5 6
B1065 Falcon Block 5 6
B1064 Falcon Block 5 6
B1059 Falcon Block 5 6
B1086 Falcon Block 5 5
B1048 Falcon Block 5 5
B1088 Falcon Block 5 4
B1056 Falcon Block 5 4
B1046 Falcon Block 5 4
B1053 Falcon Block 5 3
B1047 Falcon Block 5 3
B1092 Falcon Block 5 2
B1090 Falcon Block 5 2
B1045 Falcon Block 4 2
B1043 Falcon Block 4 2
B1041 Falcon Block 4 2
B1040 Falcon Block 4 2
B1039 Falcon Block 4 2
B1038 Falcon Full Thrust 2
B1036 Falcon Full Thrust 2
B1035 Falcon Full Thrust 2
B1032 Falcon Full Thrust 2
B1031 Falcon Full Thrust 2
B1029 Falcon Full Thrust 2
B1025 Falcon v1.1 2
B1023 Falcon v1.1 2
B1021 Falcon v1.1 2
That’s 18 F9 boosters that have flown ten times or more. I think that this demonstrates that it is not a single rocket that has been reused but that the block
5 booster as a group can reasonably be considered reusable.
It is very important to balance where you get your news. SpaceX and Tesla are not losing value by the week.
In addition, Musk’s success comes from who he hires and the goals he gives them. He hires the best people to solve incredibly complex problems: Reusability in Rockets. Profitable Battery Electric Vehicles. Battery Storage for intermittent Solar and Wind generation to stabilize the grid. Tunnel boring at reduced costs and increased speeds. Full self-driving vehicles. The least biased AI that can be built.
I respect your frustration that Musk, a classic liberal, is not towing the line of the progressive left. I believe he has exposed the lie that the progressive left cares about the environment or climate change. If they truly did believe climate change was an existential threat to humanity, they would cheer on Tesla and The Boring company no matter his political involvement. Instead, they cheer the burning of his vehicles and dealerships.
But his involvement with DOGE and reducing government bureaucracy may well become his greatest achievement. The United States and Western European governments were/are drifting towards financial insolvency and military incompetence. If the courts in the U.S. allow Elon to work his management talent magic, he may very well save the U.S., and by extension, Western democracies.
And no, that is not hyperbole…
I want to put a like under this comment but there is no ‘Like’ button.
Amen. (and I’m not even religious)
Well said. Could not agree more.
I was wrong in reading the techtime article to say that only 1 Falcon rocket had flown multiple times. They were highlighting one specific rocket, but there were others that flew multiple times too, albeit less than 24X.
But from the Flying article and Angry Astronaut videos on Artemis and other sources, it’s clear NASA is hedging its bets, disappointed in the repeated failures of Starship. The Flying magazine link says “The uncrewed Artemis 1 mission has already flown, in 2022. The Artemis 2 mission in 2025 will use the SLS rocket to send a crew of four on a looping flight around the moon aboard an Orion spacecraft. The first Artemis lunar landing comes with Artemis 3. That and future landing missions will employ a complex scheme of multiple rocket launches and combinations of three different crewed spacecraft. The development of two independent lunar landing systems is intended to foster competition and also serve as an insurance policy if technical issues delay the development of one of the vehicles.”
I believe these “technical issues” are systemic, related to the unprecedented size and thrust capacity of Starship, probably uncontrollable and fatal vibrations literally causing “catastrophic in-flight disassembly.” Compare Starship’s record to Apollo’s some 60 years ago.
Grok is top rate; I use it often and appreciate its direct posting feature in the X platform to debunk Musk’s many false posts. It’s objective, fast, and usually accurate, if not particularly creative (that’s still mostly a human job).
The boring tunnels are a disappointment. We were promised 100mph+ sled rides for EVs, rapid descent from street levels, and switching to multiple destinations, even small busses for semi-mass transit in tubes. Instead we get a chauffeured drive at an average 30mph from points A, B, and, I think, now C. I know more is promised, at least in Las Vegas, but it’s way overdue – as are virtually all of Musk’s creations – and essentially a joyride with disco lights. The boring machines are faster only because they make tunnels only wide enough for a Tesla car. Here in NYC and elsewhere, we need tunnel borers for subways that carry 5-6 million people PER DAY.
Tesla had the most recalled vehicles in 2024: https://www.motor1.com/features/745854/most-car-recalls-2024-list-tesla/ They had fewer recalls, but more cars or cyber trucks per recall. They just recently recalled almost the entire line of cybertrucks because a glued on panel could fly off in the highway. Sales are way down in Europe, China, and elsewhere, even while EV sales are up in general. Some of that is politics and boycotts. Some of it is better and often cheaper competition. If Chinese cars weren’t locked out of the U.S. by protectionist measures from all administrations – democratic or republican – our roads would have them everywhere by now. Tesla model Y is the most popular Tesla but is considered stale and in need of an update, which is coming, probably cutting current sales too.
Battery storage is getting better, but CATL and others have cutting edge batteries too, maybe better than Tesla.
BYD brags about a new 5-minute charging time for its new model: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/china-ev-maker-byd-says-new-cars-can-be-charged-in-5-minutes/ar-AA1BaCJe though it’s unclear if any battery setup can stand that kind of electric throughput.
Oh, and a monetarily sovereign nation cannot run out of its own currency, as stated in various ways by the last three Fed Chairs: https://mythfighter.com/2010/08/13/monetarily-sovereign-the-key-to-understanding-economics/
Musk is wrecking the government, perhaps irreparably. People will die, basic research – some of which led to technology Musk uses in his companies – won’t be conducted. Our position in the world is already suffering, though most of that is Trump’s doing. It looks like we will have an economic contraction this quarter. One more and we’re officially in a recession, entirely the unforced creation of Trump and Musk. Musk is not saving anything, even if you discount the rehirings the courts are forcing the administration to make. Most of his savings claims have been debunked repeatedly by the NY Times and others. It’s not politics, it’s just right vs. wrong.
Since Musk got mingled with Trump, I’ve seen many former SpaceX supporters turn on him, converted into skeptics and hecklers of Starship (boo!).
Let’s keep some fact based rationality and acknowledge the real achievements, shall we? he’s still at the forefront on the rocketry domain and the main, probablyonly hope left for America to become multiplanetary nowadays.
The woke mind virus is rotting your brain. Space X re-flies boosters all the time, the scorch marks kind of give it away. No, it’s not all one booster. Seriously, do the smallest amount of research before you post nonsense. Go find some flat Earther site…you’d fit right in. MaNkInD cAnT gO bEyOnD tHe FiRmAmEnT!
I’m sorry-
WHAT?
Like, what you said makes absolutely zero sense about the reusability.
You can look at the boosters; they are obviously being reused, and not just a single rocket.
Also, Starship is a test article; the last two that exploded were completely new vehicle designs.