“Even the local newspapers had nothing to say about the launch and that sonic boom from the booster return. What happened to the media coverage of rocket launches? I left Florida wanting to see more launches, and learn all I could about space.”
Chris Leymarie
I first became obsessed with all things space after a scrubbed Starlink launch during spring break in 2020. I tried again to see a launch a few months later during the Demo-2 mission and was again foiled due to weather. I was finally successful after seeing the Transporter 2 mission a year later. Seeing that Falcon 9 soar to the Heavens and gracefully land back at LZ-1 was astonishing to me. At the time, I had no idea of SpaceX’s abilities to reuse rockets. I remember searching the internet in the coming days to learn more about what went to space on that rocket, only to find a few pictures and paragraphs about what I had witnessed.
Both in the US and around the world, the number of rocket launches have increased drastically in the past few years alone. I was born in 1995 and graduated high school in 2014. In 1995, there were only 80 orbital launches throughout the world. This was arguably during the height of the shuttle era. That same year, only 22 rockets lifted off from Florida’s Space Coast with only 7 being part of the shuttle program. Space shuttle missions were obviously a big deal because they brought together people from around the world working for a common goal of both living in and exploring space.
In 2014, the shuttle program had been over for three years. America was no longer launching astronauts from American soil. NASA astronauts going to the International Space Station (ISS) had to get a ride aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. 96 orbital launches occurred in 2014, with 22 being from an American launch pad.
Last year was the most busy launch year by far. 233 launches occurred in 2023, well over double what was nearly a decade ago. 2024 is sure to beat this record.
But why aren’t these launches big news? The world couldn’t get enough of the early satellite launches and Apollo missions. After landing on the moon, America (and much of the world) quickly lost interest. Remarkably, the live broadcast aboard Apollo 13 was cut from most television networks. It wasn’t until the oxygen tank exploded and crippled the spacecraft that Americans were glued to their televisions again.
SpaceX led the way in 2023 in terms of launches with 98 between three different vehicles. That’s roughly a launch every 3.8 days. 64 of those launches supported the Starlink program. SpaceX is already targeting well over 120 this year.
It saddens me when I hear someone say “it’s just another Starlink” or “it’s just a Falcon 9.” Launches (and landings) like this, with a Falcon 9 have become so routine that people are losing interest again. Falcon 9 can arguably be considered one of the most successful rockets in history for multiple reasons. To date, no other company or agency has been able to successfully recover a rocket with the cadence SpaceX can. Allowing for both land and water landings can increase fuel use and allow for longer mission profiles. And yet, whenever one flies, or sonic booms home, no one seems to care.
Perhaps the reason for limited space coverage is negativity. We unfortunately live in an extremely negative world. And negativity sells. Very few people want to read about a local man volunteering at his church, let alone a satellite to benefit humanity. Rather, people want to read all about the crime, death, and the despair of the world. If you do an internet search for the term “space shuttle,” one of the first few links will be about either the Challenger or Columbia tragedies. However, you will have to do more extensive searching to find the specifics of any of the other 133 shuttle missions.
Another reason could be that the average person doesn’t realize the benefits of these launches. Until you’ve personally used Starlink, it doesn’t matter to you. Society has become so used to technological advances that all people care about is when their gadgets don’t work. It always amuses me when I hear the announcer at the KSC visitor center tell visitors that the Delta II rocket in the rocket garden is the reason they have GPS on their phones. The fact that some of these launches are top secret military satellites surely adds to the public’s limited knowledge.
When I was at that first Starlink attempt in 2020, I met many people who told me that they thought NASA was no more because they hadn’t seen a “big” launch (meaning shuttle or other big media covered launch) in so long. I’ve encountered many others at various launches approaching me asking why I have a camera pointed where I do. Even for locals, launches are so routine that most don’t even pay attention.
Space is becoming more obtainable for the average person. SpaceX (with other companies working to do the same) currently offers ride share programs, allowing for multiple satellites to launch aboard the same rocket, drastically decreasing the cost of space travel. This is beneficial for college programs and smaller companies who cannot afford a full price launch (at minimum $67 million). SpaceX advertises a ride share starting at just $300k for your satellite and possibly hundreds of its satellite friends.
Within the next quarter century, going to space could cost as much as a typical family vacation. It is extremely likely that in that same amount of time, you will know someone personally that has flown to space. Currently, Virgin Orbit advertises a $450k price tag for a 90-minute voyage to space. Axiom space is targeting to offer a 10-day trip to the ISS for $55 million. These prices may seem out of reach currently, but as technology increases and the more and more startups take root, they will drop significantly.
The next time you see a launch, check the news that night,or local newspaper,or social media for that matter. You may get a small paragraph or video clip about what happened, if that. More than likely, you won’t find much. America may have won the space race in 1969, but in that victory came a society apathetic to most of the scientific advances that space has to offer us here on Earth. Hopefully one day that will change and society can be excited again about mandkind’s next “giant leap.”
no! every launch is so different. great article.