back to article Sick to death of mighty rocket launches? Avoid these dates

It's a sad fact that mighty rocket launches have become so run-of-the-mill - the occasional entertaining fireworks display excepted - that the public hardly give them a second glance. For those of us who haven't yet succumbed to space ennui, here's a list of forthcoming missions for the diary. Non-interested parties are …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Need Kerbal Space Program 1.1 to come out so it stops running like a pig.

    1. Dan Wilkie

      Public Beta is live!

  2. Vulch

    Further ahead

    http://spaceflightnow.com/launch-schedule/ is a handy resource for reserving time to watch things go up. They'll also quite often have the live coverage, though it can be useful to find where they're sourcing it and go there directly.

    1. AdamT

      Re: Further ahead

      which also reveals a further TBD SpaceX launch in April...

  3. Mage Silver badge
    Alien

    Hypothetically

    Amazing! That's as much launches as we used to have in a year, not long ago. I think though Arianespace is still leader? Over 50% of operational satellites have been launched by them.

    Say we had a reason* to put all world wide military expenditure into building something in space ... urgently.

    How many launches a month could we manage?

    I think we could have more than 20 launch sites operational fairly quickly.

    (*Say an Alien Civilisation gives us plans for a Starship, or whatever scenario you fancy).

    CNES, ESA and Arianspace might not get as much publicity as NASA, but do a lot. How many Europeans that know about NASA know that there is a European Space Port in South America (started by French in 1960s) with now a pad for the Russians (as their main Cosmodrome is now in Kazakhstan. I think the Russians are building a replacement in far South East Asian "Russia").

    1. phuzz Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: Hypothetically

      If you're interested in the the whole "how quickly can we shove stuff into orbit" idea, you might enjoy the book Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, wherein the human race has to work out get as many people into space and keep them alive there in a very short timespan (that's the first third of the book anyway).

  4. Anonymous Custard
    Joke

    Alternative moonshots?

    Non-interested parties are directed to Instagram, where Kim Kardashian should be posting plenty of snaps of her arse as ample alternative entertainment.

    I would have thought such people would have wanted to avoid those moonshots too?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh to live in such a time.

    A time where space flight is as common and normal to people as getting on a jet on holiday. I'd commit a bad murder to live in such a time.

    1. Vector

      Re: Oh to live in such a time.

      Exactly! I don't find the public disdain for launches sad at all! We need these launches to be as ho-hum as a day at the airport if we're going to advance our presence in space. Those of us who are still fascinated can watch streams online or, better yet, someday, head down to the local spaceport for a day of rocket spotting.

  6. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    Pah...

    I demand daily rocket launches!

  7. PaulAb

    Fed up!........

    Can someone please give me a date when I can go to bed with the windows open...DAMN you, millions of pounds of thrust!

    1. Kurt Meyer
      Coat

      Re: Fed up!........

      It seems that you're not alone, according to this BBC report.

      1. Alan Edwards

        Re: Fed up!........

        That was my first thought when I saw that headline in the RSS reader - why does Vodafone have a rocket? I thought it was some advertising stunt or something.

  8. x 7

    what odds are the bookies offering on them going bang?

    which one should I bet on.......do you think the gamblers have started bribing the assembly staff yet to ensure failure? I mean.........can I rely on the Russian one blowing up on the launch pad? 10 seconds into flight? 20 seconds? The spot-betting possibilities are fun with this

    1. Andy france Silver badge

      It's the insurers who set the odds not the bookies. You would get very long odds on the Russian Soyuz going bang. They have a very safe track record. The Proton however has had a fair share of mishaps though it seems most likely to go wrong around the 10 second mark. After that ... it's all downhill.

  9. TimR

    Lohan

    Why can't I see this on the schedule...?

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Lohan

      ESA and NASA are worried they will be shown up. It's a conspiracy!

  10. Rick Brasche

    if anyone is truly sick of these launches

    then you simply can't be my friend anymore :P

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge
      Go

      Re: if anyone is truly sick of these launches

      Damn sonic booms over my house from SpaceX boosters coming back to land!!

      There ougta be a LAW!! Think of the children!

      (seriously though, I was evil enough to use Shuttle sonic booms to terrify my dog. When it was landing, I'd take him for a walk. BOOM!BOOM! and 180lbs of black Lab went almost straight up in the air)

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Many rockets going up...

    ...but only one* coming back down and landing on a boat** (hopefully)

    * JCSAT-14 will hopefully make it two in April

    ** ok, a huge barge

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Many rockets going up...

      "** ok, a huge barge"

      Is it called Boaty McBoatface?

      1. Vic

        Re: Many rockets going up...

        Is it called Boaty McBoatface?

        Surely "Bargy McBargearse" ?

        Vic.

  12. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    Launch Kardassian's arse

    I'd pay to see that one on a one-way trip...

    1. Anonymous Custard
      Trollface

      Re: Launch Kardassian's arse

      I'm not sure they've developed a big enough rocket yet for that payload...

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Launch Kardassian's arse

      Kardassian V Kardashian?

      Who would win?

      FIght!

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Moonraker!

    they're not putting a necklace of death around the earth are they?

  14. paulej72

    3 Soyuz launches

    From 3 different launch sites. Now that is special.

    1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

      Re: 3 Soyuz launches

      They do get around a bit.

  15. Captain DaFt

    Missed this silly one:

    Mad Mike Hughes is planning to beat his old record and fly a steam powered rocket over a mile* on 02 April . (He's probably happy he didn't see the condition of his parachute until after he landed in that video.)

    This loony's playing a real life steampunk version of KSP!

    Hey, it may not be as important or scientifically minded as the others listed, but every effort to push the boundaries helps.

    *Over 1.6Km for the rest of us.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: Missed this silly one:

      Holy crap!

      It's not just the state of the parachute that terrifies me, it's the amount of bits that seem to be falling off the "rocket" both during ascent and descent!

      I think even The Intrepid Playmonaut would have second thoughts about going up in that contraption.

  16. Robert Sneddon

    Bit slow

    December 2015 had fourteen launches, a record for a single month I believe. There were three launches in a single 24-hour period on the 16th and 17th of that month comprising an Indian GSLV with a range of payloads, a Chinese Long March with a dark matter experimental satellite and an ESA Soyuz from Guyana carrying two Galileo satellites.

    It's a rare month that doesn't have at least eight launches these days.

  17. phuzz Silver badge

    Launch times

    I thought it would be useful to know the predicted launch time as well, so for your edification, here's the predicted launch times (you don't need me to to tell you that these are provisional do I?). I've put them in UTC for ease of conversion to your own timezone.

    Progress 63P ISS resupply: 16:23

    SpaceX Dragon ISS resupply: 20:43

    Sentinel-1B satellite: 21:02

    Intelsat 31/DLA-2: TBD

    Mikhailo Lomonosov satellite: TBD

    IRNSS 1G navigation satellite: TBD

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