Talk:List of spaceflight launches in January–June 2021

Requested move 19 January 2021

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved (non-admin closure) ProcrastinatingReader (talk) 21:33, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

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• 2021 in spaceflight (January–June) → List of spaceflight launches in January–June 2021
• 2021 in spaceflight (July–December) → List of spaceflight launches in July–December 2021

– This is a list article specifically focused on launches, not about spaceflight in general. As a result I think the title should be changed to make its scope more clear. Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 20:19, 19 January 2021 (UTC)

• Agree Since this includes both orbital and suborbital launches. AmigaClone (talk) 21:30, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
• Comment – There's a few other similar articles in Category:Spaceflight by year (the subpages of 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1991, and 2021), so you might want to be aware of those too. If these get moved, those should be moved. Paintspot Infez (talk) 22:07, 19 January 2021 (UTC)
• Comment the old pagename should then redirect to 2021 in spaceflight as other things in spaceflight would occur during those time periods; or they should be redlinked (moved without redirects) -- 70.31.205.108 (talk) 01:21, 20 January 2021 (UTC)
• Support Per the nom. OkayKenji ^{(talk • contribs)} 21:22, 22 January 2021 (UTC)
• Partially agree Agreed on the rename, but with the caveat that it should be a single article for the year. Month sectioning is more than adequate. AtomCrusher (talk) 14:21, 23 January 2021 (UTC)
  • From what understand it was split in to two separate articles because of display issues. (Too many tables) OkayKenji ^{(talk • contribs)} 14:56, 23 January 2021 (UTC)
• Support as proposed. Sound case for a move, and as pointed out above, we can't merge and have just one article for the whole year. Andrewa (talk) 04:21, 28 January 2021 (UTC)

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The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Where are all List by Rocket family, List by Spaceport etc?

Guys, I loved checking statistics about what types of rockets are performing better, which country is leading in spaceflight etc. Now that we divided a year into two part we don't see all the information other that the schedule of flight. Lets fix it.

Thanks, Yerlan — Preceding unsigned comment added by Erlan 77 (talk • contribs) 09:34, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

• Are you talking about this 2021 in spaceflight#Orbital launch statistics? Perhaps we could some how link to that page from here so that readers can easily find it. Also, remember to sign comments with ~~~~. OkayKenji ^{(talk • contribs)} 14:14, 26 January 2021 (UTC)

• How hard would it be to mirror the tables and graphs related to the Orbital launch statistics in this article having the graphs and stats for the first half of the year and the 'Space Launches 2021 (July-December) eventually being populated with data relative to the launches in the second half of the year? AmigaClone (talk) 19:42, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

You would need to duplicate everything, and I don't think it's useful. The yearly statistics are easier to compare because they cover the same time range. They also have a bit less fluctuation from random scheduling events. The article already links to 2021 in spaceflight very prominently in the introduction (which is literally the only thing it has besides the lists). --mfb (talk) 02:51, 29 January 2021 (UTC)

SpaceX Starship tests

Why aren't the test flights of SpaceX's Starship prototypes being mentioned among "Suborbital flights"? They don't go to space but nonetheless are important tests of a spacecraft. Maybe in a new section like "Spacecraft flight tests without reaching space". 212.186.15.63 (talk) 18:13, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

To be counted as a suborbital flight they have to (or intend to) cross the Karman line. See Timeline of spaceflight. There have been exceptions like for the Crew Dragon in flight escape mission. OkayKenji ^{(talk • contribs)} 19:00, 4 March 2021 (UTC)

No, they would have to cross the mesopause, but as I wrote one could establish a section "Spacecraft flights without reaching space". It's a pity important tests like these aren't listed. 212.186.15.63 (talk) 07:54, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

We have this discussion about as often as we have spaceflight-relevant flights that don't cross the Karman line (and don't intend to). I generally prefer inclusion as they are relevant to the topic. A third table would work I think. --mfb (talk) 10:43, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

As I wrote, I mentioned that we could make exceptions. I don't agree including them but since the consensus so far is to, I will support it. To be clear I said Karman line because Timeline of spaceflight (which this page is associated with) says so. Perhaps its time to amend it and add "or major tests key to spaceflight". Cheers. (but yeah sry i missed your last comment; its not the first time "this" was discussed) OkayKenji ^{(talk • contribs)} 14:18, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

The timeline article explicitly allows exceptions: "Significant test flights of spaceflight systems may be listed even if they were not planned to reach space." (I added that in December). --mfb (talk) 05:13, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

Welp. Time to add Starship SN's then. Thank mfb and IP for bringing this up. OkayKenji ^(talk) 05:28, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

I've put on things that fly or intend to fly above 80km (US line). If we do add it, don't add it to the statistics since those are for >80km and up. These flights are documented on their respective pages (list of starship flights). We going to add SN5 and 6 too? If anything, lets make a significant flights table. --Jrcraft Yt (talk) 03:54, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Most tests of orbital spaceflight systems directly try to reach orbit - if your system is expendable you try to test as much as possible at the same time. A table of atmospheric test flights of orbital launch systems won't be long. It's Starship and the occasional subscale/single-stage test of other companies. --mfb (talk) 04:10, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

So what would it include besides that? Because there are plenty of launches I could add to it. Or do we just arbitrarily include some?--Jrcraft Yt (talk) 04:21, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

If a table titled 'Significant Atmospheric Tests of orbital vehicle prototypes' (or something along those lines) were to be made, would it be restricted to this year or would xxxx in spaceflight be updated for previous years?

As an example of possible additions to previous years might we might have the Space Shuttle Enterprise glide tests, the powered Space Ship One tests. I can possibly even see including pad abort tests for various crewed capsules and the McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper flights. AmigaClone (talk) 07:37, 17 March 2021 (UTC)

That sounds good. The flights need significant media coverage, they need to be discussed as relevant for spaceflight (which is typically trivial, as they test components made for spaceflight). I don't expect problems with that list, and it won't be long either. --mfb (talk) 00:30, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

Why replace official sources for unofficial ones?

I noticed people replace official statements over social media when it comes to launch delays (NASA's or SpaceX Twitter for example), with unofficial news site sources. Why is that? Shouldn't the official source be prioritized?

References should not be removed unless they are not relevant. Better to add new references than replace. Ng.j (talk) 21:44, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

Colour scheme

Does anyone else find the white text on beige background difficult to read? Any opposition to changing the colour scheme? Ng.j (talk) 21:45, 14 May 2021 (UTC)