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The companies building manned spacecraft for the United States all appear to be on track.

The companies building manned spacecraft for the United States all appear to be on track.

The report gives a nice overview of the recent achievements of all three companies, and suggests that the U.S. will once again have a manned spacecraft capability before the decade has ended coming from more than one design.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

  • Lockheed Martin’s Orion MPCV is also on track. Despite innuendo to the contrary.

  • Orion might be on track, but it doesn’t have a launch vehicle, tied as it is to the ball-and-chain called SLS. Dragon, CST-100, and Dream Chaser are instead being designed for rockets that presently exist and will fly.

  • wodun

    And Orion gets more money than commercial crew. We, not just NASA, get 3 vehicles for a fraction of Orion’s cost.

  • And Orion is still on track. I just demand accuracy, that’s all. I understand and agree with your other points.

  • Since I expect SLS to die without accomplishing much, Orion will either die also, or get hitched to another wagon to survive. It is my hope that Lockheed Martin eventually finds a way to hitch to that other wagon, and then make money with Orion.

  • Pzatchok

    SLS and Orion were never meant to fly.

    They are just a great way to funnel cash to congresses greatest benefactors.

    Otherwise SLS would already be built and lifting cargo and other payloads. The fact is the dang thing isn’t even up to testing yet and at NASA’s rate the thing will never be ready to fly.

  • Edward

    I’m still rooting for Orion — so long as it can fly multiple times each year.

    I’m not rooting so much for SLS, as it can only fly once every few years and costs a fortune to develop.

    With luck, there will be an alternate launcher for Orion so that America can get back into space exploration.

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