After a fast four orbit/six hour flight a Soyuz capsule carrying there astronauts has successfully docked with ISS.
After a fast four orbit/six hour flight a Soyuz capsule carrying there astronauts has successfully docked with ISS.
Year: 2013
Rachel Barton Pine – Molly on the Shore by Percy Grainger
An evening pause: The pace and speed of this music might make us feel breathless, but she’s having so much fun playing it!
There astronauts were successfully launched today from Russia and are expected to dock with ISS later tonight.
Three astronauts were successfully launched today from Russia and are expected to dock with ISS later tonight.
They are the first crew to use the fast route to ISS, only six hours, rather than the more traditional two day rendezvous path.
Elon Musk confirms that on future Falcon 9 launches they will do tests of a powered return of the first stage.
The competition heats up: Elon Musk confirms that on future Falcon 9 launches they will do tests of a powered return of the first stage.
For the upcoming flight, after stage separation the first stage booster will do a burn to slow it down and then a second burn just before it reaches the water. In subsequent flights they will continue these over-water tests. He repeatedly emphasized that he expects several failures before they learn how to do it right. If all goes well with the over-water tests, they will fly back to launch site and land propulsively. He expects this could happen by mid-2014.
These tests are an extension of the Grasshopper tests, only this time they will take place during an actual launch.
Science and sequestration in context
On March 21, the House accepted the continuing resolution proposed by the Senate for the year 2013. This continuing resolution will fund everything in the federal government though September of this year, and includes the cuts imposed on March 1 by sequestration.
As it always does, the journal Science did a specific analysis of the science portion of this budget bill. As usual, they looked only at the trees, not the forest, comparing the budget changes up or down for the 2012 and 2013 years only, noting how those changes will impact each agency’s programs. As usual, Science also took the side for more federal spending, assuming that in each case any cut was sure to cause significant harm to the nation’s ability to do cutting edge science.
I like to take a wider and deeper view. Below is a chart showing how the budgets for these agencies have changed since 2008. They give a much clearer perspective of the consequences of sequestration and the cuts, if any, imposed by Congress on these science agencies.
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Steve Goodman – The Dutchman
An evening pause:
A Proton rocket has successfully launched a Mexican communications satellite today.
The competition heats up: A Proton rocket has successfully launched a Mexican communications satellite today.
ILS, the company that launches the commercial Proton rocket, needed this success badly, considering the recent problems they have had with the Proton’s Briz-M upper stage.
On the air
Tonight I am on The Space Show with David Livingston, so if you have any questions you’d like to ask me, you can do it tonight live, starting now (7 pm Pacific).
The Highwaymen – Willie Nelson – City of New Orleans
An evening pause: A nice live performance of Steve Goodman’s classic song, with Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson providing backup and chorus for Willie Nelson.
Dragon has splashed down.
The Obamas have taken more than a vacation per month in 2013.
We don’t need no stinking sequester: The Obamas have taken more than a vacation per month in 2013.
I don’t mind them taking the weekend off. It is the apparently unlimited travel expenses on the taxpayer’s dime that gall.
To show support for the New Jersey family that had been threatened by the government for posting a picture of their son holding a rifle, hundreds of parents post pictures of their own gun-toting kids.
Pushback: To show support for the New Jersey family that had been threatened by the government for posting a picture of their son holding a rifle, hundreds of parents post pictures of their own gun-toting kids.
Note also that if you look at the posed pictures, none of the kids have their hands on the trigger. Unlike Michael Bloomberg’s actor in his anti-gun ads, these kids have been taught the safe way to handle a gun.