The competition heats up: The Russians have delayed the first launch of a new Soyuz rocket for at least a week.
No reason for the delay was announced. The rocket is an entirely new design, with an upper stage expected to cost less to make.
As he concludes,
So, that was my contact with the DoD police today. At every confrontation, they clearly expected me to respond with the appropriate degree of subservience, and were baffled and angered that I refused to do so. So, they couldn’t let it go. They just kept coming back to my office, as if repeated confrontations would make me more, rather than less, servile. And all this for something that wasn’t any sort of criminal offense.
It says a lot—none of it good—that the police seem to have the expectation of unquestioning obedience. It also says a lot that they seem used to getting it, which is our fault, not theirs.
Today’s spacewalk on ISS is complete with the successful installation of a replacement coolant pump.
The installation means that a third spacewalk to finish the job is no longer needed.
“The TSA couldn’t protect you from a 6-year-old with a water balloon.”
The man who said this is head of security at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, the world’s safest. He should know. And he does know. Read it all. He bluntly explains the idiocy of what the TSA does, as well as the Congress that imposed the TSA on us.
Every image taken during the Apollo program is now available online.
I especially like this image, taken by Frank Borman, seconds before Bill Anders took the more famous version, which you will note is oriented here correctly, as Anders took it, with the horizon vertical.
George Washington: a victor in battle, a freeman in heart.
An excellent article on the roots of American freedom.
Should Republicans again demand that the Obamacare individual mandate be delayed?
I say, no. I say the Republicans should demand that Obamacare be repealed. Agreeing to delay the mandate only acts to cement other parts of the law into place, which is bad as there is literally nothing about this law that is good, for the country or for health care.
Moreover, agreeing to delay parts of Obamacare will then make the Republicans part of the problem. Better to force the Democrats to vote against repeal, even as the law unravels. The result in November can only be good, as this vote will provide conservatives with more ammunition during the election campaign.
Finally, by putting repeal up to a vote we might even be surprised and get enough votes to repeal. Obama would then veto that repeal, but the vote would set the precedent for further repeal votes down the line, when Obama is gone.
The first theorem of government: Government is a racket that benefits the political elite by taking money from everyone else.
He has the data. Look especially at his first graph. And he correctly notes that this has been a bi-partisan effort.
The solution? Vote these bums out of office, repeatedly and often, so that no one has a motive to concentrate power and money in Washington.
A White Christmas on Mars.
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.
Mars Express will do an extremely close flyby of the martian moon Phobos on December 29.
Late this month, ESA’s Mars Express will make the closest flyby yet of the Red Planet’s largest moon Phobos, skimming past at only 45 km [28 miles] above its surface. The flyby on 29 December will be so close and fast that Mars Express will not be able to take any images, but instead it will yield the most accurate details yet of the moon’s gravitational field and, in turn, provide new details of its internal structure.
China’s rover is about to go to sleep for the long lunar night.
According to Wu Fenglei of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, the lander will “go to sleep” at about 7 a.m. on Christmas Day and the moon rover, Jade Rabbit, will fall asleep at about 1 a.m. on Boxing Day. The forthcoming lunar night, expected to begin on Dec. 26, will last for about two weeks, experts with the center estimated. During their “sleep”, both lander and rover will have to tolerate minus 180 degrees Celsius. Scientists tested the lander early Tuesday to ensure it can stand the temperature drop. Both lander and rover are stable, said Wu, adding they have completed a series of scientific tasks in the past two days.
This report states the rover landed in Sinus Iridum, the original announced landing site, contradicting other reports that said the lander came down in Mare Imbrium.
