An evening pause: One reason we have a Memorial Day is to honor those who have died to keep us free. We also remember them to remind us that the sacrifice was necessary.
I think it is long past time to repeat the same effort, no matter the cost, and use this plane’s payload a lot more than we are. There are people in the Middle East who are gleefully killing people for the sake of power. We should no longer tolerate them.
Hat tip Rocco.
During a successful Soyuz rocket launch of a Russian Glonass GPS satellite last week, it appears that the engine for the rocket’s upper stage cut off prematurely, requiring the third stage to fire longer to get the satellite into its proper orbit.
This scenario is almost identical to what happened with the most recent Atlas 5 launch. There is as yet no word on why it happened, or if the Russians plan to investigate it.
In the heat of competition: XCOR has laid off the staff working on its Lynx suborbital spaceplane.
The company has apparently decided to focus on those things that are generating revenues. Lynx was years behind schedule, unfinished with no prospect for profit, as it was only a prototype, not the spaceplane that could be used to fly tourists.
As much as I am not surprised (I have been skeptical of XCOR’s Lynx suborbital project since they announced it in 2008), I am saddened, because I really did want them to succeed.
NASA engineers today successfully completed the expansion of the Bigelow BEAM test module on ISS.
Feel the hate: Though there was less violence than previous anti-Trump protests, the protesters yesterday in San Diego, as shown by this report, illustrated several things about what they stand for.
First, they hate the United States. Just look at the plethora of Mexican flags, as well as the signs, including one that proudly reads, “America was never great,” with the word America made of dripping blood.
Second, they hate Trump. Once again, their signs and behavior, including attacking any Trump supporters that happened walk by, prove this.
Three, they hate knowledge. In this case the sign that reads “We are all women! Mexican! Muslim! Love trumps hate!” illustrates this, since it incoherently supports women and Islam at the same time, somehow forgetting that Islam is probably the world’s most aggressive oppressive of women.
Four, they hate whites, demonstrated by the signs that read “Brown power will rise!!!” and “Black and Brown lives matter” (found here).
I could go on. What I really want to note is that these people, who also make very clear their leftwing agenda, simply hate. The anger and intolerance of those they disagree with or have a skin color (white) they don’t like, is obvious and disgusting. What I find interesting is the left has always been this way, but for some reason they no longer feel a need to disguise it.
SpaceX has released a high speed version of the camera view taken from the camera mounted on the Falcon 9 first stage that successfully landed on a barge on Friday.
I have embedded that video below the fold. Quite entertaining, though it emphasizes how much the flight resembles a high speed roller coaster ride.
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According to one press report tonight, Russia has successfully tested a new anti-satellite missile designed to destroy orbiting satellites.
There are a lot of unknowns here, including the fact that the report provides little information, including any data to explain how they know that it is an anti-satellite missile.
The competition heats up: As part of its XS-1 spaceplane development program DARPA this week put out a request for proposals for companies to build an experimental space plane capable of launching 10 times in 10 days for a cost of no more than $5 million.
NASA will try again on Saturday to expand the privately built BEAM module on ISS.
They think the reason the module didn’t inflate as planned the first time is because it has been packed ready for launch for more than fifteen months, ten months longer than originally planned.
That extra time in a tight squeeze might explain why the first inflation attempt didn’t go as planned. BEAM’s Kevlar-like fabric “layers have a memory to them,” Lisa Kauke, BEAM deputy program manager at Bigelow Aerospace, said during today’s teleconference. “The longer they’re packed, the more they’re compressed, and then it takes a little while for the shape to return.” This interpretation is bolstered by the fact that BEAM continued to expand overnight Thursday into Friday morning, even though no more air was being pumped in, Crusan said.
The competition heats up: Rocket Lab has successfully tested the second stage engine of its Electron rocket.
They are aiming for their first commercial launch in 2017.
An evening pause: This kind of music video I really like: A live performance, filmed expressly for the video. No audience, no special effects, no fake cute story expressing the angst of adolescence. Just the musicians, their instruments, the words of the song, and the cameraman.
Hat tip Wayne DeVette.
Virgin Atlantic’s first-ever Boeing 747 jumbo jet has been listed for sale on eBay with a starting bid of more than a quarter million dollars and a ‘buy it now’ price of $900,000 (£615,000). The retired double-decker plane, called Lady Penelope, was taken out of service last year and is gathering dust at an aircraft boneyard, but it could see new life as a hotel or restaurant, depending on the buyer’s intentions.
Here is the ebay listing.
Sadly, it can no longer fly as its engines have been removed. You will have to take it apart and ship it yourself.
