November 26, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- ULA confirms it has the engines in house for flights 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Vulcan Centaur
What this means is that Blue Origin is finally figuring out how to produce BE-4 engines on an assembly line basis. Not only does this bode well for Vulcan launches, it bodes well for Blue Origin’s own New Glenn rocket.
- Asteroid that was a temporary moon of the Earth might have come from the Moon itself
Its solar orbit allows it to loop around the Earth periodically, but then escape back into its solar orbit. This time it was captured by the Earth for 57 days.
- Progress hatch now open and cargo unloading is proceeding as planned
The Russians think the “toxic smell” first detected when the hatch was first opened came not from this freighter but from the docking port itself. No further details however have been released.
- Russian government approves sale by Roscosmos of older hardware lacking historical value
This allows Roscosmos to earn quick cash by selling off things like older Soyuz capsules sitting unused in warehouses.
- Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer is reported to have resumed static fire tests of the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket
In June during a previous test the stage broke free from its mounts and launched itself.
- Missouri senator touts his effort to reform the space regulatory framework
Lots of blather, but little substance. The bottom line remains that the administrative state has too much power, and the bills this guy helped pass did little to change that.
- Blue Origin has lowered New Glenn at the launchpad from vertical to horizontal
It did so without doing any static fire tests. Either there is an issue that is delaying things again, or the company is still proceeding in its normal leisurely pace that gets nothing done now if it can be done months hence.
- On this day in 1958 NASA chose the name “Mercury” for its first manned space program
This was before there was any plan to send astronauts to the Moon, so the Gemini and Apollo programs did not yet exist. Mercury was the entire American manned program.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. This post is also an open thread. I welcome my readers to post any comments or additional links relating to any space issues, even if unrelated to the links below.
- ULA confirms it has the engines in house for flights 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Vulcan Centaur
What this means is that Blue Origin is finally figuring out how to produce BE-4 engines on an assembly line basis. Not only does this bode well for Vulcan launches, it bodes well for Blue Origin’s own New Glenn rocket.
- Asteroid that was a temporary moon of the Earth might have come from the Moon itself
Its solar orbit allows it to loop around the Earth periodically, but then escape back into its solar orbit. This time it was captured by the Earth for 57 days.
- Progress hatch now open and cargo unloading is proceeding as planned
The Russians think the “toxic smell” first detected when the hatch was first opened came not from this freighter but from the docking port itself. No further details however have been released.
- Russian government approves sale by Roscosmos of older hardware lacking historical value
This allows Roscosmos to earn quick cash by selling off things like older Soyuz capsules sitting unused in warehouses.
- Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer is reported to have resumed static fire tests of the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket
In June during a previous test the stage broke free from its mounts and launched itself.
- Missouri senator touts his effort to reform the space regulatory framework
Lots of blather, but little substance. The bottom line remains that the administrative state has too much power, and the bills this guy helped pass did little to change that.
- Blue Origin has lowered New Glenn at the launchpad from vertical to horizontal
It did so without doing any static fire tests. Either there is an issue that is delaying things again, or the company is still proceeding in its normal leisurely pace that gets nothing done now if it can be done months hence.
- On this day in 1958 NASA chose the name “Mercury” for its first manned space program
This was before there was any plan to send astronauts to the Moon, so the Gemini and Apollo programs did not yet exist. Mercury was the entire American manned program.
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 print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
A smelly port and a yard sale for Roscosmos. It should invite Jeff Bezos to bid. He has a demonstrated taste for collecting old space hardware and would pay top dollar.