May 15, 2025 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.
- Chinese pseudo-company Landspace scrubs third launch of its Zhuque-2 rocket for “technical reasons”
This rocket was the first to reach orbit using methane fuel, in 2023. For the second launch in November 2024 it upgraded the fueling system to copy SpaceX’s methods. The company says it will launch this year its larger Zhuque-3, designed to have the first stage return vertically, but based on the launch pace of Zhuque-2, I have doubts.
- On this day in 1963 Gordon Cooper flew on the final Mercury mission
He orbited the Earth 22 times.
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.
- Chinese pseudo-company Landspace scrubs third launch of its Zhuque-2 rocket for “technical reasons”
This rocket was the first to reach orbit using methane fuel, in 2023. For the second launch in November 2024 it upgraded the fueling system to copy SpaceX’s methods. The company says it will launch this year its larger Zhuque-3, designed to have the first stage return vertically, but based on the launch pace of Zhuque-2, I have doubts.
- On this day in 1963 Gordon Cooper flew on the final Mercury mission
He orbited the Earth 22 times.
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
As the narrator put it at the end of The Right Stuff: “But on that glorious day in May 1963, Gordo Cooper went higher, farther, and faster than any other American – 22 complete orbits around the world; he was the last American ever to go into space alone. And for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen.”
In other news, the Brits are so good at red-taping their own space industry that they’re moving into exporting this talent to America: Propublica: After Two SpaceX Explosions, U.K. Officials Ask FAA to Change Starship Flight Plans [May 15]
Richard M – ‘Twas not the first time a Brit beseechery was sent to an American-in-charge.
Recently discovered in the vaults of the National Archives, this memo:
0630 29SEP
To: Gen G. Washington,
In light of the circumstances under which we meet, there should be some understanding for the future of our relationship. It behooves you to send some early warning before commencing any rocket fusillade, to lessen damage to non-combatants.
His Majesty’s servant,
LGen C. Cornwallis
Hello Don,
LOL
Anton posted a video on gas clouds close to our solar system
https://youtu.be/xYHoIHt0O-Q?si=_G38FjHN5s_guJZH
How close are the hydrogen atoms of a gas cloud to each other? And would a voyager like craft be able to travel into and through a gas cloud without being damaged by atmosphere like impact? Would the spacecraft accelerate as it approached the cloud and then slow down once it was within the confines? Sounds pretty fascinating that gas clouds in the milky way are currently producing new stars ( I think the video says that ). Meaning there will be clumps of compressed gas within a cloud which have not yet ignited into a nuclear reaction?
Richard M,
In addition to the stunning visuals, I remember a lot of both the narration and dialogue from The Right Stuff, one of the best movies ever made. Gordo Cooper was one of Dennis Quaid’s best portrayals in a career that has also included notable turns as Ronald Reagan and Adm. William F. “Bull” Halsey. I would happily quote some of my own favorite lines from TRS, but I would run afoul of our host’s rules of verbal decorum should I do so – particularly any of the Gus Grissom stuff.
Anent the Brits, this is exactly the sort of whiny peevishness that has characterized the entire tenure-to-date of the Karen Starmer government. Here’s to a clean IFT-9 flight and successors – and to no further attention needing to be paid, even in passing, to Whitehall hanky twisters.