May 22, 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.
- Blue Origin touts underwater tests of its manned lunar lander design
Essentially divers tested the ladder and hatch design for getting astronauts and cargo in and out of the lander.
- Ispace reports Resilience is continuing to operate as planned in lunar orbit
The landing is still planned for June 5, 2025.
- The UAE hires Firefly’s Blue Ghost to land its Rashid-2 rover on the far side of the Moon
UAE’s first Rashid rover had been carried by Ispace’s first lunar lander, Hakuto-R1, which crashed. It appears the UAE chose Firefly this time after its successful landing of Blue Ghost earlier this year.
- Chinese astronauts on Tiangong-3 complete their first spacewalk
They installed “a debris protection device at its designated location.” It appears they are testing this shield’s effectiveness against micrometeorites and space junk at various locations on the station.
- On this day in 1969 Apollo 10 descended to within nine miles of the lunar surface, testing both the Apollo capsule and Lunar Module in lunar orbit
This was a complete dress rehearsal prior to the Apollo 11 landing two months later. It accomplished everything but the landing itself.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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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.
- Blue Origin touts underwater tests of its manned lunar lander design
Essentially divers tested the ladder and hatch design for getting astronauts and cargo in and out of the lander.
- Ispace reports Resilience is continuing to operate as planned in lunar orbit
The landing is still planned for June 5, 2025.
- The UAE hires Firefly’s Blue Ghost to land its Rashid-2 rover on the far side of the Moon
UAE’s first Rashid rover had been carried by Ispace’s first lunar lander, Hakuto-R1, which crashed. It appears the UAE chose Firefly this time after its successful landing of Blue Ghost earlier this year.
- Chinese astronauts on Tiangong-3 complete their first spacewalk
They installed “a debris protection device at its designated location.” It appears they are testing this shield’s effectiveness against micrometeorites and space junk at various locations on the station.
- On this day in 1969 Apollo 10 descended to within nine miles of the lunar surface, testing both the Apollo capsule and Lunar Module in lunar orbit
This was a complete dress rehearsal prior to the Apollo 11 landing two months later. It accomplished everything but the landing itself.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
What do you know, it turns out there’s a business case for sending stuff to the Moon that does not involve a NASA contract….
One other interesting development today that I think is worth noting: Eric Berger drew attention to new written testimony to the US House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees the military by Major General Stephen G. Purdy, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, the man who is the top Pentagon official in charge of national security launch procurement — testimony in which General Purdy really rakes United Launch Alliance (ULA) over the coals for the delays in getting Vulcan operational and up to cadence:
Ouch.
Link to the testimony: https://armedservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/14_may_on_fy26_national_security_space_programs_-_maj_gen_purdy_approved_for_release.pdf (excerpted remarks are located on page 9)
No comment yet from Tory Bruno.
Richard M: Ouch is right! This is another indication that there is great opportunity here for new rocket companies, should they get their rockets off the ground.
Some good news…phys.org has a write up on how “Improved rubber processing makes material ten times stronger and resistant to cracking.”
Implications perhaps for solid rocket that resist cold….better seals?