June 13, 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.
- Russia claims the repairs this month sealed the leaks in Zvezda
Then why did NASA scrub the Axiom manned mission, claiming otherwise?
- Short video describing the goals of Venus Aerospace and its rotating detonation rocket engine
The company recently successfully tested the engine on a short vertical flight.
- On this day in 1967, the Soviet Union launched Venera 4, which made the first measurements of Venus’s atmosphere
It operated for 93 minutes as it descended 20 miles on parachutes.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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.
- Russia claims the repairs this month sealed the leaks in Zvezda
Then why did NASA scrub the Axiom manned mission, claiming otherwise?
- Short video describing the goals of Venus Aerospace and its rotating detonation rocket engine
The company recently successfully tested the engine on a short vertical flight.
- On this day in 1967, the Soviet Union launched Venera 4, which made the first measurements of Venus’s atmosphere
It operated for 93 minutes as it descended 20 miles on parachutes.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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
“””Nine brown dwarves with Webb”””
I apologize; I just cannot resist.
Was Disney Studios involved in making sure that all of the dwarves are brown?
Bryukhanov: I take it the safety test was a failure?
Anatoly Dyatlov: We have the situation under control.
If Ted Cruz hasn’t vexed you enough this week, don’t worry: He’s proposed legislation to tax space flight now.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/06/companies-may-soon-pay-a-fee-for-their-rockets-to-share-the-skies-with-airplanes/#:~:text=Adding%20it%20up,would%20change%20based%20on%20inflation
When you consider how much tonnage SpaceX wants to send to Mars, this is gonna add up fast. And the caps are likely not going to last. Let’s say over the next 20 years SpaceX launches 1 million tons of mass to Mars, 1,000,000 x 2000 x 1.5, so $3,000,000,000 tax by default. Not adjusted for inflation. Will probably be closer to $5 billion after inflation.
Richard M: Lying Ted strikes again.
And the stupid Republicans still wonder why they can’t generate enthusiasm from conservatives.
“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”
― Ronald Reagan
Reagan—tariff-hating best friend to China—enemy of good wages for Americans.
Richard M,
This proposed tax would actually be even worse than you have estimated anent SpaceX’s Mars ambitions. Each of those million tons would need several tons of propellant sent to LEO in addition. The inflation-adjusted $200,000 cap per launch would probably cut the per-launch figure from a simple mass-x-$1.50 to something like a third to a half that, but there would be enough more tanker launches to make the overall bite probably twice or more what you penciled out. That is plainly something Elon and Gwynne need to get their lobbyists busy on cutting down to reasonable size.
Note to Bob,
This “You are posting comments too quickly” thing is getting increasingly annoying. Please fix the relevant site parameter or get your sysadmin to do so.
Lyin’ Ted Cruz
https://youtu.be/iRSgmLRHJRM
1:26