August 12, 2025 Quick space linksCourtesy 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.
- Relativity releases its July update of the company’s progress towards first launch of its Terran-R rocket
Though the company remains tight-lipped about a launch date (no longer promising 2026), it increasingly appears as if 2026 is no longer impossible.
- Relativity touts the layout design of the 13 engines on the Terran-R 1st stage
Nine will gimbal, four will not.
- Russia again delays the launch of its Luna 27A lunar lander to 2029
A second lander has also been delayed till 2030. Both were originally supposed to launch by 2025. I predict both will be delayed again. And again. And again. etc.
- On this day in 1960 the reentry capsule of the military surveillance satellite Discoverer-13 became the first human-made object to be recovered from orbit
It was the eleventh attempt, carrying only sensors to track its flight. With this success the next mission a week later carried a film camera for reconnaissance.
- On this day in 1977 the test shuttle Enterprise flew its first manned test flight
Piloted by Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton, it was released from an airplane at 22,800 feet and glided down to a landing 5.3 min later.
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.
- Relativity releases its July update of the company’s progress towards first launch of its Terran-R rocket
Though the company remains tight-lipped about a launch date (no longer promising 2026), it increasingly appears as if 2026 is no longer impossible.
- Relativity touts the layout design of the 13 engines on the Terran-R 1st stage
Nine will gimbal, four will not.
- Russia again delays the launch of its Luna 27A lunar lander to 2029
A second lander has also been delayed till 2030. Both were originally supposed to launch by 2025. I predict both will be delayed again. And again. And again. etc.
- On this day in 1960 the reentry capsule of the military surveillance satellite Discoverer-13 became the first human-made object to be recovered from orbit
It was the eleventh attempt, carrying only sensors to track its flight. With this success the next mission a week later carried a film camera for reconnaissance.
- On this day in 1977 the test shuttle Enterprise flew its first manned test flight
Piloted by Fred Haise and Gordon Fullerton, it was released from an airplane at 22,800 feet and glided down to a landing 5.3 min later.
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
Something really stood out from the recent SpaceX launch. The Falcon reuse and reliability is amazing
“””SpaceX placed another 24 Kuiper satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The Falcon 9 first stage was new, completing its first flight by landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic”””
NEW FALCON 9 FIRST STAGE.
We look forward to the day when the SuperHeavy Booster will be reused as much. We will never get bored of seeing the 33 engines of the SuperHeavy push that building-sized Booster into the sky.
Since the SuperHeavy Booster is basically operational, I wonder if it will be used to launch more than just Starship. I realize SpaceX Falcon Heavy can place a certain amount of tonnage in space. I wonder how many cubesats the SuperHeavy Booster could place in LEO. I realize that the original plan was to fill Starship full of StarLink satellites.
I would like to see other upper stages myself–but I got attacked elsewhere for even daring to mention that.
I learned something new again from you today, Bob.
And I must admit, I am a little amazed that the first recovery of an artificial object from orbit came so early in the Space Age. I’d have figured it would have come a lot later. Impressive.
Richard M: Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union moved quickly in the 1960s to develop orbital reconnaissance. Initially both used short-term satellites launched quickly that used film. The undeveloped film would be returned in a re-entry capsule for development.
The U.S. accomplished this first, as noted, but within a few years abandoned this system for long term orbital satellites with digital capabilities. Much more efficient. The Soviet Union continued to launch similar short term satellites with recoverable capsules right up until its collapse in 1990. Apparently the Soviet government preferred spreading the pork around with many launches, even though it was a less effective system. Or maybe it was incapable of developing a better system, based as it was on a top-down corrupt nationally-run bureaucracy that was stultified and unable to innovate.