November 19, 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.
- A visual comparing the docking systems of the Shenzhou, Starliner, and Dragon spacecraft, all based on the Soviet/Russian APAS-89/95 system
Superficially, it appears they are all compatible, but the devil is always in the details.
- Canadian government touts a $6.9 million grant for building a cubesat designed to impact the Moon
The award is to the company Magellan Aerospace. The release says nothing about a timetable.
- Astrolab touts using Starship to get its FLEX unmanned rover to the Moon
Someone linked to this video in the comments yesterday. Lots of pretty graphics, but we are still only dealing with concepts.
- Cosmonaut Konstantín Borísov gives a tour of the ISS
The narration is in Russian, but when he enters the American half of the station the labels switch to English. The station certainly looks like the attic of a family that has hoarded a lot of junk over the years.
- Photo of new 72-foot-wide crater on the Moon, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The impact occurred sometime between 2009 and 2012.
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.
- A visual comparing the docking systems of the Shenzhou, Starliner, and Dragon spacecraft, all based on the Soviet/Russian APAS-89/95 system
Superficially, it appears they are all compatible, but the devil is always in the details.
- Canadian government touts a $6.9 million grant for building a cubesat designed to impact the Moon
The award is to the company Magellan Aerospace. The release says nothing about a timetable.
- Astrolab touts using Starship to get its FLEX unmanned rover to the Moon
Someone linked to this video in the comments yesterday. Lots of pretty graphics, but we are still only dealing with concepts.
- Cosmonaut Konstantín Borísov gives a tour of the ISS
The narration is in Russian, but when he enters the American half of the station the labels switch to English. The station certainly looks like the attic of a family that has hoarded a lot of junk over the years.
- Photo of new 72-foot-wide crater on the Moon, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
The impact occurred sometime between 2009 and 2012.
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
Did Cosmonaut Borísov’s tour of the ISS include demonstrations of the Russian docking port cracks, and/or the persistent air leaks in the tunnel connecting the Russian Service Module to a docking port? Just curious.
”Superficially, it appears they are all compatible…”
They are not. If they were, Starliner and Dragon wouldn’t need a docking adapter to dock to them.
mkent: Why did you leave out the rest of my quote, which went on to say “but the devil is always in the details.” Phrasing your comment in this way sure appears you are trying to make me look bad for no reason.
Robert: I am not trying to make you look bad. I am trying to put to bed this notion that SpaceX is somehow going to mount a rescue mission for the Chinese astronauts. To that end I was just quoting the part I was responding to. No offense is intended.
mkent: Thank you. I appreciate the clarity. Note that I make enough errors that I am glad to admit to and correct. I don’t need people implying errors by me when they don’t exist. :)
And now for a trip down memory lane:
Katalyst has chosen Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL to launch its Swift rescue mission in June 2026.
As you may recall, two Pegasus XLs were built and sold to Stratolaunch years ago. When that company exited the space launch business to focus on hypersonic flight testing, Northrop Grumman re-acquired the two Pegasus XLs. That was over *six years ago.*
NG used one of them to launch the TacRL mission 4-1/2 years ago but has not launched another Pegasus since. The XL and the Stargazer that launches it — the last remaining flyable L-1011 in existence — (and the flight crew) have been kept in flyable storage since then.
Apparently they are all going to be brought out of storage one last time before finally being retired. I assume that’s what will happen then, as the list price on a Pegasus XL was $42 million for a payload of 450 kg to LEO. Electron carries about half the payload for 1/6 the price and has demonstrated higher reliability to boot, and Firefly’s Alpha runs about half the price for 2-1/2 times the payload. Sure, Alpha’s reliability is not great, but I can’t imagine NG can sell any more Pegasus flights at anywhere near list price. So I assume Katalyst got a hefty discount to clear the Pegasus and the Stargazer off of NG’s books.
A cool way to ride into the sunset if you ask me.