December 9, 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.
- Rocket Lab ships Neutron’s reusable fairing and upper module to Wallops Island launch site
Both have apparently passed qualification and acceptance testing. The spring first launch of Neutron seems increasingly likely.
- China touts a new Long March 12 being transported to the launchpad
This expendable version has already flown three times. The 12A version will try to land the first stage, with its first launch scheduled before the end of the month, with a launchpad static fire test occurring two days ago.
- The Air & Space Museum shows off the color global view of the Earth taken this week in 1972 by an astronaut on Apollo 17
It would be years before the U.S. had another spacecraft in a position to get a similar color view.
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.
- Rocket Lab ships Neutron’s reusable fairing and upper module to Wallops Island launch site
Both have apparently passed qualification and acceptance testing. The spring first launch of Neutron seems increasingly likely.
- China touts a new Long March 12 being transported to the launchpad
This expendable version has already flown three times. The 12A version will try to land the first stage, with its first launch scheduled before the end of the month, with a launchpad static fire test occurring two days ago.
- The Air & Space Museum shows off the color global view of the Earth taken this week in 1972 by an astronaut on Apollo 17
It would be years before the U.S. had another spacecraft in a position to get a similar color view.
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


The capsule fleet
https://x.com/DrChrisCombs/status/1996318412448932333/photo/1
On robotics
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-12-infant-framework-robots-interact.html
As I brought it up on the screen, its initial effect when first gazing at it was a pause – both physical and emotional. It is an image that produces awe! Not necessarily in a religious sense, but in a reasoned one! Thanks for posting.
NASA loses contact with its MAVEN orbiter around Mars:
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/maven/2025/12/09/nasa-teams-work-maven-spacecraft-signal-loss/
New asteroid mining study
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-feasibility-asteroid.html
Tough glue
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-cooking-oil-yields-super-strong.html
Jeff Wright: I doubt you noticed (you don’t pay close attention or respect my requests on these matters), but I am now routinely deleting those off topic comments by you that are nothing more than links.
You want to provide links? Make sure they relate to the post on hand.
Also, I have been limiting the number of links you can do from specific sources. You love to link to almost everything posted on phys.org, but I can only tolerate about two links from this outlet per day. If people want to see more they should go there directly.
As I said, I’ve warned you about these things in the past, and rather than respect my wishes, you instead seem to be looking for ways to sneak things in. Just like a troll.
Richard M,
Not good news, but not exactly gobsmacking either for a dozen-year-old spacecraft. It simply increases the urgency of getting something – preferably several somethings – with much greater bandwidth capability into orbit around Mars to insure Mars-Earth commo remains robust. That will continue to be true even if the NASA boffins can somehow coax MAVEN back to life.
Robert Zimmerman,
Your site, your rules. That said, I have never minded Mr. Wright’s links. They are generally far more usefully informative than his opinions.
Dick Eagleson: I have no problem with Wright sending links. However, when he proceeds to send a link to every single story posted that day on another website, it is over the top. It begins to make me think he is being paid to promote the page (which DOES happen).
It is also inappropriate for him to post links on unrelated threads having nothing to do with the topic on hand.
I can tolerate a lot, and try, but at a certain point poor behavior like this I think it begins to damage the quality of the discussion, and must be reined in.