January 8, 2026 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.
- Europe’s Orion service module for Artemis-4 mission arrives at Kennedy tests and integration
This is for the second SLS/Orion manned landing, likely to happen no earlier than 2030. I would not be surprised if Starship does a commercial landing beforehand.
- The Philippine Coast Guard recovers Chinese rocket debris found floating in its territorial waters on January 1, 2026
Likely from the Long March 7A that launched on December 30, 2025.
- Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov says it will use Proton and Soyuz rockets based in Baikonur to launch the first modules of its new space station
In other words, neither its new Angara rocket nor its Vostochny spaceport are capable of doing the job yet, and Russia doesn’t have the resources to get either up to speed quickly. Both have been in development for almost a quarter century.
- China says its Wangyu moon space suits will do electrical , structural , thermal control environment testing in 2026
They predict the suits to be ready for use by 2028. Whether they will be ready to launch a manned mission to the Moon by that date is less certain.
- On this day in 1610 Galileo first observed the four largest moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
They are now called the Galilean satellites, and are joined by at least 95 more Jupiter moons.
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.
- Europe’s Orion service module for Artemis-4 mission arrives at Kennedy tests and integration
This is for the second SLS/Orion manned landing, likely to happen no earlier than 2030. I would not be surprised if Starship does a commercial landing beforehand.
- The Philippine Coast Guard recovers Chinese rocket debris found floating in its territorial waters on January 1, 2026
Likely from the Long March 7A that launched on December 30, 2025.
- Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov says it will use Proton and Soyuz rockets based in Baikonur to launch the first modules of its new space station
In other words, neither its new Angara rocket nor its Vostochny spaceport are capable of doing the job yet, and Russia doesn’t have the resources to get either up to speed quickly. Both have been in development for almost a quarter century.
- China says its Wangyu moon space suits will do electrical , structural , thermal control environment testing in 2026
They predict the suits to be ready for use by 2028. Whether they will be ready to launch a manned mission to the Moon by that date is less certain.
- On this day in 1610 Galileo first observed the four largest moons of Jupiter, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto
They are now called the Galilean satellites, and are joined by at least 95 more Jupiter moons.
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
Thanks to the ongoing lassitude of the U.S. Senate, it appears that Greg Autry will not be NASA”s chief financial officer.
“It has been my greatest honor to have been nominated by President @realDonaldTrump on two occasions (2020,2025) to serve as the Chief Financial Officer at NASA. On both occasions my nomination expired at year end, without a Senate vote. I have decided not to pursue confirmation again and have requested that I not be renominated. My very best wishes to our great space agency, Administrator Jared Isaacman @NASAAdmin and all the amazing people who work for NASA, most specifically the talented team in the Office of the CFO. Godspeed.”
https://x.com/GregWAutry/status/2009340777164349933
This stinks. It is the second time this has happened to Autry! But I can’t blame him for giving up on this.
Eric Berger just posted this story: Jared Isaacman conducted a review of some kind of the Orion heat shield situation, and . . . he’s decided it’s good to go.
:sigh:
That said:
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/nasa-chief-reviews-orion-heat-shield-expresses-full-confidence-in-it-for-artemis-ii/
But, read it all and see what y’all think. Maidenberg has yet to post a story on this (as of 2pm Friday), from what I can make out.
The Space Force this afternoon announced a new batch of NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 task orders for launch, and as Stephen Clark says, it was a “clean sweep” for SpaceX. Total value of awards is $739 million.
https://x.com/StephenClark1/status/2009718015030358483
Clark has the official announcement released by the Space Force at that X link.
Oh, wait — they have this also on the Space Systems Command website: https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article/4374896/space-systems-command-awards-task-orders-to-launch-missile-warning-and-missile
Richard M: given Camarda’s and Olivas’s responses, that gives me more confidence that while this isn’t a great approach, it’ll work for one mission. It’s a positive that outsiders were permitted access when NASA had previously been recalcitrant to do so. I think this quote from Carmada sums up where NASA’s focus really ought to be:
‘ “I would never be happy accepting a workaround and flying something that I know is the worst version of that heat shield we could possibly fly and hoping that the workaround is going to fix it,” Camarda said. “What I really hope he [Isaacman] gets is that if we don’t get back to doing research at NASA, we’re not going to be able to help Starship solve their problems. We’ve got to get back to doing research.” ‘
NASA is not a good operational agency, but they do pretty well with research. There are a plethora of companies developing reentry vehicles; it would be worthwhile for them to cooperate with private industry on developing and testing multiple unique methods for returning spacecraft to Earth, for vehicles of any size from Varda’s capsules to Starship, and perhaps beyond.