January 29, 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.
- Blue Origin successfully completes soft capture test of docking system to be used on its manned lunar lander and Orbital Reef space station
As far as I know, this could be the first real hardware Blue Origin has built for Orbital Reef.
- Declassifying JUMPSEAT, a surveillance satellite program from the ’70s and ’80s
The satellites used a high elliptical orbit that favored high latitude observations, excellent for monitoring Soviet military operations.
- I bought “Remove Before Flight” tags on eBay in 2010—it turns out they’re from Challenger’s final flight
Very interesting story about collecting miscellaneous space memorabilia that turns out to come from a very significant space mission.
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.
- Blue Origin successfully completes soft capture test of docking system to be used on its manned lunar lander and Orbital Reef space station
As far as I know, this could be the first real hardware Blue Origin has built for Orbital Reef.
- Declassifying JUMPSEAT, a surveillance satellite program from the ’70s and ’80s
The satellites used a high elliptical orbit that favored high latitude observations, excellent for monitoring Soviet military operations.
- I bought “Remove Before Flight” tags on eBay in 2010—it turns out they’re from Challenger’s final flight
Very interesting story about collecting miscellaneous space memorabilia that turns out to come from a very significant space mission.
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
I’ve half thought Blue would abandon Orbital Reef, given Bezos’s lunar ambitions, and Limp’s efforts at getting Blue focused on delivering rather than announcing a whole swarm of projects, but docking is useful on multiple fronts.
Varda’s Winnebago-5 has re-entered over Australia in an apparent landing attempt. I haven’t heard anything yet as to whether the landing was successful.
That appears to leave Winnebago-4 still in orbit. I’ve heard rumors that Varda has had multiple problems with it, even that it was lost, though I’m not sure that that’s the case. W-4 was Varda’s first in-house spacecraft. Previous spacecraft buses were built by Rocket Lab and combined with the Varda re-entry capsule.
Rocket Lab delivered a fourth spacecraft bus to Varda. Does anyone know whether W-5 had the fourth Rocket Lab bus or the second Varda bus? I’m guessing that since Rocket Lab didn’t make an announcement of imminent re-entry as they had with Winnebagos 1-3 that it had Varda bus #2. Does anyone know for sure?