February 6, 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.
- Isaacman: NASA astronauts can now use their smartphones on ISS and Orion
It appears Isaacman is slashing some old hidebound NASA rules about using commercial store-bought equipment.
- Boeing is shifting 787 Dreamliner work from Washington state to South Carolina
This accelerated this shift, which began five years ago. The flight from Democratic Party strongholds continues.
- EU’s European Commission awards consortium led by French rocket startup HyPrSpace the contract to develop a fast launch capability
At present this appears to just be an initial design study, not an actual launch contract.
- Starlink now available in the former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan
Everyone’s getting it but Russia. It seems invading your neighbors is bad for business in all ways.
- Senate committee delays consideration of bill to streamline FCC satellite licensing
More shenanigans by stupid members of the swamp. In this case the delay is caused by senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), who appears to want to flex her muscles.
- On this day in 1974 Mariner 10 reached Venus and returned the first close-up photo of the planet
The image, using an ultraviolet filter, revealed the dark absorption streaks caused by some material in Venus’ atmosphere that still remains unknown. The spacecraft also discovered the super-rotation of that atmosphere, 60 times faster than the planet’s rotation.
- Documentary describing the maiden flight of the space shuttle Challenger in 1983
I haven’t watched it so I cannot vouch for it. It does appear to be assembled from historic footage.
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.
- Isaacman: NASA astronauts can now use their smartphones on ISS and Orion
It appears Isaacman is slashing some old hidebound NASA rules about using commercial store-bought equipment.
- Boeing is shifting 787 Dreamliner work from Washington state to South Carolina
This accelerated this shift, which began five years ago. The flight from Democratic Party strongholds continues.
- EU’s European Commission awards consortium led by French rocket startup HyPrSpace the contract to develop a fast launch capability
At present this appears to just be an initial design study, not an actual launch contract.
- Starlink now available in the former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan
Everyone’s getting it but Russia. It seems invading your neighbors is bad for business in all ways.
- Senate committee delays consideration of bill to streamline FCC satellite licensing
More shenanigans by stupid members of the swamp. In this case the delay is caused by senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), who appears to want to flex her muscles.
- On this day in 1974 Mariner 10 reached Venus and returned the first close-up photo of the planet
The image, using an ultraviolet filter, revealed the dark absorption streaks caused by some material in Venus’ atmosphere that still remains unknown. The spacecraft also discovered the super-rotation of that atmosphere, 60 times faster than the planet’s rotation.
- Documentary describing the maiden flight of the space shuttle Challenger in 1983
I haven’t watched it so I cannot vouch for it. It does appear to be assembled from historic footage.
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


“It appears Isaacman is slashing some old hidebound NASA rules about using commercial store-bought equipment”
It’s depressing but not very surprising that all of the official cameras installed on the Artemis II Orion and SLS are over ten years old.
So, these iPhones give NASA a chance to get footage that wasn’t taken by hardware built during the Obama Administration.