February 26, 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.
- A graphic of the crew ejection system on the Soviet Union’s Buran shuttle
The copycat of the American shuttle only flew once, unmanned. For all we know this was never installed or even built.
- None of the Soyuz equipment at French Guiana will be preserved as rocket startup MaiaSpace takes over the launchpad
Some want it put in a museum. The director of the spaceport: “I’m not of that mindset.”
- Australia’s space agency touts its support for India’s Gaganyaan manned mission
India’s space agency ISRO has installed a tracking antenna at one of Australia’s facilities.
- On this day in 1972 the Soviet Union’s 2nd lunar sample return mission, Luna 20, returned a core sample to Earth
The sample came from the Moon’s Sea of Fertility. The tweet shows a 2010 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Luna 20 on the lunar surface.
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 graphic of the crew ejection system on the Soviet Union’s Buran shuttle
The copycat of the American shuttle only flew once, unmanned. For all we know this was never installed or even built.
- None of the Soyuz equipment at French Guiana will be preserved as rocket startup MaiaSpace takes over the launchpad
Some want it put in a museum. The director of the spaceport: “I’m not of that mindset.”
- Australia’s space agency touts its support for India’s Gaganyaan manned mission
India’s space agency ISRO has installed a tracking antenna at one of Australia’s facilities.
- On this day in 1972 the Soviet Union’s 2nd lunar sample return mission, Luna 20, returned a core sample to Earth
The sample came from the Moon’s Sea of Fertility. The tweet shows a 2010 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image of Luna 20 on the lunar surface.
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

