June 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.
- Fashion company Prada creates the innermost layer — the long johns — worn under Axiom’s lunar spacesuit
This Axiom-Prada spacesuit partnership began in 2023. More information here.
- Data from Juno suggests cosmic rays come from supernovae
The key word is “suggests.” A lot of uncertainty and assumptions in these conclusions.
- Indian startup AnduraX will do first drop test in June of an engineering test vehicle of its proposed orbital space-plane
“The experimental vehicle will be lifted to an altitude of 25,000 meters using a high-altitude balloon before being released under near-stratospheric conditions.”
- Ham radio enthusiasts capture signal of China’s Tianwen-2 asteroid probe as it arrives at asteroid AST469219
At the moment, China has announced nothing about the mission’s status, which was supposed to rendezvous with the asteroid yesterday.
- New Chinese government documents tout plans to build major Long March 9 factory at Wenchang spaceprot
Supposedly to be completed by May 2028. As Jay notes, “Lots of rumors and fake drawings of the rocket are being posted.”
- Video of the June 8, 1960 ground test explosion of an X-15-3, with pilot Scott Crossfield on-board
Crossfield’s description of what happened is quite riveting.
- On June 8, 1965 the Soviets launched the unmanned lander Luna-6 to the Moon
A failed mid-course maneuver resulted in Luna-6 missing the Moon by 99,178 miles.
- On June 8, 1975 the Soviet Union launched Venera 9 to Venus
It successfully landed, operating for 53 minutes and taking the first pictures of the Venusian surface. Its orbiter was also the first satellite to circle Venus. In looking at those pictures now, that talus slope of slabs is very reminiscent of what Curiosity is presently seeing on Mount Sharp on Mars
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 X-15-3 story links to a non-exisitant X account. Here is a link to an article with a video by Crossfield.
https://bangshift.com/bangshiftxl/sitting-inside-sun-video-day-x-15-rocket-plane-exploded-ground-hurt-one/
BillB: Thank you. I have revised the quick link to go to your link.
It also appears that this X account vanished since last night, as Jay linked to it for several history stories, all of which are now inaccessible.
This happened to me for the last two weeks. My x account would be suspended, I would appeal, it would come back in about four days, and then it would be suspended again. No explanation on why except a note saying “violation of terms”.
I think the violation might be from one of these three: I have been vocal on my account agreeing with the Province of Alberta becoming a republic, the failure of King Ferguson passing an unconstitutional income tax in Washington State, and that the Mayor of Seattle’s forehead is so big and empty that it can be used as a stadium for the World Cup.
Jay: So you think the same happened to that Ron Eisele account?
New camera
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-spiders-ultra-efficient-3d-camera.html
Sound deadening
https://phys.org/news/2026-06-newfound-bulky-effective-soundproofing.html
I would not put it past China to build 15 meter fairings