Author: Robert Zimmerman
Among other things, Sarah Brightman talks about her planned trip to space.
A collection of new images from Mars by a variety of spacecraft and rovers.
A collection of new images from Mars by a variety of spacecraft and rovers.
Posted as we approach El Paso and the Texas-New Mexico border.
A collection of new images from Mars by a variety of spacecraft and rovers.
Posted as we approach El Paso and the Texas-New Mexico border.
University students have successfully test fired a 3D printed rocket engine.
University students have successfully test fired a 3D printed rocket engine.
University students have successfully test fired a 3D printed rocket engine.
Privatize the National Park Service.
Privatize the National Park Service.
This recommendation will anger NPS employees. Well, for that, they can thank White House schemers for overplaying their heavy hand and unwittingly shedding ominous light on the abusive possibilities of this agency. That’s not a sentiment that the president and allies intended to foster when they began agitating and orchestrating their shutdown campaign. Rather than convincing us of the alleged evils of congressional Republicans, they’ve unveiled the roguish tendencies of some federal employees who blindly follow orders. Let’s respond by taking power away from those employees, so this cannot happen again. Easily maneuvered into providing propaganda for a president or party, these NPS workers have proven themselves unworthy of the mission entrusted to them. They are the embodiment of the dangers of unaccountable, big government.
To this I say amen! I spend a lot of time visiting the national parks, and more often than not have been consistently disgusted with the National Park Service and its possessive and dictatorial attitude. In the past two decades the park service has changed. Once it considered its job that of a mere custodian, administering these parks for the benefit of the American public, the parks’ real owner. Today the park service instead sees the parks as their private little playground, and the public as annoying trespassers whose access should be limited as much as possible.
It is time to fire these thugs and give the job to someone else.
Note also the ease in which state governments are taking over operations of the major parks out west. For less money too. This illustrates how bloated and unnecessary most of the park service actually is. It can be replaced.
Privatize the National Park Service.
This recommendation will anger NPS employees. Well, for that, they can thank White House schemers for overplaying their heavy hand and unwittingly shedding ominous light on the abusive possibilities of this agency. That’s not a sentiment that the president and allies intended to foster when they began agitating and orchestrating their shutdown campaign. Rather than convincing us of the alleged evils of congressional Republicans, they’ve unveiled the roguish tendencies of some federal employees who blindly follow orders. Let’s respond by taking power away from those employees, so this cannot happen again. Easily maneuvered into providing propaganda for a president or party, these NPS workers have proven themselves unworthy of the mission entrusted to them. They are the embodiment of the dangers of unaccountable, big government.
To this I say amen! I spend a lot of time visiting the national parks, and more often than not have been consistently disgusted with the National Park Service and its possessive and dictatorial attitude. In the past two decades the park service has changed. Once it considered its job that of a mere custodian, administering these parks for the benefit of the American public, the parks’ real owner. Today the park service instead sees the parks as their private little playground, and the public as annoying trespassers whose access should be limited as much as possible.
It is time to fire these thugs and give the job to someone else.
Note also the ease in which state governments are taking over operations of the major parks out west. For less money too. This illustrates how bloated and unnecessary most of the park service actually is. It can be replaced.
“Obamacare has raped my future”
From a college student: “Obamacare has raped my future.”
This budget fight exists because Republicans are trying to delay or repeal Obamacare while Democrats are doing everything to keep the law in place. If the Republicans had any brains they would focus on this point, as I do, all the time. Obamacare is a disaster, everyone sees it, and by showing how the Democrats are willing to even shut down the government to endorse it can only work to the Republicans’ political advantage.
From a college student: “Obamacare has raped my future.”
This budget fight exists because Republicans are trying to delay or repeal Obamacare while Democrats are doing everything to keep the law in place. If the Republicans had any brains they would focus on this point, as I do, all the time. Obamacare is a disaster, everyone sees it, and by showing how the Democrats are willing to even shut down the government to endorse it can only work to the Republicans’ political advantage.
Obama apparently has rejected the Republican capitulation offer from yesterday.
The budget negotiations continue: Obama apparently has rejected the Republican capitulation offer from yesterday.
The Republican plan, which I think sucks, was simply not humiliating enough. Meanwhile, there appears to be some pushback from conservative Republicans. I am not hopeful, however. The cowards at the head of the Republican party always back down.
The budget negotiations continue: Obama apparently has rejected the Republican capitulation offer from yesterday.
The Republican plan, which I think sucks, was simply not humiliating enough. Meanwhile, there appears to be some pushback from conservative Republicans. I am not hopeful, however. The cowards at the head of the Republican party always back down.
A violin that was played as the Titanic sank in 1914 has been found to be authentic and will be auctioned to the public on October 19.
A violin that was played as the Titanic sank in 1912 has been found to be authentic and will be auctioned to the public on October 19.
A violin that was played as the Titanic sank in 1912 has been found to be authentic and will be auctioned to the public on October 19.
Juno has exited safe mode and is now functioning normally.
Juno has exited safe mode and is now functioning normally.
Juno has exited safe mode and is now functioning normally.
SpaceX has revised the schedule for its next three launches, pushing back two weeks so engineers can review issues with the Falcon 9 upper stage engine.
The competition heats up: SpaceX has revised the schedule for its next three launches, pushing back two weeks so engineers can review issues with the Falcon 9 upper stage engine.
The debut launch of the upgraded Falcon 9 successfully deployed Canada’s Cassiope spacecraft into orbit on September 29. However, after safely deploying its payloads, the upper stage was then set to restart its Merlin VacD engine for a second burn related to SpaceX’s ambitions to create a fully reusable launch system. An anomaly with the restart held no mission impact, but the company’s CEO and chief designer, Elon Musk, did note they expected to implement corrective actions ahead of the next launch. “In the case of the upper stage relight, we initiated relight and the system encountered an anomaly and did not complete the relight. We believe understand what that issue is and should have it addressed in time for the next flight of Falcon 9,” he noted. “We essentially saw the engine initiate ignition. get up to about 400 psi and then it encountered a condition that it didn’t like. We have all of the data from the restart, so I am confident that we will be able to sort it out and address it before the next flight. We just have to iron out some slight differences of it operating in vacuum.”
I find Musk’s vague terminology about the engine issue to be interesting. I wonder if the “condition” the engine “didn’t like” was when the engine exploded, as some have suggested. (I personally am skeptical the engine exploded, however, as such a failure would probably require a much longer delay to deal with.)
Either way, the next few months should be a busy time for commercial space. Not only does SpaceX have two major commercial launches and a Dragon mission to ISS, Orbital Sciences has its next Cygnus cargo mission and Virgin Galactic claims it will be ready to fly SpaceShipTwo with passengers.
Posted on the road heading into the empty wilds of west Texas.
The competition heats up: SpaceX has revised the schedule for its next three launches, pushing back two weeks so engineers can review issues with the Falcon 9 upper stage engine.
The debut launch of the upgraded Falcon 9 successfully deployed Canada’s Cassiope spacecraft into orbit on September 29. However, after safely deploying its payloads, the upper stage was then set to restart its Merlin VacD engine for a second burn related to SpaceX’s ambitions to create a fully reusable launch system. An anomaly with the restart held no mission impact, but the company’s CEO and chief designer, Elon Musk, did note they expected to implement corrective actions ahead of the next launch. “In the case of the upper stage relight, we initiated relight and the system encountered an anomaly and did not complete the relight. We believe understand what that issue is and should have it addressed in time for the next flight of Falcon 9,” he noted. “We essentially saw the engine initiate ignition. get up to about 400 psi and then it encountered a condition that it didn’t like. We have all of the data from the restart, so I am confident that we will be able to sort it out and address it before the next flight. We just have to iron out some slight differences of it operating in vacuum.”
I find Musk’s vague terminology about the engine issue to be interesting. I wonder if the “condition” the engine “didn’t like” was when the engine exploded, as some have suggested. (I personally am skeptical the engine exploded, however, as such a failure would probably require a much longer delay to deal with.)
Either way, the next few months should be a busy time for commercial space. Not only does SpaceX have two major commercial launches and a Dragon mission to ISS, Orbital Sciences has its next Cygnus cargo mission and Virgin Galactic claims it will be ready to fly SpaceShipTwo with passengers.
Posted on the road heading into the empty wilds of west Texas.
The Republican leadership folds.
The Republican leadership folds on the government shutdown. Key quote:
In exchange for meeting, at least momentarily, all of Obama’s demands, the House GOP is seeking a “framework” for future negotiations.
They get a repeal of an Obamacare tax on medical equipment, but lose everything else, plus give up some of the sequester cuts that have actually produced the first real reduction in the size of government in decades.
And the Republican leadership wonders why they keep losing elections? With incompetent friends like this, who needs enemies.
The Republican leadership folds on the government shutdown. Key quote:
In exchange for meeting, at least momentarily, all of Obama’s demands, the House GOP is seeking a “framework” for future negotiations.
They get a repeal of an Obamacare tax on medical equipment, but lose everything else, plus give up some of the sequester cuts that have actually produced the first real reduction in the size of government in decades.
And the Republican leadership wonders why they keep losing elections? With incompetent friends like this, who needs enemies.
Jeff Bezos reveals some details about the goals of his space company, Blue Origin.
The competition heats up: Jeff Bezos reveals some details about the goals of his space company, Blue Origin.
Blue Origin is now working on its third version of the New Shepard, which is designed to take everyday people on suborbital journeys. Bezos said that he’s hopeful that this will be the last iteration, and he wants to see the next vehicle ready for commercial operation. “I’m very optimistic about that,” he said. Bezos didn’t give any specific timetables. However, he did say that Blue Origin’s orbital vehicle, designed to send astronauts to the International Space Station and elsewhere, will be tested by 2018. Eventually, the goal is to let anyone fly up into space safely at reasonable prices.
Not a lot of details, but previously we knew practically nothing. That the present ship is being designed for suborbital tourist flights makes it a direct competitor of Virgin Galactic and XCOR. And considering the problems that Virgin Galactic has with SpaceShipTwo, and that XCOR doesn’t have the big bucks of Bezos, Blue Origin might actually be in the lead in the race to put the first tourists in space.
The competition heats up: Jeff Bezos reveals some details about the goals of his space company, Blue Origin.
Blue Origin is now working on its third version of the New Shepard, which is designed to take everyday people on suborbital journeys. Bezos said that he’s hopeful that this will be the last iteration, and he wants to see the next vehicle ready for commercial operation. “I’m very optimistic about that,” he said. Bezos didn’t give any specific timetables. However, he did say that Blue Origin’s orbital vehicle, designed to send astronauts to the International Space Station and elsewhere, will be tested by 2018. Eventually, the goal is to let anyone fly up into space safely at reasonable prices.
Not a lot of details, but previously we knew practically nothing. That the present ship is being designed for suborbital tourist flights makes it a direct competitor of Virgin Galactic and XCOR. And considering the problems that Virgin Galactic has with SpaceShipTwo, and that XCOR doesn’t have the big bucks of Bezos, Blue Origin might actually be in the lead in the race to put the first tourists in space.
A remotely operated Russian telescope, located in New Mexico, on Wednesday discovered a kilometer wide Near Earth asteroid.
Boom! A remotely operated Russian telescope, located in New Mexico, on Wednesday discovered a kilometer wide Near Earth asteroid.
The asteroid, believed to be the 704th largest with an orbit that comes relatively near Earth, does not pose a danger of crashing into our planet, said the head of the observatory that made the discovery. “It’s a big asteroid, but it poses no danger for us,” Leonid Elenin, who lives in the Moscow Region, told RIA Novosti on Friday.
Finding a new asteroid like this illustrates that there might be other such large objects out there undiscovered. Also cool is how the Russians discovered it, using equipment in the United States!
Posted from Midland, Texas, the center of the world for the American oil industry.
Boom! A remotely operated Russian telescope, located in New Mexico, on Wednesday discovered a kilometer wide Near Earth asteroid.
The asteroid, believed to be the 704th largest with an orbit that comes relatively near Earth, does not pose a danger of crashing into our planet, said the head of the observatory that made the discovery. “It’s a big asteroid, but it poses no danger for us,” Leonid Elenin, who lives in the Moscow Region, told RIA Novosti on Friday.
Finding a new asteroid like this illustrates that there might be other such large objects out there undiscovered. Also cool is how the Russians discovered it, using equipment in the United States!
Posted from Midland, Texas, the center of the world for the American oil industry.
Chris Hatfield describes how a bureaucratic tangle with the space doctor bureaucracy almost grounded him before his ISS expedition.
Bureaucracy in space: In a new book, astronaut Chris Hatfield describes how a bureaucratic tangle with the space doctor bureaucracy almost grounded him before his ISS expedition.
“The secrecy and paternalism really bothered me. They trusted me at the helm of the world’s space ship, but had been making decisions about my body as though I were a lab rat who didn’t merit consultation.” The “they” Hadfield refers to are members of the Multilateral Space Medicine Board (MSMB), a body of representatives from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and Russia who judge the medical fitness of astronauts to go on missions. ….
The bureaucracy wanted Hatfield to undergo an emergency operation to make sure everything was okay. He refused,
triggering what Hadfield describes as a “Kafkaesque” journey through “a bureaucratic quagmire where logic and data simply didn’t count.” … “Internal politics and uninformed opinions were what mattered,” he says in the book. “Doctors who hadn’t ever performed a laparoscopic procedure were weighing in; people were making decisions about medical risks as though far greater risks to the space program itself were irrelevant.”
I find this interesting in that, of the astronauts I have interviewed over the years, I can’t remember any who had good words to say about the official government doctors they had to deal with, both in the U.S. and in Russia.
Bureaucracy in space: In a new book, astronaut Chris Hatfield describes how a bureaucratic tangle with the space doctor bureaucracy almost grounded him before his ISS expedition.
“The secrecy and paternalism really bothered me. They trusted me at the helm of the world’s space ship, but had been making decisions about my body as though I were a lab rat who didn’t merit consultation.” The “they” Hadfield refers to are members of the Multilateral Space Medicine Board (MSMB), a body of representatives from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and Russia who judge the medical fitness of astronauts to go on missions. ….
The bureaucracy wanted Hatfield to undergo an emergency operation to make sure everything was okay. He refused,
triggering what Hadfield describes as a “Kafkaesque” journey through “a bureaucratic quagmire where logic and data simply didn’t count.” … “Internal politics and uninformed opinions were what mattered,” he says in the book. “Doctors who hadn’t ever performed a laparoscopic procedure were weighing in; people were making decisions about medical risks as though far greater risks to the space program itself were irrelevant.”
I find this interesting in that, of the astronauts I have interviewed over the years, I can’t remember any who had good words to say about the official government doctors they had to deal with, both in the U.S. and in Russia.
Scientist right now think it is a toss-up whether Comet ISON will survive its dive past the sun on November 28.
Scientist right now think it is a toss-up whether Comet ISON will survive its dive past the sun on November 28.
Essentially, they have no idea what will happen. They know most of the factors effecting the comet, but cannot predict the result. If the comet breaks up, however, it will be very cool, as this will probably be the largest comet ever seen by astronomers to do this.
Scientist right now think it is a toss-up whether Comet ISON will survive its dive past the sun on November 28.
Essentially, they have no idea what will happen. They know most of the factors effecting the comet, but cannot predict the result. If the comet breaks up, however, it will be very cool, as this will probably be the largest comet ever seen by astronomers to do this.
Two days after its flyby of Earth, Jupiter probe Juno remains in safe mode.
Two days after its flyby of Earth, Jupiter probe Juno remains in safe mode.
The Juno spacecraft is in a healthy and stable state, with its tractor-trailer-size solar panels pointed toward the sun. The mission team is in communication with Juno and has seen no sign of any failures in the probe’s subsystems or components, said project manager Rick Nybakken of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. So Juno’s handlers plan to take their time and do a thorough investigation before attempting to bring all of the spacecraft’s systems back online.
In other words, there is no rush to take the spacecraft out of safe mode. It is far better to figure out exactly what is going on first.
Two days after its flyby of Earth, Jupiter probe Juno remains in safe mode.
The Juno spacecraft is in a healthy and stable state, with its tractor-trailer-size solar panels pointed toward the sun. The mission team is in communication with Juno and has seen no sign of any failures in the probe’s subsystems or components, said project manager Rick Nybakken of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. So Juno’s handlers plan to take their time and do a thorough investigation before attempting to bring all of the spacecraft’s systems back online.
In other words, there is no rush to take the spacecraft out of safe mode. It is far better to figure out exactly what is going on first.
When surveyed, more than 70 percent of all doctors and practices say they will not participate in the Obamacare health exchange insurance plans.
Knowing what’s in it: When surveyed, more than 70 percent of all doctors and practices say they will not participate in the Obamacare health exchange insurance plans.
The doctors cite a fear of complex administrative and regulatory requirements as well as the exchanges’ low reimbursement rates.
Note how this wonderful government health insurance plan is providing doctors with less pay and more paperwork while charging patients more for fewer benefits. Doesn’t that combination warm the cockles of your heart?
But remember! The Democrats have your back! They are going to keep Obamacare the law no matter what!
Posted from Texas.
Knowing what’s in it: When surveyed, more than 70 percent of all doctors and practices say they will not participate in the Obamacare health exchange insurance plans.
The doctors cite a fear of complex administrative and regulatory requirements as well as the exchanges’ low reimbursement rates.
Note how this wonderful government health insurance plan is providing doctors with less pay and more paperwork while charging patients more for fewer benefits. Doesn’t that combination warm the cockles of your heart?
But remember! The Democrats have your back! They are going to keep Obamacare the law no matter what!
Posted from Texas.
One hundred days to wake-up for Europe’s Rosetta comet probe.
One hundred days to wake-up for Europe’s Rosetta comet probe.
Rosetta was launched on 2 March 2004, and through a complex series of flybys – three times past Earth and once past Mars – set course to its destination: comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It also flew by and imaged two asteroids, Steins on 5 September 2008 and Lutetia on 10 July 2010. In July 2011 Rosetta was put into deep-space hibernation for the coldest, most distant leg of the journey as it travelled some 800 million kilometres from the Sun, close to the orbit of Jupiter. The spacecraft was oriented so that its solar wings faced the Sun to receive as much sunlight as possible, and it was placed into a slow spin to maintain stability.
Now, as both the comet and the spacecraft are on the return journey back into the inner Solar System, the Rosetta team is preparing for the spacecraft to wake up.
Rosetta mission milestones 2014-2015 Rosetta’s internal alarm clock is set for 10:00 GMT on 20 January 2014.
The first images are expected back in May 2014.
Posted as we approach the Arkansas-Texas border.
One hundred days to wake-up for Europe’s Rosetta comet probe.
Rosetta was launched on 2 March 2004, and through a complex series of flybys – three times past Earth and once past Mars – set course to its destination: comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It also flew by and imaged two asteroids, Steins on 5 September 2008 and Lutetia on 10 July 2010. In July 2011 Rosetta was put into deep-space hibernation for the coldest, most distant leg of the journey as it travelled some 800 million kilometres from the Sun, close to the orbit of Jupiter. The spacecraft was oriented so that its solar wings faced the Sun to receive as much sunlight as possible, and it was placed into a slow spin to maintain stability.
Now, as both the comet and the spacecraft are on the return journey back into the inner Solar System, the Rosetta team is preparing for the spacecraft to wake up.
Rosetta mission milestones 2014-2015 Rosetta’s internal alarm clock is set for 10:00 GMT on 20 January 2014.
The first images are expected back in May 2014.
Posted as we approach the Arkansas-Texas border.
Not only did Sarah Hall Ingram illegally share confidential taxpayer information with White House officials, she met with White House officials 165 times.
Working for the Democratic Party: Not only did Sarah Hall Ingram illegally share confidential taxpayer information with White House officials, she met with White House officials 165 times.
Of Ingram’s 165 White House meetings with White House staff, a staggering 155 of them were hosted by deputy assistant to the president for health policy Jeanne Lambrew, according to a June Watchdog.Org analysis of White House visitor records. Ingram exchanged confidential taxpayer information with Lambrew and White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
I notice that Obama’s so-called outrage over the IRS scandal has not caused him to remove Hall as the person in charge of the IRS’s implementation of Obamacare.
Working for the Democratic Party: Not only did Sarah Hall Ingram illegally share confidential taxpayer information with White House officials, she met with White House officials 165 times.
Of Ingram’s 165 White House meetings with White House staff, a staggering 155 of them were hosted by deputy assistant to the president for health policy Jeanne Lambrew, according to a June Watchdog.Org analysis of White House visitor records. Ingram exchanged confidential taxpayer information with Lambrew and White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
I notice that Obama’s so-called outrage over the IRS scandal has not caused him to remove Hall as the person in charge of the IRS’s implementation of Obamacare.
One man’s Obamacare nightmare.
Finding out what’s in it: One man’s Obamacare nightmare.
In sum: Obama lied. His health plan died. He can’t keep his doctors. He couldn’t sign up in 10 minutes for health care. He’s being steered toward a government plan he doesn’t qualify for or want. And he can’t get his personal information back from the online Obamawreck black hole.
And then there’s this: A disabled mother finds she is forced to chose between food or Obamacare premiums.
But don’t worry: The Democrats think Obamacare is so great that they have forced a government shutdown to make sure it goes into effect immediately!
Posted as we circle Little Rock, Arkansas.
Finding out what’s in it: One man’s Obamacare nightmare.
In sum: Obama lied. His health plan died. He can’t keep his doctors. He couldn’t sign up in 10 minutes for health care. He’s being steered toward a government plan he doesn’t qualify for or want. And he can’t get his personal information back from the online Obamawreck black hole.
And then there’s this: A disabled mother finds she is forced to chose between food or Obamacare premiums.
But don’t worry: The Democrats think Obamacare is so great that they have forced a government shutdown to make sure it goes into effect immediately!
Posted as we circle Little Rock, Arkansas.
Sarah Hall Ingram, now in charge of administrating Obamacare for the IRS, not only advised the White House on how to harass conservative organizations, her emails appear to have illegally included confidential tax information.
Working for the Democratic Party: Sarah Hall Ingram, now in charge of administrating Obamacare for the IRS, not only advised the White House on how to harass conservative organizations, her emails appear to have illegally included confidential tax information.
And just remember: This woman is now in charge of managing the IRS department that will implement Obamacare, giving her access to everyone’s health and tax records. If you say something that she (or Obama) doesn’t like, don’t be surprised if those records end up in the hands of Obama, to use against you.
Gee, maybe this explains why the Democrats have been willing to even shut down the government to get Obamacare up and running.
Working for the Democratic Party: Sarah Hall Ingram, now in charge of administrating Obamacare for the IRS, not only advised the White House on how to harass conservative organizations, her emails appear to have illegally included confidential tax information.
And just remember: This woman is now in charge of managing the IRS department that will implement Obamacare, giving her access to everyone’s health and tax records. If you say something that she (or Obama) doesn’t like, don’t be surprised if those records end up in the hands of Obama, to use against you.
Gee, maybe this explains why the Democrats have been willing to even shut down the government to get Obamacare up and running.
Utah has forced an agreement with the federal government to reopen its national parks.
Utah has forced an agreement with the federal government to reopen its national parks.
The article says that Utah negotiated this agreement, but the only way I can imagine Utah got the Obama administration to agree to this was to tell them that Utah was going to open the parks one way or the other, and that the Obama administration would look really bad if it resisted local authorities as they protected citizens who wished to visit these parks.
Update: More information here. It appears the Obama administration is backing down across the board. They have not only announced that they will let the parks open if the states pay for their operation, they have removed the barricades at Mount Rushmore, as well as in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Utah has forced an agreement with the federal government to reopen its national parks.
The article says that Utah negotiated this agreement, but the only way I can imagine Utah got the Obama administration to agree to this was to tell them that Utah was going to open the parks one way or the other, and that the Obama administration would look really bad if it resisted local authorities as they protected citizens who wished to visit these parks.
Update: More information here. It appears the Obama administration is backing down across the board. They have not only announced that they will let the parks open if the states pay for their operation, they have removed the barricades at Mount Rushmore, as well as in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Except for a troublesome fan, the first Cygnus cargo capsule to dock with ISS is performing perfectly.
Except for a troublesome fan, the first Cygnus cargo capsule to dock with ISS is performing perfectly.
The fan has been a minor issue. The astronauts have simply turned it off periodically when it started to act up. What is really important is this:
The next Cygnus – along with its Antares launch vehicle – is already being processed at Orbital’s Wallops facility, with a target launch date of December 15, with an available launch window through to December 21.
Except for a troublesome fan, the first Cygnus cargo capsule to dock with ISS is performing perfectly.
The fan has been a minor issue. The astronauts have simply turned it off periodically when it started to act up. What is really important is this:
The next Cygnus – along with its Antares launch vehicle – is already being processed at Orbital’s Wallops facility, with a target launch date of December 15, with an available launch window through to December 21.
A new survey shows that one out of every three persons wants to travel in space.
A new survey shows that one out of every three persons wants to travel in space.
The number rises to one out of two once the technology has become reliable.
Posted as we drive through Forest City, Arkansas, following our master, the GPS, which suggested a detour to avoid construction delays on I-40. We have crossed the Mississippi!
A new survey shows that one out of every three persons wants to travel in space.
The number rises to one out of two once the technology has become reliable.
Posted as we drive through Forest City, Arkansas, following our master, the GPS, which suggested a detour to avoid construction delays on I-40. We have crossed the Mississippi!
An eleven year old’s experiment in brewing beer in space will fly to ISS on the next Cygnus cargo flight in December.
An eleven year old’s experiment in brewing beer in space will fly to ISS on the next Cygnus cargo flight in December.
The tiny brewery is set up inside a 6-inch-long (15 centimeters) tube, filled with separated hops, water, yeast and malted barley — all of the key ingredients used to make beer — and will be delivered to the station by the commercial firm NanoRacks. An astronaut aboard the station will shake up the mixture to see how the yeast interacts with the other ingredients in the beer. “I really didn’t expect this from the start,” Bodzianowski told KDVR, a Fox affiliate in Denver. “I really just designed my experiment to get a good grade in my class.”
An eleven year old’s experiment in brewing beer in space will fly to ISS on the next Cygnus cargo flight in December.
The tiny brewery is set up inside a 6-inch-long (15 centimeters) tube, filled with separated hops, water, yeast and malted barley — all of the key ingredients used to make beer — and will be delivered to the station by the commercial firm NanoRacks. An astronaut aboard the station will shake up the mixture to see how the yeast interacts with the other ingredients in the beer. “I really didn’t expect this from the start,” Bodzianowski told KDVR, a Fox affiliate in Denver. “I really just designed my experiment to get a good grade in my class.”
Astronomers have found evidence of the remains of an exoplanet that they think was once wet and rocky.
Astronomers have found evidence of the remains of an exoplanet that they think was once wet and rocky.
Using observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the large telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory , they found an excess of oxygen – a chemical signature that indicates that the debris had once been part of a bigger body originally composed of 26 per cent water by mass. By contrast, only approximately 0.023 per cent of the Earth’s mass is water.
From what I can gather, the actual data here is somewhat skimpy, requring a lot of assumptions for the scientists to come to this conclusion. Nonetheless, the data is interesting and very tantalizing.
Posted from Memphis, Tennessee.
Astronomers have found evidence of the remains of an exoplanet that they think was once wet and rocky.
Using observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the large telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory , they found an excess of oxygen – a chemical signature that indicates that the debris had once been part of a bigger body originally composed of 26 per cent water by mass. By contrast, only approximately 0.023 per cent of the Earth’s mass is water.
From what I can gather, the actual data here is somewhat skimpy, requring a lot of assumptions for the scientists to come to this conclusion. Nonetheless, the data is interesting and very tantalizing.
Posted from Memphis, Tennessee.
Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter, 1925-2013.
The Russian government today replaced the head of its space agency.
The Russian government today replaced the head of its space agency.
This is part of the continuing shake-up of the Russian space industry following a series of launch failures over the past three years.
The Russian government today replaced the head of its space agency.
This is part of the continuing shake-up of the Russian space industry following a series of launch failures over the past three years.
“Look at these radicals who are blatantly defying the federal government by having a stroll and eating lunch in a CLOSED PARK.”
Click on the link. Lots of hilariously captioned pictures of evil tourists defying their righteous government which is so sincerely trying to protect its property from those disgusting “little people.”
Posted as we pass Knoxville, Tennessee.
Click on the link. Lots of hilariously captioned pictures of evil tourists defying their righteous government which is so sincerely trying to protect its property from those disgusting “little people.”
Posted as we pass Knoxville, Tennessee.
A Iowan Mennonite couple that owns an art gallery has filed suit against the state’s Civil Rights Commission after being threatened with punishment for refusing to host a same-sex wedding on their property.
Jack-boot thugs: A Iowan Mennonite couple that owns an art gallery has filed suit against the state’s Civil Rights Commission after being threatened with punishment for refusing to host a same-sex wedding on their property.
Posted from Tennessee.
Jack-boot thugs: A Iowan Mennonite couple that owns an art gallery has filed suit against the state’s Civil Rights Commission after being threatened with punishment for refusing to host a same-sex wedding on their property.
Posted from Tennessee.
“The Obama Administration’s behavior during the first week of the shutdown has been the best argument against Obamacare anyone has ever made.”
Another reasonable thought: “The Obama Administration’s behavior during the first week of the shutdown has been the best argument against Obamacare anyone has ever made.”
The American people do not want Obamacare, and they are demanding that Washington act to protect them from the harmful effects of this unfortunate law. The president’s response has been to ignore them, allow the government to shutdown, and then use his power to close national parks and monuments, stop paying veterans’ benefits, and cut off cancer research. This is exactly why we should not expand the government’s power over our health care choices. What power the government has, it will use – and misuse – to advance its own interests, even if that means punishing the American people along the way. [emphasis mine]
Just think what any power-hungry politician, from either party, might do if he or she had unfettered access to your personal health records. If you express any opposition to them, they might even use that information to attack and destroy you.
Another reasonable thought: “The Obama Administration’s behavior during the first week of the shutdown has been the best argument against Obamacare anyone has ever made.”
The American people do not want Obamacare, and they are demanding that Washington act to protect them from the harmful effects of this unfortunate law. The president’s response has been to ignore them, allow the government to shutdown, and then use his power to close national parks and monuments, stop paying veterans’ benefits, and cut off cancer research. This is exactly why we should not expand the government’s power over our health care choices. What power the government has, it will use – and misuse – to advance its own interests, even if that means punishing the American people along the way. [emphasis mine]
Just think what any power-hungry politician, from either party, might do if he or she had unfettered access to your personal health records. If you express any opposition to them, they might even use that information to attack and destroy you.