Author: Robert Zimmerman

At a conference in Washington DC yesterday both Russia and Japan announced the Moon as their next primary space exploration goal.

8:35 am

The new colonial movement: At a conference in Washington DC yesterday both Russia and Japan announced the Moon as their next primary space exploration goal.

If the U.S. gets a competitive private aerospace industry going — which seems increasingly likely — I’m willing to bet those companies will get to the Moon before either of these governments.

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“If the quality of the Administration’s economic analysis hadn’t already proven to be nearly worthless the discrepancy here would be stunning.”

9:22 am

“If the quality of the Administration’s economic analysis hadn’t already proven to be nearly worthless the discrepancy here would be stunning.”

The discrepancy refers to a claim made by the Obama administration about one benefit of Obamacare, compared to the reality of what has actually happened.

It is time to repeal this disaster of a law. We should also fire the politicians who foisted it on us.

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Russia is considering ending its joint commercial program with the Ukraine and Kazakhstan to launch satellites using its Dnepr rocket.

9:08 am

Russia is considering ending its joint commercial program with the Ukraine and Kazakhstan to launch satellites using its Dnepr rocket.

There are several reasons this decision might happen. One, the Russian government under Putin might now be shifting away from capitalism after two decades of financial success. And if so, that will be to the United States’ advantage. Two, they might have decided that the Dnepr system can’t compete on the market, and it is wiser not to throw good money after bad.

Either way, the abandonment of Dnepr will be bad for Kazakhstan and the Ukraine, and suggests that when the Russians finally get their Vostochny spaceport operational, on their own soil, they will abandon Baikonur in Kazakhstan forever.

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Falcon 9 has cleared the tower

12:46 am

Falcon 9 has cleared the tower and is “looking good.”

First stage has completed its job and has been released. The second stage is firing as planned.

Dragon has separated from the second stage and is now in orbit. Now comes the real test of this mission: Can Dragon maneuver and rendezvous with ISS?

The best moment for the entire launch sequence was when Dragon’s solar arrays deployed. The camera link was still working, so that everyone could see it. When the arrays locked open, there was a gigantic roar from the crowd of people watching at SpaceX’s mission control. Dragon was in orbit and operational!

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The countdown has begun

9:37 pm

Tonight’s Falcon 9 launch: The countdown has begun, and the weather conditions have improved.

SpaceX will begin its own webcast at 3 am (Eastern), which is midnight here in Arizona.

An aside: The ashes of actor James Doohan, who played Scotty on the 1960s television show Star Trek, will be among 308 other cremated remains launched into space by Falcon 9 tonight. As one commenter for the above article noted quite appropriately,

You haven’t really covered any of the important questions here.

i.e. Are there enough dilithium crystals in the engine room to get Scotty up there? And are they using photon torpedoes to blast him out into space? And when they launch, will someone say, “Take her out, Mr. Sulu. Warp factor one.”?

Godspeed, Scotty old bean.

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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has published another spectacular oblique image of Tycho crater.

4:51 pm

Tycho Oblique image thumbnail

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has published another spectacular oblique image of Tycho crater.

If you look closely at the slope of the mountain, you can see an avalanche trail at its center and the debris piled up at the mountain’s base.

See the first oblique image, released in June 2011, here. The two images look at the crater from opposite directions.

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Forty-three Catholic institutions today filed suit over the Obamacare mandate requiring them to pay for contraceptives.

9:12 am

We’ve only just begun: Forty-three Catholic institutions today filed suit over the Obamacare mandate requiring them to pay for contraceptives.

As stated in the complaint filed by the University of Notre Dame:

This lawsuit is about one of America’s most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one’s religion without government interference. It is not about whether people have a right to abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception. Those services are, and will continue to be, freely available in the United States, and nothing prevents the Government itself from making them more widely available. But the right to such services does not authorize the Government to force the University of Notre Dame (“Notre Dame”) to violate its own conscience by making it provide, pay for, and/or facilitate those services to others, contrary to its sincerely held religious beliefs.

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The federal judges in the Ninth Circuit plan to hold a conference in Hawaii this August that could cost $1 million or more, and will include a golf tournament, a tennis tournament, an ice cream social, a garden tour, sport fishing, yoga, surfing lessons, and Zumba dancing lessons.

9:02 am

Our federal government at work: The federal judges in the Ninth Circuit plan to hold a conference in Hawaii this August that could cost $1 million or more, and will include a golf tournament, a tennis tournament, an ice cream social, a garden tour, sport fishing, yoga, surfing lessons, and Zumba dancing lessons.

Though many of these recreational events are supposingly not being paid for by government funds, there is something rotten here, without doubt. I’ve been to too many of these kinds of conferences as a journalist, and saw millions wasted for the entertainment of government employees. And in this case, the government is getting them to Hawaii.

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