October 28, 2025 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.
- Head of India’s space agency ISRO says Gaganyaan is 90% complete.
The first manned mission won’t occur until 2027, after several unmanned test missions.
- Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer releases video of a test of the release mechanism for deploying satellites from its Tianlong-3 rocket
The rocket will carry 36 Starlink-type satellites. The first launch of Tianlong-3 is supposed to occur before the end of the year.
- Chinese pseudo-company CAS Space touts the dedication of its second launch pad at the Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China
It claims it is the only pseudo-company in China with two pads.
- On this day in 1971, the United Kingdom’s Black Arrow rocket successfully achieved orbit for the first (and only) time
The program had already been canceled by the government, ending all rocket efforts by the UK for the next half century.
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.
- Head of India’s space agency ISRO says Gaganyaan is 90% complete.
The first manned mission won’t occur until 2027, after several unmanned test missions.
- Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer releases video of a test of the release mechanism for deploying satellites from its Tianlong-3 rocket
The rocket will carry 36 Starlink-type satellites. The first launch of Tianlong-3 is supposed to occur before the end of the year.
- Chinese pseudo-company CAS Space touts the dedication of its second launch pad at the Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China
It claims it is the only pseudo-company in China with two pads.
- On this day in 1971, the United Kingdom’s Black Arrow rocket successfully achieved orbit for the first (and only) time
The program had already been canceled by the government, ending all rocket efforts by the UK for the next half century.
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
Since Robert invites other subjects in this Quick Links section, I just finished listening to some more John Bachelor / Behind The Black podcast episodes.
It always felt weird, out of context when John Batchelor says “CBS Eye On The World.”
See all of the B S is what many of us “see”, other than good podcasts.
However, with the advent of Bari Weiss, will Robert Zimmerman be asked to participate more in CBS science world?
Will we be able to retire See the B-S?
One can dream