Arianespace and Chinese launches this weekend
Two launches occurred this weekend.
First Arianespace used its Ariane 5 rocket to place two communications satellites in orbit, one for the French military and the second for the commercial company SES. The total payload weight set a record for the rocket.
With this success the path is now clear for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on the next Ariane 5 launch in December.
Next the Chinese used its Long March 3B rocket to launch a technology test satellite aimed at testing “space debris mitigation technologies.” No other information was released.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
37 China
23 SpaceX
17 Russia
4 Northrop Grumman
4 ULA
4 Arianespace (Europe)
China now leads the U.S. 37 to 36 in the national rankings.
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 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
Two launches occurred this weekend.
First Arianespace used its Ariane 5 rocket to place two communications satellites in orbit, one for the French military and the second for the commercial company SES. The total payload weight set a record for the rocket.
With this success the path is now clear for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on the next Ariane 5 launch in December.
Next the Chinese used its Long March 3B rocket to launch a technology test satellite aimed at testing “space debris mitigation technologies.” No other information was released.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
37 China
23 SpaceX
17 Russia
4 Northrop Grumman
4 ULA
4 Arianespace (Europe)
China now leads the U.S. 37 to 36 in the national rankings.
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 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
Maxwell Air Base cleaned out the desk of Prof. Xiaoming Zhang for contacts with the Reds. They feel more at home in Colorado-no doubt. We almost lost a spelunker in Tumbling Rock Cave outside of Huntsville.