August 1, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stinger Jay.
- Paper outlining the China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon’s far side
The launch is scheduled for 2024. The paper not only details the mission, it discusses the geology to be studied.
- China outlines Chang’e-7 mission to get in situ data of possible ice in the Moon’s permanently shadowed craters at the south pole
The launch is scheduled for 2026, and will include a hopper to access the interiors of those craters.
- Launch of last Antares rocket using Russian engines and a Ukrainian first stage to occur shortly
The live stream can be viewed here, and is scheduled to go live at 8 pm Eastern.
For the next three Cygnus cargo missions to ISS Northrop Grumman has hired SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as its launch vehicle while it awaits a new first stage from Firefly.
- NASA and Boeing will hold update on Starliner status on August 7, 2023
Hopefully they will reveal a time frame for fixing the parachute issue as well as replacing the flammable electric tape installed throughout the capsule. No manned mission to ISS can proceed before these issues are resolved.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Courtesy of BtB’s stinger Jay.
- Paper outlining the China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon’s far side
The launch is scheduled for 2024. The paper not only details the mission, it discusses the geology to be studied.
- China outlines Chang’e-7 mission to get in situ data of possible ice in the Moon’s permanently shadowed craters at the south pole
The launch is scheduled for 2026, and will include a hopper to access the interiors of those craters.
- Launch of last Antares rocket using Russian engines and a Ukrainian first stage to occur shortly
The live stream can be viewed here, and is scheduled to go live at 8 pm Eastern.
For the next three Cygnus cargo missions to ISS Northrop Grumman has hired SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as its launch vehicle while it awaits a new first stage from Firefly.
- NASA and Boeing will hold update on Starliner status on August 7, 2023
Hopefully they will reveal a time frame for fixing the parachute issue as well as replacing the flammable electric tape installed throughout the capsule. No manned mission to ISS can proceed before these issues are resolved.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
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