August 19, 2024 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.
- Rocket Factory Augsburg offical claims first orbital launch at Saxavord “only weeks away”
The claim is meaningless, in that neither he nor the article provide any update on the approval of a launch license by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The company might be ready, but so was Virgin Orbit, and it was made to wait so long (an extra six months) by the CAA that it ran out of money and went bankrupt. I am willing to bet that this first launch will not happen this year.
- Unconfirmed: If the two Starliner astronauts come home on Dragon the two astronauts to fly up on that capsule will be ” Zena Cardman as commander and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov as pilot”
The rumors continue to suggest NASA is going to bring Starliner back to Earth unoccupied.
- Juno’s next close fly-by of Io this coming weekend
It won’t get as close as previous fly-bys, with this close approch only getting to within 27,218 miles away. Since Juno’s camera is not particularly high resolutoin, it will only be able to see objects bigger than 18 miles across.
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.
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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 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.
- Rocket Factory Augsburg offical claims first orbital launch at Saxavord “only weeks away”
The claim is meaningless, in that neither he nor the article provide any update on the approval of a launch license by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The company might be ready, but so was Virgin Orbit, and it was made to wait so long (an extra six months) by the CAA that it ran out of money and went bankrupt. I am willing to bet that this first launch will not happen this year.
- Unconfirmed: If the two Starliner astronauts come home on Dragon the two astronauts to fly up on that capsule will be ” Zena Cardman as commander and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov as pilot”
The rumors continue to suggest NASA is going to bring Starliner back to Earth unoccupied.
- Juno’s next close fly-by of Io this coming weekend
It won’t get as close as previous fly-bys, with this close approch only getting to within 27,218 miles away. Since Juno’s camera is not particularly high resolutoin, it will only be able to see objects bigger than 18 miles across.
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.
”Rocket Factory Augsburg offical claims first orbital launch at Saxavord ‘only weeks away’”
That’s looking doubtful now that the flight first stage was lost in a static fire.
”The rumors continue to suggest NASA is going to bring Starliner back to Earth unoccupied.”
I get the feeling that there’s something going on here that NASA’s not telling us. At this point I actually hope so, because their reaction is completely out of sync with what they’ve told us about the thruster issues.
“Unconfirmed: If the two Starliner astronauts come home on Dragon the two astronauts to fly up on that capsule will be Zena Cardman as commander and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov as pilot”
I suggest avoiding any Russian “help” in post-ISS missions.
We certainly don’t need them, and we should not help Fascist regimes extend their influence to the moon or Mars!
Once the ISS is deorbited, let the Russians beg the Chinese for help in polluting other worlds, if the Chinese are that stupid!
New acting head of NASA Commercial spave flight.
https://x.com/free_space/status/1825661368239824938?s=46
I’d rather come down in Soyuz as Starliner
Star Trek (2009)
->Prepare for Space Drop
https://youtu.be/v7M3x-OLo4Q
8:51
I suggest avoiding any Russian “help” in post-ISS missions.
Well, the good news is, no such joint programs or missions are planned. Neither the United States nor Russia has avowed any interest in doing any. After ISS Is done with, I think it will be a very long time before we see another joint American-Russian space mission of any kind.
The seat swap program with Roscosmos irritates some peeps even so, and is already doing so with particular force with this new bit of news. But this is the price we had to be willing to pay when NASA pushed it through. But an agreement is an agreement, so NASA can’t lightly turf Gorbunov from this flight. In the meantime it is a reminder of how grateful we should be for Crew Dragon’s success, because it means that we are not in a position to go ask the Russians for even more than this. It is bad enough that Putin’s government seems to be actively misleading much of the Russian populace to assume the contrary: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/boeings-starliner-problems-have-become-fodder-for-putins-propaganda-squads/
Tough luck for Nick Hague and Stephanie Wilson, though. Perhaps they cab get slotted in on Crew-11 in 2026.