August 19, 2024 Quick space linksCourtesy 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.
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.
- 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.
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
”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.