December 22, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay. Early today because Diane and I have a social event this afternoon and I want this posted before we leave. It is the holiday season, which has made it hard for me to write any political essays yesterday or today.
- ULA video showing Peregrine lunar lander being stacked on Vulcan
Years late, it does look like Vulcan will finally launch in early January. Let us all pray all goes well.
- Extra objects released after launch of China’s X-37B copy were likely normal rocket debris
Jonathan McDowell, who tweets this, has been tracking objects launched and in orbit for decades, so his suppositions carry weight.
- Chinese pseudo-company touts video of test of rocket stage landing legs
It appears to me that these test legs are not full scale. It is also interesting how they bounce when they come down.
- Sierra Space claims it has completed a full-scale pressure test-to-failure of its inflatable LIFE inflatable space station module
This post provides no video of the test, and is merely a tease for the video’s release next month. Why they can’t release it now suggests they want to do some clean-up and editing beforehand, which raises other questions.
- Russia delays launch of ultraviolet space telescope until 2030 due to lack of funds
Gee, maybe invading the Ukraine and cancelling its deal with OneWeb and Arianespace might not have been such a good idea, eh? The lost revenue, in the billions, might have helped pay for this.
- The ground-based imagery taken when Apollo 8’s fired the upper stage of its Saturn 5 rocket to leave Earth orbit and head to the Moon
This was hardly one of the most important firsts achieved during Apollo 8, but the imagery, as Jay notes, is cool. For the full history of Apollo 8’s 1968 manned Christmas mission to the Moon, read Genesis, the Story of Apollo 8.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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. Early today because Diane and I have a social event this afternoon and I want this posted before we leave. It is the holiday season, which has made it hard for me to write any political essays yesterday or today.
- ULA video showing Peregrine lunar lander being stacked on Vulcan
Years late, it does look like Vulcan will finally launch in early January. Let us all pray all goes well.
- Extra objects released after launch of China’s X-37B copy were likely normal rocket debris
Jonathan McDowell, who tweets this, has been tracking objects launched and in orbit for decades, so his suppositions carry weight.
- Chinese pseudo-company touts video of test of rocket stage landing legs
It appears to me that these test legs are not full scale. It is also interesting how they bounce when they come down.
- Sierra Space claims it has completed a full-scale pressure test-to-failure of its inflatable LIFE inflatable space station module
This post provides no video of the test, and is merely a tease for the video’s release next month. Why they can’t release it now suggests they want to do some clean-up and editing beforehand, which raises other questions.
- Russia delays launch of ultraviolet space telescope until 2030 due to lack of funds
Gee, maybe invading the Ukraine and cancelling its deal with OneWeb and Arianespace might not have been such a good idea, eh? The lost revenue, in the billions, might have helped pay for this.
- The ground-based imagery taken when Apollo 8’s fired the upper stage of its Saturn 5 rocket to leave Earth orbit and head to the Moon
This was hardly one of the most important firsts achieved during Apollo 8, but the imagery, as Jay notes, is cool. For the full history of Apollo 8’s 1968 manned Christmas mission to the Moon, read Genesis, the Story of Apollo 8.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
Re: The CCP X-37 debris. Funny how there is great hue and cry about American “space junk” including bureaucrats levying fines, yet no one in Officialdom cares a whit about the CCP heaving out great gobs of debris, including the occasional wayward orbital booster crashing down wherever it wants.
Sigh.
Jay-
thanks for spotting!
Ref: Apollo 8 Pictures…
-Amazing Stuff!
I love those Apollo pics.
Speaking of the CCP, 2 Russian planes land in Washington DC and no one in the news media carries it? Is the war over?
https://theblogginghounds.com/2023/12/22/russian-special-flight-squadron-lands-in-dc-ukraine-war-to-end-russia-lays-out-terms-of-surrender/