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.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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/