December 24, 2025 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.
- Russia patents space station designed to generate artificial gravity
And I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you cheap! The chances of Russia building this in the next decade is nil. Nor does this patent have any force of law outside Russia. The idea is not original.
- Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit this week
Nice picture at the link, but if you really want to know what happened on this mission, you need to 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 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.
- Russia patents space station designed to generate artificial gravity
And I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you cheap! The chances of Russia building this in the next decade is nil. Nor does this patent have any force of law outside Russia. The idea is not original.
- Apollo 8 entered lunar orbit this week
Nice picture at the link, but if you really want to know what happened on this mission, you need to 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 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


I reread that Space.com article on the spinning torus station “idea” (from the 1960s) several times to make sure I was reading what I was reading. It may be the dumbest patent troll in my lifetime. Why didn’t the website challenge this claim? Are they attempting deadpan?
Maybe Stanley Kubrick’s estate can challenge that patent if no one else will.
BBC Television Special Coverage of Apollo 8
James Burke, Patrick Moore, and Sir Bernard Lovell (what a Trio!)
( 1 of 3 clips total) (at 71:26:00 elapsed mission time)
https://archive.org/details/apollo-8-bbc-coverage
The Unburied Voices
from the album: “Dark Side of the Moon” (1973)
https://youtu.be/CJvSzJphgT8
1:56
1. Gerry O’Driscoll; (The “You are not getting past me” front doorman at Abbey Road Studios.)
“There is no dark side in the moon, really”. “Matter of fact it’s all dark!” “The only thing that makes it look light is, the Sun.”