December 5, 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.
- Astrobotic touts a series of successful hot-fire tests of a “flight-representative replica” of its lunar lander, Griffin-1
The tests validated the lander’s propulsion system. Launch has been delayed repeatedly since its first target launch date of 2023. It is now targeting a July 2026 launch.
- OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman is pushing to challenge Elon Musk in space
The article describes several attempts by Altman to enter the space business, including an effort to buy the rocket startup Stoke Space, which according to another source has fallen through.
- Scientists use Gaia data to map the chemistry of the Milky Way’s inner arms
They used the detected chemistry to map the arms themselves. Lots of uncertainty of course.
- On this day in 1965 Frank Borman and Jim Lovell launched on Gemini-7
They spent two weeks in orbit (a record at the time), proving humans could live in weightlessness long enough to go to and from the Moon. They also became the target vehicle for Gemini-6, which completed the first orbital rendezvous in history.
- On this day in 1996, Mars Pathfinder launched carrying the Mars rover Sojourner
The success of that mission jump-started NASA’s entire Mars planetary program for the next quarter century, including rovers, orbiters, and landers.
- Cool image of the upper stage still in orbit of an Ariane-4 rocket launched on this day in 1999
The image was captured by the Blacksky satellite constellation. The rocket launched two French satellites, one experimental smallsat and a reconnaissance satellite that failed prematurely.
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.
- Astrobotic touts a series of successful hot-fire tests of a “flight-representative replica” of its lunar lander, Griffin-1
The tests validated the lander’s propulsion system. Launch has been delayed repeatedly since its first target launch date of 2023. It is now targeting a July 2026 launch.
- OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman is pushing to challenge Elon Musk in space
The article describes several attempts by Altman to enter the space business, including an effort to buy the rocket startup Stoke Space, which according to another source has fallen through.
- Scientists use Gaia data to map the chemistry of the Milky Way’s inner arms
They used the detected chemistry to map the arms themselves. Lots of uncertainty of course.
- On this day in 1965 Frank Borman and Jim Lovell launched on Gemini-7
They spent two weeks in orbit (a record at the time), proving humans could live in weightlessness long enough to go to and from the Moon. They also became the target vehicle for Gemini-6, which completed the first orbital rendezvous in history.
- On this day in 1996, Mars Pathfinder launched carrying the Mars rover Sojourner
The success of that mission jump-started NASA’s entire Mars planetary program for the next quarter century, including rovers, orbiters, and landers.
- Cool image of the upper stage still in orbit of an Ariane-4 rocket launched on this day in 1999
The image was captured by the Blacksky satellite constellation. The rocket launched two French satellites, one experimental smallsat and a reconnaissance satellite that failed prematurely.
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

