February 1, 2024 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. I also apologize for the lack of posting today, as I have been dealing with eye doctors.
- Flight path over the ocean for Chinese launch from ocean barge tonight
The rocket is the Jielong-3, or Smart Dragon-3, on its third launch, lifting off at 7 pm (Pacific) tonight but tomorrow in China.
- Gaganyaan test capsule used for launch abort flight to be refurbished for future launchpad abort test
The launch abort test was in October 2023. The launchpad abort test is expected later this year.
- Full production of Russia’s new Angara rocket won’t begin for at least one to one-and-a-half years
That’s at least a six month delay from previous promises. It also means Russia will take more than two decades to design and build this rocket.
- New section of second Starship launch tower ready for shipment from Cape Canaveral to Boca Chica by barge
I could be wrong, but it appears SpaceX finds building the tower sections in Florida for all of its Starship/Superheavy launchpads (in both Florida and Texas) is more efficient than building tower sections in both places.
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. 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. I also apologize for the lack of posting today, as I have been dealing with eye doctors.
- Flight path over the ocean for Chinese launch from ocean barge tonight
The rocket is the Jielong-3, or Smart Dragon-3, on its third launch, lifting off at 7 pm (Pacific) tonight but tomorrow in China.
- Gaganyaan test capsule used for launch abort flight to be refurbished for future launchpad abort test
The launch abort test was in October 2023. The launchpad abort test is expected later this year.
- Full production of Russia’s new Angara rocket won’t begin for at least one to one-and-a-half years
That’s at least a six month delay from previous promises. It also means Russia will take more than two decades to design and build this rocket.
- New section of second Starship launch tower ready for shipment from Cape Canaveral to Boca Chica by barge
I could be wrong, but it appears SpaceX finds building the tower sections in Florida for all of its Starship/Superheavy launchpads (in both Florida and Texas) is more efficient than building tower sections in both places.
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.
Oof. Not a good memory. I still had a clock radio in February 2003, living in Houston. I woke up that Saturday ~8 AM CST to the announcers discussing that collapse over Palestine.
There were numerous reports of large chunks of debris falling in parts of East Texas. Feds were told of the areas, or given GPS devices with the spots marked, but never bothered to investigate or return the GPS gizmos. Lots of bad feelings from people who revered and admired the Space Program and honestly wanted to help.
Dropping this in here….
“Elon Musk Denied $55 Billion in Tesla Compensation by Delaware Judge!”
Viva Frei (2-1-24)
https://youtu.be/xfPhJxfKfrQ
9:48
NYPOST had a story about one of the shareholders behind this- punk RichardTornetta, a scumbag drummer–who won’t do anything but support a beer or drug habit.
Some people earn their money on how it is spent—this is money that could have gone into futurism now in the pockets of low class nightcrawlers.
Shareholder interference is what drove Boeing in the toilet.
Had he done this to poser Bezos or Branson I would have cheered.
Musk has both the money and the interest in futurism in one package–Bill Gates money with a Gary Hudson zeal.
I hope both this drummer and the robe take a long walk off a short plank somewhere.
I got up early (in PST) to watch the landing of Columbia, and as I left the bedroom, I heard a comment on the radio that they had not yet made contact with the orbiter after reentry blackout.
I have a memory of seeing a long-distance TV shot of a line of vehicles leaving the Cape Canaveral landing strip after the Columbia did not appear overhead. It was the relatives and dignitaries who had planned to greet the astronauts. My wife came into the TV room and I told her what was happening and that it looked bad.
She said “Why don’t they wait a while longer – maybe it is just late.” I replied “Orbital mechanics doesn’t work that way… late is never.”