February 10, 2026 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.
- Firefly successfully completes 20-second static fire of Alpha rocket first stage
The launch window opens no earlier than February 18, 2026, and will hopefully be the first successful Alpha launch since July 2024.
- The first Boeing 747-100 “Jumbo Jet” made its first flight near Seattle on this day in 1969
The link shows a picture of Boeing’s Seattle factory c1970 with 25 747s parked outside. Now most of Boeing’s facilities have left for other states (with more to follow) to avoid the increasingly oppressive leftist government of Washington, with its high taxes and regulations.
- On this day in 1971 Apollo 14 returned to Earth after a 9-day mission to the Moon
The crew was Al Shepard, Ed Mitchell, and Stu Roosa, with Shepard hitting a golf ball during the second EVA.
- On that Apollo 14 flight Roosa’s personal kit carried hundreds of tree seeds, part of a joint NASA/USFS project
Many became the “Moon trees” that were later planted across the nation.
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.
- Firefly successfully completes 20-second static fire of Alpha rocket first stage
The launch window opens no earlier than February 18, 2026, and will hopefully be the first successful Alpha launch since July 2024.
- The first Boeing 747-100 “Jumbo Jet” made its first flight near Seattle on this day in 1969
The link shows a picture of Boeing’s Seattle factory c1970 with 25 747s parked outside. Now most of Boeing’s facilities have left for other states (with more to follow) to avoid the increasingly oppressive leftist government of Washington, with its high taxes and regulations.
- On this day in 1971 Apollo 14 returned to Earth after a 9-day mission to the Moon
The crew was Al Shepard, Ed Mitchell, and Stu Roosa, with Shepard hitting a golf ball during the second EVA.
- On that Apollo 14 flight Roosa’s personal kit carried hundreds of tree seeds, part of a joint NASA/USFS project
Many became the “Moon trees” that were later planted across the nation.
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

