February 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.
- Varda about to de-orbit its second orbiting capsule
It will land in Australia (because the U.S. bureaucracy made landing it in the U.S. too complicated). Varda also predicted it will do three more similar capsule missions this year.
- Rocket Lab’s Pioneer service module (used by Varda’s capsules above) has now been approved by the Space Force for a mission to test rendezvous and proximity operations in orbit
The contract also requires Rocket Lab to launch Pioneer on an Electron rocket with only 24 hours notice, in order to prove its rapid response capability.
- Blue Ghost has completed its last orbital engine burn, placing it in the final orbit for descent to the Moon’s surface on March 2, 2025
The tweet includes a spectacular movie of the Moon produced by Blue Ghost’s camera shortly after its previous orbital engine burn.
- On this day in 2011 the space shuttle Discovery launched on its final flight, docking with ISS
After this mission there were only two more shuttle missions, both in 2011.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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.
- Varda about to de-orbit its second orbiting capsule
It will land in Australia (because the U.S. bureaucracy made landing it in the U.S. too complicated). Varda also predicted it will do three more similar capsule missions this year.
- Rocket Lab’s Pioneer service module (used by Varda’s capsules above) has now been approved by the Space Force for a mission to test rendezvous and proximity operations in orbit
The contract also requires Rocket Lab to launch Pioneer on an Electron rocket with only 24 hours notice, in order to prove its rapid response capability.
- Blue Ghost has completed its last orbital engine burn, placing it in the final orbit for descent to the Moon’s surface on March 2, 2025
The tweet includes a spectacular movie of the Moon produced by Blue Ghost’s camera shortly after its previous orbital engine burn.
- On this day in 2011 the space shuttle Discovery launched on its final flight, docking with ISS
After this mission there were only two more shuttle missions, both in 2011.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
”Varda also predicted it will do three more similar capsule missions this year.”
That’s interesting. My understanding is that Varda’s contract with Rocket Lab is for a total of four spacecraft (the second of which is on orbit now). Are they building the fifth one in-house, or did they extend the contract with Rocket Lab while I wasn’t looking?
mkent: I have the same questions. The tweet is very unclear.