February 3, 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.
- Vast touts its full-scale life support testing for its Haven-1 single module space station
It is my understanding that some of these life support functions will be handled by the Dragon capsule that brings up the crew.
- House NASA authorization bill demands numerous reports and paperwork
While it is good Congress wants to maintain oversight, this bill simply forces NASA to write seven reports (essentially paperwork) that will add little knowledge not already in public domain and that no one will read.
- On this day in 1956 the Soviet Union launched the world’s first ballistic missile carrying a nuclear warhead
The R-5M rocket flew 740 miles in 10.5 minutes, delivering a nuclear warhead to the Aral Karakum region with a yield of 300 tons of TNT.
- On this day in 1966 the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 became the world’s first spacecraft to land on the Moon and function thereafter
It returned data for three days. The landing was not soft, as the spacecraft used giant airbags to protect it as it hit the ground hard and bounced several times.
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.
- Vast touts its full-scale life support testing for its Haven-1 single module space station
It is my understanding that some of these life support functions will be handled by the Dragon capsule that brings up the crew.
- House NASA authorization bill demands numerous reports and paperwork
While it is good Congress wants to maintain oversight, this bill simply forces NASA to write seven reports (essentially paperwork) that will add little knowledge not already in public domain and that no one will read.
- On this day in 1956 the Soviet Union launched the world’s first ballistic missile carrying a nuclear warhead
The R-5M rocket flew 740 miles in 10.5 minutes, delivering a nuclear warhead to the Aral Karakum region with a yield of 300 tons of TNT.
- On this day in 1966 the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 became the world’s first spacecraft to land on the Moon and function thereafter
It returned data for three days. The landing was not soft, as the spacecraft used giant airbags to protect it as it hit the ground hard and bounced several times.
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


“It is my understanding that some of these life support functions will be handled by the Dragon capsule that brings up the crew.”
This is the most obvious aspect in which Haven-1 really is “minimum viable product.” Vast wanted to get a space station into orbit as fast as possible with the resources they had, and shifting a lot of the life support over to a Crew Dragon shaved significant development time off the station. You have to admire that aggressiveness.
And speaking of “minimum viable product,” I’m not sure you can find better examples than Luna 9. But hey, it worked.
There’s another company building hardware to support deep space comms: https://cascade.space/
Must be 300 kilotons, I’m guessing?
I’m Mr. Pedantic today.
Patrick,
Actually, the answer may be more complex than even the tweet suggests!
Here is what Astronautix’s entry on the R5-M says:
http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-5m.html
Ha! Thanks for that, Richard M! I give it to Mr. Zimmerman for the win.
I think it is well within Congress’ purview to wonder where Lunar Starship is.