February 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.
These are late because my email server was bouncing Jay’s emails. The issue is being investigated.
- Today in 1974 Mariner 10 flew past Venus and returned the first close-up photo of the planet
The picture at the link was taken using an ultraviolet filter that revealed dark streaks in the atmosphere, which still remain unexplained now more than a half century later. The mission’s main target however was Mercury, and this Venus fly-by proved a slingshot could get it to the innermost planet.
- On this day in 1971 the lunar module of Apollo 14 landed on the Moon
The landing site at the Fra Mauro Highlands had been the planned landing site for Apollo 13.
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.
These are late because my email server was bouncing Jay’s emails. The issue is being investigated.
- Today in 1974 Mariner 10 flew past Venus and returned the first close-up photo of the planet
The picture at the link was taken using an ultraviolet filter that revealed dark streaks in the atmosphere, which still remain unexplained now more than a half century later. The mission’s main target however was Mercury, and this Venus fly-by proved a slingshot could get it to the innermost planet.
- On this day in 1971 the lunar module of Apollo 14 landed on the Moon
The landing site at the Fra Mauro Highlands had been the planned landing site for Apollo 13.
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
“Today in 1974 Mariner 10 and returned the first close-up photo of the planet”
“flew past Venus” seems to be missing.
Call Me Ishmael (my new copy editor): You are correct. I was rushing. Now fixed. And thank you! I greatly appreciate my readers letting me know about corrections like this.