January 12, 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.
- Video of the demolition explosions of two old test stands at Marshall
Neither stand had been used for decades. It was long past time to tear these down to make room for new technology.
- Vast touts the on-going inspection of the twelve deployable solar array wings for Haven-1
Launch of the single module station early this year appears still on schedule.
- On this day in 1787 British astronomer William Herschel discovered Titania and Oberon, Uranus’s two largest moons
Both were named for characters in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
- On this day in 1998 NASA’s Lunar Prospector mission entered lunar orbit
The first NASA mission to the Moon in a quarter century, its data confirmed earlier data suggesting there was water ice in the Moon’s permanently shadowed polar craters, a conclusion not yet proven.
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.
- Video of the demolition explosions of two old test stands at Marshall
Neither stand had been used for decades. It was long past time to tear these down to make room for new technology.
- Vast touts the on-going inspection of the twelve deployable solar array wings for Haven-1
Launch of the single module station early this year appears still on schedule.
- On this day in 1787 British astronomer William Herschel discovered Titania and Oberon, Uranus’s two largest moons
Both were named for characters in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.
- On this day in 1998 NASA’s Lunar Prospector mission entered lunar orbit
The first NASA mission to the Moon in a quarter century, its data confirmed earlier data suggesting there was water ice in the Moon’s permanently shadowed polar craters, a conclusion not yet proven.
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
A rethink for metallurgy
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-01-supersonic-defy-year-metal-strength.html
That right there is why America needs an Energia/Buran type Shuttle 2
The 747 orbiter ferry or whatever for low speed tests, with a side-mount SLS to release Buran size craft for re-entry.
After that is done—THEN you build a for-profit RLV.
Musk has it the wrong way around.
“That right there is why America needs an Energia/Buran type Shuttle 2”
Not sure I’m following your logic, Jeff.
Via Marcia Smith of Space Policy Online —
An interesting tidbit from NASA’s ISS update today: Crew-12 will stay for NINE months. https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/01/12/fincke-hands-over-station-command-crew-preps-for-wednesday-departure/
To spell it out: “The three crew members remaining aboard the orbital outpost, Kud-Sverchkov with Chris Williams of NASA and Sergey Mikaev of Roscosmos will await the arrival of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 members Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, both from NASA, Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency), and Andrey Fedyaev of Roscosmos. Crew-12 is due to launch to the space station in February and join Expedition 74 for a nine-month-long space research mission.”
Clementine, launched in 1994, was a joint NASA-DoD mission to the Moon. It may quibbling, but I don’t think Lunar Prospector was the 1st NASA Lunar mission in a quarter century.
Sad but not unexpected report from Jeff Foust:
“It’s “very unlikely” NASA will be able to recover the MAVEN Mars orbiter, NASA planetary science division director Louise Prockter says at the Small Bodies Assessment Group meeting this morning. Efforts to restore contact will resume Friday, after solar conjunction ends.”
https://x.com/i/status/2011089344602202471
At some point in the coming weeks — after post-conjunction efforts turn up no results — NASA will make it official, I assume.