January 4, 2024 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- ULA video describes the mission profile of its first Vulcan launch scheduled for January 8th
According to the video, the Celestis payload of human ashes is not on the Astrobotic lunar lander, as I had thought, but are on the rocket upper stage, which will go into solar orbit after completing its mission. If so, the Navaho whining about putting human remains on the Moon was even more inappropriate and stupid.
- India’s Aditya-L1 solar telescope to make its final manuever this coming weekend
It will arrive at the L1 point one million miles closer to the Sun, where it will observe the Sun in partnership with several other solar telescopes.
- 20 years ago today the rover Spirit landed on Mars
It lasted six years, far more than its planned 90 day mission.
- 25 years ago today Mars Polar Lander was launched
All contact with the spacecraft ended shortly before its final engine burn to enter Mars atmosphere. It is thought that engine burn ended prematurely, causing the spacecraft to crash.
- The May 2024 launch China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon remains on target
It will try to bring back the first samples from the Moon’s far side.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- ULA video describes the mission profile of its first Vulcan launch scheduled for January 8th
According to the video, the Celestis payload of human ashes is not on the Astrobotic lunar lander, as I had thought, but are on the rocket upper stage, which will go into solar orbit after completing its mission. If so, the Navaho whining about putting human remains on the Moon was even more inappropriate and stupid.
- India’s Aditya-L1 solar telescope to make its final manuever this coming weekend
It will arrive at the L1 point one million miles closer to the Sun, where it will observe the Sun in partnership with several other solar telescopes.
- 20 years ago today the rover Spirit landed on Mars
It lasted six years, far more than its planned 90 day mission.
- 25 years ago today Mars Polar Lander was launched
All contact with the spacecraft ended shortly before its final engine burn to enter Mars atmosphere. It is thought that engine burn ended prematurely, causing the spacecraft to crash.
- The May 2024 launch China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission to the Moon remains on target
It will try to bring back the first samples from the Moon’s far side.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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