January 7, 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.
- Firefly provides a detailed overview of its Blue Ghost mission to land on the Moon
Launch is presently scheduled for 1 am (Eastern) on January 15, 2025 on a Falcon 9 rocket.
- On this day in 1998 Lunar Prospector was launched, the first American mission to the Moon since the Apollo days
It photographed Moon’s entire surface, with its most significant finding the possibility of water in permanently shadowed craters near the poles.
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.
- Firefly provides a detailed overview of its Blue Ghost mission to land on the Moon
Launch is presently scheduled for 1 am (Eastern) on January 15, 2025 on a Falcon 9 rocket.
- On this day in 1998 Lunar Prospector was launched, the first American mission to the Moon since the Apollo days
It photographed Moon’s entire surface, with its most significant finding the possibility of water in permanently shadowed craters near the poles.
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
I believe the Clementine probe launched in 1994, earlier than Lunar Prospector. It was a joint NASA/Department of defense mission using off the shelf hardware. The 300 orbits of the moon photographed the surface from 60 degrees north to 60 degrees south. Apparently the DOD side of the mission was to test components to long term exposure to space for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization.
News Link:
It’s been increasingly evident for some time now that Relativity Space has been struggling more than anticipated with rocket development. Last night, though, Eric Berger published an article suggesting that their financial state is….pretty grim.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/nearly-two-years-after-its-radical-pivot-fidelity-slashes-relativitys-valuation/
One minor clarification for Lunar Prospector. It had no camera (to the consternation of some), and so it took no photographs of the Moon (but made a large variety of other measurements, of which the polar hydrogen measurements were a key finding).
File this under
“The Award Will Be Astronomical:”
Zachary Young Vs. CNN
Defamation Trial Day 2 (January 8, 2025)
https://youtu.be/6MrzRbhE1ek
(live stream)
“Zachary Young, a U.S. Navy veteran and private defense contractor, is suing CNN over a 2021 segment that aired on “The Lead with Jake Tapper.” Young claims the network falsely painted him as an “illegal profiteer” exploiting “desperate Afghans” with “exorbitant” extraction fees amid the fallout of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
This Guy is an excellent witness, he has all the receipts, and the jury is friendly to him.
Some Starlink news:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/united-airlines-announces-accelerated-starlink-timeline-passengers