July 15, 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.
- Amazon touts tomorrow’s first launch of 24 Kuiper satelites using SpaceX’s Falcon 9
Amazon initially excluded SpaceX in its Kuiper launch contracts, going with the then unlaunched new and more expensive rockets of ULA (Vulcan), Arianespace (Ariane-6), and Blue Origin (New Glenn). When stockholders sued, its management then quickly gave SpaceX a small three-launch contract. Since then there have been rumors that Amazon has switched several more flights to SpaceX.
- On this day in 1965 Mariner-4 captured the first close-up images of Mars
The fly-by was arranged to capture images of what we now know as the southern cratered highlands, chosen because it was that region that showed changes seasonally from Earth. The 21 images thus gave us the wrong impression that Mars was like the Moon. More here.
- On this day in 2015 New Horizons did its fly-by of Pluto
As usual, these first close-up images revealed a planet completely unique from every other solar system object visited within the solar system.
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.
- Amazon touts tomorrow’s first launch of 24 Kuiper satelites using SpaceX’s Falcon 9
Amazon initially excluded SpaceX in its Kuiper launch contracts, going with the then unlaunched new and more expensive rockets of ULA (Vulcan), Arianespace (Ariane-6), and Blue Origin (New Glenn). When stockholders sued, its management then quickly gave SpaceX a small three-launch contract. Since then there have been rumors that Amazon has switched several more flights to SpaceX.
- On this day in 1965 Mariner-4 captured the first close-up images of Mars
The fly-by was arranged to capture images of what we now know as the southern cratered highlands, chosen because it was that region that showed changes seasonally from Earth. The 21 images thus gave us the wrong impression that Mars was like the Moon. More here.
- On this day in 2015 New Horizons did its fly-by of Pluto
As usual, these first close-up images revealed a planet completely unique from every other solar system object visited within the solar system.
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
“”Amazon initially excluded SpaceX in its Kuiper launch contracts………. When stockholders sued, its management then quickly gave SpaceX a small three-launch contract. Since then there have been rumors that Amazon has switched several more flights to SpaceX.””
No doubt the “rumors” have to do with this from a previous Behind The Black article:
“””Amazon’s FCC license requires it to get half of its constellation of 3,200+ satellites into orbit by 2026 or face penalties,”””
Ronaldus Magnus,
Bingo. I suspect not even a Trump administration FCC will look all that favorably on granting a deployment deadline extension to a company that ostentatiously refuses – even after a shareholder lawsuit – to use, in more than token fashion, the only frequently and reliably active large launch vehicle in service to get its birds up. Therefore, it would not surprise me at all if it turns out that a deal for much more SpaceX participation in launching of the Kuiper constellation going forward is now being hammered out behind closed doors. The original big launch contract announcement for ULA, Arianespace and Blue Origin anent Kuiper, after all, was a sudden surprise to the world at large when it was made. I suspect a bombshell sequel is in the works.
Robert Zimmerman,
Typo: Blue Origin, not Blue Orion.
Dick Eagleson: Typo fixed. Thank you again!