July 2, 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.
- Rocket Lab celebrates its 20th anniversary
Based on its increased launch pace this year, and the company’s recent major acquisitions, it has only just begun.
- Chinese pseudo-company Ispace touts video of the sea trial of a mock-up of its Hyperbola-3 first stage on its recovery barge
The stage will eventually attempt landings on this barge. The footage shows the stage swaying quite a lot.
- ESA’S Salto Project touts its proposed reusable rocket
This is a European Space Agency (ESA) project that has been in development for years. So far, nothing has yet really flown.
- National Air and Space Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary today
The opening ceremony featured a speech by President Gerald Ford and the ribbon cutting was triggered by a signal from the Viking 1 spacecraft orbiting Mars.
- On July 2, 2004 Cassini–Huygen made its first distant flyby of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan
Over the entire mission in Saturn orbit Cassini did more than 100 fly-bys of this moon.
- Two years ago today, the first stage of Chinese pseudo-company Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3 broke free during a static fire test and launched itself
Since then it has attempted one launch in April 2026, which was a failure.
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
