July 27, 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.
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- Ukraine to spend $1.1 billion to build a 360 satellite constellation it says will be comparable to Starlink
The goal is to be operational by 2030, with the first 120 satellites launched by SpaceX in 2027.
- Proposed Chinese Xiangshan sea launch platform supposedly under construction, with 3 launch pads
I can find nothing on line outside of this tweet, which claims it will “be operational in 2 years with a dock for rockets.”
- A report on China’s two new multi-user launch pads that are almost ready at its Wenchang coastal spaceport
Note that the government owns and controls all launchpads, so that China’s pseudo-companies remain dependent and controlled.
- On July 27, 2005 NASA was forced to ground the shuttle again after more foam fell off the external tank during a launch of Discovery
The tweet shows video of that foam breaking off and missing the shuttle. The piece was also smaller than the objects that damaged Columbia,
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