July 30, 2024 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.
Jay notes, as I do, that today has been a slow news day in the world of outer space.
- Video of fire at a Russian aerospace facility in Yekaterinburg
It is unclear the cause. The facility builds flight control systems for spacecraft and rocketry, including the Soyuz-2 rocket.
- Rocket Factory Augsburg touts the successful completion of the test campaign for its orbital rocket’s second stage
That stage is now on its way to Saxavord for stacking with the first stage and a hoped-for launch before the end of the year — assuming the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority will issue a launch permit.
- On this day in 1971 the Apollo 15 lunar module Falcon landed on the Moon
Astronauts David Scott and Jim Irwin landed at the base of the Apennine Mountains next to Hadley Rille, and produced some of the most spectacular imagery so far from the lunar surface.
- On this day in 1964 Ranger 7 crashed intentionally on the Moon, taking 4,309 photographs during its descent
Though the first six Ranger missions failed, the next two also succeeded, producing another 13,000 pictures before crashing on the surface as planned.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
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.
Jay notes, as I do, that today has been a slow news day in the world of outer space.
- Video of fire at a Russian aerospace facility in Yekaterinburg
It is unclear the cause. The facility builds flight control systems for spacecraft and rocketry, including the Soyuz-2 rocket.
- Rocket Factory Augsburg touts the successful completion of the test campaign for its orbital rocket’s second stage
That stage is now on its way to Saxavord for stacking with the first stage and a hoped-for launch before the end of the year — assuming the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority will issue a launch permit.
- On this day in 1971 the Apollo 15 lunar module Falcon landed on the Moon
Astronauts David Scott and Jim Irwin landed at the base of the Apennine Mountains next to Hadley Rille, and produced some of the most spectacular imagery so far from the lunar surface.
- On this day in 1964 Ranger 7 crashed intentionally on the Moon, taking 4,309 photographs during its descent
Though the first six Ranger missions failed, the next two also succeeded, producing another 13,000 pictures before crashing on the surface as planned.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four 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 or subscription:
4. 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.
here we go….
nice little period-piece:
“Lunar Bridgehead: The Ranger 7 Story”
NASA JPL
https://youtu.be/eYm3AulBm8I
(29:04)
If NASA did not take ownership of the SpaceX built de-orbit Dragon; what do you think the insurance cost would be to de-orbit ISS? The ISS is a complex shape; far more than anything ever subjected to decay and re-entry before. This is going to be fun to watch
Too bad that a Starship with a large cargo bay would not be ready in time to bring back some ISS modules for study of lifetime effects and later museum display.
Great Trivia Question:
Think about it, before you look it up.
In 1945 VP-Truman became President when FDR died in April.
Who served as Vice-President for Truman from 1945 until the 1948 election?
Major industrial fires on Russian territory have a tendency to be caused by small bands of Ukrainian partisans these days.