June 16, 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.
- Blacksky expanding the capabilities of its imaging and surveillance satellite constellation
This decision was apparently fueled by the recent successful launches of Blacksky satellites by Rocket Lab.
- NASA’s 96-minute long documentary on the building of the Webb Space Telescope
I haven’t watched it and likely won’t, because I can’t imagine NASA telling the real story of the budget overruns, endless delays, and chronic bad management that plagued Webb from day one.
- Japan’s space agency JAXA unveils its upgraded HTV-X unmanned cargo freighter for ISS
It will be launched on Japan’s new H3 rocket later this year, the first of five HTV-X supply missions to ISS.
- Chinese pseudo-company Interstellar Glory says the first flight of its Hyperbola-3 rocket will occur by the end of 2025
The rocket is essentially attempting to copy what the Falcon 9 does. Whether the company will recover the first stage on the first launch is definitely uncertain.
- ESA releases first images from its solar telescope Proba-3
It uses a chronograph to block the Sun’s light in order to study the Sun’s corona, its atmosphere.
- On this day in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in space
It would almost two decades before a second Russian woman would fly in space.
- Cockpit footage of Iranian ballistic missiles launching towards Israel, taken from a commercial flight over Dubai
Expect fewer and fewer of these launches in the coming days.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
- Blacksky expanding the capabilities of its imaging and surveillance satellite constellation
This decision was apparently fueled by the recent successful launches of Blacksky satellites by Rocket Lab.
- NASA’s 96-minute long documentary on the building of the Webb Space Telescope
I haven’t watched it and likely won’t, because I can’t imagine NASA telling the real story of the budget overruns, endless delays, and chronic bad management that plagued Webb from day one.
- Japan’s space agency JAXA unveils its upgraded HTV-X unmanned cargo freighter for ISS
It will be launched on Japan’s new H3 rocket later this year, the first of five HTV-X supply missions to ISS.
- Chinese pseudo-company Interstellar Glory says the first flight of its Hyperbola-3 rocket will occur by the end of 2025
The rocket is essentially attempting to copy what the Falcon 9 does. Whether the company will recover the first stage on the first launch is definitely uncertain.
- ESA releases first images from its solar telescope Proba-3
It uses a chronograph to block the Sun’s light in order to study the Sun’s corona, its atmosphere.
- On this day in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in space
It would almost two decades before a second Russian woman would fly in space.
- Cockpit footage of Iranian ballistic missiles launching towards Israel, taken from a commercial flight over Dubai
Expect fewer and fewer of these launches in the coming days.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
If you thought the budget overruns, endless delays, and chronic bad management that plagued Webb were bad, they had even less of a clue how to make a documentary !