June 18, 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.
- JPL touts Perseverance’s total mileage now on Mars, 26.2 miles and exceeding a marathon
And many more miles to go before it sleeps.
- On June 18, 2009 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was launched from Cape Canaveral
It mapped the entire surface of the Moon at high resolution, and 17 years later it is still working.
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
here is what I think is a very neat podcast data center in space geek out
The guy doing the talking, Richard, is like superman in terms of what he knows about engineering and science.
Srtarship explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYlMQa-FOns
I mentioned a few days ago that a national newspaper in Canada ran an article on how to “properly” hate Musk. It was inevitable that someone in this country would top that.
A Member of Parliament has called for the arrest of Musk for the crime of being a trillionaire. (Look up the details on the Internet. And, yes, she is for real.) Not surprisingly, she’s a member of the ultra-left New Democratic Party and believes that billionaires and, now, trillionaires shouldn’t exist. Something about stealing from the people or some such thing.
Funny, though, that she has no problem with the current NDP leader being wealthy nor that his predecessor wore expensive suits, wore a Rolex watch and drove, I think, a Maserati SUV. I haven’t heard her squawking about socialists like the Soroses or Neville Singham Roy being filthy rich, either.
She comes across as AOC, et. al, squared.
Notice how it is suddenly okay for leftists to “hate”. For decades they have sanctimoniously preached “love” and “inclusion” and “peace” and “tolerance”, but as soon as it appears those beliefs are allowing their political opponents — those who believe in freedom and small government — to win power, those beliefs are no longer valid. Now it is “By any means necessary we must win and control the reins of power, and to do that we are justified in hating and killing anyone who we don’t like or disagree with.”
And if you think I’m exaggerating you have not been paying attention, or are being willfully ignorant.
A few weeks ago, I was reminded of the kind of crowd she runs with.
I saw a brief video clip of some of the proceedings at the NDP leadership convention earlier this year. Someone who was in attendance made a speech in which he called for people to “eat the rich”. That’s a phrase I rarely heard since my undergraduate days 50 years ago. The audience cheered in approval.
If the proponents of Progressivism were self-aware, they’d realize that their worldview prevents them from succeeding. Vilifying success implies that you yourself don’t ever plan to (or can’t) do well. Yet, I bet many of the ‘eat the rich’ crowd play the lottery.
Yup. It’s the old “crab bucket” mentality.
Truth spoken
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OQl1nF7W4l4&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D&ra=m
Bad crowds indeed
And Perseverance completed her (its?) marathon without wearing the requisite mask, having started in the early stages of the Wuhan flu lockdown. Good job Perse!