May 1, 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.
- Chinese pseudo-company Landspace touts the installation of grid fins on its hopper test first stage
Gee, I wonder where they got that idea.
- Video of the disarming of the backup parachute on China’s just landed Shenzhou manned capsule
At least, that’s what I think this video shows, based on the tweet.
- Moon map showing the target landing zone for China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission
The launch to the far side of the Moon is presently scheduled for May 3, 2024.
- Sierra Space gives an update on the development of its LIFE inflatable space station module
The key bit of new news is that the company intends to also market the module to others, outside its use on the Orbital Reef station Sierra is building in partnership with Blue Origin, including use as a module on interplanetary spaceships.
- On this day in 1979 the test shuttle Enterprise was rolled out of the VAB for launchpad fit tests
Enterprise was only used for engineering and glide tests on Earth. It never flew in space.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
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.
- Chinese pseudo-company Landspace touts the installation of grid fins on its hopper test first stage
Gee, I wonder where they got that idea.
- Video of the disarming of the backup parachute on China’s just landed Shenzhou manned capsule
At least, that’s what I think this video shows, based on the tweet.
- Moon map showing the target landing zone for China’s Chang’e-6 sample return mission
The launch to the far side of the Moon is presently scheduled for May 3, 2024.
- Sierra Space gives an update on the development of its LIFE inflatable space station module
The key bit of new news is that the company intends to also market the module to others, outside its use on the Orbital Reef station Sierra is building in partnership with Blue Origin, including use as a module on interplanetary spaceships.
- On this day in 1979 the test shuttle Enterprise was rolled out of the VAB for launchpad fit tests
Enterprise was only used for engineering and glide tests on Earth. It never flew in space.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Sierra Space would be competing with https://getmaxspace.com/ in the inflatable-module, er, space.
The pioneering work was done by Bigelow, with the Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) on the ISS: https://bigelowaerospace.com/pages/beam/
… but Bigelow haven’t updated their “news” since 2019.
Tried to post this, but had some odd message.
Ashlee Vance, writer of When the Heavens Went on Sale, is co-producing a documentary film to be released in June.
https://dcdoxfest.com/films/wild-wild-space/
Being shown at a film festival. No word on when it is released to for general public.
I recently finished the book. I am not a fan of the writing style, but it still had good info on several companies other than SpaceX, (but still talks a bit about their early days) and some of the personalities behind them.
Mr Z
Side note, some of your links in the lower right are no longer valid.
Parabolic Arc, for instance, is dead.
At least one other as well.
sippin_bourbon: Thank you. I will review those links and fix or delete. This is one of those tasks that should be done regularly, but easily slips through the cracks.