May 15, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Arianespace sets June 16, 2023 for last launch of Ariane-5 rocket
Meanwhile, the launch date of the first Ariane-6 remains uncertain.
- Short video of Juice’s radar antenna deploying
Though the video has no sound, I could swear I heard a giant sigh of relief from the entire European Space Agency.
- Several Mars images, here and here, from China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter
All are features at or near the Martian north pole.
- China will build many more launchpads along the coast to the west of the new commercial launchpad at its Wenchang spaceport
Jay asks sarcastically, ” I wonder if the eco-nuts will be protesting and suing?” We all know that ain’t happening in China.
- SpaceX hires Kathy Lueders, recently retired as the head of NASA’s human spaceflight division
She will be a general manager based at Boca Chica.
- Fifty years ago today Skylab was launched on the final Saturn-5 rocket
During the launch a side insulation panel was ripped off, destroying one of the station’s two main solar panels and also allowing the station’s temperature to rise to unmanageable levels. The other main solar panel meanwhile failed to deploy in orbit because of a strap. Astronauts led by moonwalker Pete Conrad did a series of spacewalks to free the stuck panel as well as install a new umbrella-like cover to bring the station’s temperature down to the correct levels. These successes made it possible for three crews total to occupy Skylab over the next two years.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Arianespace sets June 16, 2023 for last launch of Ariane-5 rocket
Meanwhile, the launch date of the first Ariane-6 remains uncertain.
- Short video of Juice’s radar antenna deploying
Though the video has no sound, I could swear I heard a giant sigh of relief from the entire European Space Agency.
- Several Mars images, here and here, from China’s Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter
All are features at or near the Martian north pole.
- China will build many more launchpads along the coast to the west of the new commercial launchpad at its Wenchang spaceport
Jay asks sarcastically, ” I wonder if the eco-nuts will be protesting and suing?” We all know that ain’t happening in China.
- SpaceX hires Kathy Lueders, recently retired as the head of NASA’s human spaceflight division
She will be a general manager based at Boca Chica.
- Fifty years ago today Skylab was launched on the final Saturn-5 rocket
During the launch a side insulation panel was ripped off, destroying one of the station’s two main solar panels and also allowing the station’s temperature to rise to unmanageable levels. The other main solar panel meanwhile failed to deploy in orbit because of a strap. Astronauts led by moonwalker Pete Conrad did a series of spacewalks to free the stuck panel as well as install a new umbrella-like cover to bring the station’s temperature down to the correct levels. These successes made it possible for three crews total to occupy Skylab over the next two years.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
I’m not sure what this means… was Musk involved with Epstein and if so, how deep. Is the swamp blackmailing him?
Elon Musk Was Issued Subpoena in JPMorgan Epstein Suit
ByBob Van Voris
May 15, 2023
Elon Musk was issued a subpoena by the US Virgin Islands in its lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase & Co. of knowingly benefiting from Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-15/elon-musk-was-subpoenaed-in-jpmorgan-epstein-suit-by-usvi?leadSource=uverify%20wall
First Gerstenmaier, now Lueders.
Makes sense for SpaceX but I wonder how Gerstenmaier and now Lueders will feel about their time at SpaceX vs NASA.
Of course now they won’t knock NASA as it’s an important partner/customer but I hope an Eric Berger or Bob Zimmerman is poking around and taking notes so the next chapters of the SpaceX story can be accurately told.
James asked:
” … was Musk involved with Epstein and if so, how deep. ”
This seems a deep and wide dredging suit to benefit the Democratic Party, by dragging in as many people who are on Chase’s books as possible, to distract from the politicians that were in Epstein’s books. Theoretically *I* could be dragged in, because *I* have an account with Chase as a buffer for investment to transactions like paying bills. Musk is prominent, and a target of Democrat coalition allies, and may have had a similar account, though of much larger size. It sounds like Chase asked Epstein about musk, and whatever he told them did not scare them off of Musk.