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.
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:
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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.
- 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.
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.
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.