May 31, 2023 Quick space links
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Roscosmos proposes extending its astronaut barter deal with NASA
The current deal ends after four astronauts from each nation fly to ISS on the other nation’s rockets/capsules.
- ESA press release calls for private European companies to provide freighter service to ISS and future stations
This announcement is a followup on ESA’s new policy to emulate NASA by adopting my recommendations from my 2017 policy paper, Capitalism in Space by becoming a mere customer hiring its aerospace private sector rather than being the designer and builder of spacecraft and rockets.
- South Korea replaces Russia with Arianespace to launch an Earth observation satellite
The Arianespace press release is here. This switch is a direct result of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, and results in the loss of approximately $100 million in revenue.
- Spanish rocket startup PLD scrubs first suborbital test launch of its Miura-1 rocket due to high winds
No word on a new launch date.
- UAE touts its new planned asteroid mission
The details revealed in this week’s announcement are essentially the same as revealed on May 10th.
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.
Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.
- Roscosmos proposes extending its astronaut barter deal with NASA
The current deal ends after four astronauts from each nation fly to ISS on the other nation’s rockets/capsules.
- ESA press release calls for private European companies to provide freighter service to ISS and future stations
This announcement is a followup on ESA’s new policy to emulate NASA by adopting my recommendations from my 2017 policy paper, Capitalism in Space by becoming a mere customer hiring its aerospace private sector rather than being the designer and builder of spacecraft and rockets.
- South Korea replaces Russia with Arianespace to launch an Earth observation satellite
The Arianespace press release is here. This switch is a direct result of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, and results in the loss of approximately $100 million in revenue.
- Spanish rocket startup PLD scrubs first suborbital test launch of its Miura-1 rocket due to high winds
No word on a new launch date.
- UAE touts its new planned asteroid mission
The details revealed in this week’s announcement are essentially the same as revealed on May 10th.
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.
https://twitter.com/spacex/status/1663944001224081408?s=46&t=cvJVjKrHicguREb6KCkTAg
SpaceX has put 38 astronauts in space. If I am counting correctly that is more than Mercury, Gemini and Apollo combined (34). A great milestone for Capitalism in Space!
Imagine what it was like for Musk the first time one of his rockets launched with a person on board! Then imagine the second time, the third time…
Gary,
You wrote: “SpaceX has put 38 astronauts in space.”
That was a good way to phrase it. The best part is that SpaceX has yet to put up its first space tourist. All those that have been launched by SpaceX have performed experiments on orbit.
SpaceX will send its first two-time commercial astronaut later this year, Jared Isaacman. Isaacman also plans to be the one who tests the first manned Starship in orbit — a working ride. As far as I know, the only SpaceX customers who plan on being tourists rather than experimenters are the dearMoon flight and possibly Denis Tito’s Starship flight, the second one around the Moon.