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.
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 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.
- 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.
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 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
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.