October 23, 2025 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.
- AstroLab’s FLIP rover began thermal vacuum chamber testing in Los Angeles yesterday
This small unmanned rover will fly on Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander, and is intended as a testbed by AstroLab to prove the design of the larger manned rover it wants to build for NASA’s Artemis program. It also replaces NASA’s cancelled VIPER rover on Griffin.
- New Glenn’s first and second stages are now mated
This will be Blue Origin’s second launch of New Glenn, presently scheduled for November 9, 2025.
- Chinese pseudo-company Landspace completed the full rehearsal of its Zhuque-3 rocket in preparation for first launch
The rocket is essentially a copy of the Falcon 9, though Landspace will not attempt recovery of the first stage on the initial few flights.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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. 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.
- AstroLab’s FLIP rover began thermal vacuum chamber testing in Los Angeles yesterday
This small unmanned rover will fly on Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander, and is intended as a testbed by AstroLab to prove the design of the larger manned rover it wants to build for NASA’s Artemis program. It also replaces NASA’s cancelled VIPER rover on Griffin.
- New Glenn’s first and second stages are now mated
This will be Blue Origin’s second launch of New Glenn, presently scheduled for November 9, 2025.
- Chinese pseudo-company Landspace completed the full rehearsal of its Zhuque-3 rocket in preparation for first launch
The rocket is essentially a copy of the Falcon 9, though Landspace will not attempt recovery of the first stage on the initial few flights.
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 or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. 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