Sea Launch launch platform finally moving to Russia
A giant Russian ship has arrived in California and has loaded for transport to Russia the Sea Launch giant mobile launch platform that now belongs to the Russian airline company S7.
The tale behind this move is long and convoluted. Sea Launch had been a partnership between Boeing, Russia, and the Ukraine, designed to lower the cost to launch with a launch platform that could be moved into the best location for each launch. After a launch failure the company went bankrupt, however, and Boeing wanted out. In addition, Russia invaded the Crimea, going to war against the Ukraine, making that part of the partnership impossible.
Russia didn’t have the money to buy Boeing out, so Boeing put a lien on the platform, preventing anyone from using it. Eventually, Russia paid Boeing off by providing the company several passenger seats on their Soyuz spacecraft that it could sell, which as far as I can tell have not been used. Along the way the Russian airline company took possession, though in truth it is really the Russian government in charge. They hope to use it to launch a next generation Soyuz rocket upgrade, supposedly built by S7.
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
A giant Russian ship has arrived in California and has loaded for transport to Russia the Sea Launch giant mobile launch platform that now belongs to the Russian airline company S7.
The tale behind this move is long and convoluted. Sea Launch had been a partnership between Boeing, Russia, and the Ukraine, designed to lower the cost to launch with a launch platform that could be moved into the best location for each launch. After a launch failure the company went bankrupt, however, and Boeing wanted out. In addition, Russia invaded the Crimea, going to war against the Ukraine, making that part of the partnership impossible.
Russia didn’t have the money to buy Boeing out, so Boeing put a lien on the platform, preventing anyone from using it. Eventually, Russia paid Boeing off by providing the company several passenger seats on their Soyuz spacecraft that it could sell, which as far as I can tell have not been used. Along the way the Russian airline company took possession, though in truth it is really the Russian government in charge. They hope to use it to launch a next generation Soyuz rocket upgrade, supposedly built by S7.
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
I have one problem with this post… “In addition, Russia invaded the Crimea, going to war against the Ukraine”…. Well 2 acctually… The most insignificant being it’s not ” the Ukraine”… It’s Ukraine…
The second point is much more important… Russia annexed Crimea at the request of the population … 90% of which are russian speaking, and an area which was under russian rule for a good couple of centuries untill WW2… When the DEMOCRATICALLY elected government of Ukraine was ousted by “the west”, the Russian speaking population were indeed glad to be protected by the far left Nazi troops that were running riot after the installation of a more “western looking” regime on the mainland. Things have improved in the intervening years, but speak to anyone who lives in Crimea and they will tell you it was no invasion… It was a protective measure by a friendly force ( I know this is hard to buy by all the anti russian folks, but I have friends and relatives in the area… And with “boots on the ground” information, I can assure you this is the case… A little googling will fill in the details..)
Meh… “FROM the far left Nazi troops”… Not by!… Sorry for a very wrong typo!
There was no “request” by Crimeans to be forcibly rendered Russian citizens once more. That is simply a bit of ex post facto propaganda spun by the Russian government. The Russian military simply moved in – wearing nondescript green uniforms – and took over. Given that there was never any plebiscite to establish what the pre-invasion opinions of the Crimeans were, the notion that Crimea’s forcible annexation to Russia was “voluntary” doesn’t remotely pass either the smell or giggle tests.
Simply because the population in a given piece of territory has a certain linguistic and ethnic background does not mean said population uniformly, or even by a majority, wishes to be forcibly attached to its country of origin. The regions of Eastern Ukraine still being fought over are also majority ethnic Russian. But a majority even of said ethnic Russians favors remaining Ukrainian, rather than Russian, citizens. That’s why, given even a modicum of warning of what might be coming, the Eastern Ukrainians contrived to halt the Russian depredations far short of their intended completion. To forestall exactly this sort of latter-day “Sudetenland excuse” on the part of a Russia looking to renew its immemorially aggressive habits, a number of the former Soviet subject states have been making it very clear to their own ethnic Russian minorities that emigration back to Mother Russia is readily arrangeable for anyone truly pining away for the alleged glories of same. They’ve made it equally clear that any agitation or sub rosa scheming anent a possible future additional Russian territorial adventure will result in said emigration being suddenly and forcibly rendered.
If you actually have friends and relatives in Crimea, perhaps you are correct that they all favor the Russian takeover. After all, you voluntarily left a fairly statist place – England – for an even more statist place – Sweden. Perhaps your relations in Ukraine simply share what seems to be a familial gene that seems to find discomfort in the lack of at least a modest-size boot on one’s neck. It’s a wonder you don’t move to Crimea and join them in going the authoritarian Full Monty.
@Dick….. I see you conveniently avoid the fact that the democraticly elected government of Ukraine was toppled with western backing, and the fact that neo-nazis, with the backing of the current government, subjected the Russian population of Crimea to all sorts of abuse before the Russian annexing of the area.
If you acctually had any idea of the opinion of the average man or woman on the streets of Crimea, you would not reveal your ignorence, and your reliance on the spin that western media has propergated.
As for the ad homonym attack on me for where I decide to happily live and raise my family…. That says much more about yourself than it does about me.
I really do wonder at the venom I receive every time I post something that doesn’t adhere to “the American dream”….
My comments on the situation in Crimea are accurate. The facts that Russia can actually do the right thing occasionally, and that believe it or not, western media is more than able to spin stories to there own agenda should come as no surprise. I like the US guys, but like everywhere, it’s very far from perfect.
Yes, I choose to live in a much more socialist country than you do. Yes, I pay more tax. Yes I receive far more social care than you do. This doesn’t make me needy, weak or stupid… It just means that given the choice, as a reasonably intelligent adult, I prefer living here than there. And I don’t understand why I get attacked almost every time I post anything slightly political…. We don’t see eye to eye… But being told I am wrong because I choose to live in Sweden gets a bit boring. I’ve been to the US…it’s a great place to take a holiday… Full of wonderful, very honest people, and I would never, ever consider living over there.
This doesn’t make either you guys, or myself either right or wrong…. It just makes us different.
( I hope one day I can stop repeating this monologue…. I will never stop standing my corner…. But it does get a bit boring…)
That is quite some spin.
My Russian Language teacher, who emigrated from Kiev, had pretty a different version.
Being Pro-Russian, or Pro-European/Western has been a big division in Ukraine politics since the USSR collapsed.
Your friend is certainly sounds like they fall into the former, and most likely has a bias. You should consider that when you listen to his/her opinions.
Everyone has a bias. Everyone tells their point of view from that bias. That does not mean that you must adopt it.
As for the rest of your comments, the general view in the US is “What the government gives, it can also take away”. We value our self-reliance over a nanny-state government.
Lee S,
You wrote: “As for the ad homonym attack on me for where I decide to happily live and raise my family…. That says much more about yourself than it does about me.”
But, you are the one who told us that this was your choice, and that you chose it for the very reasons that Dick Eagleson said. How does that now become an ad homonym attack on you? What does that say about you?
“I really do wonder at the venom I receive every time I post something that doesn’t adhere to “the American dream”….”
Disagreement with you is venom? This venom that you think you receive is all too often just us repeating back to you what you told us about yourself. You are proud of it one day and then … what? … ashamed of it the next?
“My comments on the situation in Crimea are accurate.”
Your comments are about what your “friends and relatives in the area.” Is that the area of Crimea or within Crimea itself? You seem to be sure that your friends and relatives represent the majority of the Crimean population. Is your sample large enough or is Dick Eagleson correct that your sample is biased, and is that bias because you tend to believe only those who agree with your point of view?
“ The facts that Russia can actually do the right thing occasionally”
What? Now empire building is the right thing to do? Are you serious?
“believe it or not, western media is more than able to spin stories to there own agenda should come as no surprise.”
No. It is not a surprise. What is a surprise is that you do not yet understand that the U.S. news media is not only heavily slanted in favor of the Democrats, they are in favor of Russia, especially when they can use Russia as a weapon against President Trump, even though they all know that Russia supplied Clinton and the Democratic Party with ammunition against Trump, back in 2016, and that the Wisconsin recount suggested that the Russians had supplied Clinton more votes and Trump fewer votes — IF they had actually tampered with the election results, as the Democrats believe. Believing that the Russians had tampered with the election results is why the Democratic Party immediately cancelled the recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and why the news media immediately stopped talking about the Wisconsin recount. It would not be good for the American public to find out that the Democrats and the Russians were so much in bed with each other.
“but like everywhere, [the U.S. is] very far from perfect.”
Aren’t we, here commenting at BtB, the ones who document that fact for you?
“I don’t understand why I get attacked almost every time I post anything slightly political…. We don’t see eye to eye… But being told I am wrong because I choose to live in Sweden gets a bit boring.”
Well, you are wrong to choose to live in a socialist country, where you admit to living better because you benefit from the productivity of others. Would you be less bored if we lied to you and told you that your preference for socialism might just work, this time? I didn’t think so, because you would know that we were lying.
“I would never, ever consider living over there.”
Of course not. It is not socialist enough for you. We believe you every time you tell us that you prefer Sweden to the U.S., even though we have a different opinion as to where we would prefer to live or that we would prefer to keep the fruits of our productivity and to make our own choices — not the government’s choice — as to which of the less fortunate to share those fruits. Obama made it so that the U.S. government punishes his enemies (e.g. Trump and Flynn) and rewards his friends (e.g. Clinton, Comey, and McCabe), yet even that is not socialist enough for you.
The area of the U.S. that you most discussed with us as visiting is the result of America’s socialist ways. Obama promised to destroy the Coal industry, and when he did, the area that you visited suffered immensely, and Obama did not like those people, so he did not give them much help in order to recover from the devastation that he wrought upon them. He punished even more enemies.
Of course you would never consider living here. The people you know are too proud to take handouts, and too married to their homes to easily move to more productive areas. Instead, they hope that the madness of the socialists will end and that their industry will prosper once again. You think that they are wrong for their own philosophy on life.
“This doesn’t make either you guys, or myself either right or wrong…. It just makes us different.”
The reason you do not think of yourself as wrong is that you do not mind living better only because other people have their productivity taken from them so that it can be redistributed to those who are not productive enough to live so well. Even Obama said that at some point a person has earned enough. Why should there be a limit on productivity? “From each according to his ability, and to each according to his need” may seem fair, but those who produce more are punished, not rewarded, for their excess productivity, and many of those who do not work so hard choose to live easier from the hard work of others. That is unfair. That is not different; it is wrong.
The results of this Marxist philosophy is in the history of the U.S., and the lesson of the tragedy that it brings is well learned by many Americans, and we celebrate the lesson annually with its own holiday. We have witnessed similar tragedies around the world, and we wonder why it is that others fail to learn from those terrible mistakes, made over and over and over again.
As everywhere else where socialism has been tried, the Venezuelans gave up their freedoms in order to live under socialism. Now that they have learned the hard way that it does not work, they do not have enough liberty left over in order to regain their freedom.
By the way, back in WWII, it was The Ukraine, not Ukraine. That was the Soviets’s choice for referring to it. Only after Ukraine regained its freedom because the Soviet Union collapsed (yet another example of the failure of the socialist philosophy) was it free to choose its own moniker. When the Soviets are in in charge, all you get is what the Soviets want.
Just as habit has made it difficult for you to think of it as “The” Ukraine, habit has made it difficult for those who went through the cold war to drop the “The.” Please forgive us when we slip back into cold war habits when talking of that region in the modern era, including when talking of the Soviet Union — er — Russia.