September 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.
- Rocket startup Exos Aerospace brags its tanks are so strong you can jump on them
Jay notes that the “Russians walk on theirs all the time.”
- Blue Origin touts the sunshield it will use on its Lunar Transporter
The shield will protect crews from radiation while acting as a solar panel generating 23 kilowatts, which Jay says “is a lot, enough to power two average U.S. homes.”
- PLD touts the first fully intergrated Teprel-C engine for its Miura-5 first stage
It is targeting producing one engine every two weeks by the end of this year.
- SpaceX releases video of the successful full duration static fire test of the next Starship to fly
Right now the eleventh orbital test flight is targeting an October launch.
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.
- Rocket startup Exos Aerospace brags its tanks are so strong you can jump on them
Jay notes that the “Russians walk on theirs all the time.”
- Blue Origin touts the sunshield it will use on its Lunar Transporter
The shield will protect crews from radiation while acting as a solar panel generating 23 kilowatts, which Jay says “is a lot, enough to power two average U.S. homes.”
- PLD touts the first fully intergrated Teprel-C engine for its Miura-5 first stage
It is targeting producing one engine every two weeks by the end of this year.
- SpaceX releases video of the successful full duration static fire test of the next Starship to fly
Right now the eleventh orbital test flight is targeting an October launch.
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
The deal with Russians walking on theirs was a slight to balloon tank guys like Bossart.
R-7 is a formidable beast.