Category: Behind The Black

SpaceX successfully launches two communications satellites

2:53 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched its third pair of communications satellites for the Luxembourg satellite company SES, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral.

The first stage completed its ninth flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

83 SpaceX
51 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 95 to 51 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 95 to 80. SpaceX by itself is now leads the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 83 to 80.

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SpaceX launches 90 payloads on its ninth smallsat Transporter mission

4:57 pm

SpaceX today successfully launched 90 payloads on its ninth smallsat Transporter mission, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California.

From the link: “There will be 90 payloads on this flight deployed by Falcon 9, including CubeSats, MicroSats, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying an additional 23 spacecraft to be deployed at a later time.”

The first stage completed its twelth flight, landing back at Vandenberg.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

82 SpaceX
51 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 94 to 51 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 94 to 80. SpaceX by itself is now leads the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 82 to 80.

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Irwin Allen – The Time Tunnel

6:01 pm

An evening pause: For those like myself who as a kid watched all of Irwin Allen’s sometimes good, often boringly predictable, but always truly cheesy sci-fi television shows, this documentary will bring back memories. Allen’s shows also explain why Star Trek became the phenomenon it did, as it was so much better.

And can you guess the name of the documentary’s narrator/anchor?

Hat tip Robert Pratt.

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November 10, 2023 Quick space links

3:28 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay.

 

 

 

 

 

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Frank Borman, an old-fashioned American of the highest order, passes away at 95

9:54 am

Frank Borman, suited up just before the launch of Apollo 8 in 1968
Frank Borman, suited up just before
the launch of Apollo 8 in 1968

Frank Borman, who was the commander of both the Gemini 7 manned mission that proved that humans could live in weightlessness for two weeks as well as the Apollo 8 mission to the moon, the first human mission ever to another world, passed away on November 7, 2023 in Montana at the age of 95.

For a detailed obituary, go here. Though still survived by his crewmates on Apollo 8, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, his death ends that mission’s status as the last fully surviving crew of an Apollo mission.

My experience with Frank Borman was personal, as I interviewed him several times in writing Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8. In fact, he in many ways made the book possible. At the time I was still a relatively new science journalist, with no books to my credit. In trying to reach all three astronauts from Apollo 8, I did many web searches, and though I was able to locate the business numbers of Borman and Lovell, I found it impossible to locate contact information for Bill Anders.

Nonetheless, I started with Borman, and cold-called the car dealership he then owned in Corpus Cristi. When the phone was answered I was astonished to recognize the voice of Borman on the other end saying “How can I help you?” (Apparently it was lunch time, and Borman was holding the fort while his staff went out to eat.)

I immediately asked, “Is this commander Borman?” and got a very skeptical and suddenly doubtful “Yes” in reply. I realized immediately that Borman’s fame meant he was often harassed by fans in ways that could be annoying. I quickly explained who I was and that I wanted to write a history of the Apollo 8 mission, and to do so I wished to personally interview both him and his wife Susan. I explained that I strongly felt the story of the mission couldn’t be told properly without her perspective.
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Samson’s flying car completes its first test flight

8:37 am

Samson’s Switchblade flying car, designed to convert from a car to a small airplane with the touch of a button, has successfully completed its first test flight.

At the Grant Country International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, the Switchblade lifted off for an exhilarating first flight, reaching an altitude of 500 ft (150 m) and circling around to touch down some six minutes later.

In September the company had the plane perform a number of runway hop tests, but this was the first actual flight. At present the company says it has more than two thousand preorders for the flying car.

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November 9, 2023 Quick space links

8:06 pm

Courtesy of BtB’s stringer Jay, who sent them on time but I am late posting them.

 

 

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FCC extends SpaceX’s communications license for Starship/Superheavy launch

6:46 pm

The FCC tonight extended SpaceX’s communications license for Starship/Superheavy launch from December 1, 2023 to February 23, 2024.

Though there are a lot of rumors that Fish and Wildlife is about to approve the launch, which will allow the FAA to issue the actual launch license, this extension suggests SpaceX is covering its bets in case the approvals are further delayed, or if they are approved in November weather issues force a delay into December.

I remain pessimistic about a November launch, not because I don’t want it to happen (I do), but because I have no faith in the federal government’s desire to allow it to happen. The bureaucracy has now delayed this launch more than two months (SpaceX was ready to launch in September) and the politics continue to sugges the delays will continue.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay for the link.

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SpaceX successfully launches a cargo Dragon to ISS

6:40 pm

Using a Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral, SpaceX tonight successfully launched a cargo Dragon carrying supplies to ISS.

This Dragon capsule is making its second flight. The first stage also completed its second flight, landing back at Cape Canaveral. The capsule itself will dock with ISS early Saturday morning.

The leaders in the 2023 launch race:

81 SpaceX
51 China
14 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
7 India

American private enterprise now leads China 93 to 51 in successful launches, and the entire world combined 93 to 80. SpaceX by itself is once again leading the rest of the world (excluding American companies) 81 to 80.

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Intellectual dishonesty caused the experts to misread the Gaza military situation

3:50 pm

Lies from CNN
Lies from CNN

Lies from MSNBC
Lies from MSNBC

Before Israel began its full scale ground assault on Gaza and the Hamas tunnels two weeks ago, the general consensus from practically every expert interviewed or writing about the attack assumed it would be long, hard, and difficult, taking many months before Israeli troops were able to take control of the Gaza strip and render Hamas impotent.

A good example of that analysis can be seen in this October 13, 2023 article. To quote:

When the huge force Israel has amassed is finally given the orders to enter Gaza and destroy Hamas, they will face a deeply dug-in, well-armed enemy with thousands of anti-tank weapons, drones, and small arms on the most complex battlefield there is. Hamas will be fighting from tunnels, sewers, and strong points set up in high-rise buildings and rubble. They will rake incoming troops with machine guns from alleyways and windows, as well as employ heavier weapons from rooftops and prepared cover, and then melt into the urban maze that makes up much of the Gaza Strip. There will be no element of surprise for this sojourn into deeply hostile territory.

Israeli troops “will face the greatest challenge of their lifetime,” John Spencer, chairman of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point told The War Zone. “Attacking a defended city like this will be combat in hell. I do believe they can do it, but the cost will be high in urban warfare like this, since they will be attacking multiple cities.”

All the experts generally predicted the offensive would take months, and would involve huge casualties on the Israeli side.

I however predicted that the offensive, though not easy, would unfold far faster than these predictions.

This invasion will not be easy, but I also suspect it will not be as hard as many have suggested. Hamas’s power is mostly that of a bully, all threats and violence against the weak and helpless, with little real military capabilities. Israel now enraged is neither weak nor helpless. It will steadily but implacably work its way through Hamas’s tunnel system, but I think it will do so within a month.

Based on this report today, the experts now admit their pessimistic assessments were all wrong, and my analysis was right.
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