Yesterday SpaceShipTwo completed its second successful free flight (via Clark Lindsey at www.rlvnews.com). The results:
Flew to more aggressive stall indication. Evaluated handling and stability through several maneuvers. Expanded envelope to 230 KTAS and 3g’s. Roll evaluation. Full stop landing.
Engineers have discovered two new leaks on Discovery as it sits on the launchpad. It appears the Monday launch has been delayed at least one day.
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 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.
"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
Some good news for freedom of speech: the University of Virginia has elminated all of its speech codes.
Scientists have discovered in China the first complete skeleton of an early ancestor of the gigantic sauropod dinosaurs.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the likely budget cuts expected from the next Congress are almost certainly going to threaten the extra shuttle flight that Congress authorized several weeks ago.
On October 22, the International Space Station passed Mir’s record for the longest continuous occupancy, just short of 10 years.
Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke
An evening pause: Now for something completely different.
Evidence of subsurface water has been found by the Mars rover Spirit at the location where the rover remains stuck.
Our government at work! The FAA has given SpaceX a license to launch the Dragon capsule, scheduled for a November 18 launch on the Falcon 9 rocket, but not yet given them a license to land.
The rocket launch company Sea Launch has exited bankruptcy under Russian ownership.
Another moderator from the League of Women Voters resists saying the pledge of allegiance, forcing the audience to overrule her.
There will be a demonstration on October 30 in support Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, who is facing prison in Austria for publicly quoting the Koran and then criticizing what it says. The video below explains the disgusting nature of the charges against her, and how freedom of speech is under direct attack in Austria. Key quote:
“It seems that some people do not appreciate a non-Muslim quoting verbatim from the Koran. . . . Apparently you have to convert to Islam in order to quote from the Koran and not be accused of hate speech.”
You can offer support to her legal defense fund by going here. This fund is not controlled by her, and will only be used to pay her legal fees.
