Lorin Hollander – 1st movement Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1
An evening pause: Performed live on television, 1963.
Hat tip Cotour.
May 20, 2026 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.
- Monument unveiled dedicated to the people who ran the Air Forces Deep Black special projects in the ’70s and ’80s
They built the surveillance satellites that dominated satellite reconnaissance for decades.
- Varda’s W-6 capsule returns safely in Australia
The flight tested autonomous hypersonic navigation and next-generation thermal protection systems.
- On May 19, 1971, the Soviet Union launched Mars 2 aboard a Proton-K/D rocket, followed nine days later by its twin, Mars 3
Both sent back no useful data, partly because of failures and partly because their orbiters worked automatically, taking pictures of a planet covered by a global dust storm and thus showed nothing.
- Video of the May 19, 2000 launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on a 10-day mission to resupply ISS
It was the first Shuttle to fly with a new instrumental panel, designed more around screens and digital controls.
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.
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
Frost on Mars
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on March 23, 2026 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
It shows the eastern interior rim of a 4.5-mile-wide crater, and was taken to find out if there has been any change to the gullies flowing down that 800 foot slope since the last high resolution image was taken in 2020.
Both pictures were taken in the spring, and both pictures not only don’t appear to show much change, both show the same white frost in exactly the same places. As no pictures have been taken at other times in the year, we do not know yet if this frost disappears as expected in summer.
In fact, until such images are taken and prove this white material disappears in the summer, we don’t even know for sure if it is indeed frost. We could instead be looking a some unusual form of white bedrock, though in my review of many MRO pictures such things are quite rare.
» Read more
Vast unveils new high powered satellite bus to support the expected boom in satellite construction
Artist rendering of Vast’s Haven-1 station, with a docked
Dragon capsule. Like Have Demo, it is being built using
company funds with no government support.
The space station startup Vast yesterday unveiled a new product line of high powered satellite buses, dubbed Vast Satellite, designed to support the expected boom in satellite construction.
With the launch of Vast Satellite, Vast is expanding beyond commercial space stations into high-volume spacecraft platforms designed for high-performance orbital missions. The first offering is a 15 kW-class satellite bus designed to support a wide array of power-intensive missions through flexible configurations.
Built around common in-house subsystems—including avionics, power, communications, propulsion, and flight software—Vast Satellite leverages technologies already developed for its Haven-1 space station, and validated through the successful Haven Demo mission in 2025. This shared architecture combined with Vast’s vertically integrated manufacturing model and advanced production capabilities is designed to support faster development timelines, lower costs, and increased mission reliability.
The company says it has already sold four buses to a confidential customer, with an option for 200 more. This sale occurred because Vast has proved itself with its policy of committing its own investment capital in designing, building, and flying demo missions. The Haven Demo was initially launched to test the subsystems to be used on the Haven-1 single module station the company hopes to fly next year on a three-year mission, during which four two-week manned crews will occupy it. That success allowed Vast to now diversify, using what it learned and proved on that demo to sell new products to other customers.
Similarly, its Haven-1 station, built on its own dime with no NASA funds, is intended to prove its capability as a space station provider. If successful, it is certain at that point to attract customers, including NASA.
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.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“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.
Sri Lanka’s government to formulate a space policy
The Sri Lanka government has now established a committee whose task will be to formulate the country’s first space policy.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a resolution presented by the Minister of Science and Technology to appoint an expert committee tasked with formulating Sri Lanka’s first National Space Policy. According to the government, space technology has become a critical driver of national development, delivering benefits across disaster management, communication, security, environmental monitoring, and economic innovation.
Sri Lanka is a signatory to the Outer Space Treaty, so any policy it establishes has to fall under its rules and limitations. This op-ed today in one of the nation’s major media outlets provides a very detailed overview of the issues. It seems the country has a lot of options, most of which revolve around attracting already established aerospace companies to build there.
SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites
SpaceX in the early morning hours today successfully placed another 24 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The first stage completed its second flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2026 launch race:
58 SpaceX
28 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 58 to 50.
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.
Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.
"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
Psyche completes its Mars fly-by
Click for original image.
The asteroid probe Psyche on May 15, 2026 successfully completed its last fly-by of Mars, sending the spacecraft on its way to the asteroid Psyche, with a planned arrival in 2029.
The image to the right, cropped, rotated, and, reduced to post here, was the highest resolution image released by the science team of the Martian south polar icecap.
The image scale is around 0.7 miles per pixel (1.14 kilometers per pixel). The cap itself extends across more than 430 miles (700 kilometers). The image was acquired with Imager A on May 15, 2026, at about 1:53 p.m. PDT.
The white material is the perennial dry ice cap overlaying a water ice cap of larger size.
NASA also released several other images taken during the fly-by, including a close-up of the 290-mile-wide Huygens Crater, located in the Martian southern cratered highlands.
The pictures reveal no significant science, but they prove once again that Psyche’s cameras are working and the spacecraft is pointing accurately.
The Wallflowers & Bruce Springsteen – One Headlight
An evening pause: Performed live 1997.
Hat tip Rex Ridenoure.
Contractor dies at Boca Chica falling eight feet from scaffold
A worker at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility died on May 15, 2026 after falling eight feet from a scaffold.
A 25-year-old man died after falling 8 feet from a scaffold at a SpaceX facility, according to Justice of the Peace Mary Esther Sorola.
The Cameron County Sheriff’s Office first confirmed the death and said it happened on Friday, May 15. The man has been identified as Jose Bautista from Donna. Sorola said Bautista was taken to Valley Regional Medical Center by a SpaceX ambulance. A preliminary autopsy report says he suffered blunt force trauma from the fall; he died at the hospital.
The Wall Street Journal calls the victim a “contractor”, not a SpaceX employee.
As is routine for such incidents, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has begun an investigation.
This incident is likely unrelated to the more recent short delays in the 12th Starship/Superheavy test flight, as it occurred prior to those delays. It is also puzzling for someone to die from so short a fall. Either the height is incorrect, or some other factors must have been at play.
May 19, 2026 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.
- On this day in 1969, the crew of Apollo 10 launched on a mission to the Moon
This was the full dress rehearsal for Apollo 11, lacking only the actual landing.
- On May 18, 1991 a Soyuz capsule was launched to the Mir station carrying Helen Sharman, the first British tourist
Her flight was initially to be paid for by an entertainment consortium, but when that went bankrupt the Soviets picked up the tab, figuring the publicity would be worth it. For an explanation of some of the strange things in the video at the link, see chapter 9 in Leaving Earth.
BUMPED: 12th Starship/Superheavy test delayed another day to May 21, 2026
UPDATE: One day after its announcement below, SpaceX announced another one day delay. The 12th Starship/Superheavy launch is now targeting May 21, 2026, with a launch window beginning at 5:30 pm (Central).
Original post:
———————
SpaceX earlier today announced a revised launch date for the 12th Starship/Superheavy orbital test flight, delayed one day from May 19, 2026 to May 20, 2026, with a launch window opening at 5:30 pm (Central).
No reason was given. I suspect weather might have played a factor, but it is also possible that some technical issues required a short delay.
Either way, the link to the X live feed will be posted here once it goes live. I will also embed it on Behind the Black once it goes live.
Several major American satellite companies release a joint guide on “orbital safety”
Working with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American satellite companies building large orbital constellations — SpaceX, Amazon, Iridium, and Eutelsat — have now released a joint reference guide for building and operating their satellites, dubbed “Satellite Orbital Safety Best Practices 3.0.”
- Emphasizes the design phase for improved orbital safety
- Stresses pre-launch coordination and collision avoidance analysis, especially near crewed vehicles, mitigating hazards during post-launch identification and cataloging of new orbital objects
- Provides guidance on data sharing across design and operations emphasizing the critical importance of sharing and screening high quality ephemeris with covariance from deployment through disposal
- Includes an Appendix with data exchange recommendations to mitigate conjunctions
The companies have apparently decided they needed to get together to make sure they were not stepping on each other’s toes. I would expect other companies to soon join this cooperative effort, as it is in no one’s interest to have satellites colliding in orbit.
New fuel startup unveils rocket and jet fuels that it says are as much as 32% more efficient
A new startup, CycloKinetics, has announced a product line of chemically engineered rocket and jet fuels that it says are as much as 32% more efficient that standard fuels.
CycloKinetics’ approach is to create “plug-in” fuels that can replace conventional fuels in various vehicles without requiring modifications to the craft or its engines. There’s nothing particularly wild or exotic about this, and no unobtanium-type elements are involved. It’s more a matter of changing the geometry of the hydrocarbon molecules that make up the fuel itself.
Conventional aviation fuels consist of linear and branched hydrocarbon molecules, which limits how much energy can be packed into a given volume. CycloKinetics instead engineers cycloparaffinic hydrocarbons – that is, ring-shaped molecular structures that pack more carbon and hydrogen atoms into the same space as would be occupied by conventional fuels.
The upshot is 32% more energy in the same volume as standard Jet A fuel. That means, for example, an aircraft capable of flying 1,500 nautical miles (1,726 miles, 2,778 km) on standard fuel could potentially exceed 1,950 nautical miles (2,244 miles, 3,611 km) using the new superfuel, while reconnaissance aircraft could remain on station up to 30% longer.
The company is also selling its version of RP-1, the kerosene fuel used for example by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
It remains unclear whether it will be cost effective for rocket or airline companies to consider buying this fuel. For one, the extra cost to make it might outweigh the fuel savings. For another, it is unclear the company will be able to produce enough to meet the market. Nonetheless, the concept is intriguing, and could pay-off for this startup in the long run.
Scientists: Europa’s theorized plumes of water vapor might simply be statistical noise
Europa in true color, taken by Juno September 2022.
Click for full image.
The uncertainty of science: Based on a re-analysis of data from the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists now say that the plumes of water vapor that Hubble had supposedly detected erupting from the surface of the Jupiter moon Europa might not exist, and could instead simply be statistical noise in the data.
The new paper looks at the last 14 years of data from the Hubble Space Telescope’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) focused on Europa’s Lyman-alpha emissions. Lyman-alpha is a specific wavelength of ultraviolet light emitted and scattered by hydrogen atoms. From 2012-2014, the team was pushing the limits of the Hubble telescope’s capabilities.
“One of the difficulties in interpreting the data back then was determining where to place Europa within its context,” Retherford said. “The way Hubble works left some uncertainty in terms of placement relative to the center of the image. If Europa’s placement was off even just by a pixel or two, it could affect how the data gets interpreted.”
As a result, what they thought could be evidence of a water vapor plume could also just be statistical noise. “Our reanalysis took our original 99.9% confidence in the plumes’ existence and reduced it to less than 90% confidence,” said Dr. Lorenz Roth (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden), the paper’s lead author. “That’s simply not enough evidence to support the certainty of claims we made at the time.”
The plumes might still exist, but the data used here is simply more uncertain that previously thought. It is hoped that when Europa Clipper and Juice both enter Jupiter orbit in a few years they will be able to settle this issue more definitively.
Astrolab’s Flip lunar rover will carry 4 NASA payloads
When NASA cancelled in 2024 its Viper rover, removing it as the main payload on Astrobotic’s Griffin lunar lander, the company quickly made a deal in 2025 with the rover startup Astrolab to put its s FLIP prototype lunar rover on board instead.
Astrolab yesterday announced that NASA has agreed to purchase payload space on FLIP, placing four different science instruments on the rover, each from a different NASA center.
The map to the right indicates the location where Griffin is supposed to land, about 100 miles from the Moon’s south pole. Nova-C, Intuitive Machines first attempt to soft land on the Moon, landed at the green dot, but failed when it fell over at landing. Its second lunar lander, Athena, also fell over when it landed in the same region that is now Griffin’s target landing zone.
Griffin’s launch itself has been delayed repeatedly. Astrobotic was originally issued its NASA contract for Griffin in 2020, with a launch planned for November 2023, carrying NASA’s Viper rover. In July 2022 however it was delayed one year to November 2024 because Astrobotic said it needed more time. This date was then delayed to 2025 when Viper was canceled, and then in October 2025 the launch was pushed back again to July 2026.
According to the press release at the link above, that July 2026 launch date is now invalid, with the new launch date set for before the end of 2026. I strongly suspect that date will slip again.
France’s space agency CNES gives ESA 5-year extension at French Guiana spaceport
The French Guiana spaceport. The Diamant launchsite is labeled “B.”
Click for full resolution image. (Note: The Ariane-5 pad is now the
Ariane-6 pad, and the Soyuz pad is now controlled by rocket startup
MaiaSpace.)
France’s space agency CNES and the European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday announced a new five year agreement extending ESA’s operations at France’s French Guiana spaceport.
The contract covers all activities required to operate Europe’s Spaceport that is on French territory and so falls under the responsibility of the French government represented by CNES. The contract includes both daily operations and running of the facilities and continuous upgrades to adapt the Spaceport to changes taking place in the space sector, including the arrival of new rockets and launch services.
The signature covers three years of operations, renewable for a further two years, including a total investment of over €1 billion with €635 million funded by the European Space Agency – showing the agency’s central role in supporting the operation of Europe’s Spaceport. In support of the transformation of the space sector, the contract takes new launch operators into account as well as sharpening safety requirements even more – ensuring launches from Europe’s Spaceport are reliable, safe and competitive.
While the deal is not surprising — neither ESA nor CNES have any reason to end this arrangement — there is one aspect of the deal that is significant: Nowhere in the press release or agreement is there any mention of Arianespace, ESA’s commercial division. For decades Arianespace ran French Guiana for ESA and France. It is now gone, eliminated as an unnecessary middle-man as Europe shifts to the capitalism model.
At the moment, ESA has reduced Arianespace’s role to just one task, marketing and launching the Ariane-6 rocket. At the same time numerous European nations are doing whatever they can to encourage the development of competing independent rocket companies, all aimed at replacing Ariane-6 eventually, and as soon as possible. While that effort will take at least a decade, it is definitely happening.
Louisiana passes legislation favorable to aerospace rocket companies
In what appears to be a direct response to the rumors that SpaceX might be considering buying a gigantic swath of land near Pecan Island on the Louisiana coast for future launch operations, the Louisiana state legislature this week passed several laws providing tax breaks and protection from frivolous lawsuits to “aerospace flight entities”.
The tax breaks relate to the sales and property taxes. As for the lawsuit protection:
The bill would protect aerospace companies from temporary restraining orders for claims of noise pollution and similar public nuisance lawsuits by creating what’s called a “special motion to strike,” which would require a plaintiff to show the court early on that they’re likely to win their lawsuit.
Apparently the legislature has been negotiating with at least one or two big aerospace companies on these matters, and has taken these actions in response to these negotiations. Non-disclosure agreements prevent the legislators from revealing the companies involved, but it does appear based on all the local rumors that SpaceX is a likely candidate to buy that 200+ square mile plot near Pecan Island. It also appears it wants some legal protections before it commits, based on its experience at Boca Chica.
With the passage of this legislation, we should find out relatively soon what companies are involved.
Hat tip BtB’s stringer Jay.
Avio completes its first Vega-C launch for ESA
The Italian rocket company Avio today successfully completed its first Vega-C launch for the European Space Agency (ESA), placing into orbit ESA’s SMILE telescope, designed to study the Sun’s solar wind and its interaction with the Earth’s magnetic field.
The significance of this launch is that it is the first time the Vega-C was launched under the management of Avio, which manufactures it, rather than ESA’s commercial division Arianespace. Arianespace is being cut out of the picture. At the moment I think it only has one more Vega-C launch on its manifest. All other future Vega-C launches will be sold and managed by Avio directly.
As this was Avio’s first official launch in 2026 (or ever), the leader board for the 2026 launch race remains unchanged.
57 SpaceX
28 China
8 Russia
6 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 57 to 50.
The Carpenters – Rainy days and Mondays
An evening pause: I hope your Monday doesn’t get you down.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
May 18, 2026 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.
- University to do biology experiment on Dawn Aerospace’s as-yet unflown suborbital spaceplane
Dawn has only flown a smaller prototype at lower altitudes. It remains unclear when actual suborbital spaceflights will take place.
- Axiom Space establishes a wholly owned Japanese subsidiary
The goal is to win Japanese commercial and government contracts for its Axiom commercial space station.
- Chinese pseudo-company Zenk Space aims for June ’26 debut launch of its Zhihang-1 rocket
Detailed write-up, but all remains uncertain. The company claims it raised more money, and eventually hopes to recover the first stage engines for reuse (similar to ULA’s plan for Vulcan).
- On May 17, 1968 the United States launched Europe’s first satellite, Iris, using a Scout-B rocket from Vandenberg
Iris studied the Sun’s output, and confirmed earlier space telescope observations that the aurora was caused by charged particles from the solar wind following the Earth’s magnetic field lines down to the poles.
- On May 17, 1969, a day after Venera- 5, the Soviet Venera 6 operated for 51 minutes as it descended through Venus’s nightside atmosphere
At seven miles altitude its ceased operations due to the pressure from the Venusian atmosphere. Both spacecraft confirmed the hellish atmosphere of Venus, sixty times denser than Earth’s, with temperatures ranging from 750 to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.