May 21, 2024 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.
- ULA to study using blimps to transport rocket sections from factory to launchsite
It signed a deal with the airship company Aeros.
- RFA touts video of its first static fire test of the first stage of its RFA-1 rocket
The test went off perfectly. However, one local news report stated that the company hopes to launch “by the end of the year”, which suggests a delay, caused either by development issues or red tape from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. Previously the word had been the launch would happen by June.
- China to expand its commercial launchpad facilities at its Wenchang coastal spaceport
The expansion indicates the continuing growth in China’s pseudo-private launch industry. It also illustates another way the Chinese government maintains control over those pseudo-companies, which have to launch from government-run sites.
- On this day 50 years ago the Soviet Union ended its Moon rocket program
The rocket was the N1, which never launched successfully.
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.
- ULA to study using blimps to transport rocket sections from factory to launchsite
It signed a deal with the airship company Aeros.
- RFA touts video of its first static fire test of the first stage of its RFA-1 rocket
The test went off perfectly. However, one local news report stated that the company hopes to launch “by the end of the year”, which suggests a delay, caused either by development issues or red tape from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority. Previously the word had been the launch would happen by June.
- China to expand its commercial launchpad facilities at its Wenchang coastal spaceport
The expansion indicates the continuing growth in China’s pseudo-private launch industry. It also illustates another way the Chinese government maintains control over those pseudo-companies, which have to launch from government-run sites.
- On this day 50 years ago the Soviet Union ended its Moon rocket program
The rocket was the N1, which never launched successfully.