They’ve completed final checkouts before today’s flight.
[Evening update]
I had an afternoon engagement that prevented me from seeing the flight, but the commenters seem to have the situation well in hand.
All posts by Rand Simberg
Rocket Lab
Why Peter Beck ate his hat.
On Eating Meat
More junk nutritional science.
Space Tango
They’re planning their own orbital research facility.
Anti-Racism Corporate Training
Take the ten-second course from the Babylon Bee.
Climate Change
Boondoggle upon boondoggle.
The Rot At The Times
I wish I were surprised by this:
“But Donald,” Dean said, “you’ve lost the newsroom. A lot of your colleagues are hurt. A lot of them won’t work with you. Thank you for writing the apology. But we’d like you to consider adding to it that you’re leaving.”
“WHAT?” I said loudly. “ARE YOU KIDDING? You want me to leave after 40-plus years? Over this? You know this is bullshit. You know you looked into it and I didn’t do the things they said I did, I wasn’t some crazy racist, I was just answering the kids’ questions.”
“Donald, you’ve lost the newsroom. People won’t work with you.”
“What are you talking about?” I said. “Since when do we get to choose who we work with?”
“Donald, you’ve had a great year, you’re still up for a Pulitzer.”
If Baquet had had a pair, he’d have told any of these children in adult bodies who didn’t want to work with him that they were welcome to seek other employment.
New Glenn
The schedule has slipped until the end of next year.
Not getting the Air Force contract seems like an excuse to me. Either Bezos is serious, or he isn’t. If he is, he’ll spend whatever it takes to start getting revenue. The longer he delays, the farther ahead Elon will be. In fact, if he wants to keep up, he’ll start work on New Armstrong now.
[Tuesday update]
A bridge too far?
[Bumped]
Acme To Take Over As SLS Prime Contractor
March 1st, 2021
WASHINGTON (Routers) In a move that most of the aerospace industry found shocking, the Biden administration today announced that the Boeing Corporation was to be removed from its role as Prime Contractor for the troubled Space Launch System (SLS) contract and replaced in that position by the Acme Corporation, a diversified manufacturing company based in the southwestern United States. The move came as a shock, given that Acme has no aerospace experience per se, although it does have a vast catalog, including a Rocket Motor Division based in Albuquerque, NM, which makes small solid-rocket motors used in various Acme products, such as rocket-powered sleds and roller skates.
Acme will now assume the overall management of the program, although it is expected to rebadge a large percentage of Boeing technical employees, and will begin negotiations with Boeing for them to remain as subcontractors on substantial portions of the program.
Anticipating critical comment, White House spokesmen pointed out that Acme had a long history of use of solid-fuel rockets for crewed applications, “without loss of human life or serious injury” despite some less-than-fatal mishaps. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) vigorously denounced the decision, pointing to Acme’s long history of damaging consumer litigation concerning injuries sustained by users of Acme’s rocket products. “Just Google the term ‘Acme v. Coyote‘ and you will see that the pleadings in the litigation over this company’s mistakes have become a classic of the legal profession.”
An Acme spokesperson responded that there was only one such litigant on record, and he seemed to be a classic vexatious one. “The litigant, Mr. Coyote, is well known as an endurance athlete who pushes the envelope and takes chances most runners would consider unacceptable. He has also been injured numerous times in instances in which no Acme product was involved. And despite what were undoubtedly uncomfortable incidents, we note that he has never suffered permanent disability as a result of any of them, and in fact continues to perform as a long-distance runner at a high level. In fact, despite his age, he continues to hold the title of second-fastest runner in the southwest United States.”
The spokesperson also added, “It should be noted that Acme’s products have never killed anybody. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Boeing.”
[Post by James Bennett, so I don’t get the blame]
If The Media Wasn’t Biased
Trump would have won 311 electoral votes.
Scum.