An interesting article (from NPR!) about the internal controversy at NASA over a private rescue mission. No doubt there is some politics in play within the astronaut office.
All posts by Rand Simberg
The Pace Of Vulcan Rockets
The Air Force is growing concerned.
I suspect that ULA has been so focused on competing against SpaceX on price that it’s ignored the need to compete on tempo. The fact that SpaceX reuses its boosters means that its launch cadence is not constrained by manufacturing capacity. I think that ULA made a bad decision in assuming that launch rates would not be dramatically increasing when doing its cost/benefit analysis on reusability.
Campus Anti-Semitism
It’s nothing new.
In addition, the New York Times covered for both Hitler and Stalin.
[Update a while later]
Campus protesters have experienced some kind of psychiatric break.
It certainly appears that way. They are demonstrably nuts.
[Thursday-morning update]
The real cause of anti-Semitism on campus.
And a survivor of Mao’s Cultural Revolution says that the Red Guards are back.
Mars Sample Return
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Spaceport Vegas?
In theory, Vegas should be an ideal hub for space tourism, but what operators are they talking to? VG doesn’t have enough business to support Spaceport America as it is, and it would be a real punch in the gut to the poor citizens in New Mexico who paid taxes to build it if they pulled up stakes for Vegas. Maybe New Shepard could fly out of there, but it’s not a vehicle with enough tempo to justify it. Is there someone else (finally) working on a practical suborbital vehicle?
Gaza Versus The Uighurs
Thoughts on Israelis as “white colonizers.”
And apparently some women will adopt the most vile political stances if in so doing they get to wear fashionable scarves, even if (or maybe especially if) they’re made by slave labor in China.
To The Mothers
Mine has been gone for almost a quarter of a century now, but if you can, show yours the appreciation she deserves. None of us would be here without them.
[Update a while later]
We watched Young Sheldon for the first few seasons when it started, but haven’t seen the most recent ones. Maybe we should, now that it’s almost over.
On The Hamas Encampments
Yes, this won’t end until there is very real pain suffered by these universities. As Glenn says, make them pay.
[Update a few minutes later]
Climate Science Versus Climate Activism
On the importance of distinguishing them.
As noted, that this was published in Nature may be an indication that there are growing cracks in the wall of the hysteria.
Victoria Nuland
This is the mindset that has created such a disaster in the Middle East:
Where do you see the Israel-Hamas war heading?
Essentially, there are two paths on the table. There is continuing this war with all of the destruction and horror and lack of clarity about how you end Hamas’ reign of terror.
The other path is the route that the administration and allies and partners and a lot of countries in the Gulf are pushing, and a lot of Israelis want, which is: a hostage deal leads to a long-term cease-fire, leads to a better future for Palestinians both in the West Bank and in Gaza, leads to Saudi-Israel normalization and a path to two states, and a region where the ideology and the violence that Hamas is offering is beaten by more opening, more opportunity, more peace, more stability.
You end Hamas’ reign of terror by decisively defeating Hamas, just as we ended the Nazis’ reign of terror by decisively defeating the Nazis, and we ended the Japanese empire’s reign of terror by decisively defeating the imperial Japanese forces. There is no lack of clarity there. Unfortunately, she and the Democrats since the end of the war have been unwilling to allow either America or Israel to win a war. When you fight wars, and particularly when you fight a war against an enemy that uses its own population as human shields, civilians are going to die. Israel does more than any nation in history, including us, to minimize civilian casualties, and will continue to do so because, unlike Hamas which worships death, the Jews worship life.
As for her second path, it’s a continuing fantasy. A hostage deal that leaves Hamas in place will just set up another October 7. We can be sure of this because they continually tell us this. There was a ceasefire on October 6th (if you ignore the continuing rocket attacks from Gaza). There will be no two-state solution, because the Arabs living in Gaza and the West Bank have turned one down every time it’s been offered. Because they have no desire to build a thriving state (if they had, they could have been doing it in Gaza). Their only desire is to destroy a state, and all of the infidels living in it, which would in their minds be just a good start, because ultimately their desire is to rid the House of War throughout the world of all kuffirs — Jews, Christians, atheists, et al.