It’s time for NASA to get out of the launch business.
I’ve only been saying this for over two decades.
Don’t read the comments, though.
[Tuesday-morning update]
Bob Zimmerman is very encouraged about the future of America in space.
Light posting today if at all, because I’ll be at the Space Tech Expo in Long Beach all day.
[Thursday-morning update]
Bob has a follow up post. I do think the proposal to reduce crew size on the ISS is penny-wise pound-foolish.
Bob Zimmerman has it, and summarizes.
The five-year anniversary is coming up.
And don't forget. The five year anniversary of Fracture Day – June 5 2020 – is coming up.
— Eric S. Raymond (@esrtweet) May 20, 2025
There were lots of lies before that of course, but that was the day that a gaggle of "public health" officials told us that in the middle of a supposedly deadly pandemic that required… https://t.co/sIGQs6umwg
It’s tragic how politicized the energy industry has become, due to the climate commies.
An interesting essay. I’m working with several people to pursue LASSO. It’s primarily a tech demo for low-altitude lunar orbit, but if it works, we could get a good map of the resource.
This was deliberate.
A good article from Irene Klotz.
[Afternoon update]
What comes after Artemis III?
The Musk derangement is strong in comments.
And this had me rolling my eyes: “”…one friend in the industry predicted a future without them to be so dire that Artemis III would be the last US human spaceflight of our lifetimes.”
…punctured. A new paper from Judith Curry.
The administration is proposing ending Gateway, and SLS/Orion after Artemis III. That’s still two flights too many, but it all has yet to play out.
[Afternoon update]
Thoughts from Bob Zimmerman.
[Sunday-morning update]
Speaking of Bob Zimmerman, he’s less than impressed with Lockheed Martin’s delivery of the first crew-capable Orion.
[Bumped]
I guess I should follow up with the main point: Once you explicitly accept that you're going to use multiple launches to get back to the Moon, it opens up the trade space for lots of different architectures. If NASA doesn't already have a tiger team doing trade studies to present…
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) April 28, 2025