Category Archives: Media Criticism

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

Heavy-Lift Follies

5 Comments

Keith Cowing, Marcia Smith and Jeff Foust all have reports on General Bolden’s comments yesterday, some of which were in response to questions from Keith. I would note (as Jeff does) that Congress doesn’t want a vehicle sized in metric tons — it asked for one in tons. NASA seems to have confused this issue by sizing in MT, and now Keith and Marcia are stating that as though it’s the requirement. But that oversizes the system considerably, as I noted in my satirical but sadly accurate robot theater a few weeks ago.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Getting The Incentives Right

20 Comments

Enlightened women honoring gentlemen.

For quite a while, I’ve been thinking that we’ve lost the concept of a gentleman, to the point that the word has lost its meaning. It makes me crazy when I hear a newscaster say something absurd and with no apparent irony, like “…the gentleman who raped the young woman is still being sought by police.” Folks, it’s not just a synonym for “man.”

Media Criticism, Space

No Orbital Animals For Iran

2 Comments

Remember that goofy press story a few days ago about Iran putting a “life capsule” in a 75-mile orbit?

Well, I just got confirmation from the JSpOC that it was indeed nonsense:

According to our Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC): “Our sensors did not detect, identify or track any space launch from Iran of the type described. No new object originating from Iran was entered into the orbiting satellite catalogue.”

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Very Respectfully,

Rodney E. Ellison Jr., Civ
Media Operations
U.S. Strategic Command
Public Affairs Office (J020)
901 SAC Blvd. Suite 1A1
Offutt AFB, NE 68113-6020

AP and the BBC probably just bungled the Farsi translation, when it was clearly suborbital.