A nice essay at the New Yorker (though it quotes an “historian” as saying that Nixon “killed Apollo.” Johnson did, and Kennedy probably would have, if he hadn’t been assassinated first).
Category Archives: Space History
Beresheet
Looks like the landing failed. Or at least the landing wasn’t soft. It probably left a long trench.
Great effort, though. Just getting into lunar orbit on the first attempt was a huge success; JPL missed the moon completely with several of the Ranger attempts. I hope they’re funded to try again.
SLS And Moon In 2024
Brazil’s Cursed Spaceport
Can Alcantara be salvaged?
Apollo 11
Amy Shira Teitel has a review of the new IMAX documentary. Looks like the closest one to us is in Century City.
Lunar Heritage Sites
My buddy Michelle Hanlon was on NPR yesterday, and the LA Times has an approving editorial.
Protecting Human Heritage On The Moon
An interesting piece by Michelle Hanlon. This is a corollary with space property right. If some places are off limits, it implies that most others are not.
The Space Access Conference
It’s baaaack. And better than ever, despite the fact that Yours Truly will be there. It will be in the Bay Area, instead of Phoenix, though (the latter is a slightly shorter drive from LA). On the other hand, that’s where it started, with the Making Orbit conferences in San Mateo, almost three decades ago.
Sixteen Years Ago
Columbia was lost on this date in 2003, putting a final stake through the heart of the Space Shuttle program. We were staying at a Residence Inn in San Bruno (Patricia was working in Millbrae), when I was awoken by someone on the east coast with the news. Here were my immediate thoughts, which held up pretty well, I think. And if you go to this page, you’ll find that post at the bottom, but can scroll up to see my further reflections over the next few days (or click on “Next post” from the first blog link). I had only been blogging for a year and a half or so at the time.
Today, Ian Kluft had a thread on Twitter on his recollection of seeing the disaster live, though at the time he didn’t know exactly what was happening:
Thread.
We were staying at a Residence Inn in San Bruno. I was awoken by a call from a friend on the east coast to tell me that Columbia was missing. Drove back down to LA that day. https://t.co/l7nw2rpsYw
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) February 1, 2019
[Early-afternoon update]
Here is the archived version with comments. In that post, and this one, you can see the beginning of formulating my thoughts for the book, though it wouldn’t happen for another eight years or so.
The U.S. Space Guard
The National Space Society has come out with a policy paper on it. I haven’t read it yet, but it should be a useful reference for those who continue to confuse it and the Space Corps/Force.