Bob Zimmerman isn’t impressed.
This will make if more difficult to cancel the Gateway, but it’s possible to do a much more effective gateway, and one doesn’t need SLS/Orion to do it.
Category Archives: Space
Space Settlement
A bi-partisan bill has been introduced in the Senate to make it a national goal (and to extend ISS to 2030). More thoughts after I read the draft legislation.
Ariane And CNES
…are playing catch up with SpaceX. I wonder how many time Ariane 6 will actually fly?
Settling Mars
Not mention? Whether or not humans can procreate in 0.38 gees. Because no one knows, and Elon doesn’t seem to care.
The Fourth Flight Of Last Week’s Booster
It will be sacrificed for the Crew Dragon abort test in April. Seems like a good use, though it would be nice to know how many flights they can ultimately get out of one.
Another SpaceX Milestone
They plan a fourth flight of a booster in April. The one they did on Thursday night was the third.
Lunar Heritage Sites
My buddy Michelle Hanlon was on NPR yesterday, and the LA Times has an approving editorial.
Anti-American Forces At NASA?
Bob Zimmerman is concerned.
If it’s not the intent of this to aid Russia, that’s certainly the effect.
And yes, this is concerning:
But the sources familiar with the matter said the companies must address “most” of those concerns before flying astronauts and, eventually, tourists to space. [emphasis mine]
NASA has no business dictating what standards will be met for private spaceflight participants. Someone needs to stomp on this right now.
[Update a few minutes later]
And just by coincidence, as NASA continues to want to purchase more rides from the Russians, another Fregat upper stage failed today.
The Soyuz 2-1b has apparently FAILED according to Russian media: ?https://t.co/l09jEEtPTG
— Chris B – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) February 21, 2019
[Late-morning update]
Looks like while there may have been an anomaly, the mission was ultimately a success.
I now have independent confirmation that #EgyptSat-A was released from Fregat into a planned orbit in today's #Soyuz launch!!! Stay tuned for updates: https://t.co/O5RqZRE7ed
— Anatoly Zak (@RussianSpaceWeb) February 21, 2019
[Friday afternoon update]
Well, that piece by Reuters didn’t age well. Seems kind of dumb to have run it when the flight readiness review was scheduled for the very next day.
[Bumped]
Throwing Shade At Branson From Bezos
I wonder how much the additional twenty kilometers will be worth in the market? Jonathan McDowell makes a pretty good case that the line actually should be eighty kilometers. Von Karman never declared it to be a hundred.
SpaceShipTwo
Their launch window opened this morning at 7 AM. I’d thought about driving up, but it’s going to be pretty cold up there, and I didn’t think the weather would cooperate. It did turn out that they scrubbed. I think Friday’s the most likely day now, because another storm is coming through tonight and tomorrow.