I have some questions for Mitt Romney over at PJMedia. By the way, today is the forty-third anniversary of Apollo 8’s circuit of the moon, when we won the space race.
Category Archives: Space
Does Earth Have More Than One Moon?
Maybe, but only temporary ones.
Another Soyuz Failure
And it was (again) in the third stage, but it doesn’t seem to be common with the failure a few weeks ago. There is one common cause, though — it is a product of the Russian space program, which seems to be having ongoing problems, and Congress continues to fiddle with SLS while it burns, while underfunding the only program that can eliminate our dependence on it.
[UPdate late morning]
A combustion-chamber burn through? If so, was this a manufacturing, or processing problem?
3-D Printers
…are going mainstream. An interesting survey at Computer World. As I’ve noted previously, this is a key technology for space development.
Chris Kraft Speaks
It’s time for NASA (and Congress) to get real:
So come on NASA, wake up! Take the lid off and turn loose the human resources you already have in place. Most of these bright people came to NASA excited about the future, about going back to the Moon to stay and becoming a part of what could be another renaissance in space.
Building a great big rocket is not a necessary expenditure at this time. In fact, the budget that will be consumed by this big rocket will prevent NASA from any meaningful human exploration for at least the next decade and probably beyond. We don’t have to march in place while we wait for the powers that be to cancel it. Let’s be innovative; let’s wake up the sleeping giant and have at returning to the Moon right now.
Unfortunately, NASA isn’t the problem.
What Is Paul Allen’s Venture Really For?
While last week’s news about the new privately-funded air-launch system was exciting, many industry observers have been scratching their heads over aspects of it that don’t seem to quite add up, from both business and technical perspectives. Continue reading What Is Paul Allen’s Venture Really For?
Our Trip To Mojave Yesterday
We drove up with Bill Simon yesterday, and he’s posted a bunch of pics on Picasa. It’s mostly pictures of the flight line with the canard fly-in, a lot of pictures of what’s happening at XCOR, and Burt Rutan’s “pyramid” house (which is currently being rented out).
There He Goes Again
On Fox News Sunday, Romney just attacked Newt again on lunar colonies. This is getting very annoying. Someone in Romney’s campaign or the man himself decided that bashing space is a good weapon against Gingrich. Newt should make him pay for it with a speech on the subject. I suppose I should be happy that he’s at least made it a campaign issue. It usually isn’t.
Light And Scattered Blogging
We’re going up to Plane Crazy in Mojave, to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the flight of the Voyager this week, and today’s 108th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first flight. I expect to see a lot of canards flying in for the event.
A New Age Of Low-Cost Launch?
I have a report and analysis of Tuesday’s press conference with Paul Allen and Burt Rutan over at PJMedia.