There was some buzz in the space blogosphere a few days ago when there was an FAA notice issued that Blue Origin would be doing a test flight, and then we heard nothing else. Well, here’s what happened, apparently. It’s nice to see them being a little more open (actually, a lot more — this is almost Armadillo-like in their letting it hang out). Hope we’ll get more details on what went wrong.
Category Archives: Space
Lunar Pizza
Maybe they can make it with green cheese.
My Space Thoughts
The folks at Moon’n’Back did a video interview with me at the Space Frontier Conference. It’s not working for me, but here’s Part 1. I don’t remember what I said. I was probably huffing rocket fuel.
Space Quarterly
The first issue is out. It’s free, but once they hook you, you’ll have to pay for the fix. I haven’t read it yet to judge if it’s worth it, but let me know what y’all think.
“A Pretty Warped Sense Of Priorities”
The Tea Party in Space is starting to get attention from conservative media. We need to see more of this to forestall a space-policy nightmare like the return of Mike Griffin.
The Florida Space Report
The latest edition is out. The lead story is launch pad logistics problems for SpaceX.
Mike Griffin
…has another temper tantrum. Clark Lindsey explains the facts of life to him. He’s obviously trying to position himself to get his old job back in a Republican administration. If that were to happen, it would be a disaster for our prospects in space.
Just How Important Is Space Policy?
Traditionally, though it’s not a written rule, vice presidents have been in charge of space policy, though some are more so than others. Johnson was very much so, Agnew was somewhat, Ford and Rockefeller not much, Mondale tried to kill the Shuttle and succeeded in reducing the fleet size, GHW Bush wasn’t particularly involved as far as I recall, but Quayle was considerably, as was Gore. Sean O’Keefe was supposedly a friend of Dick Cheney’s, being groomed for bigger things when he was tapped as NASA administrator.
So I was over at Barnes & Noble, and picked up a copy of Cheney’s new book, and turned to the index. Mentions of O’Keefe? None. Mentions of the moon? None. Mentions of the Vision for Space Exploration? None. Mentions of NASA? None.
Come to think of it, I didn’t do a search for “Shuttle” or “Columbia,” but it’s hard to see how they would have been mentioned without mentioning NASA or O’Keefe. Basically, it wasn’t important enough to him to discuss it in a several-hundred-page book.
I would also note that, thankfully, Joe Biden doesn’t seem to be involved with space policy.
Narrowing It Down
The Progress launched failed due to a failed gas generator (which provides the pressure needed for the fuel into the chamber). Unless they can figure out why it failed and how to prevent it from happening again, though, that doesn’t allow them to fly again.
Orbital Technologies
Here are some pretty pictures of their proposed space hotel. Still no explanation of how they get the price down below a million dollars (I don’t think anyone is going to get to orbit cheaper than SpaceX in that time frame, and they’re charging twenty million a seat). I also wonder when the “space tourism season” begins and ends. And where does it get its power, and how does it get rid of heat?
If you’re guessing I’m skeptical about this proposal, you’re correct.