RIP.
I think he got short shrift in the Apollo 13 movie (as did Milt Windler). Very smart guy, and he was arguably more responsible for getting them back than Kranz.
Mannsuit Update
Some good news: The judge has granted summary judgment for National Review. Unless Mann appeals, they’re off the legal hook. This only applies to them, though; our and Mark Steyn’s motions are still pending.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here is the story from National Review.
Read It And Weep
Bill “Ballast” Nelson is going to be head of NASA. This is almost the worst possible pick. Is there any level on which this administration is not a disaster, with less than two months in?
[Friday-morning update]
Five questions that Nelson should be asked (but probably won’t be).
The last is the most important. He’s never given any inkling of having anything resembling a vision for humanity’s future in space.
SLS “Affordability”
This new “study” may be the beginning of the end for the program. This graf stuck out, though: “McConnaughey is leading the study for Kathy Lueders, NASA’s chief of human spaceflight. Even before the study’s initiation, McConnaughey had been pushing for the SLS program to become more cost-effective. One goal of this analysis is to find ways for the large NASA rocket to compete effectively with privately developed rockets as part of the agency’s Artemis Moon program.”
No one seems to ask the question: Why should NASA even be attempting to compete with private industry? This is not a proper role of a government agency, but we’ve been stuck in this mode since Shuttle.
To Kids Who “Identify As White”
If your public school is telling you to attend a CRT struggle session, simply tell them that you don’t identify as white. Then watch them twist themselves into logical knots attempting to describe why they don’t believe you. It will drive them nuts, because the whole point of the exercise is to accuse you of white supremacy and white privilege, and if you deny being white, how can they do that without revealing their own intrinsic anti-white racism? After all, the only basis they have for it is the supposed color of your skin (these days, even if you’re Asian).
David Hogg’s Pillow Factory
You’d have to have a heart of stone to read this, and not laugh out loud.
NASA And The Rise Of Commercial space
This looks like an interesting symposium this week. Hard to believe that it’s been eight years since my book was published.
The “Covid Relief” Bill
…is (among many other things) an IRS assault on low-income people.
Meritocracy Versus Idiocracy
Why China is winning.
Not very encouraging.
De Jure And De Facto Censorship
Why we have to be worried about both.