Victory

The House has passed the new regulation bill (HR5382) with the required 2/3rds majority. Alan Boyle (who properly owns this story, with his diligent reporting over the past couple days) has the latest. As he says, now on to the Senate.

[Update at 6 PM EST]

Alan Boyle now has the full story up.

A Space Laser Battle Station

…that almost flew in the mid-1980s. From behind the veil of the Cold War, some previously unseen pictures have emerged. Note that this was while the Soviets were complaining about Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative.

Via email from Jim Oberg, who notes:

This was the bird that the Soviet’s military built and planned to launch without telling Gorbachev — he found out, and ordered the rocket test to proceed but the payload to not be activated.

Conveniently — and I suspect, not accidentally — the orbit circularization burn at first apogee failed. May 1987, I recall.

Had it gone into orbit, while Reagan was president, it would likely have sparked a major ‘Stars Wars’ space military race with potentially dreadful consequences.

One Final Update On The Bill For Tonight

A final email from Jim Muncy:

The House Leadership just announced that there would be no more votes tonight.

The House of Representatives will convene at 9am on Saturday morning to consider outstanding votes plus the Omnibus approps bill, etc… so phone calls, faxes, and emails to House Members, especially House Democrats, should continue until at least mid-morning Eastern Time on Saturday.

Remember: HR 5382 is a bipartisan bill that was developed as a compromise between the House-passed HR3752 and the Senate Commerce Committee

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!