The latest on the issue.
It’s a pointless discussion, because it presumes it’s going to be a government program: Apollo back tot the moon again, or Apollo to Mars. We need to be developing capabilities to go wherever we want, affordably. Then let the people paying for it decide.
Related: Howard Bloom says that NASA needs to get out of the rocket business, and start working on an actual superhighway in space. I’m not sure I want Marshall in charge of that, though. To put it mildly.
Popehat weighs in. I haven’t read it yet, but even if I had, I’d be unlikely to comment.
Bob Zimmerman has some prognostications.
I agree that it’s likely to be a banner year, with an even brighter future.
They have a literacy problem.
Meanwhile, despite all the angst about Muslims, Christians remain the most persecuted religion in the world. They obviously need to check their privilege.
Cops say it was exacerbated by Black Lives Matter. I wouldn’t doubt it. Which is ironic, considering that most of the victims are black.
It’s not so glorious.
I suspect history will judge harshly. And of course, in doing so, it will be racist.
The final assessment. I’m selfishly hoping they’ll delay past the 7th, because we get in from London at 2 AM on that date, and won’t be in a mood for a drive up to Vandenberg.
[Update a few minutes later]
Return to flight now scheduled for Sunday night. We’ll try to watch from the beach, if the weather is clear.
We celebrated New Years Eve in Paris, in a sixth-floor apartment we rented with a view of the Eiffel Tower. It’s just a couple blocks from the Sorbonne and the Pantheon.
Unfortunately, it’s socked in, but we could see the lights through the mist. They started sparkling an hour before midnight, and then again as the hour hit. Not a lot of fireworks here, but we saw a few out that window, and others out the loft window toward Notre Dame. But the Parisians were cheering in the streets.
The trip has been pretty much stab/explosion/truck-attack free so far. Apparently they weren’t so fortunate in Istanbul; the Jayvee team struck again last night.
But it’s cold. Below freezing last night, and probably tonight as well. But we’re cozy, and we’ll be going out this afternoon to check out the Cathedral. But right now we’re heating croissants in the oven and making scrambled eggs with Welsh cheddar, and gravlox from Norway, with leftover oven-fried potatoes from dinner last night.
[Update a few minutes later]
Oh, and bonne annee to my readers.
Feeling very good to be in Paris, and escaping 2016 five hours earlier than the east coast and eight hours earlier than California. https://t.co/a2bS8W6v3Y
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) December 31, 2016
[Monday-morning update]
Yes, speaking from current experience, international travel is so much better than it used to be.
We’re off to the Louvre. We could walk, but it’s rainy and chilly. We’ll probably take Uber.
I usually write these sorts of things, but I’m on vacation, and Mike Wall has ten. I think that the Bezos announcement of New Glenn and New Armstrong are as big as Elon’s Mars announcement though. I consider Bezos both more ambitious, and more credible, in the sense that he is spending his own money, and not lobbying the government for it.
The Chinese are claiming they’ve successfully tested it on orbit.
I remain skeptical.