The Orbital Mechanics Podcast: Recent Episodes
David Fourman, Ben Etherington, and Dennis Just
Every week we cover the latest spaceflight news, discuss past, current and future exploration efforts, and take a look at upcoming events. Tune in to hear about how humans get to space, how they stay in space and how unmanned craft reach farther and farther into the universe around us.
— We won’t be restocking T-shirts, but feel free to find a print company you like and use our logos to make your own! Please do not use our logos for any other purpose without permission. (drive.google.com)
— Posters have been added to the store (theorbitalmechanics.com/store)
— There’s still a great space community on our Discord (theorbitalmechanics.com/discord)
Well, after last week's short episode, I suspect that a lot of you anticipated this short episode would be coming out.
I'm going to use some language that David, Dennis, and I have agreed represents our intentions. Please don't, like, take this too far, but we have decided to sunset the main show.
Here's what we're going to do. Next week, on Sunday, July 6th, we're going to get together and we're going to record an episode. We would like to invite anybody who's interested in listening into one of our live recordings to come join us.
We're not sure what we're going to do. We thought about calling this our last episode, but that doesn't feel quite right. I think the three of us have some ideas about what we want the future of this show to look like, even if it's not recording an episode every week. We'll also be able to tell you a bit more about what happened last week.
We would love if you have thought about joining a recording session and haven't, or if you used to and you still kind of want to but you haven't had a good motivation, here's your motivation. Come party with us. (Hopefully it'll be a party.)
But yeah, so that's the news for this week. Next week we expect to put out, you know, a full like hour-long episode like usual, and then we'll... it's not going to look like our normal episodes. It'll be pretty talky. I mean, our episodes are always talky. Even this short episode is pretty talky. But we're, you know, we'll probably talk about the news a little bit, but it's mainly going to be, I don't know, almost like a brainstorming session, maybe. We'll find out.
You're invited and I would love to see, like me personally, I would love to see you. There are a bunch of names scrolling through my head right now. I would love to see everybody on that list. And I'm sure there are plenty of names that I don't know yet. And you know, that's one of the things that I'm most afraid of losing if we're not doing weekly episodes is all the new people I'm not going to get to meet.
Come on by next week, July, Sunday, the 6th. We record at 9 a.m. Pacific, 12 p.m. Eastern. If you aren't already in our discord, you can go to theorbitalmechanics.com/discord, and that'll just redirect you to an invite. Yeah, you got to have a discord account. I'm sorry. But come come join us and say hi.
All right, talk to you guys next week. Bye.
Weird, short episode here, but it still feels weird to not start the show by saying “and I’m Ben.”
So, we’ve had a personal emergency here on the crew. All three of us are fine, and we will let you know more about what’s happened, but for right now, this week’s episode is delayed. Hopefully it’ll be coming out later this week, but I don’t know. It may take a little while for things to get back to normal, but hopefully not too long. We just need a little bit of time to cope, and then we can figure out what our plans are.
Thank you guys for listening, and you know, I miss y’all.
Spaceflight News
— Starship Block 2: 0 for 3 (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
— Block 3 Update (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— Xodiac flies final time (arstechnica.com)
— China successfully tests vertical-takeoff vertical-landing rocket (cgtn.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
ii May 24, 1962: Fourth flight of Project Mercury (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov)
— Next week (6/10 - 6/16) in 1973: Dos equis
Spaceflight News
— Neutron update (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— China announces mission to Venus (ieee.org)
Tianhe to be expanded (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 14 May, 1973. Launch of Skylab (historicspacecraft.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)
— Next week (5/20 - 5/26) in 1962: Kickin’ up fireflies.
Spaceflight News
— Firefly Nozzle Anomaly (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Efforts continue to rescue Lunar Trailblazer (spacenews.com)
— ISS avoids space debris (space.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Kosmos 482’s parachutes dangling out? (space.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— May 10, 1994: Last contact with the Clementine Spacecraft (en.wikipedia.org) (researchgate.net) (nap.nationalacademies.org) (klabs.org)
— Next week (5/13 - 5/19) in 1973: It’s the final countdown
Spaceflight News
— Sierra Space impact test (asdnews.com)
— Atmos reentry test of PHOENIX-1 (spacenews.com) (europeanspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— Kosmos 482’s deorbit update (sattrackcam.blogspot.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Blue Origin tank failure? (HT ArcadeEngineer: fixupx.com/kerballistic07)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 1 May, 1979: Enterprise rolled out to 39A (nasa.gov)
— Next week (5/6 - 5/12) in 1994: Lost and gone forever, in orbit
Spaceflight News
— The Riskiest Period of ISS’ Existence (spacenews.com)
— Enginefest
— Latitude (europeanspaceflight.com)
— Pangea Aerospace (europeanspaceflight.com)
— Venus Aerospace (prnewswire.com)
Short & Sweet
— Building destroyed in explosion at Northrop Grumman test site (space.com)
— Seat barter agreement extended through 2027 (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Unc’ Willy: “First flight” is a better term (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— April 24, 1970: Launch of Dong Fang Hong (astronautix.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (4/29 - 5/5) in 1979: Heading out for a three-month stay
Spaceflight News
— Confirming Isaacman (spacenews.com) (law.cornell.edu) (aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org)
— One of the Lunar Terrain Vehicles unveiled (lunaroutpost.com)
Short & Sweet
— New addition to DSN (space.com)
— DOD hires Astroscale (satellitetoday.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Jonathan McDowell retiring (archive.ph)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 18 Apr, 2001. Maiden flight of GSLV Mk. I (a.k.a GSLV-D1) (isro.gov.in) (astronautix.com) (PDF: sci-hub.se) (planet4589.org)
— Next week (4/22 - 4/28) in 1970: Is the national anthem really 20 days long?
Spaceflight News
— Two more PAMs (spacenews.com) (sam.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Fram2 launches and lands (arstechnica.com) (space.com)
— SpinLaunch turns to broadband (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Starliner shakeup (spaceflightnow.com)
— From Espen Urkedal: FTS vs VTS
This Week in Spaceflight History
— April 10, 1979: Launch (and early return) of Soyuz 33 (en.wikipedia.org) (blazingbulgaria.wordpress)
— Next week (4/15 - 4/21) in 2001: Stumbling 58 minutes short of the finish orbit
Spaceflight News
— Security Space (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com)
Interview -- Joseph Marlin, Deputy Chief Engineer, Blue Ghost Lunar Program
— linkedin.com/in/josephmarlin
— fireflyspace.com
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Apr 4, 1983. Launch of STS-6 (americaspace.com)
— Next week (4/8 - 4/14) in 1979: Stumbling a mile before the finish line
Spaceflight News
— Still sticking with Starliner (spacenews.com) (aviationweek.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starlab starts new phase (space.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Blaise via email: SRTM gravity gradients
This Week in Spaceflight History
— March 31, 1972: Launch of Kosmos 482 (en.wikipedia.org) (spacereview.com) (leonarddavid.com)
— Next week (4/1 - 4/7) in 1983: Orbital structural test article
Spaceflight News
— China’s Mars Sample Return open to International Cooperation (cgtn.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Several Russian sats on the move (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (defence-blog.com)
— X-37B lands after record-breaking mission (arstechnica.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: leaked starship photos: (HT The Orbital Index: reddit.com) (HT The Orbital Index: reddit.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 18 Mar, 1980. Plesetsk launch pad disaster (plesetzk.ru) (russianspaceweb.com) (bbc.co.uk) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Tangent on GRAU indices (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (3/25 - 3/31) in 1972: Much closer, much easier, but 53 years late
Spaceflight News
— IM-2 lunar landing (intuitivemachines.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (intuitivemachines.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Voyager turns off further instruments (space.com)
— A Falcon 9 loses a leg (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: ISS too clean (newsbreak.com) (cell.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 15 Mar, 1976. Launch of Lincoln Experimental Satellite 8 and 9 (LES-8 and -9) (skyrocket.de) (wikipedia.org) (ll.mit.edu)
— Next week (3/18 - 3/24) in 1980: Wait nine years until “openness”
Spaceflight News
— Starship TF7 bounced to pieces (Paywall: aviationweek.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Two payloads on IM-2 launch suffering problems on-orbit (spacenews.com)
— Space capsule lands in Australia while first rocket readies to launch (spacenews.com) (abc.net.au)
— Xona received contract to develop GPS alternative (insidegnss.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Blue Ghost lunar landing? (Spoiler: it did!) (space.com) (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Feb 26, 1960: Failed launch of MiDAS 1 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nro.gov) (PDF: nro.gov)
— Next week (3/11 - 3/17) in 1976: Two score and nine years ago
Spaceflight News
— Stoke Space reveals Andromeda 2 (stokespace.com)
Short & Sweet
— Long March 8A completes first flight (spacenews.com)
— Germany provides funds for new launch facility (europeanspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Blue Origin Layoffs (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 24 Feb, 1996. Launch of POLAR satellite (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (eyes.nasa.gov) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Next week (2/25 - 3/3) in 1960: The copper touch
Spaceflight News
— The most amazing little rocket that will have ever built (spacenews.com) (aas.org) (aas.org) (aas.org) (PDF: hou.usra.edu)
Short & Sweet
— Starbase Update (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Thales Alenia to build an airlock (europeanspaceflight.com)
Vast reschedules Haven-1 (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: ThrustMe pushes into US market (spacenews.com) (thrustme.fr)
— Unc’ Willy: Frustums, and NGLR (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 11 Feb, 2000: Shuttle Radar Topography Mission launched on STS-99 (en.wikipedia.org) (airandspace.si.edu VIA web.archive.org) (PDF: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com)
— Next week (2/18 - 2/24) in 1996: Goes where it says on the tin.
Spaceflight News
— Blue Ghost M1 (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (fireflyspace.com) (gsfc.nasa.gov) (baas.aas.org) (hou.usra.edu)
Short & Sweet
— Starliner investigation nears completion (spacenews.com)
— AstroForge announces first target (space.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: IRNSS-1K launch failure (thehindu.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Feb. 6, 1995: STS-63 approaches within 11 meters of Mir (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (thespaceabove.us)
— Next week (2/11 - 2/17) in 2000: Tail-first and burning fast
Spaceflight News
— NICER repair on EVA 91 (nasaspaceflight.com) (svs.gsfc.nasa.gov) (science.nasa.gov) (svs.gsfc.nasa.gov) (heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— ESA to vote on future of Space Rider spacecraft (europeanspaceflight.com)
— China hops higher, maybe (spacenews.com) (bilibili.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: New Shepard’s lunar gravity mission (spacenews.com)
— Hydraq via email: CH4 hydrodynamics in Starship
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 3 Feb, 1994: The launch of STS-60 (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nss.org)
Next week (2/4 - 2/10) in 1995: Hey, it’s me again. I’m outside.
Spaceflight News
— Starship FT-7 (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (bsky.app/profile/derekdotspace.bsky.social) (space.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— ISRO successfully docks in space (spacenews.com)
— RFA granted license for vertical launch from UK (europeanspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: New Glenn First Flight (nasaspaceflight.com) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— DarthMooMoo: Varda launched on F9, not Electron (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 22 Jan 1997: Space debris hits a person for the first and only time on record. (HT SciKyle: en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: deepblue.lib.umich.edu) (PDF: apps.dtic.mil) (foxnews.com)
— Next week (1/28 - 2/3) in 1994: Call before you come over
Thanks to Dennis O for naming this week’s episode!
Spaceflight News
— Mars Sample Return redesign (spaceflightnow.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— China tests mission extension tech on-orbit (spacenews.com)
— X-37B’s latest mission passes one-year in space (space.com)
— Pale Blue Propulsion (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Eaton/Pallisades fire relief for JPL workers (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (securelb.imodules.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Jan. 17, 2005: US-China Orbital Debris Event (space.com) (PPT: celestrak.org) (spaceref.com) (PDF: orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov)
— Next week (1/21 - 1/27) in 1997: A tap on the shoulder
Spaceflight News
— Starship TF-7 (spacenews.com) (ringwatchers.com) (spacex.com) (twitter.com)
Short & Sweet
— India launches space docking demo mission (nasaspaceflight.com) (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (isro.gov.in)
— Launches gaining frequency (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 10 Jan, 1968: Surveyor 7 lands on the moon (nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Next week (1/14 - 1/20) in 2005: Was that the Aurora Australis?
Spaceflight News
— K2 Space wins contract (spaceinsider.tech) (spacenews.com) (addtheegg.com)
Short & Sweet
— Contracts awarded for NASA’s Near Space Network (spacenews.com)
— Record breaking spacewalk set by Shenzhou-19 crew (spacenews.com)
— Crew-10 delayed (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 2 Jan, 1959. Launch of Luna 1, first spacecraft to reach the Moon (en.wikipedia.org) (smithsonianmag.com) (mentallandscape.com) (smithsonianmag.com)
— Next week (1/7 - 1/13) in 1968: Highlander - there can be only one (of seven)
Spaceflight News
— Orion’s heat shield (americaspace.com) (nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Tests of Russian Orbital Station core module announced (interfax.com)
— Ingenuity’s Crash Investigation (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Joel Rogers via email: Young and Crippen didn’t fly on Enterprise.
This Week in Spaceflight History
— December 17, 2012: Grasshopper makes its first real hop (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (1/1 - 1/6) in 1959: To the moon! Uh... to the Sun!
Spaceflight News
— Swirl-dominated chambers (payloadspace.com) (https://www.sierraspace.com) (Pic, from researchgate.net) (PDF: nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— So long Sutherland Spaceport (satellitetoday.com)
Further delays to Artemis program announced (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 12 Dec, 1970. Launch of Uhuru (nasa.gov) (PDF: jhuapl.edu)
— Next week (12/17 - 12/23) in 2012: Ride ‘em, cowboy
Spaceflight News
— Epsilon can’t stop exploding (space.com) (youtu.be) (PDF: jaxa.jp)
— A Dragonfly on a Falcon Heavy (satellitetoday.com)
Short & Sweet
— Old spaceport, newish rocket (europeanspaceflight.com)
— New rocket, new spaceport (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: New Glenn on the pad (space.com) (blueorigin.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 3 Dec, 2003: Shuttle Training Aircraft loses part of an engine (iasa.com.au VIA web.archive.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (simpleflying.com)
— Next week (12/10 - 12/16) in 1970: Equatorial eyes
Spaceflight News
— Global grasshoppers
— Russia’s hopper (arstechnica.com)
— EU’s hopper (europeanspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— Omani spaceport looks to launch next month (www.thenationalnews.com)
— China tests inflatable spacecraft on orbit (news.cgtn.com) (space.com) (spacenews.com)
— Starship Test Flight Six (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Progress contamination (russianspaceweb.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— November 28, 1983: Launch of STS-9, Columbia (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (americaspace.com)
— Next week (12/3 - 12/9) in 2003: You’ve heard of the space banana, but what about the Banana River dunk?
Spaceflight News
— Zvezda leak disagreement (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)
Short & Sweet
— NGR is in the building! (spacenews.com)
— Bye bye ABL (from launch anyway) (arstechnica.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 24 Nov, 1970. Launch of Kosmos 379 (astronautix.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com)
— Next week (11/26 - 12/2) in 1983: And then there were six
Spaceflight News
— CRS-2 extended (spacenews.com) (sam.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Gilmour ups and Bowen downs (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— LignoSat to be deployed from ISS (popsci.com) (nanosats.eu)
— Long March 9: Starship (arstechnica)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: LEO safety study (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 12 Nov, 1981: The launch of STS-2 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov)
— Next week (11/19 - 11/25) in 1970: LELO: Low-Earth “Lunar” Orbit
Spaceflight News
— Shenzhou-19 reaches Tiangong (spaceflightnow.com)
— Mirror platform for Tiangong (news.cgtn.com) (youtube.com)
— Low-cost Tiangong cargo S/C (spacenews.com)
— “Kinetica-2 [selected] as top launcher choice” (twitter.com/cas_space)
— Crewed moon rover (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/YuqiiQian)
Short & Sweet
— Artemis heat shield chunks (spacenews.com)
— Liquid water on Mars (nature.com VIA nasaspaceflight.com) (news.berkeley.edu)
— California startup develops ABEP system (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— November 8, 2004: First launch of a Soyuz 2 carrier rocket (en.wikipedia.org) (v2rockethistory.com)
— Next week (11/12 - 11/18) in 1981: 40% of the mission, 90% of the objectives.
Spaceflight News
— Starship Flight 5 Review “Leaked” (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (spacenews.com) (HT DennisO: x.com/StarshipGazer)
Short & Sweet
— Crew-8 post-landing medical issue (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
— Companies to bring commercial launch to Ireland (europeanspaceflight.com)
— ACS-3’s a little crooked (space.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
— Mars Sample Revision (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Aerojet 260 solid rocket test (en.wikipedia.org)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 3 Nov, 1994. Launch of STS-66 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nss.org) (youtu.be)
— Next week (11/5 - 11/11) in 2004: A blind bowling ball
Thanks to Dennis O for naming this week’s episode!
Spaceflight News
— Intelsat 33e loses power and blows up (spacenews.com) (x.com/S4S_SDA) (reddit.com)
Short & Sweet
— Sirius Space hot fire (europeanspaceflight.com)
— A Firefly to launch a Jackal (satellitetoday.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Ross Peterson: Super Heavy’s reentry heating
— Taylor S Marks: ISS graveyard orbit (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 27 Oct, 1992. Launch of the Znamya 2 solar power antenna (en.wikipedia.org) (thespacereview.com) (qsl.net) (skypub.com VIA web.archive.org)
— Next week (10/29 - 11/4) in 1994: holding the weight of LEO on your shoulders
Spaceflight News
— Worries about ISS making a splash (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (space.com)
Short & Sweet
— X-37B to perform aerobraking maneuver (defenseone.com)
— Rocket Lab wins Mars Sample Return concept award (spacenews.com)
— Vast unveils details on Haven-1 (payloadspace.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Starship Flight Test 5 (youtu.be) (nasaspaceflight.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— October 17, 1974: Founding of OTRAG (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (youtube.com) (bernd-leitenberger.de)
— Next week (10/22 - 10/28) in 1992: To shreds, you say!
Spaceflight News
-- Vulcan anomaly (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/dwisecinema) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
-- Voyager 2 turns off science instrument (inverse.com)
-- Super bright Qianfan satellites (spacenews.com)
-- NASA reduces rate of ISS leak (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- Unc’ Willy: Crossfield’s employer (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 8 Oct, 2012: The launch of CRS-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasaspaceflight.com)
-- Next week (10/15 - 10/21) in 1974: The original SpaceX
Spaceflight News
-- VIPER opinions (spacenews.com) (sam.gov)
Short & Sweet
-- Chinese lunar spacesuit revealed (cgtn.com) (space.com)
-- Upper stage anomaly grounds Falcon 9 (space.com) (spacenews.com)
-- MaiaSpace moves in (spacenews)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 2 Oct, 1921. Birth of Scott Crossfield (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: govinfo.gov) (magazine.washington.edu)
-- Next week (10/8 - 10/14) in 2012: A boxy box delivery
Spaceflight News
-- ISRO rising (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
-- Iran successfully launches research satellite (almayadeen.net)
-- Ariane 6 software fix (spacenews.com)
-- Yutu 2 turns six (space.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro: Sirius Space will launch from Australia (europeanspaceflight.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- Launch of Shenzhou 7 (神舟七号) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nescacademy.nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
-- Next week (10/1 - 10/7) in 1921: Flying with Michael Burnham
Spaceflight News
-- Landspace lands (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
-- New Glenn to attempt landing (HT Chris Radcliff: https://twitter.com/davill)
-- Chang’e-6 extended mission (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro: Polaris Dawn spacewalk (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 22 Sep, 2006. Launch of Hinode (日の出) (nasa.gov) (eoportal.org) (esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org)
-- Next week (9/24 - 9/30) in 2008: And then there were three
Spaceflight News
-- BepiColombo insertion delayed (europeanspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (esa.int)
Short & Sweet
-- EscaPADE DelAYED (spacenews.com)
-- Starliner Returned (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
-- Vega’s final launch (satellitetoday.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro: Blue Origin’s new drone ship (HT DennisO: https://x.com/_mgde_) (space.com)
-- Haragopal: Europa Clipper’s flying on Falcon Heavy, not New Glenn (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 10 Sept, 2009: The launch of HTV-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (humans-in-space.jaxa.jp) (PDF: nasa.gov)
-- Next week (9/17 - 9/23) in 2006: Flying to where the Sun never rises
Spaceflight News
-- B1062 lost (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (HT ArcadeEngineer: twitter.com)
Short & Sweet
-- Intuitive Machines selected for lunar South Pole mission (spacenews.com)
-- Stoke Space wins contract to prototype cargo delivery (satellitetoday.com) (stokespace.com)
-- Starliner wob wob (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro: Europa Clipper (planetary.org)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 6 Sept, 1988: The troublesome landing of Soyuz TM-5 (russianspaceweb.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
-- Next week (9/10 - 9/16) in 2009: Stork with a smile
Spaceflight News
-- Starliner crew to return on Dragon (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
-- EscaPADE arrives in Florida (spacenews.com)
-- SLS gets bumped up a block (spacenews)
-- RFA first stage lost in test-firing anomaly (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) (youtu.be)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 27 Aug, 1985. Launch of STS-51-I (PDF: nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (forum.nasaspaceflight.com) (historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov)(PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (wikiarchives.space) (en.wikipedia.org)
-- Next week (9/3 - 9/9) in 1988: Shouldn’t have had that last cup of coffee
Spaceflight News
-- First polar-orbiting crewed mission announced (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)
Short & Sweet
-- New solid rocket game in town (breakingdefense.com) (spacenews.com)
-- Spaceport Rundown (flyingmag.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) (cnbc.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From Espen Urkedal via email: Raptor 3 is not as incomplete as it looks (twitter.com/gwynne_shotwell)
Interview -- Rocket Lab’s Cristophe Mandy and Sarah Blyde
-- There’s also a brief appearance by Lane Cook, Senior Program Manager
-- Thank you so much to the Rocket Lab team for making their time and facility available to us!
-- rocketlabusa.com
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 24 Aug, 1958: The failed launch of Explorer 5 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov)
-- Next week (8/27 - 9/2) in 1985: Big Astronaut, Little Astronaut
Spaceflight News
-- Megadebris? (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (slingshot.space)
Short & Sweet
-- NEOWISE ends operations (space.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
-- Starliner still stuck at Station (spaceflightnow)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From Upcoming Spaceflight Events:
-- JUICE Earth flyby #1 on Aug 19/20 (esa.int)
-- Online FAA meeting RE: Starship launch cadence on Aug 20 (faa.gov)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- August 15, 1969: Creation of ISRO (en.wikipedia.org) (britannica.com)
-- Next week (8/20 - 8/26) in 1958: Catching a second wind
Spaceflight News
-- ADRAS-J rendezvous (HT Zach: twitter.com/CRD2_JAXA) (astroscale.com) (PDF: astroscale.com VIA astroscale.com)
Short & Sweet
-- POLARIS spaceplane startup back on track (europeanspaceflight.com)
-- Dawn does docking (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro: JWST looks at Epsilon Indi A (nasaspaceflight.com)
-- Ryan R: TEA-TEB is a pre-mixed fluid (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 10 Aug, 1992. Launch of the first major oceanographic research satellite, TOPEX/Poseidon (en.wikipedia.org) (jpl.nasa.gov) (eoportal.org) (aviso.altimetry.fr)
-- T/P data is used in this sea level rise dashboard (climate.nasa.gov)
-- Next week (8/13 - 8/19) in 1969: This agency is ro-bust
Spaceflight News
-- Falcon 9 Return to Flight (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
-- ABL Static fire failure (spacenews.com)
-- Starliner Debugging (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- The RAX bug was caused by differing clocks (youtube.com)
Interview -- Martin Frederick, Northrop Grumman Corporate Director, Civil Space Programs
-- linkedin.com
-- Further reading:
-- JWST (northropgrumman.com)
-- TRMM (gpm.nasa.gov) (trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- July 31, 1992: Launch of Atlantis on STS-46 (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com)
-- EURECA was also the subject of a TWSF about STS-57 (theorbitalmechanics.com)
-- TSS-1 was also the subject of a TWSF about STS-75 (theorbitalmechanics.com)
-- Next week (8/6 - 8/12) in 1992: The zeroth argonaut.
Spaceflight News
-- NASA nixes VIPER (spacenews.com) (newscientist.com)
European Short & Sweet
-- Ariane 6 may carry crew (europeanspaceflight.com)
-- Europe announces RAMSES mission to Apophis (arstechnica.com) (esa.int)
-- Themis gets delayed (europeanspaceflight.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 29 Jul, 1999. Deep Space 1, NASA’s first S/C with ion propulsion, flies by asteroid 9969 Braille (en.wikipedia.org)
-- We interviewed DS-1’s chief mission engineer and deputy mission manager Marc Rayman in Episode 75 (theorbitalmechanics.com)
-- Ron Garret discussed the RAX bug in his talk The Remote Agent Experiment (youtube.com)
-- Next week (7/30 - 8/5) in 1992: We’ll hang on to this one, and come back for that one later
Spaceflight News
-- Falcon 9 Failure (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
-- Ariane 6 anomaly (europeanspaceflight.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
-- Hyperbola-1 mishap (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
-- Europa Clipper faces last-minute obstacle (space.com)
-- Dawn gets green light for spaceplane tests (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 17 July, 1977. First launch of a complete TKS spacecraft (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (nasa.gov)
-- Next week (7/23 - 7/29) in 1999: Is that a grid of dots on that asteroid?
Spaceflight News
-- Luch (Olymp) 2 “caught” snooping (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (thespacereview.com)
Short & Sweet
-- The Poles make it to space! (europeanspaceflight.com)
-- ISRO announces major size increase to Indian space station (x.com/ISROSpaceflight)
Interview -- MSI-DFAT
-- We talked to:
-- Alex Carrella, VP Strategy & Growth
-- Bradley Hope, Business Manager
-- Max Myers, Systems Engineer/Lead Rigger
-- Before DFAT (and RFAT), we had feet. (youtube.com)
-- msidfat.com
-- linktr.ee/msidfat
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- July 12, 2001. Launch of Artemis GEO satellite (en.wikipedia.org) (esa.int) (PDF: esa.int)
-- Next week (7/16 - 7/22) in 1977: One month now, 312 months later
Spaceflight News
-- The Vulcan train is leaving the station (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
-- Starliner’s extended-er ISS stay (spacenews.com)
-- A not-so-static test fire (spacenews.com)
-- Resurs P1 breaks up (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro: (americaspace.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 8 July, 1994. Launch of STS-65 (en.wikipedia.org)
-- Next week (7/9 - 7/15) in 2001: Spiraling into control
Spaceflight News
-- Long March 10 hot firing (spacenews.com) (weixin.qq.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)
-- Latest taikonaut class selected (space.com)
Short & Sweet
-- ESA gets involved in Vega C’s transfer (europeanspaceflight.com)
-- Ariane 6 gets dressed (spacenews.com)
-- Starliner’s extended ISS stay (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- Next week (7/1 - 7/8) in 1994: From rocket to lab
Spaceflight News
-- Starliner OFT (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (HT deltaV: twitter.com/cbs_spacenews) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace)
-- Suni Williams gave a tour on orbit (HT Dennis O: youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
-- Chinese space plane proximity ops (sattrackcam.blogspot.com)
-- NASA selects companies to explore Mars Sample Return methods (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)
-- VOYAGER’S BACK!!! (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro: ISS replicates War of the Worlds radio drama (space.com) (twitter.com/airplaneian)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 24 Jun, 1982. Soyuz T-6 carries Jean-Loup Chrétien, the first Frenchman, to Salyut 7 (en.wikipedia.org) (spacefacts.de)
-- Next week (6/25 - 7/1) in 1983: Six seconds calls for vodka
Spaceflight News
-- Starship Test Flight 4 (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (spacey.space/@spmttracker)
Short & Sweet
-- Vast plans for ESA (spacenews)
-- Chang’e-6 has its moon rocks (spacenews) (spacenews.com)
-- Hubble Hobble (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- RIP Bill Anders (apnews.com)
-- Traches: Relativity and Novas (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 11 June, 2008. Launch of the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov)
-- Next week (6/18 - 6/24) in 1982: First wolf in space?
Spaceflight News
-- ThinkSubOrbital (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (sbir.gov) (sbir.gov)
Short & Sweet
-- Starliner scrub (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
-- Indian startup Agnikul Notches launches first flight (payloadspace.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro:
-- Chang’e 6 landing (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
-- Dear Moon canceled (spacenews.com)
-- Deathkin via discord.com: Centaur’s not a workhorse
-- Heads up for a recurrent nova! (planetary.org)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 8 June in 1959: Regulus Missile Mail (HT SciKyle: postalmuseum.si.edu)
-- Next week (6/11 - 6/17) in 2008: A salty Italian
Spaceflight News
-- More Starliner Delays (spacenews.com) (HT deltaV: twitter.com/jeff_foust) (spacenews.com) (HT deltaV: https://arstechnica.com)
Short & Sweet
-- U.S. accuses Russia of launching countersat weapon (spacenews.com) (payloadspace.com)
-- Redwire wins award for European lunar lander’s robot arm (europeanspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
-- From the intro: Bepi-Colombo power failure (esa.int)
-- Ryan R: Technology Connections talked about heterodyne radios (youtube.com VIA discord.com)
Interview -- Justin Fiaschetti, CEO and Co-Founder of Inversion
-- twitter.com/InversionSpace
-- inversionspace.com
-- linkedin.com
-- linkedin.com
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 2 Jun, 2003. Launch of Mars Express (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (universetoday.com)
-- Next week (6/4 - 6/10) in 1959: A short-term version of the above
Spaceflight News
-- NASA Joins Rosalind Franklin Team (spacenews.com)
-- Unknown Russian sat launched (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (russianspaceweb.com)
Short & Sweet
-- Georgia scraps Spaceport Camden (actionnewsjax.com)
-- Starliner leaks Helium (spacenews)
This Week in Spaceflight History
-- 27 May, 1999: The launch of STS-96 (nasa.gov) (nss.org) (eoportal.org) (nasa.gov) (youtu.be)
-- Next week (5/28 - 6/3) in 2003: The last opportunity that was this good was 60,000 years ago
Spaceflight News
— Chang’e-6 mission underway (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nature.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starliner delayed (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)
— Long March 6C makes first flight (cgtn.com) (spacenews.com)
— Neutron debut slips into 2025 (payloadspace.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Zubrin opinion piece on MSR (spacenews.com)
Interview -- Adam Higginbotham
— Preorder Challenger: A True Story of Heroism & Disaster on the Edge of Space (simonandschuster.com)
— adamhigginbotham.com
— twitter.com/HigginbothamA
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 14 May, 2009: Launch of Herschel Space Observatory (en.wikipedia.org) (cosmos.esa.int) (planetary.org)
— Next week (5/21 - 5/27) in 1999: Putting schoolchildren to work
Spaceflight News
— Artemis I Lessons (spacenews.com) (PDF: oig.nasa.gov VIA oig.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Thunder from down under (abc.net.au) (abc.net.au) (southernlaunch.space)
— JAXA’s SLIM survives third lunar night (japantimes.co.jp)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— May 9, 1963: Launch of West Ford 2 (PDF: orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov VIA orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci-hub.se) (stuffin.space)
— Next week (5/14 - 5/20) in 2009: The first space telescope
Spaceflight News
— Voyager is communicative! (blogs.nasa.gov)
— ESA debris removal mission finds a new target (satellitetoday.com)
Short & Sweet
— China releases a lunar landing update (spacenews)
— TESS enters safe mode… again (nasa.gov)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Dennis O: SOFIA clarifications (discord.com) (youtube.com)
— VAXheadroom shot SOFIA some footage in 2012 (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
Interview -- Jeff Williams, CEO/CTO Exum Instruments
— Jeff co-authored a paper that is a good primer on spectroscopy and Massbox (spectroscopyonline.com)
— exuminstruments.com
— linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-williams-372118128
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 9 Apr, 1999: Titan IVB (402) takes DSP-19 (USA 142) to GEO (astronautix.com) (klabs.org)
— 30 Apr, 1999. Titan IVB (401) takes Milstar-3 (USA 143) to GEO (washingtonpost.com) (PDF: direct.mit.edu VIA direct.mit.edu)
— Next week (5/7 - 5/13) in 1963: Not a good day for trypanophobics
Spaceflight News
— Lunar buggy selection (spacenews.com) (PDF: sam.gov VIA sam.gov) (twitter.com/DubnHG1) (nikkei.com)
Short & Sweet
— Dragonfly mission officially confirmed (nasa.gov)
— Mars Sample Revamp (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Unc Willy: Cape launch complexes (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 26 Apr, 2007. First flight of SOFIA (en.wikipedia.org) (747sp.com) (HT Colin: youtube.com)
— Next week (4/30 - 5/6) in 1999: Taped too tightly
Spaceflight News
— Last Delta IV heavy (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: ulalaunch.com) (arstechnica.com)
Short & Sweet
— Relativity Space wins contract (spacenews)
— Japan secures a moon landing (spacenews)
— Max Space Modules (spacenews)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Csaba via Discord: SOIR means "evening" in French, pretty clever pun (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 19 Apr, 1975. Launch of Aryabhata satellite (lowyinstitute.org) (ursc.gov.in) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (4/23 - 4/29) in 2007: Looking at stars through a wall
Spaceflight News
— Broken records and Starship’s near future (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— New Shepard Plans Crewed Flight (spacenews.com)
— Lunar Rover Mk 2 (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— April 11, 2006: Arrival of Venus Express at Venus (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci.esa.int VIA sci.esa.int)
— Next week (4/16 - 4/22) in 1975: Add four to 100, multiply by eight, and then add 62,000
Spaceflight News
— Orbital Reef Rundown (nature.com) (PDF: star.spaceops.org VIA star.spaceops.org) (genesisesi.com)
— Artemis 3 now has 3 experiments (nasa.gov) (hou.usra.edu)
Short & Sweet
— A Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine flies for first time (HT Andrew Z: autoevolution.com)
— A Nascent Solution For Voyager 1 (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 6 Apr, 1965: Launch of Intelsat I, the first commercial satellite in GEO (en.wikipedia.org) (boeing.com) (space.skyrocket.de) (astronautix.com VIA web.archive.org)
— Next week (4/9 - 4/15) in 2006: The mission that went to hell in 5 months
Spaceflight News
— Starship IFT-3 (spacenews.com) (twitter.com) (youtu.be)
Short & Sweet
— Euclid spacecraft addresses ice-buildup on optics (asdnews.com)
— Ariane 6 coming together (esa.int)
— Soyuz aborts at the pad (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: launch escape slide (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 17 Mar, 2002. Launch of GRACE spacecraft (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (esa.int) (skyrocket.de) (nasa.gov)
— Next week (4/2 - 4/8) in 1965: Catching GEO worms
Interview — Professor Dante Lauretta
— The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System (hachettebookgroup.com)
— facebook.com/AZAstrobiology
— threads.net/@azastrobiology
— instagram.com/azastrobiology
— Thanks to Grand Central Publishing (twitter.com/GrandCentralPub) (instagram.com/grandcentralpub)
Spaceflight News
— Stoke Space focusing on first stage (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtu.be)
Short & Sweet
— Tianhe’s solar arrays patched (space.com)
— Stratolaunch tests Talon (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Starship Flight 3 on its way (spacenews.com) (space.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 16 Mar, 1966. Recovery of Veterok and Ugolyok, who to this day hold the record for longest canine spaceflight (Kosmos 110) (en.wikipedia.org) (ru.wikipedia.org) (veterok-ugolyok.gmik.ru) (astronaut.ru)
— Next week (3/19 - 3/25) in 2017: Dry, wet, and lumpy
Spaceflight News
— Last big IM-1 update (arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/jeff_foust)
Short & Sweet
— Orion has hatch problems (spacenews.com)
— ISRO plans for Mars helicopter (indiatoday.in)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Varda landing footage (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 8 Mar, 2001. Launch of STS-102 (nss.org) (aiaa.org)
— Next week (3/12 - 3/18) in 1966: A 154 day mission, but only for the passengers
Spaceflight News
— IM-1 landing follow-up (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— ISRO completes human-rating of engine (isro.gov.in)
— Software error responsible for Firefly’s off-nominal payload delivery (fireflyspace.com) (space.com)
— Varda’s capsule returns (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Espen via email: IM-1’s fuel loading
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 2 March 1965: Atlas Centaur AC-5 explosion (en.wikipedia.org) (science.nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— Next week (3/5 - 3/11) in 2001: The first ten-person spaceflight
Spaceflight News
— IM-1 launch (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: intuitivemachines.com)
Short & Sweet
— H3 completes first successful launch (spacenews.com)
— Voyager 1 still struggles to communicate (space.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— February 21 2008, Interception and destruction of USA-193 (thespacereview.com) (PDF: unoosa.org) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (2/27 - 3/4) in 1965: Technically, that was highly elliptical
Spaceflight News
— Dream Chaser readies for first flight (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— Viasat-3 pushes forward (spacenews.com)
— Lessons from Artemis 1 (spacenews.com)
— X-37B’s orbit speculation (arstechnica.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— 2002 VE68 was officially named Zoozve! (alex-foster.com) (radiolab.org) (radiolab.org)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 15 February, 1996: Failed launch of Intelsat 708 (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (thespacereview.com) (thespacereview.com) (smithsonianmag.com) (HT Dennis O: web.archive.org)
— Next week (2/20 - 2/26) in 2008: And it’s picked off at the 380,000 yard line!
Spaceflight News
— CLPS’ second try (spacenews.com)
— Collins completes Crew Capability Assessment (prnewswire.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Queqiao-2 readies for launch (cgtn.com)
— First metal 3D printer in space reaches ISS (europeanspaceflight.com)
— Orbit raising raising questions (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 9 Feb, 2000. First launch of a Fregat upper stage (russianspaceweb.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (2/13 - 2/19) in 1996: First failure
Spaceflight News
— Ingenuity Down (HT deltaV: twitter.com/AndySaunders_1) (spacenews.com) (mars.nasa.gov)
— Slim Upside-Down (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)(global.jaxa.jp)
Short & Sweet
— Redwire to provide elements of Blue Origin’s space tug (spacenews.com)
— Two companies test reusable booster prototypes (space.com) (HT: Sam twitter.com/CNSpaceflight)
— ESA astronaut operates Earth-bound robots while on orbit (europeanspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Shuttle’s hatch lock (HT: deltaV, arstechnica.com) (spaceref.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Feb 3, 1994: First launch of the H-II rocket (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (2/6 - 2/12) in 2000: First kleptoparasite in space
Spaceflight News
— SLIM landing attempt (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (PDF: global.jaxa.jp)
Short & Sweet
— EUS heads to qualification (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Ingenuity contact lost during flight 72, regained (mars.nasa.gov) (npr.org)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Peregrine Reentry (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 24 Jan, 1986. Voyager 2’s closest approach to Uranus (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (PDF: sci-hub.se)
— Next week (1/30 - 2/5) in 1994: What comes between 1 and A?
Spaceflight News
— Peregrine Failure (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/astrobotic)
Short & Sweet
— Lay-offs at JPL (spacenews)
— Starship’s second flight failure explained (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Early demo of a starship game, complete with engineering section (starshipsimulator.co.uk)
— Espen via email: F9 landing legs in episode 440
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 19 Jan, 1965. Launch of Gemini-Titan 2 (en.wikipedia.org) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov)
— Next week (1/23 - 1/29) in 1986: Cheaper by the almost dozen
Spaceflight News
— NIAC 2024 Phase One (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— India launches X-ray space observatory (spaceflightnow.com)
— Space station stories (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 12 January, 1997: Launch of Atlantis on STS-81 (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (youtube.com) (freshairarchive.org)
— Next week (1/16 - 1/22) in 1965: The there of “there and back again”
Spaceflight News
— B1058 lost at sea (spaceflightnow.com) (twitter.com/johnkrausphotos) (youtube.com) (ventusky.com) (twitter.com/edwards345) (spaceexplored.com)
— Firefly malfunction (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— China completes launch pad at first commercial spaceport (cgtn.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 3 Jan, 1999: The launch of Deep Space 2 (gsfc.nasa.gov) (wiley.com) (jpl.nasa.gov)
— Next week (1/9 - 1/15) in 1997: Merry belated Christmas. I got you a fan.
Spaceflight News
— China launches spaceplane for third time (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) (youtube.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— Refractory Starship (nasaspaceflight.com)
— iSpace hops again (spacenews.com)
— Voyager 1 suffers communication anomaly (space.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 19 Dec, 1976. The launch of the first KH-11 Kennen/Keyhole satellite (en.wikipedia.org) (space.skyrocket.de) (npr.org)
— Two weeks from now (1/2 - 1/8) in 1999: Secondary failures
Spaceflight News
— Vega propellant tank mishap (arstechnica.com) (europeanspaceflight.com) (eoportal.org) (PDF: arianespace.com)
— AVUM 4th stage (“upper stage”) (Pic: eoportal.org)
— Transporter-9 satellite deployment malfunction (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Iran successfully launches bio-capsule (payloadspace.com)
— Chinese methalox rocket progress continues (cgtn.com)
— Stratolaunch tests hypersonic vehicle (thedrive.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 12 Dec, 2012: NIAC releases Space Debris Elimination (SpaDE) Phase 1 report (nasa.gov)
— Next week (12/19 - 12/25) in 1976. Achievement unlocked
Spaceflight News
— Starship Shtuff (payloadspace.com) (americaspace.com) (twitter.com/ThePrimalDino)
Short & Sweet
— JAXA cyber attacked (payloadspace.com)
— U.S. watchdog agency finds Artemis III in 2025 unlikely (gao.gov) (spacenews.com)
— Gyroscope glitch halts Hubble operations (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Dec 7, 1966: Launch of ATS-1, the first experimental geostationary satellite (en.wikipedia.org) (youtu.be) (science.nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org)
— Next week (12/12 - 12/18) in 2012: Digging up debris
Spaceflight News
— Starliner Crewed Flight Test stays on schedule (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Looking Towards the End of ISS (planetary.org) (spacenews.com)
— Orion still on track (spacenews.com)
— Ariane 6 hot firing test (europeanspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Danielle Rose has some neat space art (drose.studio) (spacey.space)
— Jared Owen covers ISS construction (HT Lee youtu.be VIA discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 3 Dec, 2015. Launch of LISA Pathfinder (esa.int) (youtu.be) (nasa.gov) (spaceflight101.com) (PDF: esmats.eu)
— Next week (12/5 - 12/11) in 1966: It helped make Our World possible
Spaceflight News
— Starship Flight 2 (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (americaspace.com) (youtube.com) (twitter.com/thejackbeyer) (twitter.com/planet4589)
— Posted after recording: a quick analysis of Starships acceleration curves (twitter.com/Space_Josiah)
Short & Sweet
— SaxaVord struggles to pay contractors (europeanspaceflight.com)
— Sierra Space layoffs (cnbc.com)
— Mars Helicopter completes back-to-back flights (twitter.com/nasajpl)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 27 Nov, 1963: Launch of the first hydrolox rocket to orbit (en.wikipedia.org) (spacelaunchreport.com VIA web.archive.org)
— Next week (11/28 - 12/4) in 2015: Every journey of millions of kilometers starts with a couple meters.
Spaceflight News
— Rocket Lab Failure Analysis (spacenews.com) (space.com) (rocketlabusa.com) (PDF: q4cdn.com VIA en.wikipedia.org)
Short & Sweet
— Astra’s financial future (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— X-37B readies for first launch on Falcon Heavy (spaceflightnow.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Dinkinesh adds a moon (planetary.org)
Interview -- Jake Teufert CTO and Chris Carella CCO, Benchmark Space Systems
— We last talked to Chris Carella in episode 373 (theorbitalmechanics.com)
— benchmarkspacesystems.com
— linkedin.com/company/benchmark-space-systems
— linkedin.com/in/jake-teufert-86b375133/
— linkedin.com/in/christopher-carella-innovate/
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Nov 15, 1988: The first and only launch of Buran (en.wikipedia.org) (buran.ru) (buran.ru) (buran-energia.com)
— Next week (11/21 - 11/27) in 1962: Clouds before Aurora
Spaceflight News
— Lucy flies past Dinkinesh and also Dinkinesh (nasa.gov) (lucy.swri.edu) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov VIA ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Aerojet Rocketdyne supplied Lucy’s thrusters (l3harris.com) (PDF: amazonaws.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starship aims for mid-November launch (nasaspaceflight.com)
— i-Space hops (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 12 Nov, 1995. Launch of STS-74, second Shuttle-Mir docking (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (PDF: spacepresskit.files.wordpress.com) (youtu.be) (nss.org) (wikiarchives.space)
— Next week (11/14 - 11/20) in 1988: The cold wind blew but once.
Spaceflight News
— ABL Dusts Itself Off (spacenews.com) (harryohanley.substack.com)
Short & Sweet
— NASA struggles to open asteroid sample container (space.com)
— Rocket Lab to return (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Blue Origin’s latest Blue Moon mockup (spacenews.com)
— Canopée to ferry Ariane 6 (fosstodon.org/@AkaSci)
— You can register to send your name with Europa Clipper (europa.nasa.gov)
— Mike Stewart’s core rope memory reader (finally) debuted on CuriousMarc’s channel (youtube.com)
— Aaron Sawdey: Crew Dragon engine inventory (discord.com):
Interview -- Daniel Faber, CEO and Adam Harris, CCO of Orbit Fab
— Further reading
— Furphy on ISS (issnationallab.org)
— Analysis of a potential Orbit Fab shuttle/depot architecture (researchgate.net)
— orbitfab.com
— linkedin.com/in/adam-harris-363414a6
— linkedin.com/in/danielfaber
— linkedin.com/company/orbitfab
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 4 Nov, 2011: The end of Mars-500 (space.com) (wikipedia.org) (bbc.com)
— Next week (11/7 - 11/13) in 1995: Mission extension… of 4.7 m
Spaceflight News
— Gaganyaan in-flight abort test (youtube.com) (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (HT: Jatan’s Space PDF: gov.in) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/DJSnM)
— Pad abort test (https://www.youtube.com)
— Future human Indian Space ambitions (gov.in) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— PLD Test Launch (spacenews.com)
— Two Vega payloads fail to deploy (europeanspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Shuttle astronaut mass allotments (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— October 28, 2009: Launch of the Ares I-X (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (blogs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Next week (10/31 - 11/6) in 2011: Warning: removing this sticker will void your experiment.
Spaceflight News
— Psyche launch and mission preview (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (scitechdaily.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (microdevices.jpl.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Spacewalk canceled due to Nauka leak (space.com)
— QueSST to fly in 2024 (nasa.gov)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 21 Oct, 2007. Soyuz TMA-10’s ballistic reentry (ruspace.blogspot.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (PDF: sma.nasa.gov)
— Next week (10/24 - 10/30) in 2009: Nominal tumble
Spaceflight News
— Tiangong’s expansion (hindustantimes.com) (cnn.com)
— Northrop Grumman joins Starlab team (nasa.gov)
— Orbital Reef may be abandoned (cnbc.com)
Short & Sweet
— Luna-25 failure “analysis” (spacenews.com)
— Stoke Space gets more funding (spacenews)
Interview -- Ben Reed, CTO Quantum Space
— quantumspace.us
— linkedin.com/company/quantumspace-us/
— linkedin.com/in/ben-b-reed/
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 11 Oct, 2000: STS-92, the100th shuttle mission (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (ntrs.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org)
— Next week (10/17 - 10/23) in 2007: Face forward
Spaceflight News
— Electron suffers upper stage failure (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (youtu.be)
Short & Sweet
— Stoke Space hops (spacenews.com)
— Sierra Space does a burst test (spacenews)
— China plans for lunar sample return (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— A big thanks to Unc’willy, Fonji, Chris S in particular for helping Ben track down and fix an issue with our Discord bot
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 29 September, 2004: Flight 16P of SpaceShipOne (en.wikipedia.org) (sma.nasa.gov) (erikmadaus.medium.com) (airbum.com)
— Next week (10/10 - 10/16) in 2000: Four forbidden cough drops
Spaceflight News
— Dawn Aerospace discusses future plans (parabolicarc.com)
Short & Sweet
— Artemis-II gets its engines (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Firefly launches Victus Nox (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Stoke Space test fires (twitter.com/stoke_space)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 22 Sep, 1981. Colombia spills NTO before STS-2 (16streets.com) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)
— Next week (9/26 - 10/2) in 2004: Victory roll
Spaceflight News
— Aditya-L1 studyin’ the Sun (space.com) (eoportal.org) (PDF: iiap.res.in)
Short & Sweet
— Starship stands corrected (spacenews.com)
— MaiaSpace tests cryogenic second stage (europeanspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Apollo LOX tanks (twitter.com/DrPhiltill)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 15 Sept, 2017: End of the Cassini mission (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: lpi.usra.edu) (PDF: engineering.purdue.edu)
— Next week (9/19 - 9/25) in 1981: Big F@&ing Red Spill*
Spaceflight News
— OSIRIS-REx prep (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— New Frontiers competition delayed (spacenews.com)
— Ariane 6 hot-fire test delayed (europeanspaceflight.com)
— Otter Pup detumbled! (payloadspace.com) (twitter.com/StarfishSpace)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 9 Sept, 2006: The launch of STS-115 Atlantis (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Next week (9/12 - 9/18) in 2017: Son devoured
Spaceflight News
— Chandrayaan-3 landing (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (isro.gov.in) (indianexpress.com VIA 12ft.io)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Starship Booster 9 static fire (with deluge) (twitter.com/SpaceX)
Interview -- IEEE Senior Member David Witkowski
— Further reading: Public Wifi Blueprint (PDF: pages.nist.gov)
— twitter.com/w6dtw
— okusolutions.com
— linkedin.com/company/okusolutions
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 30 Aug, 1984. Launch of STS-41D (space.nss.org)
— Next week (9/5 - 9/11) in 2006: Icicle and pebble
Spaceflight News
— Luna-25 (HT ArcadeEngineer: twitter.com/katlinegrey) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (Paywall: russianspaceweb.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starship booster coronation (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/SpaceX)
— Intuitive Machines has a launch date (spacenews.com)
— Russia explores reusable first-stage (aviationweek.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Benjamin W. via email: Juno’s angular velocity
— Luis Mamakos via email: Can you desaturate momentum wheels with the spacecraft?
— From the intro: Shuttle hatch (HT Mike Stewart PDF: ibiblio.org)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 25 Aug, 2003: Launch of Spitzer Space Telescope (en.wikipedia.org) (spitzer.caltech.edu) (PDF: irsa.ipac.caltech.edu) (PDF: irsa.ipac.caltech.edu) (spaceflightnow.com)
— Dr. Lee Bennet’s talked to us about Spitzer (theorbitalmechanics.com)
— Next week (8/29 - 9/4) in 1984: Icicle
Spaceflight News
— Lunar Flashlight failure (spacenews.com) (PDF: mstl.atl.calpoly.edu VIA web.archive.org) (PDF: ssdl.gatech.edu) (PDF: digitalcommons.usu.edu)
Short & Sweet
— Boeing aiming for six Starliner flights to ISS (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— NASA test-fires Mars Ascent Vehicle’s motor (space.com)
— To Artemis three or not to three (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 16 August, 1960: Joseph Kittinger made the final Project Excelsior jump (en.wikipedia.org) (nationalmuseum.af.mil) (stratocat.com.ar)
— Next week (8/22 - 8/28) in 2003: Telly McTelescopeface
Spaceflight News
— Astra Layoffs (spacenews.com) (cnbc.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starship Activities (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Cygnus gets an upgrade (spacenews.com)
— Airbus and Voyager announce commercial space station plans (spacenews.com) (europeanspaceflight.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 11 and 12 Aug, 1962: The launches of Vostok 3 and 4 (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com)
— Next week (8/15 - 8/21) in 1960: That last step is a doozy
Spaceflight News
— 2023 Tipping Point selections (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (PDF: nasaprs.com)
— Blue Origin’s Blue Alchemist separates regolith into several important base materials (blueorigin.com)
— We talked to Kyla Edison about sintering regolith (theorbitalmechanics.com)
Short & Sweet
— HALO’s added cost (spacenews.com)
— Sierra Space builds a better engine (spacenews.com)
— Contact with Voyager 2 lost, thought to be temporary (arstechnica.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 5 Aug, 2011. Launch of Juno (en.wikipedia.org) (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: pds-atmospheres.nmsu.edu)
— Next week (8/8 - 8/14) in 1962: The Gemini before Gemini
Spaceflight News
— A Commercial Space Station Source Selection (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (PDF: sam.gov) (news.northropgrumman.com) (sierraspace.com) (specialaerospaceservices.com) (vastspace.com)
Short & Sweet
— Recently arrived GEO satellites in trouble (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (arstechnica.com)
— China develops plan to land humans on Moon before decade’s end (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Aaron Sawdey: Centaur tank fix (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 29 July, 2014. Launch of ATV-5 George Lemaitre, the last ATV (danielmarin.naukas.com) (danielmarin.naukas.com) (esa.int) (blogs.esa.int)
— LIRIS (Laser InfraRed Imaging Sensors) (esa.int)
— Debris avoidance (blogs.esa.int)
— The shallow reentry that wasn’t (issfd.org) (blogs.esa.int)
— Next week (8/1 - 8/7) in 2011: Dim Sun
Spaceflight News
Vulcan Centaur delays (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
Short & Sweet
— China begins constructing VLEO constellation (spacewatch.global)
— LandSpace wins the race (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Janus canceled (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— An NSF tour of Astra’s rocket factory (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 18 Jul, 2011. Launch of Spektr-R radio telescope (russianspaceweb.com) (wiki)
— Zenit-3M/Fregat-SB (SB - “сбрасываемые баки” or “drop tanks”) (space.skyrocket.de)
Next week (7/25 - 7/31) in 2014: He was born in Belgium, and then again in Italy.
Spaceflight News
— Au revoir, Ariane 5 (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (Payload User’s Guide PDF: arianespace.com)
— Two solids provide ~90% of Ariane 5’s thrust (esa.int)
— ESA plans to lean on SpaceX launches (spacenews.com)
— New test facility for Ariane 6 was built in 2019 (esa.int)
Short & Sweet
— Varda completes pharmaceutical manufacturing test on-orbit (arstechnica.com)
— Lockheed Martin completes burst test of expandable habitat (spaceref.com)
— Starlink interferes with radio astronomy (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 20 Jul, 2017: Sale of Apollo 11 bag for $1.8m (collectspace.com) (collectspace.com) (kansascity.com) (sothebys.com)
— Next week (7/18 - 7/24) in 2011. Radio parasol.
Spaceflight News
— Mars oxygen and helicopter sighting (space.com) (HT Stygarfield: nasa.gov)
— Vega C delayed after engine test failure (europeanspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Virgin Galactic completes first fully commercial flight (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Euclid telescope prepares for launch (spacenews.com)
— Dream Chaser prepares for launch (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Unc’ Willy: L2 is closer than the sun, and CMB was discovered in 1964 (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— July 7, 2003: The launch of MER-B (Opportunity) aboard the Delta II Heavy (en.wikipedia.org) (mars.nasa.gov) (theorbitalmechanics.com)
— ULA has an excellent payload guide for Delta II (ula.bsshost.me)
— Next week (7/18 - 7/24) in 2017: Do you ever feel like a sample bag/drifting through the wind, wanting to sue again?
Spaceflight News
— Starship hot staging and engine firing (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/AshleyKillip)
— Earlier description of separation flip (teslarati.com)
Short & Sweet
— Prometheus test fire (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Anti-ASAT antipathy (spacenews)
— Launcher’s second OTV fails on orbit (spacenews.com) (geekwire.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 30 Jun, 2001. Launch of Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) (en.wikipedia.org) (wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov) (wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov)
— Next week (7/4 - 7/10) in 2003: The mass hasn’t changed, but now it’s too heavy
Spaceflight News
— iROSA campaign complete, looking to next campaign (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— ESA reserve astronaut to fly on Axiom flight (europeanspaceflight.com)
— Impulse to supply propulsion for commercial space station (vastspace.com)
— Rocket Lab goes suborbital (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 26 Jun, 1971: The third N1 test flight (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com)
— Next week (6/27 - 7/3) in 2001: [audio clue]
Spaceflight News
— Luna-25/Luna-Glob delayed (space.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com)
Short & Sweet
— Firefly and York both make acquisitions (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Egypt to build space-monitoring station (africanews.space)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 15th June, 1971: Launch of KH-9 Hexagon (en.wikipedia.org) (aiaa.zoom.us) (space.com)
— Next week (6/20 - 6/26) in 1971: Tunguska 2.0
Spaceflight News
— Starliner Woes (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
— We tracked down some info on P-213 and P-213LW fiberglass tapes. (PDF: hansford.hk) (PDF: nitto.com) (spacematdb.com)
Short & Sweet
— UAE gives details on asteroid mission (spacewatch.global)
— Commercial deep-space radar (spacenews.com) (satellitetoday.com)
— North Korean launch failure (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— VAXHeadroom: Soyuz roll rate (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 8 June, 2007. Launch of STS-117 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (nss.org) (spaceflightnow.com) (spacecraftearth.com)
— Next week (6/13 - 6/19) in 1971: A six-sided system
Spaceflight News
— HAKUTO-R failure analysis (HT deltaV: twitter.com/DJSnM) (twitter.com/jeff_foust) (ispace-inc.com) (spacenews.com)
— Apollo software modeled terrain to avoid this exact issue (PDF HT Mike: ibiblio.org)
Short & Sweet
— Virgin Orbit assets sold off (spacenews.com)
— ESA folds out a new heat shield (HT Andrew Z: esa.int) (newatlas.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 1 Jun, 1970: Launch of Soyuz 9 (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (chessgames.com) (astronautix.com)
— Next week (6/6 - 6/12) in 2007: Chonky boi
Spaceflight News
— Blue Origin wins HLS contract (spaceflightnow.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (PDF: sam.gov VIA nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— CAPSTONE tests its navigation technology (nasa.gov)
— End of Lunar Flashlight (spacenews.com)
— Core of Roman Space Telescope completed (spaceref.com VIA 12ft.io)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 23 May, 2016: Suborbital testflight of ISRO’s Reusable Launch Vehicle (vssc.gov.in) (delhidefencereview.com) (delhidefencereview.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (aerospace-technology.com)
— Next week (5/30 - 6/5) in 1970: King to G8
Spaceflight News
— China’s spaceplane makes maneuvers (spacenews.com)
— Kosmos-2562 makes maneuvers as well (twitter.com/planet4589) (russianspaceweb.com)
Short & Sweet
— Plutonium Depletion (spacenews.com)
— ULA prepares for more tests (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Vast and SpaceX shoot for first commercial space station (HT Andy Z.: techcrunch.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 16 May, 2011. Launch of STS-134 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (nasaspaceflight.com) (lidarmag.com)
— Next week (5/23 - 5/29) in 2016: Hex, one of five
Spaceflight News
— Evolution Space becomes 9th private U.S. company to reach space (twitter.com/evolutionspace_) (parabolicarc.com)
— UP Aerospace rocket rapidly RUDs (gizmodo.com) (youtube.com)
— Incredible footage of payload separation was captured in 2015 (HT Stygarfield: reddit.com) (nasa.gov)
— Swedish rocket lands in Norway (reuters.com)
Short & Sweet
— Dragonfly faces proposed 20% budget cut (spacenews.com)
— New prospects for New Horizons (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Espen via email: Starship engine data loss, AFTS activation time
— Andy Z via email: Starship separation flip
— Anderson via DM: Sea launch vs pad reconstruction (HT VaxHeadroom: twitter.com/RyanHansenSpace)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 13 May, 1998. AsiaSat-3’s lunar flyby (en.wikipedia.org) (patents.google.com) (carlkop.home.xs4all.nl) (novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru VIA web.archive.org)
— The DM-2M failure was caused by a duct failure between the gas generator and pump turbine (ilslaunch.com)
— Next week (5/16 - 5/22) in 2011: Pass the baton
Spaceflight News
— Starship update (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (americaspace.com)
— We missed the point of the skydiving pebble story (discord.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— H3 failure analysis (twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin) (PDF: mext.go.jp)
Short & Sweet
— Hakuto-R likely in free-fall before loss of signal (HT Sam: twitter.com/ea4gpz) (space.com) (spacenews.com)
— China’s space agency sets up lunar base organization (spacenews.com)
— Astrobotic books a second Falcon Heavy (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Bob via email: Starship abort capability (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Launch of LCS-1 (Lincoln Calibration Sphere) (en.wikipedia.org) (astronautix.com) (ieeexplore.ieee.org) (youtube.com)
— Next week (5/9 - 5/15) in 1998: Around the elbow to get to the nose
Spaceflight News
— Starship, destroyer of concrete (youtube.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/landru79) (HT Iain from MaxQ: twitter.com/unrocket) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Launch tower footage (HT Astro: reddit.com/r/space)
— Liftoff footage (note debris impacting water) (twitter.com/SpaceX)
— High speed footage from Tim Dodd x Consider Cosmos (twitter.com/Erdayastronaut)
— Aborted launch attempt at the beginning of the week (spacenews.com)
— Listener Sam spotted eight engines out, not six (discord.com)
— Leaked (?) final frame before termination (discord.com)
— NWS spotted the launch (twitter.com/NWSBrownsville)
— “Aspiring” to have no diverter as of 2020 (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— NSF forums user speaks about the loss of pad experts (HT Sam: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
— Canaveral Starship infrastructure also lacks flame diverter (twitter.com/Cosmic_Andrew1)
Short & Sweet
— Swedish astronaut may fly on Axiom mission to ISS (spacenews.com)
— Rocket Lab to reuse flown engine (satellitetoday.com) (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Unc’ Willy: A skydiver encounters a rock, and Apollo 12 helps out (planetary.org)
— Andrew Z: Lifting body footage
— M2-F1 (youtube.com)
— M2-F2 (youtube.com)
— M2-F2, M2-F3, HL-10 (youtube.com)
— X-24A (youtube.com)
— X-24B (youtube.com)
— Bonus: Soviet mini spaceplane Spiral MiG-105 (youtube.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Apr 28, 1985. The day before the launch of STS-51-B (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: spacepresskit.files.wordpress.com) (wikiarchives.space)
— An experiment transport bag was on auction (historical.ha.com)
— Next week (5/2 - 5/8) in 1965: 2 score and 18 years and still going
Spaceflight News
— SpaceX cuts costs (spacenews.com)
— Starship launch license (spacenews.com)
— Relativity pivots away from Terran-1 (spacenews.com) (techcrunch.com) (relativityspace.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: JUICE launch successful (nasaspaceflight.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 20 Apr, 2004: The launch of Gravity Probe-B (en.wikipedia.org) (web.archive.org) (einstein.stanford.edu) (dontpanicgeocast.com)
— Next week (4/25 - 5/1) in 1985. Shuttle spelunkin’.
Spaceflight News
— Centaur explosion (arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (twitter.com/torybruno)
— The test stand can be seen in 3D on Google Maps (google.com)
Short & Sweet
— Artemis II crew announced (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Dawn Aerospace completes successful spaceplane test flight (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)
— ISRO completes successful spaceplane test flight (isro.gov.in)
— Bathwater By Any Other Name... (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— April 16, 2016. Berthing of BEAM to ISS (en.wikipedia.org) (eoportal.org) (nasa.gov) (PDF: ttu-ir.tdl.org)
— Next week (4/18 - 4/24) in 2004: Four crystal balls
Spaceflight News
— Exploring Mars Together (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Seized assets in Kazakhstan threatens Soyuz-5 program (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Virgin Orbit Layoffs (spacenews.com) (qz.com)
— Rosotics announces large-scale 3D printer (spacenews.com) (newatlas.com) (rosotics.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Tiangong has trash too (twitter.com/cnspaceflight)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 5 April, 1963: A Pontiac Catalina tows M2-F1 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (dfrc.nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org) (projecthabu.com) (dfrc.nasa.gov VIA web.archive.org)
— Next week (4/11 - 4/17) in 2016: Storage on Orbit
Spaceflight News
— Relativity’s Terran-1 fails to reach orbit (spaceflightnow.com) (twitter.com/thetimellis) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Private South Korean company launches suborbital rocket from Brazil (spacenews.com)
— NS-23 anomaly identified (parabolicarc.com)
— SWOT, key climate science satellite, instrument back online (space.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Aaron: toroidal aerospikes (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 31 March, 1993. Launch of Progress M-17 from Baikonur (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: hq.nasa.gov)
— Next week (4/4 - 4/10) in 1963: Tub in tow
Spaceflight News
— Stoke Space prepares for hopper landing trial (HT Andrew Z: twitter.com/stoke_space) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— NASA announces $1B deorbit tug for ISS (spacenews.com)
— Virgin Orbit’s operational pause (spacenews.com)
— Axiom reveals the Artemis EVA suit (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— March 24, 2006: The first launch of Falcon 1 (space.com) (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (3/28 - 4/3) in 1993. Low-power mode.
Spaceflight News
— VV22 investigation (HT Sam: esa.int) (spacenews.com) (arianespace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— IBEX mission overcomes computer glitch (space.com)
— ISS dodges a satellite (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: H3’s first flight results (nasaspaceflight.com)
Data Relay: STS-400
— STS-400 (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Two gap fillers removed during EVA on STS-114 (spaceflightnow.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 14 March 1986: Giotto flies past 1P/Halley. (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Thanks to Peter for suggesting this topic (twitter.com/PeterMcMally)
— Next week (3/21 - 3/27) in 2006: It’s fine. It’s in what we call a “storage orbit”
Spaceflight News
— TROPICS-1 mishap investigation (HT Mike Stewart: astra.com)
Short & Sweet
— HST impacted by satellite trails (nature.com)
— China’s secret spacewalk (spacenews.com)
Interview -- D. Geoff Carter, PE
— RollAide.com
— artemis-space.com
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Mar 9, 2008: The launch of the first ATV: Jules Verne (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: esa.int) (PDF: esa.int)
— Next week (3/14 - 3/20) in 1986: Slap a renaissance painter.
Spaceflight News
— Starship’s near future (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
Short & Sweet
— NASA planning for first Gateway logistics mission (spacenews.com)
— Beetlesat successfully deploys expandable antenna on orbit (spaceref.com) (beetlesat.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— March 2, 1995, Launch of STS-67, Endeavour (en.wikipedia.org) (spaceline.org) (astronautix.com)
— Next week (3/7 - 3/13) in 2008: 20 million leagues above the sea (level)
Spaceflight News
— Soyuz MS-22 leak images (HT deltaV: russianspaceweb.com VIA twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb)
— Eric Berger posted a comparison to a confirmed MMOD strike (twitter.com/SciGuySpace)
— Katya Pavlushchenko posted photos of orange stains on other Progresses (twitter.com/katlinegrey)
— Uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 delayed (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/katlinegrey)
— LauncherOne failure (virginorbit.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— H3 rocket aborts at pad (spacenews.com)
— Plans for Starship comes back to shore (spacenews.com)
— Blue Origin wins ESCAPADE contract (space.com)
— Launcher’s orbital transfer vehicle fails on orbit (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Nate Perkins via email: RS-25 certification (youtube.com)
— Biarki Weeks: ORCASat summary video (youtube.com VIA: discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 24 Feb, 2009. Loss of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (justice.gov) (llis.nasa.gov)
— Next week (2/28 - 3/6) in 1995: Everyone get off the phone. I need to log into space.
Spaceflight News
— Kosmos-2499 breakup (russianspaceweb.com) (sattrackcam.blogspot.com) (space.com)
— Superheavy static fire (nasaspaceflight.com) (HT Ryan R: twitter.com/elonmusk) (spacenews.com) (HT Alex: youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Progress MS-21 leak (twitter.com/katlinegrey) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Spaceport Camden saga continues (independent.co.uk)
— Kuiper gets conditional approval (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Feb 20, 1986: Launch of DOS-7, the Mir core module (russianspaceweb.com) (youtube.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (2/21 - 2/27) in 2009: Nothing some Wite-Out/Tipp-Ex can’t fix.
Spaceflight News
— SSLV launch failure investigation completed (spacenews.com) (isro.gov.in)
— VTM separation was captured on video, but payload deployment is only seen as a timestamp on a status display. (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— NASA confident in A1 software (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Peregrine has a new destination (spacenews.com)
— Perseverance completes sample depot on Mars (cnet.com)
— See also: The Milky Way as seen from Mars (reddit.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Feb 11, 2015: Launch of the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (spaceflight101.com) (PDF: esa.int)
— Next week (2/14 - 2/20) in 1986. More computers, more beds 😴
Spaceflight News
— NASA Tests a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (nasa.gov) (PDF: mdpi.com) (Scott Manley: youtube.com) (ntrs.nasa.gov)
— JAXA tested an RDRE in 2021 (futurism.com)
— China tested a CDRE January 2023 (twitter.com/CNSpaceflight)
Short & Sweet
— Starship WDR (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/SpaceX)
— Lucy mission gets new target (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)
— JunoCam suffers significant anomaly during flyby (nasa.gov)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: NASA/DARPA NTP Collaboration (nasa.gov)
— Chris Hofmann: Ascent communications
This Week in Spaceflight History
— January 31, 1971. Launch of Apollo 14 (en.wikipedia.org) (hq.nasa.gov)
— Next week (2/7 - 2/13) in 2015: Penguin Paratrooper
Spaceflight News
— ABL failure analysis (HT Mike Stewart: twitter.com/ablspacesystems)
Short & Sweet
— NASA scales back ISS scientist program (spacenews.com)
— JUICE is ready for Jupiter (spacenews.com)
— Lucy’s Loose Limb (spacenews.com) (HT Brown Pau: blogs.nasa.gov)
— ClearSpace raises funds for its first mission (spacenews)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Vulcan delivered to the Cape (twitter.com/SpaceFlorida)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Jan 24, 1985: Launch of STS-51-C (en.wikipedia.org) (satelliteobservation.net)
— Next week (1/31 - 2/6) in 1971: I re-read the specs, let’s give it another shot.
Spaceflight News
— Soyuz MS-22 rescue (spacenews.com) (russianspaceweb.com)
— Virgin Orbit failure (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (virginorbit.com)
— Virgin Galactic recently restructured their leadership (spacenews.com)
— Virgin Orbit is suffering financial woes (arstechnica.com)
— ABL RS1 failure (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (HT Sam: twitter.com/ablspacesystems) (HT Sam: twitter.com/shaggrugg) (twitter.com/Harry__Stranger)
Short & Sweet
— Soyuz-OneWeb hostage negotiations underway (russianspaceweb.com)
— JWST Killing It (spacenews.com) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/jeff_foust)
— Starship approaches a launch date? (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— January 22, 1968: Launch of Apollo 5 (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ibiblio.org)
— Destin of Smarter Every Day interviewed a U.S. Space and Rocket Center Docent and Apollo engineer (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
— LEM study guides are a great resource for finding answers to systems questions. (ibiblio.org) (ibiblio.org)
— Next week (1/24 - 1/30) in 1985. From Lunar Orion to Listening Orion.
Spaceflight News
— LunaH-Map struggles to enter lunar orbit (spacewatch.global) (PDF: static1.squarespace.com VIA busek.com) (PDF: digitalcommons.usu.edu)
— Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) enters lunar orbit (space.com)
— Hakuto-R M1 successfully completes second maneuver (spaceref.com) (ispace-inc.com VIA hobbyspace.com)
— Chandrayaan-3 fully integrated (indiatoday.in) (indiatimes.com)
Short & Sweet
— China to expand Wenchang spaceport (spacenews.com)
— Impulse Space has a mission (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Dennis is reading Dragonfly by Bryan Burrough (bryanburrough.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 14 Jan, 2009: Russian thruster firing shakes the ISS (spacenews.com) (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (nbcnews.com) (youtube.com)
— Next week (1/17 - 1/23) in 1968: Fire in the hole
Spaceflight News
— MS-22 coolant leak (arstechnica.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
Short & Sweet
— Lockheed Martin performs habitat burst test (cnet.com) (lockheedmartin.com) (youtube.com)
— Zhuque-2 fails to reach orbit (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Chris Hofmann: Honeybee purchase (discord.com)
— Unc’ Willy and Csaba: Pyrophoric vs. hypergolic (discord.com) (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Dec 24, 1968. The Earthrise photograph was taken by Apollo 8 (en.wikipedia.org) (smithsonianmag.com) (nasa.gov) (thespaceaboveus.com)
— LM4 has an excellent archive of the radio recordings, with visuals! (youtube.com)
— A few weeks from now (1/10 - 1/16) in 2009: Tacoma Narrows at Mach 25
Spaceflight News
— The finalists return - HLS2 (spacepolicyonline.com) (space.com) (spacepolicyonline.com)
Short & Sweet
— New Chinese rocket debuts with a sea launch (nasaspaceflight.com)
— dearMoon crew revealed (americaspace.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— December 15, 1970: Landing of Venera 7, first spacecraft to return data from another planet (en.wikipedia.org) (spaceflightinsider.com) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (vpk.name)
— V7 was built on a 3MV bus (mentallandscape.com)
— Next week (12/20 - 12/26) in 1968: Just calm down.
Spaceflight News
— Artemis I Update
— RS-25 analysis (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: nasa.gov VIA twitter.com/sciencepolicia)
— Reached DRO halfway point on Nov 28 (spacenews.com)
— Departed DRO on Dec 2 (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Phantom Space Corp wins NASA launch task order (nasa.gov)
— Bluewalker-3 reaches full brightness on orbit (payloadspace.com) (iau.org)
— iROSA installation + power issue (nasaspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: ABL released a scrub summary (HT Sam: twitter.com/ablspacesystems)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Dec 7, 2010. AKATSUKI fails to enter Venusian orbit (PDF: arxiv.org) (PDF: lpi.usra.edu) (planetary.org) (jaxa.jp)
— Next week (12/13 - 12/19) in 1970: That’s a long way to go to hard boil an egg
Spaceflight News
— Artemis I progress (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasa.gov)
— NASA history report on Administrator James Webb released (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— China to test space-based solar power (spacenews.com)
— Canada to develop lunar rover for power generation (spacenews.com)
— ISRO tests Gaganyaan parachute system (isro.gov.in)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Dec 5, 2014: The launch of EFT-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (youtube.com) (collectspace.com)
— The clue was taken from an interview with Sesame Street’s Elmo (youtube.com)
— Orion suffered more MMOD damage than models had predicted, resulting in changes to the vehicle for Artemis I (nasaspaceflight.com) (americaspace.com)
— Next week (12/6 - 12/12) in 2010. Feeling salty.
Spaceflight News
— Artemis I Launch (nasaspaceflight.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (planetary.org) (HT MCC: twitter.com/derekdotspace)
— SLS suffered slight hurricane damage prior to launch (spacenews.com)
— SLS still had LH2 leaks (nasaspaceflight.com) (HT deltaV: twitter.com/ZachSellinger)
— A bad ethernet switch took down range assets (HT deltaV: twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)
— Post-launch photo opportunities were limited (twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (twitter.com/wapodavenport)
— Artemis I Ride-alongs and little ‘uns (twitter.com/jeff_foust) (parabolicarc.com)
— CAPSTONE arrives at the Moon (spacenews.com)
— Orion completes TLI (spacenews.com) (youtu.be)
Short & Sweet
— Hermeus completes key test towards hypersonic aircraft (HT Czarified, Csaba: defenseone.com) (HT Czarified: youtube.com)
— Busy week of spacewalkin’ (space.com) (space.com) (space.com) (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Japan formalizes its commitment (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Cygnus array jam photo (twitter.com/Space_Pete)
— Csaba: Real-time Artemis I tracker (nasa.gov) (eyes.nasa.gov)
— DeltaV: Rocket 4 Payload User’s guide (twitter.com/Astra)
Interview -- Margaret Weitekamp, Curator and Chair of the Space History department at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
— airandspace.si.edu
— twitter.com/mgtwspace
— facebook.com/margaret.weitekamp.12
— Buy the book: (amazon.com) (barnesandnoble.com) (smithsonianbooks.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 27 Nov, 2012. The end of Falcon 9 Air’s development (flightglobal.com VIA 12ft.io) (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Orbital designed Pegasus II “Thunderbolt” as a replacement (space.com)
— Next week (11/29 - 12/5) in 2014: [Audio clue]
Spaceflight News
— Cygnus Winged (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— X-37B returns to Earth after record-breaking 900+ days in orbit (spaceforce.mil)
— China changes plans for Long March 9 (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com)
— Artemis I gettin’ stormy (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: LOFTID was successful (nasa.gov)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Nov 17, 1967. Surveyor 6 does a brief flight from the lunar surface (nasa.gov) (PDF: sci-hub.se) (drewexmachina.com)
— Next week (11/22 - 11/29) in 2012: Jumping off a not-yet-dead Roc
Spaceflight News
— Rocket Lab’s Catch Me If You Can Wasn’t (parabolicarc.com) (businesswire.com) (theorbitalmechanics.com)
Short & Sweet
— Chinese Spaceplane Releases Object On-orbit (spacenews.com)
— Spaceplane Aurora Tested at Peenemünde (spacewatch.global)
— Fire Alarm Scrubs NG-18 Launch (nasaspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Practical Engineering’s look at Endeavor’s trip through LA (youtube.com)
— Vertical payload integration (youtube.com)
— Reflective Layer (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— November 11, 2013: Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer’s reentry (en.wikipedia.org) (articles.adsabs.harvard.edu) (spaceflight101.com)
— GOCE had sophisticated accelerometers (HT Colin: link.springer.com)
— Next week (11/15-11/21) in 1967: Actually, I thought it’d be right about this high at MECO.
Spaceflight News
— Rocket Lab’s Catch Me If You Can Wasn’t (parabolicarc.com) (businesswire.com) (theorbitalmechanics.com)
Short & Sweet
— Chinese Spaceplane Releases Object On-orbit (spacenews.com)
— Spaceplane Aurora Tested at Peenemünde (spacewatch.global)
— Fire Alarm Scrubs NG-18 Launch (nasaspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Practical Engineering’s look at Endeavor’s trip through LA (youtube.com)
— Vertical payload integration (youtube.com)
— Reflective Layer (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— November 11, 2013: Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer’s reentry (en.wikipedia.org) (articles.adsabs.harvard.edu) (spaceflight101.com)
— GOCE had sophisticated accelerometers (HT Colin: link.springer.com)
— Next week (11/15-11/21) in 1967: Actually, I thought it’d be right about this high at MECO.
Spaceflight News
— VirtualAGC posts their final moonshot LM software package (github.com/virtualagc) (ibiblio.org) (github.com/thewonderidiot) (youtube.com)
— Play with a virtual rope module (apolloguidance.computer)
— If you own a rope module, or know someone who does, please get in touch! The vAGC group is happy to keep donors anonymous. Contact Ron Burkey: info@sandroid.org
— Project Kuiper looking for a ride (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— NASA launch slips (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Polaris Dawn slips again (spacenews.com)
— Centaur causes a slip (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— LeonRunningMan (discord.com)
— Victus Nox contract was awarded two days before the launch.
— More info on eSR19 (defenseindustrydaily.com)
— Andrew Z via email: EMU 2.0, or an EVA pod?
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 2 Nov, 2000. Docking of Expedition 1, beginning our continuous human presence in space. (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (Space.com VIA web.archive.org)
— Next week (11/8 - 11/14) in 2013: Like Icarus, but in reverse
Spaceflight News
— ISS EVAs resumed (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
— Back in March, Matthias Maurer had a leak in his suit (spacenews.com) (phys.org) (blogs.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Geotail in Jeopardy (space.com)
— ESA turns to SpaceX (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com)
— Tiangong nears completion (spacenews.com)
— Polaris Dawn mission scheduled for March 2023 (space.com)
— NASA orders three more Orion spacecraft (lockheedmartin.com)
Interview – Joel C. Sercel PhD, CEO of TransAstra
— TransAstra recently formed a partnership with Celestron (spacenews.com)
— transastra.com
— linkedin.com/in/joelsercel/
— twitter.com/JoelSercel
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Oct 28, 2014: the failure of Cygnus Orb-3 (en.wikipedia.org) (everydayastronaut.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— Kunetsov saved 80 NK-33s (HT Csaba: youtu.be)
— Next week (11/1 - 11/7) in 2000: Making a new home, then pulling Dennis away from it.
Spaceflight News
— Epsilon failure (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (youtu.be) (PDF: jaxa.jp)
— Skyrora failure (skyrora.com) (youtube.com)
— The Firefly Paradox (spacenews.com) (firefly.com) (twitter.com/seradata)
— Rockets showing up at places (bbc.com) (techcrunch.com)
Short & Sweet
— Lucy flyby (NSF via web.archive.org) (lucy.swri.edu) (twitter.com/LucyMission)
— TESS mission goes into safe mode (cnet.com)
— China launched ASO-S solar observatory (nasaspaceflight.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 2008, Launch of Chandrayaan-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (timesofindia.indiatimes.com) (eoportal.org) (pds.nasa.gov)
— NASA contributed the Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar experiment (nasa.gov)
— Next week (10/25 - 10/31) in 2014: Swan song.
Spaceflight News
— Test Fest III
— Ariane 6 test fires upper stage engines (esa.int)
— Aerojet-Rocketdyne tests new solid motor (rocket.com) (PAYWALL: aviationweek.com)
— BE-4 full-duration firing (Video: twitter.com/torybruno)
— Stoke Space ring firing (ifiberone.com) (twitter.com/stoke_space) (MP4: uploads-ssl.webflow.com VIA stokespace.com/vision) (twitter.com/jenakuns) (arstechnica.com)
Short & Sweet
— Ireland’s first satellite readies for launch (bbc.com) (eirsat1.ie)
— Crew-5 launches to Station (americaspace.com)
— Engineers regain control of CAPSTONE (spacenews.com)
Interview – UVic ORCASat team: Alex Doknjas, Project Manager and Biarki Weeks, Undergrad Technical Lead
— The team published a wonderful assembly timelapse (youtube.com)
— Orcasat.ca
— uvsd.ca
— youtube.com
— twitter.com/AlexDoknjas
— linkedin.com/in/alexander-doknjas-5b30b310b
— twitter.com/biarkiweeks
— linkedin.com/in/biarki-weeks-463a9579
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 11 October 1968: The launch of Apollo 7 (en.wikipedia.org) (collectspace.com)
— Next week (10/18 - 10/24) in 2008: Let’s start with a weather satellite
Spaceflight News
— DART (spacenews.com) (planetary.org) (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/nasa) (twitter.com/LICIACube) (twitter.com/SenBillNelson) (researchgate.net)
— Transformational Solar Array experiment (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Testing begins for first ViaSat-3 (spacenews.com)
— Hubble may get a roboost (spacenews.com)
— Firefly reaches orbit (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Oct 6, 1990. Launch of Ulysses spacecraft (esa.int) (PDF: adsabs.harvard.edu) (en.wikipedia.org)
— The Nutation Damper System was well described in a paper (nasa.gov)
— Next week (10/11 - 10/17) in 1968: Phoenix Rising
Spaceflight News
— Rocket Lab updates (satellitetoday.com)
— There was a presentation for investors September 21 (youtube.com) (PDF: rocketlabusa.com)
— The Archimedes Test Complex will be built at Stennis (businesswire.com)
— JWST instrument suffers anomaly (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— USSF to leave GEO (aviationweek.com) (spacenews.com)
— Superheavy fires seven engines (cnet.com)
— Spinlaunch raises $71M (spacenews.com)
— ESA seeks money to stay in space race (thespacereview.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Descent module from Soyuz T-10a reused in T-15 (youtube.com VIA twitter.com/gopalsapparapu)
— See also Ep 300: DOWNLINK--Nikolas Trawny, Ph.D. (theorbitalmechanics.com)
— How did N2 get into the turbopump?
This Week in Spaceflight History
— September 29, 2011: Launch of Tiangong-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: english.cssar.cas.cn) (spaceflightnow.com) (spaceflight101.com)
— X37-B was possibly tasked to observe the station on orbit (bbc.com)
— Docking hardware was purchased from Russia (russianspaceweb.com)
— Next week (10/4 - 10/10) in 1990. It’s already a long enough trip without adding four years.
Spaceflight News
— CAPSTONE safe mode update (advancedspace.com) (advancedspace.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
Short & Sweet
— SLD lander RFP (spacenews.com)
— NASA requests private missions (spacenews.com)
— ArianeGroup reveals reusable crewed vehicle for Ariane 6 (twitter.com/EuropeSpace360) (HT ArcadeEngineer: twitter.com/Melissandre_L)
— Morpheus Space raises funds (spacenews.com)
Interview – Araz Feyzi, Kayhan Space Co-Founder and CTO
— twitter.com/kayhanspace
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Sept 26, 1983: Pad Abort of Soyuz T-10A (en.wikipedia.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (americaspace.com) (PDF: starsem.com)
— Next week (9/27 - 10/3) in 2011: Wait two months for a robot, seven months for a human
Spaceflight News
— Artemis I update (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Axiom selected for Artemis 3 space suits (space.com) (spacenews.com)
— Astrobotic wins bid for Masten assets (HT deltaV: clickorlando.com) (HT deltaV: parabolicarc.com)
— CAPSTONE enters safe mode (HT deltaV: twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections Burns
— From the intro: Curiosity Curiosities
— Curiosity picks up rock in wheel (mars.nasa.gov VIA twitter.com/kevinmgill VIA cnet.com)
— Flower shaped rock (mars.nasa.gov)
— Geoff via email: Is JWST able to see the DART impact on September 26?
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 13 September 2007: Announcement of the Google Lunar X Prize (en.wikipedia.org) (smithsonianmag.com) (xprize.org) (ispace-inc.com) (astrobotic.com)
— Next week (9/20 - 9/26) in 1983: Second birthday
Spaceflight News
— Artemis I
— First attempt (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com)
— Second attempt (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Future attempts (blogs.nasa.gov) (twitter.com/NASASpaceflight)
— Just for fun: AR Orion model (americaspace.com)
Short & Sweet
— ThrustMe and Astra make propulsion sales (spacenews.com) (smallsatnews.com) (spacenews.com)
— China proposes orbital nuclear reactor (space.com) (spacenews.com)
— South Korea seeks funding for ambitious lunar project (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Correction Burns
— Project TOMTOM: The Orbital Mechanics Think Of Missions
— Check Discord#snoopy to join in on the fun! (discord.com)
Interview -- Jason Armstrong, Director of Launch and Integration Services for TriSept; Chris Craddock, RocketStar CEO; Addie Dove, UCF Physics Professor and Walkabout the Galaxy co-host
— Trisept.com
— twitter.com/rocketstarspace
— facebook.com/RocketStarSpace/
— instagram.com/RocketStarSpace/
— linkedin.com/company/rocketstar-llc
— RocketStar’s Youtube channel (youtube.com)
— Walkabout the Galaxy (sciences.ucf.edu)
— The Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education (ucf.edu)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 9 Sept, 1982. First and only successful launch of Conestoga (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
— Next week (9/13 - 9/19) in 2007: Sponsored in part by ad revenue.
Spaceflight News
— Starship prep, Falcon repairs (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spaceexplored.com)
Short & Sweet
— Intelsat loses control of satellite (satellitetoday.com)
— Starship HLS demo will keep it simple (spacenews.com)
— Starliner CFT delay (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Sept 3, 2002: Discovery of Earth-orbiting asteroid J002E3 (en.wikipedia.org) (adsabs.harvard.edu) (spaceref.com) (PDF: ibiblio.org)
— Next week (9/6 - 9/12) in 1982: Second of three outcomes: shot before leaving Independence, successfully forded the river, died of dysentery.
Spaceflight News
— Artemis III landing site candidates released (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)
— Artemis I rolled out August 16 (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Russian spacewalk cut short (nasaspaceflight.com) (cnet.com)
Short & Sweet
— Northrop Grumman to start astronaut training program (northropgrumman.com)
— Starship gets commercial satellite customer (spacenews.com)
— Spaceplane buddies (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Correction Burns
— Masten bankruptcy bids… whole or piecemeal? (spacenews.com)
— Espen Urkedal via email: SLS FTS batteries?
Interview - Chris Carella, Benchmark Space Systems and Mahadevan Krishnan, AASC
— benchmarkspacesystems.com
— aasc.space
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 29th August 2001, Maiden launch of H-IIA (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: mhi.com)
— Two payloads were onboard: VEP-2 and LRE (space.skyrocket.de) (astronautix.com)
— Next week (8/30 - 9/5) in 2002. That’s no moon. That’s some of Huntington Beach’s finest work.
Spaceflight News
— Artemis I lookahead (planetary.org) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starlink hits bad weather (spacenews.com)
— Antares gets a domestic upgrade (spacenews.com) (space.com)
— SSLV falls short (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: a bid for Masten Space’s assets (parabolicarc.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 21 Aug, 1993. Communication with Mars Observer lost (en.wikipedia.org) (web.archive.org) (msss.com) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (PDF: spacese.spacegrant.org)
— Next week (8/23 - 8/29) in 2001: When east meets west, it’s a good thing.
Spaceflight News
— Rocket 3 is dead, long live Rocket 4 (astra.com) (spacenews.com) (astra.com)
Short & Sweet
— Russian Satellite might be Snooping In Orbit (space.com)
— Russia remains on Station (spacenews.com)
— Possible Secret Chinese spaceplane (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Real Engineering visited Spin Launch (HT Espen: youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Aug 14, 1959. Explorer 6 takes first image from Earth orbit (twitter.com/NASAhistory) (nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— Next week (8/16 - 8/22) in 1993: Missing top
Spaceflight News
— Helicopters join Mars Sample Return (cnet.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Eutelsat/OneWeb merger (spacenews.com)
— Masten Space Files for Bankruptcy (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/jeff_foust)
— OSIRIS-REx shows asteroids surfaces age quickly (nasaspaceflight.com)
— SLS for Artemis, SLS for commercial launches (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: a pair of reentries
— CZ-5B (twitter.com/W0lverineupdate) (vxtwitter.com/KadekDwiArista) (twitter.com/Drizzle78878087)
— Dragon (twitter.com/MarcusHouse)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— August 2, 1993: Titan IV loss of vehicle on ascent (en.wikipedia.org) (thespacereview.com) (spaceline.org)
— Pratt and Whitney had a list of known problems with grain restrictor (PDF: gobluechase.files.wordpress.com)
— Next week (8/9 - 8/15) in 1959. Partial power picture.
Spaceflight News
— Wentian launched (nasaspaceflight.com)
— An array of new research facilities is onboard (twitter.com/CNSpaceflight)
— CZ-5B may experience an uncontrolled reentry (twitter.com/TheSpaceGal)
Short & Sweet
— Impulse and Relativity announce joint mission to Mars (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Nancy Grace has a ride to space (spacenews.com)
— First private company to launch from French Guiana (isaraerospace.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Gopal via Discord: BE-4 reuse plans (discordapp.com) (twitter.com)
— Unc' Willy via Discord: Titan II bwooop (discordapp.com) (youtu.be)
Interview – R. Matt Villarreal, Founder and CEO of Infinite Composites
— infinitecomposites.com
— twitter.com/infinite_c_t
— twitter.com/mattvillarreal
— linkedin.com/company/infinite-composites
— linkedin.com/in/rmattvillarreal
— instagram.com/infinitecomposites
— facebook.com/infinitecomposites
This Week in Spaceflight History
— July 28 1961: NASA invitation to bids for Apollo prime contract (astronautix.com) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ia800308.us.archive.org VIA archive.org)
— Ep 220 featured the LEM contract (thanks The Greek!) (theorbitalmechanics.com)
— Next week (8/2 - 8/8) in 1993: Space is dangerous, and another word for space is gap.
Spaceflight News
— ABL static fire (spacenews.com)
— Rocket Factory Augsburg static fire (rfa.space)
— Superheavy FOOMPF (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com)
— Post-fire images/video show apparent sheet metal blow-outs (twitter.com/NASASpaceflight)
— New, possibly replacement, engines arrived at the pad (twitter.com/NicAnsuini)
— Going forward, SPX won’t be doing simultaneous spin-starts (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Ariane 6 ground support equipment (esa.int) (spacedaily.com)
Short & Sweet
— New robotic arm for ISS (spacenews.com)
— Rogozin moves on (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (meduza.io)
— CAPSTONE completes second TCM (advancedspace.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Dennis: Parmitano’s leak was caused by tap water (youtube.com)
— From the intro: JWST beauty shots (flickr.com) (PDF HT MMC: stsci.edu) (HT MMC: youtube.com/jwstobserver)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 24 July, 1992. Launch of the Geotail spacecraft (PDF: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com VIA wiley.com) (jaxa.jp) (eoportal.org)
— The unusual HEO orbit used is viewable on SatelliteXplorer (HT SciKyle: geoxc-apps.bd.esri.com)
— Next week (7/26 - 8/1) in 1961: Twelve Prime
Spaceflight News
— CAPSTONE’s gone. And now it’s back! (space.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (satellitetoday.com)
— AS published a Ballistic Lunar Transfer cheat-sheet (PDF: amazonaws.com VIA advancedspace.com)
— TCM-1C may not be necessary (nasa.gov) (advancedspace.com)
Short & Sweet
— Minotaur II explodes (thehill.com) (noozhawk.com)
— X-37B beats own record on orbit (space.com)
— Starship 24 readies for flight (interestingengineering.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/SpaceX) (twitter.com/SpaceX)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 16th July, 2013: Luca Parmitano’s leaky suit on EVA-23 (PDF: nasa.gov) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— The water separator drum holes were blocked with mineral deposits (nasaspaceflight.com) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Airlock Cooling Loop Recovery ion beds were implicated (PDF: ttu-ir.tdl.org)
— EMU was developed with on-orbit rescue in mind. (PDF: nescacademy.nasa.gov)
— Next week (7/19 - 7/25) in 1992: Electro-coccyx.
Spaceflight News
— CAPSTONE (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (space.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (advancedspace.com)
— Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS) (advancedspace.com) (PDF: hou.usra.edu) (PDF: mstl.atl.calpoly.edu)
Short & Sweet
— Aerospace firm to build launch complex in Maine (bangordailynews.com)
— Perseverance wind sensor damaged (space.com)
— Two out of two xEVAS ain’t bad! (spacenews.com) (PDF: sam.gov)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 5 Jul, 1966. Launch of AS-203 (en.wikipedia.org) (drewexmachina.com) (youtube.com) (hq.nasa.gov)
— Next week (7/12 - 7/18) in 2013: No alarms and no surprises, except the one
Spaceflight News
— SLS WDR FIFI (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF)
— SRB Hydraulic Power Unit hot fire test was completed successfully (PDF p107: klabs.org) (twitter.com/cbs_spacenews)
Short & Sweet
— Psyche launch delayed to 2023 (spacenews.com)
— Atoms for Space (space.com)
— Starlink interference from 5G (engadget.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Bill Baobab via email: Occultation techniques
— 90 Antiope was “richly” imaged using a multiple observer technique (PDF HT Bill: hal.archives-ouvertes.fr VIA hal.archives-ouvertes.fr)
— Lucy targets - occultation maps (swri.edu)
— 2022-03-27 Polymele occultation (swri.edu)
— From the intro: Cygnus reboosts (blogs.nasa.gov)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 28 June, 1979. Progress 7 brings first deployable telescope, KRT-10, to Salyut 6 (stackexchange.com) (ru.wikipedia.org) (astronautix.com) (spacefacts.de)
— Next week (7/5 - 7/11) in 1966: If a rocket explodes, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?
Spaceflight News
— Lucy in the news with updates (space.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (blogs.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starliner gets its first crew (spacenews.com)
— ISS performs debris avoidance maneuver (nasa.gov)
— Markusic steps down as CEO of Firefly (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Perseverance sees something shiny (planetary.org)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— June 27, 1982: Launch of Columbia, STS-4 (en.wikipedia.org) (spacefacts.de)
— This was one of the Scotchguard flights (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (twitter.com/DrPhiltill)
— Ejection seats were installed (and enabled) for only a handful of early Shuttle flights (PDF: nasa.gov)
— Neither SRB was recovered (core.ac.uk) (aero-news.net)
— Science payload included MLR (ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Next week (6/28 - 7/4) in 1979: Really big eye-in-the-sky.
Spaceflight News
— Cargo Dragon leak (cnet.com) (space.com)
— Ingenuity’s woes (cnet.com) (mars.nasa.gov) (PDF: arc.nasa.gov)
— Martian winter is dustier due to heat gradients (HT Csaba: space.com)
Breaking Madness
— Astra TROPICS-1 failure (space.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
Short & Sweet
— Korean startup targets launch from Brazil later this year (smallsatnews.com)
— NASA to launch from Australia (phys.org)
— JWST struck by micrometeoroids (space.com) (HT Colin: (theverge.com) (HT DeltaV: blogs.nasa.gov)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Spinlaunch’s sabot (twitter.com/djsnm)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 16 Jun, 1961: The Final Fleming Committee Report submitted (hq.nasa.gov) (hq.nasa.gov) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Saturn C-3 and Nova were the main options at this point (wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (6/21 - 6/27) in 1982: Enjoy the extra leg room while it lasts!
Spaceflight News
— xEVAS selection (nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (theverge.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Helicopter Hunkering (spacenews.com) (jpl.nasa.gov)
— Shenzhou-14 has arrived (spacenews.com)
— Release date for JWST’s first full-color images announced (cnet.com)
— OMG SLS WDR ASAP (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: Almaz clusterbomb (russianspaceweb.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— June 13, 2012: Launch of NuSTAR X-ray observatory (caltech.edu) (caltech.edu) (youtube.com) (PDF: sci-hub.se) (PDF: authors.library.caltech.edu) (PDF: axion-wimp2012.desy.de) (patents.google.com)
— Next week (6/14 - 6/20) in 1961: C3PO is not a no-go.
Spaceflight News
— Psyche launch (sike!) (space.com) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
Short & Sweet
— Airbus wins contract to build LISA (airbus.com)
— China prepares for next crewed launch (spacenews.com) (cnet.com)
— Starliner, Present and Future (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
Interview – Kineo Wallace, Lead Propulsion Design Engineer and Mickael “Buzzy” Buswell, Primary Structures Engineer of Vaya Space
— Further reading: ABS 3D printed fuel grain studies at the University of Tennessee (sci-hubtw.hkvisa.net) (sci-hubtw.hkvisa.net)
— Kineo and Buzzy
— linkedin.com/in/kineowallace
— twitter.com/kineo_wallace
— instagram.com/buzzedwell
— Vaya Space
— Vayaspace.com
— twitter.com/vayaspace
— instagram.com/vayaspace
— facebook.com/VayaSpace
— linkedin.com
This Week in Spaceflight History
— June 4, 1996: The maiden launch of Ariane 5, flight V88 (en.wikipedia.org) (bugsnag.com) (mit.edu) (HT Csaba: hownot2code.com)
— Next week (6/7 - 6/13) in 2012: Making it harder for ourselves.
Spaceflight News
— OFT-2 (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com)
— Debris shedding after booster sep T+3:00 (twitter.com/elizabethtinkg) (youtu.be)
— Two RCS thrusters and two OMAC thrusters shut down during the flight (twitter.com/lorengrush)
— Test Fest
— ABL Space fires upper stage engine (spacenews.com)
— Gilmour Space fires Phoenix engine (youtube.com)
— Relativity Space fires upper stage engines (youtube.com)
— ISRO fires human-rated solids for Gaganyaan (isro.gov.in)
Short & Sweet
— Voyager 1 returning bad telemetry (cnet.com)
— NASA investigates spacesuit water leaks (space.com) (spacenews.com)
— End to InSight mission… is in sight (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
— Ingenuity back in action (mars.nasa.gov)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— twitter.com/LauraForczyk: X-Bow is pronounced Crossbow. That threw me off at first, too.
— From the intro: Tim Dodd tours Starbase (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 24 May, 2000. First launch of Atlas III (en.wikipedia.org) (spaceflightnow.com)
— Engine contracts announced in 1996 (ARCHIVE: ilslaunch.com)
— A list of Atlas family specs (braeunig.us)
— A lovely history of Atlas by Scott Manley (youtube.com)
— Next week (5/31 - 6/6) in 1996: Domestically repurposed
Thanks to Deathkin for naming this week’s episode!
Spaceflight News
— Rocket 4.0 unveiling (spacenews.com)
— Chris Kemp asks “why can’t a couple of people launch a rocket?” (youtu.be)
— Astra announced a new UK launch site (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Astra is in the running for the TacRS-3 contract (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Axiom-1 putting strain on ISS (spacenews.com)
— Tianzhou-4 successfully reaches Chinese Space Station (spacenews.com)
— Non-GPS satellite slated for launch (spacenews.com)
— JWST final steps before science career (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov) (blogs.nasa.gov)
Questions, Comments, Correction Burns
— Joel R. via email: Rover steering wheel, Shuttle drag chute
— Further reading: Mobility Performance of the Lunar Roving Vehicle: Terrestrial Studies - Apollo 15 Results (PDF: lpi.usra.edu)
— From the intro: Canoo taking on water? (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 19 May, 1961. First flyby of Venus, by Venera 1 (nasa.gov) (drewexmachina.com)
— Launched on a Molniya 8K78 (astronautix.com)
— Next week (5/24 - 5/30) in 2000: Freshly imported
Spaceflight News
— Rocket Lab Helicopter Catch (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
— CAPSTONE’s up next (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Astroscale performs close approach (spacenews.com)
— Phantom Space makes big engine purchase (techcrunch.com)
— Russian rocket motor breaks apart on-orbit (space.com)
— Astra preparing for Canaveral launches (spacenews.com) (astra.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Lockheed Martin’s MAP docking port model (cad.onshape.com)
Interview – Awais Ahmed, CEO and Co-Founder, PIXXEL
— Shakuntala/TD-2 was one of the three demos, and it flew on Transporter-4 (pixxel.space)
— The AVIRIS program also collects hyperspectral data, but from a much lower altitude (aviris.jpl.nasa.gov) (avirisng.jpl.nasa.gov)
— Read more and get in contact:
— pixxel.space
— twitter.com/awaisahmedna
— twitter.com/PixxelSpace
— in.linkedin.com/in/awaisahmedna
— linkedin.com/company/pixxelspace
— contact@pixxel.space
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 13 May, 1992: Intelsat VI captured by the STS-49 crew (nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— The plan for capture and kickstage attachment (orbiter-forum.net) (capcomspace.net)
— Next week (5/17 - 5/23) in 1961: If a spacecraft falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it…
Spaceflight News
— Ligado stepping on GPS’ toes (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (fiercewireless.com)
Short & Sweet
— OSIRIS-REx mission extension announced (arizona.edu) (spacenews.com)
— SOFIA operations to end later this year (spacenews.com)
— AX-1, Crew-4 swap places (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 5 May, 1997. Maiden launch of Iridium satellites (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org)
— A view of Iridium from the business side (PDF: jitm.ubalt.edu) (cnn.com)
— Next week in (5/10 - 5/16) 1992: Two’s company, three’s a record.
Spaceflight News
— Peregrine preparing for flight (spacenews.com) (astrobotic.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
Short & Sweet
— TDRS to be replaced (spacenews.com)
— Starlink books a flight (spacenews.com)
— Bad weather holds up Crew-4 (spacenews.com)
Interview – Daniel Bock, CEO and Co-Founder of Morpheus Space
— FEEP technology is a subset of ion propulsion (en.wikipedia.org) (VIA archive.org: morpheus-space.com)
— Some of Bock’s prior research (researchgate.net) (researchgate.net)
— Flown on UWE4 (PDF: digitalcommons.usu.edu)
— LISA Pathfinder also used FEEP propulsion (PDF: sci-hubtw.hkvisa.net)
— linkedin.com
— twitter.com/DanMorpheus
— twitter.com/morpheusspace
— morpheus-space.com
— facebook.com/MorpheusSpace
This Week in Spaceflight History
— Apr 29, 2002. Cancellation of the X-38 (nasa.gov) (astronautix.com) (nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— Next week (3/5 - 9/5) in 1997: MORE TINFOIL!
Spaceflight News
— Artemis-1 Wet Dress Rehearsal(spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— WDR is deferring to Ax-1 landing (spacenews.com)
— Artemis rover (spacenews.com)
— RFI issued in August (nasa.gov) (sam.gov)
— Lockheed Martin, General Motors and MDA (spacenews.com)
— Northrop Grumman, Intuitive Machines, Michelin Tires, AVL, Lunar Outpost (spacenews.com)
— Venturi Astrolab (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Astranis Improvement (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
— House Science Committee vs NTSB (spacenews.com)
— Astra Electric (spacenews.com)
— ULA puts in a big order (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— LeonRunningMan: LEASAT didn’t use a Minuteman-III motor, exactly (discord.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 21 April 2013, Launch of Antares A-ONE, maiden flight of Antares (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (northropgrumman.com)
— Orbital Sciences contracted with Aerojet Rocketdyne to use modified NK-33’s. (PDF: lpre.de)
— Next week (4/26 - 5/2) in 2002: The end of a dream, to be chased by others.
Spaceflight News
— Spinlaunch (space.com) (HT McMally: businesswire.com)
— SLS wet rehearsal modification (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— April 2nd, lightning strikes (nasa.gov)
— April 3rd, fan failures (nasa.gov)
— April 4th, vent and check valves (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— DARPA funds in-space manufacturing development (spacedaily.com)
— Spaceport Camden: Back from the grave? (news4jax.com)
— Warpspace comes to the U.S. (spacenews.com)
— Astroscale preparing to restart demonstration (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro
— Sentinel on Vega-C (spacenews.com)
— Axiom’s arrival (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 12 Apr, 1985: the launch of STS-51-D with LEASAT-3 onboard (en.wikipedia.org) (hughesscgheritage.com)
— Further reading: Bold They Rise, The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986, by David Hitt and Heather R. Smith (nebraskapress.unl.edu)
— The successful deployment of LEASAT-4 (youtu.be)
— Ox grabbing LEASAT-3 (same video, different timecode) (youtu.be)
— Spinning LEASAT-3 before departure (same video) (youtu.be)
— Next week (4/19 - 4/25) in 2013: it’s not just a steak sauce.
Spaceflight News
— MSR delayed and split in half (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)
— Northrup Grumman eyeing its own SLD contract (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (HT Andrew Z: twitter.com/wapodavenport)
— NG received six additional CRS-2 missions last month (govconwire.com)
Short & Sweet
— Crew Dragon production is ending (teslarati.com)
— Slingshot Aerospace gets USSF contract (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Andrew Z via email: nautical miles are actually useful!
— From the intro: ISS seat swap negotiations (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 4 April, 1984: Launch of Challenger flight STS-41-C (youtube.com VIA nss.org) (nytimes.com) (PDF: nasa.gov) (harvard.edu) (planet4589.org)
— A good book about Shuttle: The Space Shuttle Program: Technologies And Accomplishments by Davide Sivolella (vdoc.pub)
— MMU Users Guide indicates a proportional relationship between nominal “cruise” speed and length of travel (PDF p38: large.stanford.edu)
— Next week (4/12 - 4/18) in 1985: Swat that fly
Spaceflight News
— Second Artemis Lander (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— NASA opens 50-year-old lunar sample (cnet.com) (PDF: curator.jsc.nasa.gov)
— Astra’s successful launch had a not-secret-anymore customer (spacenews.com)
— Starship environmental review delayed… Again (spacenews.com)
— Arianespace and SPX adjust to missing Soyuz launches (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— April 4, 1968. The launch of Apollo 6 (en.wikipedia.org) (scribd.com) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ibiblio.org) (PDF HT Mike Stewart: ibiblio.org)
— Further listening: Arin Cross’ Data Relay on combustion instability (theorbitalmechanics.com)
— Next week (4/5 - 4/11) in 1984: Pinky and the Brain… that he’s trying to fix.
Spaceflight News
— Artemis I Rollout (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com)
Short & Sweet
— SpaceX sets two new records (spacenews.com)
— First all-cosmonaut Soyuz docks with station (spaceflight.com)
— China satellite launch includes demonstration third-stage (nasaspaceflight.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— From the intro: JWST progress (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 25 Mar, 1961: Launch of Korabl-Sputnik 5 (en.wikipedia.org) (theatlantic.com) (nasa.gov) (airandspace.si.edu)
— Next week (3/29 - 4/4) in 1968: Less than perfect, but successful, but a failure.
Spaceflight News
— Astra LV0008/ELaNA 41 failure analysis (spacenews.com) (astra.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— OSAM-1 completes critical design review (nasa.gov)
— China to commercialize Tiangong spacenews.com
— Soyuz embargo leaves many satellites grounded (spacenews.com)
Questions, Comments, Corrections
— Gravitational submarines
— Matthew Bell (iopscience.iop.org)
— Andrew not-Z via email suggests Re-entry Vehicle Dynamics (google.com)
— Aaron Sawdey (twitter.com/sawdey) (en.wikipedia.org)
Interview – Zachary Tong, creator of Breaking Taps on Youtube
— youtube.com/c/BreakingTaps
— twitter.com/BreakingTaps
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 18 Mar, 2003. The authorization of Project Prometheus (everyspec.com, alt: web.archive.org)
— Next week (3/22 - 3/28) in 1961: Ghost beetroot calls home.
Spaceflight news
— More Russian fallout
— Russia threatens OneWeb launch (spaceflightnow.com)
— OneWeb looking to non-Russian rockets (spacenews.com)
— eROSITA turned off on Russian Spektr-RG (space.com)
— ExoMars likely to be delayed (spacenews.com)
— South Korea worried about Russian launches (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Anahuac pleads guilty to selling tainted rocket fuel (justice.gov)
— Iranian launch failure (apnews.com)
— Post-recording, Iran successfully launched their second orbital payload. (reuters.com)
— SpaceX awarded 3 more commercial crew missions (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Andrew Z via email: More sanctions considerations
— MMC in the chat: loss of ISS would free up money for the Moon.
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 13 March, 1985, Launch of Geosat (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: jhuapl.edu) (earth.esa.in)
— Next week (3/15 - 3/21) in 2003. Bringing fire to icy worlds.
Spaceflight news
— Sanctions on Russia
— Roscosmos pulled out of French Guiana (twitter.com/planet4589) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/nextspaceflight)
— NASA no longer involved in Venera-D? (spacenews.com)
— ISS is unlikely to be used as a pawn (reuters.com) (spacenews.com)
— ULA has enough RD-180s (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/torybruno) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/planet4589) (twitter.com/torybruno) (spacenews.com)
— Starliner uses Russian power converters (HT Ben Hallert: spacedaily.com)
— Post-Crimea sanctions were likely more impactful on the space industry (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Relativity qualifies rocket with structural test (satnews.com)
— Dream Chaser looking at landing in Japan (spacenews.com)
— China says moon impactor not Chang’e-5 (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 2 Mar, 2004. Launch of Rosetta (books.google.com) (sci-hub.se) (harvard.edu) (esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (3/8 - 3/14) in 2013: Watery potato
Spaceflight News
— JWST Alignment (PDF: spacefoundation.org) (HT deathkin: jwst-docs.stsci.edu)
— Follow JWST’s alignment progress on Where Is Webb? (jwst.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Chandra X-ray Observatory suspends operations (space.com)
— China reveals human spaceflight plans and communication with U.S. govt (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 22 Feb, 1996. The launch of Columbia, STS-75 (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (space.skyrocket.de) (youtu.be) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Next week (3/1 - 3/7) in 2004: 5-7 = 46+21
Spaceflight news
— Astra failure (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Mysterious Moon Masher (twitter.com/sciguyspace) (projectpluto.com) (projectpluto.com)
— James Webb is making adjustments (spacenews.com)
— Starship testing may move to Florida (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com)
— BreakingTaps made an excellent video and 3D model of JWST’s hexapod actuator! (youtube.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 17 Feb, 2007. Launch of THEMIS (en.wikipedia.org) (ucla.edu)
— Constraints on the moon-bound trajectory were many (PDF: igpp.ucla.edu)
— Next week (2/22-2/28) in 1996: This is why we keep the mezuzah rolled up
Spaceflight News
— JWST cryocooler
— Alternative tube configurations include U-bend and coaxial (PDF p7: trc.nist.gov)
— Testing shows the cryocooler is TWICE as efficient as required! (nasa.gov)
— JWST’s radiators are coated with BIRB (PDF: indico.cern.ch)
Short & Sweet
— Curiosity’s wheels take a lickin’ but keep on tickin’ (cnet.com)
— InSight weathers a dust storm (spacenews.com) (reddit.com/r/InSightLander)
— Astra receives first Part 450 (twitter.com/Astra) (spacepolicyonline.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Uncle_Willy via Discord: four reasons why running Oxy-rich is bad
— BreakingTaps on YT made a JWST Hexapod Actuator model!!! More on this next week. (youtube.com)
Interview – Tupper Hyde, Chief Engineer at NASA's Goddard Center
— twitter.com/TupperHyde
— linkedin.com/in/tupperhyde
— nasa.gov/goddard
— etd.gsfc.nasa.gov
— Also discussed: the next generation of space telescopes is LUVOIR (en.wikipedia.org)
This week in Spaceflight history
— February 10th 2009, The collision of Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (PDF: castor2.ca) (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikibooks.org)
— Next week (2/15-2/21) in 2007: BC? More like BSee-you later!
Spaceflight news
— Shijian-21 does some space tuggin’ (spacenews.com)
— Last November, a new object, 2021-094C, appeared near SJ-21 (spacenews.com)
— USA 271 “buzzed” SJ-20 in August 2020 (breakingdefense.com)
— SJ-21 might be trying net or debris lasing tech (PDF: airuniversity.af.edu
— 1972 Incidents at Sea Agreement (US + USSR) (state.gov)
Short & Sweet
— NASA identifies cause of stuck solar panel on Lucy (spacenews.com)
— JMS is officially shut down (spacenews.com)
— Anomaly pauses Astroscale’s demo mission (spacenews.com)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 7 Feb, 2008. Launch of STS-122 with Columbus module (en.wikipedia.org)
— ECO sensor system factsheet (PDF: nasa.gov)
— Launch damage included a lost LOMS stinger tile (PDF p18: nasa.gov, VIA spaceref.com)
— STS-93 is a good example of when the ECO fuel sensors might be a critical safety measure (TWSF: theorbitalmechanics.com)
— Next week (2/8 - 2/14) in 2009: 102.2 degrees and 77 protons.
Spaceflight News
— Artemis rescheduling (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Gamma ray observatory suffers anomaly in LEO (space.com)
— SpaceX wins a new contract (spacenews.com)
— Exomars to launch this year (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: ABL second stage anomaly (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
— From Upcoming Spaceflight Events: JWST Virtual Town Hall (stsci.edu)
Interview: Alex Lao, Kepler Communications
— linkedin.com
— Kepler.space
— twitter.com/KeplerComms
— CEO Mina Mitry wrote an article about the role of cubesats in space-based communication (spectrum.ieee.org)
This Week in Spaceflight History
— 25 Jan, 1995. Launch of the SCIFER Sounding Rocket Experiment (PDF: sci-hub.se) (PDF: nasa.gov) (eucom.mil VIA web.archive.org)
— Next week (2/1 - 2/7) in 2008: Failing Wet
Spaceflight news
— JWST deployment
— A detailed timeline is available from Jonathan McDowell (planet4589.org)
— Hexapod actuators (PDF: esmats.eu)
— A photo of an early actuator development unit (PDF, p2: sci-hubtw.hkvisa.net)
Short & Sweet
— Chang’e 5 identifies water on the moon (space.com) (science.org)
— Perseverance rover prepares to clear blocked sampling tube (nasa.gov)
— SLS hoping for March launch (spacenews.com)
— Orbit Fab signs deal to provide on-orbit fueling for Astroscale (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Follow up on that moon rock (twitter.com/AJ_FI)
This week in Spaceflight history
— January 20 1978, Maiden flight of the Progress spacecraft (wiki.org) (russianspaceweb.com) (spaceref.com)
— Next week (1/25 - 1/31) in 1995. Get me my briefcase.
Spaceflight news
— JWST finishes deployment steps!
— Primary and Secondary mirror deployment (esmats.eu)
— Aft Deployed Instrument Radiator (PDF HT MMC: ttu-ir.tdl.org)
— Cross stitch (reddit.com/r/CrossStitch)
— Current estimate is 20 years worth of propellant (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/cbs_spacenews)
Short & Sweet
— Paragon acquires spacesuit manufacturer (spaceref.com)
— KSLV-2 failure is determined (spacenews.com)
— China’s robotic arm performs test on orbit (space.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: an expensive model (shop.blueorigin.com)
— Aaron Sawdey: Thermal power vs nuclear power (twitter.com/sawdey)
— Bill Boabab via email: JWST Aft Momentum Flap
— See also: no deployment cameras (nasa.gov)
— The observation strategy actually limits saturation by making observations in opposite attitudes (jwst-docs.stsci.edu)
— A not-incredibly related but often-cited paper is available (web.archive.org)
— A JWST science advisor gave an if-I-remember-correctly on this very question (HT deltaV: twitter.com/markmccaughrean)
This week in Spaceflight history
— 16 Jan, 1965: Gemini Simulated Off-The-Pad Ejection test 12 failure (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov) (astronautix.com)
— Next week (1/18 - 1/24) in 1978: Remove the seats, life support systems, heat shield, parachute, but let’s keep the crew rating.
Spaceflight news
— JWST launched (blogs.nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Realtra’s VIKI cameras looked fantastic! (realtra.space) (theorbitalmechanics.com)
— Deployment explorer (webb.nasa.gov)
— Port mid-boom deployment was delayed due to cover switches (twitter.com/NASAWebb)
— Non-explosive pins were discussed in the pre-launch coverage (youtube.com)
— Sunshade tensioning will be discussed in ep 341, as it was successfully completed the day this episode was published (twitter.com/NASAWebb)
Short & Sweet
- Tianhe avoids a pair of Starlinks spacenews.com)
— Sherpa goes green (spacenews.com)
— SLS is delayed by a computer problem (spacenews.com)
This week in Spaceflight History
— 5 Jan, 1973: Cancellation of the NERVA program (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)
— Next week (1/11 - 1/17) in 1965: No towah, moah problems
Spaceflight news
— Superheavy (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Raptor 2 will produce 230+ tons of thrust (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— McGregor will only perform Raptor 2 testing (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— B4/SN20 will be used for the orbital flight test (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— A guess about Starship stretching (reddit.com/r/spacex)
— Possible tank volumes (HT Birkeland: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— JWST delayed (blogs.nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
— Stoke Space receives funding (spacenews.com) (sbir.nasa.gov)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: PSP’s inside the Sun video (planetary.org) (youtube.com) (nasa.gov)
— Jon P via email: Apollo CM was a sphere section, not biconic. (en.wikipedia.org)
This week in SF history
— 24 Dec, 1979. First launch of Ariane 1, first of the Ariane family. (sci-hub.se) (sci-hub.se) (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (1/4 - 1/10) in 1973: Smash the scram button
Short & Sweet
— Astra to launch next from Cape Canaveral (spacenews.com)
— SpaceX gets FCC approval for Starship launch, starts construction on launchpad (dailymail.co.uk) (spaceflightnow.com)
— NASA investigates Ingenuity helicopter’s transmission problem (cnet.com)
— SpaceX Crew-5 to fly with cosmonaut (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Rogozin)
This week in SF history
— 15 Dec, 1976. Launch of Kosmos 881 and Kosmos 882 (en.wikipedia.org) (1lib.us) (google.com/books)
— Next week (12/21 - 12/27) in 1979. Some vikings and their kitty cat.
Spaceflight news
— Raptor issues (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (spaceexplored.com)
— Neutron, a 2050 rocket (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)
— Electron thermal protection system is aerogel/graphite composite! (HT Andrew Z: twitter.com/Peter_J_Beck)
Short & Sweet
— ESA tests tanks for its reusable launch vehicle (esa.int)
— Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin select future astronauts (spacenews.com)
— Northrop Grumman wins SLS booster contract (spacenews.com)
— Fatigue, debris, and rumors of debris (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Pangea tests an aerospike! (HT Andrew Z: youtube.com)
This week in SF history
— 10 Dec, 1974. Launch of Helios A, a West German/NASA collaboration (en.wikipedia.org) (bernd-leitenberger.de)
— Next week (12/14-12/20) in 1976: Two tickets, I mean, just one ticket to space, please!
Spaceflight news
— JWST bonk (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (esa.int) (youtube.com)
— The clamp came off “in a way that it was not designed to come off” (HT deltaV+Deathkin: twitter.com/wapodavenport)
Short & Sweet
— Japan to recruit astronauts for first time in 13 years (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
— Hubble makes a partial recovery (space.com)
— Rocket Lab to manufacture more spacecraft components (smallsatnews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Reusable satellites (smallsatnews.com)
This week in SF history
— 2 Dec, 1990. Launch of Soyuz TM-11 (sen.com) (spacefacts.de) (nytimes.com) (weathernews.jp)
— Next week (12/7-12/13) in 1974: Hitze und Geschwindigkeit.
Spaceflight news
— Astraaaaaa! (space.com) (spacenews.com) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Astra issued an update after we recorded this episode (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)
Short & Sweet
— Tyvak wins contract for very low-earth orbit mission (spacenews.com)
— European startup tests aerospike engine (spacenews.com)
— Satellite maneuvers to avoid near collision around Moon (cnet.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— ThrustMe paper (nature.com)
— From the intro: ASAT test (spaceflightnow.com) (youtube.com) (HT Andrew Z: airforcemag.com)
Interview -- Matthew Kuhns, Head of R&D at Masten Space Systems
— Masten in-Flight Alumina Spray Technique (masten.aero)
— This study was a 2020 NIAC Phase I selection (nasa.gov) (researchgate.net)
— Tests were run on a modified car lift (youtube.com)
— The FAST concept is similar to the High Velocity Oxygen Fuel spray coating technique (sciencedirect.com)
— Find more about Matthew and Masten:
— linkedin.com
— matthewkuhns.com
— masten.aero
This week in SF history
— 26 Nov, 1965. Launch of Astérix, the first French satellite (pt deux?!) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (11/30 - 12/6) in 1990. The antihero.
Spaceflight news
— SpinLaunch spins (spinlaunch.com) (cnbc.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)
— Nike Sprint is one of several other “instastart” vehicles (HT Andy Z: youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Virgin Orbit to launch from Japan (spaceref.com)
— Amazon to launch first Kuiper satellites on ABL rocket (spacenews.com)
— South Korea to develop reusable launch vehicle (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert via twitter: 53 not 60 Starlinks (twitter.com/chairboy)
— ISS tour (HT Andrew Z: youtube.com)
This week in SF history
— November 16, 1973. The launch of Skylab 4 (bbc.com) (wiki.org) (youtube.com) (spacefacts.de) (nasa.gov)
— Episodes 59 and 60 of The Space Above Us focused on SL-4 (thespaceabove.us) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
— Next week (11/23 - 11/29) in 1965: Unmitigated gall in the face of invading Romans
Spaceflight news
— Blue lawsuit (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Dragons Passing in the Night (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
— Shijian-21 has a companion (spacenews.com)
— A Chinese Mars Sample Return Mission (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert: Speaking of expandable space stations... (twitter.com/chairboy)
This week in SF history
— 9 Nov, 1970: Launch of the Orbiting Frog Otolith (wiki) (skyrocket.de) (scribd.com)
— Next week (11/16 - 11/22) in 1973: I refuse to work under these conditions, at least my stomach does.
Spaceflight news
— Orbital Reef announced (blueorigin.com) (orbitalreef.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com)
— Other Commercial LEO Destination (CLD) proposals so far:
— Axiom Station (axiomspace.com)
— Nanoracks/Lockheed/Voyager’s Starlab (cnet.com)
— Sierra Space Station (sierraspace.com)
Short & Sweet
— James Webb Space Telescope prepares for launch (spacenews.com) (planetary.org) (spacenews.com)
— Russia gives Crew Dragon the green light (spacenews.com)
— Hubble Space Telescope returns to safe mode (cnet.com)
This week in SF history
— 8 November, 2011: Failed launch of Fobos-Grunt/Yinghuo-1 (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (11/9 - 11-15) in 1970: Parietal eye in the sky
Spaceflight news
— Starliner investigation continuation continues (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)
Short & Sweet
— Lucy solar array issue (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov) (space.com)
— Space Adventures ends plans for Crew Dragon tourist flight (spacenews.com)
— Nanoracks announces plans for commercial space station (cnet.com) (nanoracks.com)
— Rocket Lab prepares for first recovery involving a helicopter (businesswire.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Lucy launch vehicle changes (twitter.com/sawdey)
Interview -- Will Henry (Writer/Producer) and Dylan Taylor (Executive Producer) of The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O’Neill
— Space Studies Institute (ssi.org)
— highfrontiermerch.com
— thehighfrontiermovie.com
— willhenryfilm.com
— dylantaylor.org
This week in SF history
— First launch of the Saturn 1 (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (astronautix.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
— Next week (11/2-11/8) in 2011: Tune into the show for an audio clue
Spaceflight news
— Rocket 3.3 follow-up (spacenews.com) (astra.com)
— Lucy’s in the sky (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (planetary.org) (americaspace.com) (planetary.org) (blog.ulalaunch.com)
Short & Sweet
— Brazil Space Agency successfully tests new rocket motor (avibras.com.br)
— Virgin Galactic gets postponed (spacenews.com)
— China launches nation’s first solar observatory (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Roton Revision
— Andy Z via email: Check out the WWI Le Rhone engine (youtu.be)
— Ben Hallert via Twitter: Autorotation is complicated and interesting enough to be more specific about. (twitter.com/chairboy) (twitter.com/chairboy) (youtube.com)
— From the intro: ISS takes another tumble (HT Andy Z: twitter.com/liamkennedy)
This week in SF history
— 19 Oct, 2014. Comet Siding Spring has closest approach to Mars (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (arxiv.org) (skyandtelescope.org)
— Next week (10/26 - 11/1) in 1961: Cluster thruster
Spaceflight news
— Artemis funding (spacenews.com)
— Starliner stuff
— Valves (spacenews.com)
— Reassigned crew (spacenews.com) (spacepolicyonline.com)
Short & Sweet
— Taiwan launch company to attempt orbital launch again (spacenews.com)
— Planetary Protection might be revised (spacenews.com)
— UAE announces plans for next interplanetary mission (cnet.com)
Interview -- Kevin Rice, Director of Project Business Management JPL ret., Lockheed Martin ret.
— Kevin can be found on LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
— thebusiness.space
— thebusiness.space/consulting
This week in SF history
— 12 Oct, 1999: Final flight of Rotary Rocket’ Roton ATV (en.wikipedia.org) (web.archive.org) (youtube.com) (HT Mike Stewart: web.archive.org) (hobbyspace.com) (sfgate.com)
— Next week (10/19 - 10/25) in 2014: Duck and cover.
Spaceflight news
— Blue Origin’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week
— Blue experienced morale issues related to remote work (cnbc.com)
— An essay was published with sexism and safety allegations (lioness.co) (cnbc.com)
— Eric Berger reports his sources say allegations of sexism go too far (twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (wsj.com)
— FAA say they take the Lioness essay seriously (spacenews.com)
— Legal documents regarding Blue’s HLS bid were FOIA’d (theverge.com)
Brief & Bitter
— Shiyan 10 test satellite fails after launch (spaceflightnow.com)
— SLS likely to slip to 2022 (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Kevin L via email: NASATV’s empty schedule is probably due to the potential government shutdown.
— Ben Hallert via twitter: Blue engines are built in Kent Washington, and a factory is being staffed in Huntsville.
This week in SF history
— 10 Oct, 1967: Outer Space Treaty is put into force (en.wikipedia.org) (unoosa.org) (wiki.org)
— Next week (10/12 - 10/18) in 1999: Strange shares half this with Down. All three accurately describe this event.
Short & Sweet
— Space Operations Mission Directorate and Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate split (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com)
— Starliner likely to slip to 2020 (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: New Glenn hardware! (HT Andy Z: floridatoday.com)
Interview -- Othniel C. Mbamalu, Founder and CEO of Advanced Rockets Corporation
— Airbreathing.space
— twitter.com/RocketsAdvanced
— othnielcreator.com
— twitter.com/othnielcreator
This week in SF history
— 30 Sept, 2001. First orbital launch from Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (astronautix.com)
— DeltaV: recommendation for VASTS, particularly Langley Experience (vsgc.odu.edu)
— Launched on an Athena I rocket (wikipedia.org)
— Starshine 3 was a hobby radio repeater/disco ball (en.wikipedia.org)
— DoD Space Test Program sats included PICOSat and Sapphire (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org)
— PCSAT was an APRS repeater operated by midshipmen (aprs.fi)
— Next week (10/5 - 10/11) in 1967: This event in spaceflight history requires a total of 88 articles if you want the whole story.
Spaceflight news
— First Perseverance sample collection (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)
— “Where Is The Rover” map, featuring Ingenuity (mars.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Shenzhou 12 crew returns to Earth (spaceflightnow.com)
— Vande Hei to remain on ISS (spacenews.com)
— NASA awards five companies for Lunar Lander studies (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Inspiration4 (spacenews.com)
— Are you free Sep 21-23? Sit in on a NIAC session! (nasa.gov)
This week in SF history
— 24 Sept, 2011: UARS burns up on re-entry (en.wikipedia.org) (directory.eoportal.org)
— Next week (9/28 - 10/4) in 2001: A first from the last frontier.
Spaceflight news
— NASA and the Giant Budget Reconciliation (spacenews.com)
— Starlink antennas again (spacenews.com)
— Thanks to Ben Hallert for the TCM! (twitter.com/chairboy)
— Chang’e 5 returned to the Moon (spacenews.com)
— Trajectory animation (twitter.com/coastal8049)
— Possible TCM Sunday 9/12, or maybe not (https://twitter.com/coastal8049)
Short & Sweet
— DOD wants to go nuclear (spacenews.com) (diu.mil)
— James Webb Space Telescope launch pushed to December (space.com) (planetary.org) (spacenews.com)
— Smoke detected in Zvezda module (reuters.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Anonymous source: Different ranges have different fts requirements. Federal ranges have fts handled by the space wing. Commercial range - kodiak - uses white sands missile range on contract as flight safety
— Asif Sadiqi’s book “Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration 1958-2016” is free for download! (twitter.com/historyasif)
This week in SF history
— 18 Sept, 2013. Cygnus Demo mission launches (nasa.gov) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Orbital Sciences (now NG) won their CRS contract in 2008. (spaceflight101.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov)
— Next week (9/21 - 9/27) in 2011: You ares on fire!
Spaceflight news
— Firefly Alpha launch failure (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (firefly.com)
— Scott Manley’s first takes included some “old fashioned pixel counting” (twitter.com/DJSnM) (twitter.com/DJSnM)
— Third-party photo coverage was fantastic (twitter.com/lavie154) (twitter.com/thejackbeyer) (twitter.com/nextspaceflight) (HT Sam: twitter.com/StarshipFairing)
— Keavon posted 4k video, but the tracking is rough (youtube.com)
— OptoData has fantastic tracking and exposure (youtube.com)
— NSF had great tracking and color saturation, from a different angle (youtube.com)
— Firefly’s deleted first cut montage (youtube.com)
— Firefly’s later “final cut” montage (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— New cracks discovered in ISS (space.com)
— Rocket Lab increases satellite component production (spacenews.com)
— Perseverance sample collection update (mars.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (twitter.com/NASAPersevere)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Virgin Galactic grounded (twitter.com/nickschmidle) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 8 Sept, 2004. Sample return and crash of the Genesis capsule (nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (PDF: nasa.gov) (esa.int) (springer.com)
— Next week (9/14 - 9/20) in 2013: Virginia is for lovers of space
Spaceflight news
— Rocket3.3 Exits Stage Right (astra.com) (space.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
— Follows an abort on Friday called by the guidance system near T-0 (space.com)
— Jonathan McDowell guessed a “fatal problem” in the air (twitter.com/planet4589)
Short & Sweet
— 7GB of paperwork for HLS (twitter.com/joroulette) (spacenews.com) (businessinsider.com) (spacenews.com)
— Starlinks get lasers (spacenews.com)
— First test of Astroscale satellite capture technology (spacenews.com) (astroscale.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: A Shortfall of Gravitas struts its stuff (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
This week in SF history
— 4 Sep 1968: Von Braun tests a suit in the NBS (facebook.com/SpaceWalkOfFame) (twitter.com/nasahistory) (books.google.com)
— Further reading: a collection of Von Braun’s daily notes (collectspace.com)
— Next week (9/7 - 9/13) in 2004: The end of the beginning and the beginning of the salvaging.
Spaceflight news
— Blue Origin lawsuit, and exodus
— Lawsuit filed against NASA on Aug 19 (theverge.com) (spacenews.com)
— > 11 key employees left Blue (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz) (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)
— Lauren Lyons went to Firefly (https://spacenews.com)
— 10k bonus handed out at end of July (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)
Short & Sweet
— Japan tests new engine type (futurism.com) (PDF: nagoya-u.ac.jp)
— JAXA announces Phobos sample-return mission (apnews.com)
— Starlink satellites responsible for most close encounters in LEO (space.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Watch party! The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O’Neill. Friday Aug 27 3pm PT / 6pm ET (thehighfrontiermovie.com) (calendar.google.com)
— VAXHeadroom via Discord: Cygnus spacecraft is a Northrop Grumman vehicle.
Interview -- John E Ward, Senior Systems Engineer, Réaltra Space Systems Engineering
— VIKI (Independent VIdeo KIt) datasheet (PDF: realtra.space)
— twitter.com/astro_ward
— twitter.com/RealtraSpace
— realtra.space
— linkedin.com/in/johnennisward
This week in SF history
— August 27, 1962: Launch of Mariner 2 to Venus (en.wikipedia.org) (space.com) (space.skyrocket.de)
— Next week (8/31 - 9/6) in 1968: It’s like being in space, but wetter und mit Braunschweiger
Spaceflight news
— 2018 Soyuz leak turns into a whodunnit (arstechnica.com) (HT DeltaV: arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/KathyLueders)
— Starliner Destacked (twitter.com/BoeingSpace) (twitter.com/EmreKelly) (twitter.com/BoeingSpace) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Shuttle payload readied for restoration (space.com)
— xEVA falls behind schedule (spacenews.com)
— GSLV fails to reach orbit (https://spacenews.com/indian-gslv-launch-fails/)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Andrew Z. via email: Super Heavy landing nubs.
— Ireland’s Place in Space (podcasts.apple.com)
— From the intro: Tethers Unlimited (spacenews.com)
— Watch party! The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O’Neill. Friday Aug 27 3pm PT / 6pm ET (calendar.google.com)
This week in SF history
— 18 Aug, 1993: first flight of the DC-X delta clipper (nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— Next week (8/24 - 8/30) in 1962: Hello, I live next door. Sorry I didn’t come and say hello sooner.
Spaceflight news
— Astra readies for next orbital launch (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Astra) (spacenews.com)
— Super Heavy Starship stacked! (twitter.com/StarshipGazer) (twitter.com/ErcXspace) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/RGVaerialphotos) (youtube.com)
— Perseverance’s first sampling attempt (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov) (twitter.com/PaulHammond51)
Short & Sweet
— China hops (spacenews.com)
— OFT-2 slipping from August? (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (HT DeltaV: twitter.com/SciGuySpace) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Blue Origin developing reusable second stage (arstechnica.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Another Eric Berger interview on MECO (HT AZ: podcastaddict.com)
Dragonfly interview (HT AZ: forbes.com)
— Watch party! The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K. O’Neill. Friday Aug 27 6pm ET (calendar.google.com)
Interview -- Danny Gleeson, Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Réaltra Space Systems Engineering
— realtra.space
— twitter.com/realtraspace
— linkedin.com/in/dannyjgleeson
This week in SF history
— 10 Aug, 1966. Launch of Lunar Orbiter 1, first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the Moon (en.wikipedia.org) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (history.nasa.gov)
— Next week (8/17 - 8/23) in 1993. Move that parking cone over there.
Spaceflight news
— Nauka Arrives (spaceflightnow.com) (space.com)
— Investigation of the issue (twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb)
— Amazing footage of the issue (youtube.com) (HT Andy Z: twitter.com/liamkennedy) (HT Andy Z: twitter.com/fs_jeronimo)
Short & Sweet
— Rocket Lab successfully launches U.S. military payload (spaceflightnow.com)
— Inmarsat announces plans to add multi-orbit satellite constellation (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— August 9 1976: The Launch of Luna 24 (lroc.sese.asu.edu) (theverge.com) (russianspaceweb.com)
— Next week (8/10 - 8/16) in 1966: When I get hot, I get dizzy and lose my bearings.
Spaceflight news
— Nauka Launched (spacenews.com) (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
— Three sets of engines on Nauka (twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb)
— Initial reports of issues (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
— A summary was written on Wikipedia quite early (en.wikipedia.org)
— “Nothing irreparable” (twitter.com/katlinegrey)
— An initial RCS burn was made to get to a safe orbit (twitter.com/katlinegrey)
— First DKS firing reported by Anatoly Zak on July 23 (twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb)
— Kurs was declared operational on the 25th (twitter.com/RussianSpaceWeb) (twitter.com/katlinegrey)
— We found this amateur imagery of the module delightful (twitter.com/ralfvandebergh)
— Next Generation Arecibo Telescope (space.com) (arxiv.org)
Short & Sweet
— Falcon Heavy gets a new customer (spacenews.com)
— China tests fairing recovery (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Rocket Lab concluded its launch failure investigation (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 29 July, 1985. Launch and abort of STS 51-F (wiki) (PDF: jsc.nasa.gov) (americaspace.com)
— Next week (7/2 - 8/2) in 1975: Luckily, crisis was not avoided
Spaceflight news
— Hubble back online (PDF: asd.gsfc.nasa.gov) (PDF: ses.gsfc.nasa.gov) (youtube.com) (nasa.gov) (sciencemag.org)
Short & Sweet
— Astranis produces new batch of very small GEO satellites (spacenews.com)
— Funding secured for Beresheet 2 mission (ap.org)
— Raptor engine development ramping up (spaceflightinsider.com)
— ESA announces new kick stage for Ariane 6 rocket (esa.int)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Andrew Z via email: China commercial space infographic (twitter.com/rhZhao)
This week in SF history
— 22 Jul, 1962. Failed launch of Mariner 1 due to software typo (wiki) (vice.com)
— Next week (7/27 - 8/2) in 1985. Spain’s beautiful this time of year, but we ain’t going there today.
Spaceflight news
— Northrop Grumman signs HALO contract (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)
— A docking adapter is planned for HLS (PDF: nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— SKA endangered by megaconstellations (spacenews.com)
— Chinese Spacewalk (spacenews.com)
— JWST One Step Closer (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Blue not-so-subtly sub-tweets VG (twitter.com/blueorigin)
Interview -- Bill Britton, Director of the California Cybersecurity Institute at Cal Poly, SLO
— cci.calpoly.edu
— linkedin.com/in/wbritton
This week in SF history
— 15 Jul, 2009: The launch of Kibo (希望) exposed facility on STS-127 (space.skyrocket.de) (en.wikipedia.org) (Archive of kibo.jaxa.jp: web.archive.org)
— Kibo used to feature the Inter-orbit Communication System (directory.eoportal.org) (iss.jaxa.jp)
— Next week (7/20 - 7/26) in 1962: Where do pirates go to drink? An arr-bar.
Spaceflight news
— Transporter-2 payloads (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (geekwire.com) (PDF: fcc.report)
Short & Sweet
— IROSAs installed (americaspace.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Starship Booster prototype nears completion (teslarati.com)
— ULA has an engine nozzle issue (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 3 July, 1998. Launch of the Nozomi mission. (springeropen.com) (nasa.gov) (PDF: sci-hub.se) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next time (7/13 - 7/19) in 2009: Hope floats
Spaceflight news
— Rocket Lab wins Mars mission (space.com) (hou.usra.edu)
— Characteristic energy, declination, right ascension of the departure asymptote vector (C3/DLA/RLA) were discussed in our interview with Mark Wallace. (theorbitalmechanics.com)
Short & Sweet
— Chinese crew reaches Tianhe space station module (spacenews.com)
— Faulty memory system halts Hubble operations (spacenews.com)
— NEO Surveyor moves forward (spacenews.com)
— Launcher announces development of orbital transfer vehicle (spacenews.com/)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Bill Nelson agrees a second HLS contractor would be nice. (spacenews.com)
— An interstellar… big thing… is headed towards the solar system. (twitter.com/Astro_Wright) (twitter.com/TM_Eubanks)
— ROSA deployment videos were published this week. (twitter.com/NASASpaceflight) (twitter.com/BoeingSpace)
This week in SF history
— 25 Jun, 1992: Launch of STS-50, the first Extended Duration Orbiter (en.wikipedia.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci-hub.do)
— Next week (6/29 - 7/5) in 1998: Not all hope is lost, it’ll return twice.
Spaceflight news
— ESA spacecraft to join Venusian fleet (space.com) (esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org) (arxiv.org)
— Jean-Luc Margot et al recently made rough measurements of Venus’ moment of inertia (youtube.com) (arxiv.org)
— Planetary Society did a writeup on DAVINCI+ and VERITAS (planetary.org)
Short & Sweet
— First commercial deep-space antenna begins official operations in UK (twitter.com/esaoperations)
— Relativity goes reusable (spacenews.com)
— Two HLS contracts are one step closer (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— Launch of Endeavor, STS-57 on June 21 1993 (en.wikipedia.org) (nasa.gov) (directory.eoportal.org)
— FARE (Fluid Acquisition and Resupply Experiment) looked like a sci-fi special effect (youtu.be)
— Next week (7/22 - 7/28) in 1992: It’s good to be home. Glad I packed an extra lunch!
Spaceflight news
— Discovery 15 and 16 selected - we’re heading for Venus! (space.com) (spacenews.com)
— NASA Presidential Budget Request (planetary.org)
— House bill wants to designate space as critical infrastructure (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— South Korean rocket prepares for October test (theregister.com)
— Axiom, SpaceX reach agreement to send three more private crews to ISS (cnet.com) (spacenews.com)
— JWST launch update (spacenews.com)
Interview -- Dr. Alessandro Patruno, Quaternion Books
— Support this work by buying a copy of The Human Computer: Katherine Johnson’s Story (kickstarter.com)
— More info about the book is on the publisher’s website (quaternionbooks.com)
— facebook.com/quaternionbooks
— twitter.com/Quaternionbooks
This week in SF history
— 10 June, 1969. Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program cancelled (PDF: nro.gov) (PDF: nro.gov) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (6/15 - 6/21) in 1993: It was the longest day. Ten minutes later, it was the shortest.
Thanks to Colin-in-the-chat for naming this week’s episode!
Spaceflight news
— Megaconstellations in the news
— Viasat asking for halt to building out Starlink (spacenews.com)
— Chinese Guowang constellation (spacenews.com)
— SATCON2 is coming up on July 12-16 (aas.org)
— New Frontiers 5 will be delayed (spacenews.com) (wiki)
Short & Sweet
— Mars helicopter lands safely despite computer glitch (space.com)
— Multiple new Lunar Rovers planned for coming years (space.com) (techcrunch.com) (spacenews.com)
— Tianzhou-2 docks with Chinese space station (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Etienne via email: book recommendation on corrosion (thriftbooks.com)
— Kickstarter for a book on Katherine Johnson (kickstarter.com)
— From the intro:
— ISS debris strike (cnet.com)
— On-orbit conjunction live data stream (astriacss.tacc.utexas.edu)
This week in SF history
— 4 Jun, 2012. NASA announces NRO’s donation of two Hubble-class space telescopes to the agency (wiki) (spaceflightnow.com) (PDF: science.nasa.gov)
— WFIRST DRM1 and 2 (PDF: roman.gsfc.nasa.gov) (roman.gsfc.nasa.gov)
— WFIRST-AFTA (PDF: roman.gsfc.nasa.gov) (PDF: iopscience.iop.org)
— SALSO produced multiple proposals for the second satellite via an RFI (exoplanets.nasa.gov) (thespacereview.com)
— Next week (6/8 - 6-14) in 1969. Shut it down. (But keep some of the camera parts.)
Spaceflight news
— Zhurong rover dismounts from lander (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Rocket Lab failure analysis (spacenews.com) (rocketlabusa.com)
— Crew-3 Finalized (americaspace.com)
— SpaceShipTwo returns to the skies! (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Not catching is different than not recovering! (twitter.com/chairboy)
— From the intro: Blue Ghost to fly on Falcon 9 (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 30 May, 1975: Founding of ESA (PDF: esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (6/1 - 6/7) in 2012: Binoculars to ploughshares
Spaceflight news
— Rocket Lab Recovery (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (rocketlabusa.com)
— Scott Manley demonstrated the TVC angle on 2nd stage ignition (twitter.com/DJSnM)
— SpaceX files for Starship orbital launch radio license (spacenews.com)
— SPX may have competition for HLS (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— China successfully lands rover on Mars (spacenews.com)
— Ariane 5 fairing issue may delay JWST(spacenews.com)
— Russia announces two actors, Japanese billionaire, to fly to space station (reuters.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
This week in SF history
— 19 May, 1996 - Launch of STS-77 (nasa.gov) (doi.org) (HT Colin: youtube.com) (HT Colin: eoportal.org)
— The Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE) had residual air that caused premature inflation (space.stackexchange.com)
— Next week (5/25 - 5/31) in 1975: Last week we deflated something, this week we inflated something, next week let’s unite something.
Spaceflight news
— Awards, awards, awards
— Eta Space - In-orbit cryogenic refueling (spaceref.com)
— JPL - Lunar Crater Radio Telescope (cnet.com) (jpl.nasa.gov)
— Loft Orbital - Edge computing on spacecraft (spacenews.com)
— Northrop - Navigation payloads on Blackjack sats (spacenews.com)
— Raytheon - Update NASA’s EO IT system (govconwire.com) (earthdata.nasa.gov)
— Hughes and OneWeb - LEO-based Arctic internet (spacenews.com)
— Isar Aerospace - Won ESA’s Boost! Award (spacenews.com)
— SN15 lands successfully (spacenews.com) (teslarati.com) (youtu.be) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— There were some unknown vehicle updates (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— It was a safe landing, but the crush core in the legs did activate. (twitter.com/starshipgazer)
— SN15 MAY get reflown! (twitter.com/elonmusk)
Short & Sweet
— Starliner nears its second test flight (spacenews.com)
— European Space Agency to launch orbital debris-tracking telescope (space.com)
— Firefly has a successful funding round (spacenews.com)
— Geyer steps down as Johnson Director (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Colin in the chat: Ingenuity audio (mars.nasa.gov)
This week in SF history
— 11 May, 1963. Collapse of Atlas Agena D due to a depressurized tank while still on the launchpad (thespacereview.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (HT Colin: youtube.com) (youtube.com)
— Next week (5/18 - 5/24) in 1996: This week we deflated something. Next week, let’s inflate something instead.
Spaceflight news
— Long March 5B set for uncontrolled re-entry (spacenews.com)
— The module raised and is maintaining orbit (HT Colin: heavens-above.com)
— The booster is slowly deorbiting (HT Mike: heavens-above.com)
— Amateur video shows the booster in a 2.4 hz tumble (twitter.com/dfuji1)
— BIG Ingenuity Update!
— Flight 3 was a success (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
— Flight 4 was a delayed success (space.com) (spacenews.com)
— Ingenuity’s mission was extended (twitter.com/jeff_foust) (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Virgin Orbit to launch out of Brazil (smallsatnews.com)
— Blue Origin and Dynetics protest HLS award (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Nelson confirmed as NASA Administrator (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert: ACES details (twitter.com/chairboy)
— ACES had on-orbit refueling (arstechnica.com)
— Centaur V has a hydrolox RCS… Peroxide was a typo! (twitter.com/torybruno)
This week in SF history
— 5 May, 1999: The failed second flight of Delta III (spacelaunchreport.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (astronautix.com)
— Investigation concluded the combustion chamber was breached (spaceflightnow.com) (PDF HT Mike: orbireport.com)
— Next week (5/11 - 5/17) in 1963: balloon squeak
Spaceflight news
— Renewable Space Updates (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— ACES scrapped, but lives on in Centaur V (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/torybruno)
— Centaur III features the optional Aft Bulkhead Carrier (PDF: ulalaunch.com)
Short & Sweet
— MOXIE operates for the first time on Mars (space.com)
— Ingenuity flight 2 (mars.nasa.gov) (mars.nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (HT Colin in the chat: youtube.com)
— OneWeb and Starlink cross paths (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 1 May, 1999. Failure of the ABRIXAS X-ray telescope (adsabs.harvard.edu) (nature.com) (skyrocket.de) (sci-hub.se)
— Next week (5/4 - 5/10) in 1999: In hindsight it didn’t seem like it would work.
Spaceflight news
— HLS downselection - Starship chosen (PDF: nasa.gov) (twitter.com/jeff_foust)
— HLS Base Period Source Selection occurred last year. (PDF: beta.sam.gov)
— Berger/Davenport were assumed to be wrong by some. (twitter.com/lavie154)
— NASA internally apologized for the leak. (twitter.com/joroulette)
— The US Senate wasn’t happy this selection occurred before a new Administrator could be confirmed. (twitter.com/wapodavenport)
— Dynetics was planning on using on-orbit propellant transfer, not just bolting on tanks. (HT Ben Hallert: spacenews.com) (HT Ben Hallert: spectrum.ieee.org)
— Subsequent acquisitions are expected, so don’t count anyone out just yet. (spacepolicyonline.com)
Short & Sweet
— Pam Melroy nominated as Deputy Administrator (twitter.com/Astro_Pam) (nasa.gov)
— NASA’s InSight to hibernate for the winter (thehill.com)
— New Shepard flies again (nasaspaceflight.com)
This week in SF history
— 4 Apr, 1997. STS-83 had to be aborted on-orbit due to a fuel cell anomaly (science.ksc.nasa.gov) (astronautix.com)
— Droplet Combustion Experiment (DCE) managed to return data before the abort. (princeton.edu)
— STS-83 was reflown as STS-94, the next available consecutive number on July 1st 1997 (en.wikipedia.org)
— After some digging, Mike Stewart suggests the fuel cell problem was never identified (HT Mike: scribd.com) (HT Mike: cbsnews.com)
— Next week (4/27 - 5/3) in 1999. If a spacecraft takes data but can’t transmit it back to Earth, does it make a science?
Spaceflight news
— ISS’s crew of ten (spacepolicyonline.com) (spacenews.com)
— Rocket Lab to test booster recovery from space this May (rocketlabusa.com)
— Two new Chinese spaceports planned (spacenews.com)
— End-to-end testing of Lunar Gateway SEP system completed (americaspace.com)
Short & Sweet
— Space startup Phase Four wins government contract (spacenews.com)
— Biden administration asks for 6.3% increase to NASA’s budget (spacepolicyonline.com)
— JWST packs its sunshield in preparation for October launch (satnews.com)
— Ingenuity Flight 1 delayed (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert via Discord: Spacelab isn’t Skylab.
— From the intro: no more fairing catching (twitter.com/Erdayastronaut) (spacexfleet.com)
This week in SF history
— April 15, 2005: DART Collides with MUBLCOM (nasa.gov) (en.wikipedia.org)
— DART stands for Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology
— MUBLCOM stands for Multiple Paths, Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications
— Next week (4/20 - 4/26) in 1997: Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Spaceflight news
— Failed data bus on Crew Dragon (HT Kevin Smith: blogs.nasa.gov)
— SN11 landing failure (space.com) (twitter.com/Bojay_stellar) (twitter.com/TrevorMahlmann)
Short & Sweet
— Rocket Lab preparing for Moon Mission (twitter.com/RocketLab) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Everyday people in space (spaceflightnow.com)
— NASA buys lunar gravity from Blue Origin (nasa.gov)
— HLS award should be here soon (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: ingenuity deployed (space.com)
Last week in SF history
— 4 Apr, 1983: The launch of TDRS-A aboard STS-6 (space.nss.org) (spacefacts.de) (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasa.gov) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (youtube.com)
— Footage of TDRS-E’s deployment in 1991 was shot with much better cameras (youtu.be)
— Next week (4/13 - 4/19) in 2005: Bullseye?
Spaceflight news
— Bill Nelson to be nominated as next NASA head (spacenews.com) (whitehouse.gov)
— Debris mayhem
— Space Force would hire deorbiting satellites (spacenews.com)
— Astroscale’s demo will launch on the GK Launch Services rideshare Soyuz (spacenews.com)
— NOAA-17 broke up (spacenews.com) (HT Mike Stewart: archive.org)
Short & Sweet
— Chang’e 5 orbiter begins extended mission (spacenews.com)
— JWST on target for launch in October (spacenews.com) (theatlantic.com)
— Super Heavy is being stacked (teslarati.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Capella releases dish deployment video (cnbc.com) (directory.eoportal.org)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Emory S. via Discord: on-orbit servicing thoughts
This week in SF history
— 24 Mar, 2006. HiRISE takes its first images of Mars (space.com) (newscientist.com) (mars.nasa.gov)
— Next week (3/30 - 4/5) in 1983. A little deeper pool.
Spaceflight news
— Ukrainian startup looks at in-orbit servicing (spacenews.com) (kursorbital.com)
— Northrup’s MEV-2 prepares for docking attempt with geostationary satellite (spacenews.com)
— Market analysis for on-orbit service demand by Northern Sky Research (nsr.com)
— CONFERS is working on docking standards (satelliteconfers.org)
Short & Sweet
— HST back online after software glitch (spacenews.com)
— Second hot fire of SLS core scheduled for Thursday (americaspace.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
— China successfully launches Long March 7A (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 21 Mar, 2007: Second launch of Falcon 1 (wikipedia.org) (space.com) (amazon.com)
— The second stage engine bell scraped the interstage during separation (youtube.com)
— Next week (3/23 - 3/29) in 2006: First sweep of a dusty surface
Spaceflight news
— Rocket Lab reveals Neutron, goes public (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (rocketlabusa.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starship burned down, fell over, and only then sank into the swamp (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— SpaceX wins a contract (spacenews.com)
— Price changes announced for ISS and lunar mission (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Perseverance update (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com) (youtube.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ryan via email: Cut cables on Perseverance
— Ben Hallert: inclinometer vs gyro (twitter.com/chairboy)
— From the intro: Smarter Every Day looks at Mighty Eagle (youtube.com)
Interview: Nikolas Trawny, Ph.D., JPL GNC section
— ADAPT flight test (jpl.nasa.gov) (arc.aiaa.org) (nasa.gov)
— Mars 2020 LVS and TRN (science.nasa.gov)
— Dr. Trawny’s LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
This week in SF history
— 15 March, 1986: Soyuz T-15 docks with Mir, ahead of the first (and only) station-to-station equipment transfer. (spacefacts.de) (spacefacts.de)
— Soyuz-T still had an Igla approach system, not Kurs (svengrahn.pp.se)
— Next week (3/16 - 3/22) in 2007, This list goes up to eleven, or at least it should.
Spaceflight news
— Perseverance update!
— Parachute message (twitter.com)
— MATLAB solution (HT trbinsc in the chat: cdn.discordapp.com)
— Make your own custom message! (sjwarner.github.io)
— Perseverance photos and video (planetary.org) (spacenews.com) (mars.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— Opportunity visited its heat shield’s crash site (HT Mike Stewart spaceref.com)
— Dynetics completes preliminary design review for HLS lander (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)
— NASA’s human spaceflight program and safety (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/wapodavenport)
— We talked to Emory Stagmer about Starliner’s issues in episode 241 (theorbitalmechanics.com)
Short & Sweet
— Culprit identified for failed Falcon 9 booster landing (spacenews.com)
— Post-recording followup: sounds like this may have been an issue isolated to retrofire! (HT Mike Stewart: spacenews.com)
— Blockchain transaction tested on orbit (parabolicarc.com)
— Relativity is going reusable (cnbc.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Hartvik Line via email: Inspiration has 6-DOF sensing
— twitter.com/chairboy: The largest spacecraft ever (wikipedia.org)
This week in SF history
— 5 Mar, 1999. Launch of WIRE space telescope (en.wikipedia.org) (PDF: nasa.gov) (spiedigitallibrary.org)
— Making the most of a bad situation (ucolick.org) (PDF: llis.nasa.gov)
— Next week (3/9 - 3/15) in 1986. The first stop on our roadtrip.
Spaceflight news
— Perseverance has landed! (arstechnica.com) (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (uahirise.org)
— HiRISE managed to snap a photo of Perseverance under its parachute (uahirise.org) (HT Mike Stewart: twitter.com/HiRISE)
— Interview with Ingenuity’s Operations Lead (HT Colin-in-the-chat: spectrum.ieee.org)
— Ingenuity runs open source control software called f’ (github.com/nasa)
Short & Sweet
— China prepares to launch first segment of space station (spacenews.com)
— SpaceX demonstrates more data collection leads to more system knowledge (youtube.com)
— Test flight of Starliner slips to April (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 1 March 2002: Launch of the world’s largest civilian earth observation satellite (earth.esa.int) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Succeeded European Remote Sensing Satellites (en.wikipedia.org) (esa.int)
— Eventually replaced by Sentinel (wikipedia.org)
— Next week (3/2 - 3/8) in 1999: Once you pop, the fun don’t start.
Spaceflight news
— Mars Hope and Tianwen-1 arrive
— Great video from Tianwen-1 as it passes its first periareion (twitter.com/AJ_FI)
— Tianwen-1 will lower to a reconnaissance/landing orbit, then two different science orbits. (twitter.com/PRCMarsRover)
— Mars Hope sent back a fantastic image (bbc.com)
Mars fleet arriving soon
— Perseverance (americaspace.com) (everydayastronaut.com)
— Ingenuity (jpl.nasa.gov) (jpl.nasa.gov) (mars.nasa.gov)
— We previously talked to Ella Atkins about autonomous robotics (theorbitalmechanics.com)
Short & Sweet
— DARPA looks into off-earth manufacturing (rocketrundown.com)
— Turkey aims for 2023 lunar landing (reuters.com)
— The Vulcan pathfinder arrives (spaceflightinsider.com)
— Doors open at Blue Origin’s New Glenn factory (HT Andy Z: twitter.com/WordsmithFL)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Andrew Z and Espen via email: SN9 violation
— Andy pointed out debris separation (6:20 and 6:23: youtube.com)
— Espen pointed us at some illuminating tweets (HT Espen: twitter.com/wapodavenport)
This week in SF history
— 22 Feb, 1990. Launch of Ariane 4 V-36/407 (thespacereview.com) (capcomespace.net)
— Next week (2/23 - 3/1) in 2002: European cars may be small…
Spaceflight news
— Starship SN9 update (spacenews.com)
— Lots of leftover LOX visible on IR footage (youtube.com)
— SN8’s FAA violation (spacenews.com)
— Firefly wins CLPS contract (spacenews.com) (nasa.gov)
— They will be flying the Blue Ghost lander and a number of science payloads (firefly.com)
— Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) (Image at parabolicarc.com)
— Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) (hou.usra.edu)
— Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) (today.ttu.edu)
— Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) (parabolicarc.com)
— Blue Ghost Payload User’s Guide (firefly.com)
— Space Utility Vehicle will be the service module/kick stage to get BG to the moon (firefly.com)
Short & Sweet
— Dragon breaks a record (americaspace.com)
— Nanoracks’ Bishop airlock powers on (houstonchronicle.com)
— OSIRIS-REx to return home (americaspace.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Koenigsmann retiring (HT Colin: cnbc.com)
— Game night!
— Come play Sea of Thieves with Dennis and Ben
— Friday 4pm Eastern 1:00p Pacific
— Meet on Discord (twitter.com/orbitalpodcast)
This week in SF history
— 10 Feb, 2001. Ammonia leak during STS-98 spacewalk (nasa.gov) (esa.int) (spacefacts.de) (science.ksc.nasa.gov)
— The Early External Active Thermal Control was still being used during this mission (sae.org)
— Next week (2/16 - 2/22) in 1990. Potato in the tailpipe
Spaceflight news
— Starship, Elon, and the FAA
— SN8 violated launch license (theverge.com)
— SN9 had to contend with the outcome (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
Short & Sweet
— Problems revealed for SXM-7 satellite in orbit. (spacenews.com)
— Two more Dragon astronaut crews announced. (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com)
— Second Green Run Static Fire (spacenews.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Chris Hofmann (via DM), Ben Hallert (twitter.com/chairboy): SLS Core Stage tanking limits (twitter.com/NASA_SLS) (blogs.nasa.gov)
— The nine-tank mistake might be traced back to a press call (clickorlando.com)
This week in SF history
— Soyuz 24 mission to Salyut 5 (wikipedia.org) (astronotix.com) (spacefacts.de) (nytimes.com)
— Next week (2/9 - 2/15) in 2001: Do you smell that? No?
Spaceflight news
— SLS Green Test hotfire followup (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— SpaceX buys offshore oil platforms to convert to spaceports. (chron.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— ThrustMe performs on orbit. (spacenews.com)
— Starliner up and running? (spacenews.com) (HT Andrew Z: spaceflightnow.com)
Interview--Dr. Panagiotis Tsiotras, IEEE Fellow and Professor and David and Andrew Lewis Chair, Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.
— Chapter 8.2 of Ulrich Walter’s Astronautics is a good resource for learning about Lambert Transfers (books.google.com)
— Dr. Tsiotras wrote a paper called Optimal Two-Impulse Rendezvous Using Multiple-Revolution Lambert Solutions (PDF: researchgate.net)
This week in SF history
— 1 Feb, 1990: The first test of the Soviet SPK/21KS maneuvering unit (americaspace.com) (astronautix.com) (astronautix.com) (spacefacts.de) (books.google.com) (russianspaceweb.com)
— Next week (2/2 - 2/8) in 1977: A farewell salute
Spaceflight news
— ISS to get more solar panels! (space.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (nasa.gov)
— 2017 Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) demo (americaspace.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (jettison GIF)
— Cassidy and Behnken removed H-fixtures from the base of two port-side arrays Last July (youtu.be)
Short & Sweet
— InSight’s mole is finally retired. (spacenews.com) (airspacemag.com)
— SLS test fire shuts down early. (americaspace.com) (twitter.com/waynehale) (blogs.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov)
— China proposes Jupiter mission that may include Callisto landing. (planetary.org)
This week in SF history
— 20 Jan, 1967. S-IVB-503 explodes at Douglas due to incorrect weld fill material. (astronautix.com) (uah.contentdm.oclc.org)
— Next week (1/26 - 2/1) in 1990: Like a маятник.
Spaceflight news
— NASA selects four small-scale missions to further develop (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com)
— Pioneers program (science.nasa.gov)
— Aspera (news.arizona.edu)
— Pandora (twitter.com/elsisrad)
— StarBurst (twitter.com/Dr_ThomasZ)
— PUEO - Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PDF: arxiv.org)
Short & Sweet
— Dynetics submits details for its HLS bid. (executivebiz.com)
— NASA extends Juno and InSight (nasa.gov)
— DARPA satellites damaged (HT Mike Stewart: spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 17th January, 1997: Loss of GPS-IIR-1 on Delta II (en.wikipedia.org) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
— Richard Gariott’s interview on Off-Nom (HT Ben Hallert: youtube.com)
— Next week (1/19 through 1/25) in 1967: simulated launch, not-so-simulated conflagration
Spaceflight news
— Landing Super Heavy (twitter.com/elonmusk) (reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge)
— Scott Manley covered this technique (youtube.com)
— Possible claw-on-cables steadying mechanism (youtube.com)
— Small SN9 update (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— Long March 8 successfully debuts (spaceflightnow.com)
— Protection of lunar heritage sites signed into law. (spacepolicyonline.com)
This week in SF history
— 7 Jan, 1985: launch of Sakigake (isas.jaxa.jp) (solarsystem.nasa.gov)
— Next week (1/12 through 1/18) in 1997, Rip, or R.I.P.
Spaceflight news
— Astra makes it to space! (twitter.com/lorengrush) (spacenews.com) (space.com)
— Orbital parameters (HT Mike Stewart twitter.com/planet4589)
— Chang’e-5 sample recovery (spacenews.com)
— Now headed to L1 (with DSCOVR) (HT Sam in the chat: twitter.com/AJ_FI)
Short & Sweet
— Project Kuiper reaches a milestone (parabolicarc.com)
— CSA is sending two astronauts to the Moon (asc-csa.gc.ca) (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Call for help reconstructing Apollo 10 software (github.com/virtualagc)
— Quick software setup guide and code structure/syntax overview (youtube.com)
This week in SF history
— 25 Dec, 2003. Beagle 2 lands on Mars (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (wikipedia.org) (PDF: sci.esa.int)
— Next week (1/5 - 1/11) in 1985: Headed for a first close to home.
Spaceflight news
— SN8 high-altitude flight (spacenews.com) (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
— SNM analysis/discussion (youtube.com)
— Accomplished all four main goals (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Reduced goal altitude due to high atmosphere winds (HT Mike Stewart: nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— Artemis astronauts announced! (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Two smallsats selected for 2025 NASA mission. (americaspace.com)
— Space RIDER’s construction contracts awarded. (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 21 Dec, 2004. Maiden flight of Delta IV Heavy (spacedaily.com) (spaceref.com) (PDF: ulalaunch.com) (space.com)
— Launch footage (youtube.com)
— Next week (12/22 - 12/28) in 2003: 11 years and 5 kilometers.
Spaceflight news
— Chang’e-5 lunar sampling (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (theverge.com) (spaceflight101.com)
— Sample transfer happened shortly after docking (HT Sam in the chat: youtube.com) (twitter.com/050644zf)
— Hayabusa2 sample returns (spacenews.com) (hayabusa2.jaxa.jp) (twitter.com/haya2e_jaxa)
— Extended mission (smh.com.au) (hayabusa2.jaxa.jp)
Short & Sweet
— A new plane-launched rocket appears. (spacenews.com) (youtu.be) (thedrive.com) (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)
— ESA signs the world’s first contract for space debris removal. (spacenews.com)
— First real-time link between high- and low-Earth orbits. (smallsatnews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Espen via email: Speculation on Electron interstage TPS
This week in SF history
— 9 Dec, 1978. Pioneer Venus Multiprobe enters atmosphere. (adsabs.harvard.edu) (adsabs.harvard.edu) (nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov) (hughesscgheritage.com)
— Next week (12/15 through 12/21) in 2004, I get gas when you push me too hard.
Spaceflight news
— Rocket Lab recovery (twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF)
— A list of direct quotes from the press conference (twitter.com/Erdayastronaut)
Short & Sweet
— Phobos rover begins landing tests. (space.com)
— The first H3 launches face delays. (spacenews.com)
— Starship prepares to hop (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Carbice and Relativity raise millions in investment. (spacenews.com) (news.satnews.com) (theorbitalmechanics.com/show-notes/baratunde-cola) (theorbitalmechanics.com/show-notes/jordan-noone)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert: SN8 burst disc (twitter.com/chairboy)
This week in SF history
— 2 Dec, 1988. Launch of STS-27, the mission we almost lost Atlantis (youtube.com) (en.wikipedia.org) (spacefacts.de) (americaspace.com) (americaspace.com) (PDF: spaceflight.nasa.gov) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Next week (12/8-12/14) in 1978 - zero seconds, zero seconds, two seconds, 4,057 seconds, and N/A.
Spaceflight news
— SN8 follow-up (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (youtube.com)
— Martyte is a ceramic-filled epoxy, used to coat the flame trench (ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Vega launch failure linked to human error (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Russian spacewalk completed to prepare for science module. (space.com)
— Loverro exit illuminated (washingtonpost.com)
— Skyrora test fires third-stage engine (satnews.com)
— Rocket Lab successfully recovers booster. (spaceflightnow.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Andy Z.: Moose, F9 delay for recovery zone weather by NASA or DOD, and Crew Dragon capacity (astronautix.com)
— Ben Hallert: VIF at Vandenberg? (twitter.com/chairboy) (spacenews.com)
— Don’t forget! 2800-2900 UTC, Dec 5, is the Hayabusa2 capsule reentry (smh.com.au) (hayabusa2.jaxa.jp)
This week in SF history
— 26 Nov, 1965. Launch of Astérix, the first French satellite (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week (12/1 through 12/7) in 1988: A quarter degree to spill the tea
Spaceflight news
— Starship SN8 fires a second (and third) time. (space.com) (youtube.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Crew-1 certified (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com) (two parter: americaspace.com / americaspace.com)
Short & Sweet
— Upgraded version of Sherpa tug to fly in mid-2021. (spacenews.com) (satnews.com)
— Bridenstein expected to turn down a continued position. (spacenews.com) (aviationweek.com)
— Mars Sample Return may be delayed. (spacenews.com)
— First Falcon Heavy Extended Fairing sold. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert: Gnome Chompski is 15 cm, not 15 mm (twitter.com/chairboy)
— From the intro: Congress does not authorize SOFIA sunset (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 21 November 2000: Launch of EO-1, Earth Observing 1 (phys.org) (en.wikipedia.org) (earthobservatory.nasa.gov) (space.skyrocket.de)
— Lots of thanks to Emory Stagmer for presenting this week’s topic! (twitter.com/vaxheadroom)
— Next week (11/24 - 11/30) in 1965: Medaille de Bronze
Spaceflight news
— Rocket lab aims to recover booster (spacenews.com) (aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org) (rocketlabusa.com)
Short & Sweet
— Spacebit doesn’t hate wheels, but does love sharing data. (spacenews.com)
— Galactic Energy reaches orbit. (spacenews.com)
— Virgin Galactic enters final testing phase before operations. (spacenews.com)
— The Curse of Scrubtober Ends. (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)
Interview--Mark Lester, President & CEO, Alaska Aerospace Corporation
— akaerospace.com
— witter.com/alaskaaerospace
— linkedin.com/in/mark-d-lester
This week in SF history
— 11 Nov, 1982. STS-5, the first operational Shuttle mission, and the first to deploy satellites. (newspapers.com) (wikipedia.org) (PDF: spacepresskit.files.wordpress.com)
— Next week in 2000: Hyper carbon-carbon plasma
Spaceflight news
— Direct lunar water observation (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (nature.com)
— OSIRIS-REx stores sample (spacenews.com) (asteroidmission.org) (asteroidmission.org)
Short & Sweet
— Launchspace to install debris collection payload on ISS. (spacenews.com)
— Ariane 6 needs additional funding. (spacenews.com)
— Falcon 9 launch abort conclusion. (spacenews.com) (cbsnews.com)
— NASA faces tough choice due to SLS’s slow progress. (space.com)
This week in SF history
— 9 Nov, 1967. Launch of Apollo 4 (wikipedia.org) (drewexmachina.com) (space.skyrocket.de)
— Ejectable film canisters were fairly complex machines (nasa.gov)
— Apollo 8 press kit (PDF: nasa.gov)
— Apollo 4 press kit (cdm16608.contentdm.oclc.org)
— Next week (11/10 - 11/17) in 1982. It was a lovely trip, but we were stuck indoors the whole time.
Spaceflight news
— OSIRIS-REx completes TAG (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com) (asteroidmission.org)
— Descent video and description by Dante Lauretta (asteroidmission.org) (twitter.com/NASA)
— TAGSAM details (link.springer.com) (youtu.be)
— We spoke with Richard Witherspoon, mission operations systems engineer at Lockheed Martin in Ep 186 (theorbitalmechanics.com)
Short & Sweet
— Falcon 9 core sets record with Starlink launch. (americaspace.com)
— China reveals plans for a number of space projects. (spacenews.com)
— GHGSat detects smallest methane emission ever from orbit. (smallsatnews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Chris Hofmann via DM and Ben Hallert (twitter.com/chairboy): Firefly launches out of Vandenberg, not Wallops
This week in SF history
— 30 Oct, 1985. Launch of the eight-person shuttle crew, STS 61-A. Largest crew to date (en.wikipedia.org) (spacefacts.de)
— Interview with Ernst Messerschmid, Payload Specialist (esa.int)
— Next week (11/3-11/9) in 1967: Fiber optics trained on the ringed planet
Spaceflight news
— NASA and ESA Lunar Gateway contracts awarded (space.com) (spacenews.com)
— Airbus and Thales Alenia were also contracted to develop a lunar lander (spacewatch.global) (esa.int)
Short & Sweet
— Prototype rover tested in Mojave desert. (cnet.com)
— Fire at Firefly’s Wallops Launch Complex. (twitter.com/Firefly_Space) (twitter.com/DavidNagySFgang)
— Zvezda atmosphere success… and failure. (sciencealert.com) (tass.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— OSIRIS-Rex Touch-and-Go maneuver (americaspace.com) (nasa.gov)
This week in SF history
— 26 Oct, 2006. Launch of the STEREO mission (stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov)
— SECCHI - Sun-Earth Connections Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (secchi.lmsal.com)
— IMPACT - In situ Measurements of Particles And CME Transients (sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu)
— PLASTIC - Plasma and Suprathermal Ion Composition (link.springer.com)
— Next week (10/27 - 11/2) in 1985: Room for one more?
Spaceflight news
— SpaceX Crew-1 mission delayed (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— Tom Mueller explained the gas generator cycle, and the Merlin engine in particular (youtube.com)
— GPS III SV04 launch scrubbed earlier this month due to “unexpected pressure rise in the turbomachinery gas generator” (twitter.com/elonmusk)
Short & Sweet
— Chinese taikonauts selected for country’s space station (spacenews.com)
— The Autophage engine receives funding (space.com) (patents.google.com)
— SpaceX is deorbiting its original Starlink satellites (spacenews.com) (forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Emory Stagmer: The LCROSS Flight Director's Blog (nasa.gov)
Interview -- Ella Atkins, Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, and IEEE Senior Member.
— We previously spoke with Ella on Episode 223 (theorbitalmechanics.com)
— Autonomous done with a nailgun (youtube.com)
— Ella’s professional profile and CV (aero.engin.umich.edu)
— U of M’s robotics department (robotics.umich.edu)
— Thanks to IEEE for putting us in touch with Ella! (IEEE.org)
This week in SF history
— 16 Oct, 1976: Soyuz 23 becomes the first unintentional splash-down (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (youtube.com) (books.google.com)
— Next week in 2006: a fresh pair of eyes
Spaceflight news
— Tianwen-1 selfie (twitter.com/AJ_FI)
— No country’s first Mars mission has ever been an orbiter/lander pair before (eoportal.org)
— Orbiter instrumentation (nssc.cas.cn)
— Lander/rover instrumentation (spacerobotics.eu)
Short & Sweet
— U.S. to monitor spacecraft around cis-lunar space (breakingdefense.com)
— ThrustMe secures ESA funding (satellite-evolution.com)
— Starlink could serve as a GPS alternative (technologyreview.com)
— China announces work on lunar-capable crewed launch vehicle (space.com)
— SpaceX continues Boca Chica takeover (vice.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert: NRHO, but not Gateway, are required for Artemis 3 landing (twitter.com/chairboy)
— From the intro: Dragon DEMO-2 named Resilience (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— October 9, 2009. LCROSS impact of the lunar south pole (wikipedia.org)
— The in flight anomaly (spaceflightnow.com)
— Crater investigation (arxiv.org)
— Estimating the circumference of an ellipse (youtube.com)
— Next week in 1976: joining the polar bear club
Spaceflight news
— NASA science mission delays (spacenews.com)
— JWST deployment tests are done! (nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— Blue Origin pursues space station development. (spacenews.com)
— Price tag for on-orbit publicity photos. (spacenews.com)
— ISS leak narrowed down to two modules. (businessinsider.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Andrew Z: Bishop grapple fixture placement (youtube.com) (PDF: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
— Andrew Z: HLS size comparison (twitter.com/brickmack)
Interview -- Dr. Panagiotis Tsiotras, IEEE Fellow and Professor and David and Andrew Lewis Chair, Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
— Dr. Tsiotras helped design the ASTROS (Autonomous Spacecraft Testing of Robotic Operations in Space) lab at Georgia Tech (dcsl.gatech.edu)
— Dr. Tsiotras is the director of the Dynamics and Control Systems Laboratory at Georgia Tech’s School of Aerospace Engineering (dcsl.gatech.edu)
— (LinkedIn)
— IEEE Transmitter is a multimedia platform (transmitter.ieee.org)
This week in SF history
— 1 Oct, 2003. The formation of JAXA
— Hideo Itokawa, “Dr. Rocket” was instrumental in Japan’s early rocketry research (researchgate.net) (global.jaxa.jp)
— National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) (jaxa.jp)
— Next week in 2009: I would walk 1,496,225 kilometers/ and I would walk 1,496,225 more/ and I would walk 1496225 more/ just to be the satellite that walked 4,488,675 kilometers/ to fall down at your door.
Spaceflight news
— Nanoracks ISS airlock is nearly complete (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
— Dynetics HLS mockup arrives at JSC (twitter.com/Dynetics) (techcrunch.com)
— On-orbit refueling is required to get Dynetics HLS to the moon (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Russia announces solo mission to Venus (dailymail.co.uk) (nplus1.ru) (twitter.com/katlinegrey)
— China preps for Chang’e 5 launch (spacenews.com)
— Artemis III’s landing site (spacepolicyonline.com) (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert: FH has launched three times, not two (twitter.com/chairboy)
— Ben Hallert: Any Vulcan can have up to 6 SRMs, it’s Centaur that gets heavy (twitter.com/chairboy)
— Andrew Z: Interesting Boeing read (aviationweek.com)
This week in SF history
— 23 Sept, 1999. Mars Climate Orbiter failure (wikipedia.org) (spectrum.ieee.org) (PDF: sunnyday.mit.edu)
— Next week in 2003: a bureaucratic Voltron
Spaceflight news
— Cause of ULA’s recent hot-fire abort has been identified. (americaspace.com) (twitter.com/torybruno)
— A “routine, ongoing trade study” has resulted in the possibility of a three-core Vulcan Super Heavy (twitter.com/torybruno)
— Astra’s Rocket 3.1 flight terminated during its first stage. (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Astra)
Short & Sweet
— Juno eyes extended mission goals. (spacenews.com)
— Boeing to be investigated by independent ethics probe. (foxbusiness.com)
— NASA offers to buy commercially-obtained lunar samples. (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/mastenspace)
— China’s mystery spacecraft returns to Earth. (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Marco_Langbroek)
— Northrop Grumman cancels OmegA. (spacenews.com)
Interview--Baratunde Cola, Founder and CEO of Carbice Corporation
— A SBIR award was instrumental to getting the company up on their feet. (sbir.gov)
— Thermal camera footage of Carbice Carbon (youtube.com)
— Promo video (youtube.com)
— Carbice.com
Socials
— linkedin.com
— instagram.com/carbicemagic
— twitter.com/baratundecola
— twitter.com/carbice
This week in SF history
— 15 Sept, 1908. Birth of Abe Silverstein (en.wikipedia.org)
— Improved Wright R-3350 engine cooling by inserting baffles (PDF: apps.dtic.mil)
— Next week in 1999: What’s that in Pirate-Ninjas?
Spaceflight news
— Rocket Lab secretly launches Photon spacecraft (techcrunch.com) (spacenews.com) (space.com)
Short & Sweet
— SpaceX sets a new record. (americaspace.com)
— China launches a reusable spacecraft. (spacenews.com)
— We have a Starship hop! (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
This week in SF history
— 7 Sept, 1995. Launch of STS-69 (wikipedia.org) (sciencedirect.com)
— Also had an alternate patch: Dog Crew II (spacepatches.nl)
— Mach waves were visible during launch (youtube.com)
Spaceflight news
— Funding secured for NanoFEEP manufacturer Morpheus Space (spacenews.com) (HT Andrew Zdanowicz: defenseone.com)
— Liquid eyeliner demonstrates an effect similar to the Taylor Cones utilized in electrospray engines (HT Colin: hackaday.com)
Short & Sweet
— SLS takes a brief break. (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)
— Starliner's schedule falls further behind Crew Dragon’s. (investors.com) (spacenews.com)
— Russian space station module arrives at Baikonur. (spaceflightnow.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: InSight drills below the surface (twitter.com/NASAInSight)
Interview--Peter Beck, Founder and CEO of Rocket Lab
— twitter.com/rocketlab
— twitter.com/peter_j_beck
— rocketlabusa.com
This week in SF history
— 5 Sept, 1977. Launch of Voyager 1, and the final Titan IIIE launch (voyager.jpl.nasa.gov) (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week in 1995: Centenarian
Spaceflight news
— Europa Clipper might not fly on SLS (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Ball Aerospace successfully completes green-fueled smallsat mission. (smallsatnews.com)
— Blue Origin delivers its lunar lander mockup. (spacenews.com)
— SpaceX sets a reuse record. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Brian Kostka via email: there was an "iron lung" on Skylab!
This week in SF history
— 25 Aug, 2003. Launch of Spitzer Space Telescope (wikipedia.org) (irsa.ipac.caltech.edu)
— Next week in 1977: Top-heavy but retired.
Spaceflight news
— Lucy on track for 2021 launch (americaspace.com)
— Rocket Lab increases performance (spacenews.com) (PDF: rocketlabusa.com)
— NASA to coordinate smallsat rideshares (spacenews.com)
— Heat management becomes a new bottleneck in the smallsat era (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Dragon’s first commercial crew mission (spacenews.com)
— A new industry seeks standardization (spacenews.com)
— Ingenuity recharges its batteries on its trip to Mars (phys.org)
Questions, comments, corrections
— “Fun paper Friday” (HT Andrew Z: frontiersin.org)
— ROSCOSMOS’ Chibis suit (blogs.nasa.gov)
— Csaba via email: reactors vs. RTGs, the highest flying bird, and 1976 splashdown vs 1975.
Interview -- Caty Pilachowski, Professor of Astronomy at Indiana University
— WIYN Telescope (wikipedia.org)
— IU Faculty profile (astro.indiana.edu)
— twitter.com/iuastro
This week in SF history
— 11 August 1962: Launch of Vostok 3 (russianspaceweb.com)
— Next week in 2003: A flame-retardant spacecraft.
Spaceflight news
— Mars Perseverance and Ingenuity on their way to Mars (spaceflightnow.com) (americaspace.com)
— SHERLOC calibration target includes spacesuit samples (collectspace.com)
— Crew Dragon is coming home (arstechnica.com)
Short & Sweet
— Airbus to build Mars sample return mission’s orbital element (spacenews.com)
— Cause of Rocket Lab’s recent launch failure has been identified (spaceflightnow.com)
— Hayabusa2 releases details on its extended mission (hayabusa2.jaxa.jp)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Andrew via email: Nuclear reactor on Moon (designdevelopmenttoday.com)
— Also from Andrew: Winged Gemini (woodtv.com)
— Alex via email: Michigan Spaceport (woodtv.com)
This week in SF history
— August 8, 1989: Launch of STS-28 (americaspace.com)
Spaceflight news
— Progress MS-15 encounters KURS docking issue (rocketrundown.com) (russianspaceweb.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Astra will make another attempt at orbit (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/Astra)
— LauncherOne failure update (spacenews.com)
— NASA still has concerns with Starliner (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— twitter.com/amyinorbit: STS-93 wasn’t aborted (youtube.com)
This week in SF history
— July 30 1980: Svetlana Savitskaya selected in the second group of female cosmonauts (en.wikipedia.org) (americaspace.com) (spacefacts.de) (spacefacts.de)
— Next week in 1989: listen in for an audio clue
Spaceflight news
— Dream Chaser trunk, Shooting Star, finds its own life (americaspace.com) (sncorp.com) (space.com)
Short & Sweet
— Hayabusa2 now has a sample return date! (spaceflightnow.com)
— Florida’s Mk 2 Starship is being scrapped. (teslarati.com)
— Crew Dragon planned to return in early August. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: the closest images ever taken to the Sun (americaspace.com)
Interview-- Kathryn Crowe, NASA Human Landing System Deputy Lead for Integrated Performance
— twitter.com/kat_cr
— Linkedin.com
— Artemis (nasa.gov)
— Contractors on HLS (twitter.com/dynetics) (twitter.com/spacex) (twitter.com/blueorigin)
This week in SF history
— 23 July 1999: Launch of STS-93 (waynehale.wordpress.com) (astronautix.com) (spacefacts.de) (nasaspaceflight.com) (nasa.gov)
— Next week in 1980: “get to work” on Soyuz
Spaceflight news
— Starliner has more work to do (americaspace.com) (spacenews.com)
— Starship construction update (HT Andrew Z: wccftech.com)
Short & Sweet
— X-ray space telescope’s launch date delayed. (spaceflightnow.com)
— Cost overruns result in changes to Europa Clipper instruments. (spacenews.com)
— NASA has new planetary protection directives. (spacenews.com)
— NASA doesn’t own a Falcon 9. (americaspace.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Mentioned in the intro: 360° video front he first F9 landing (HT Andrew Z: twitter.com/PPathole)
This week in SF history
— July 15, 1975. The start of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (wikipedia.org) (astronautix.com)
— Next week in 1999: Pumpkin in a paper bag
Spaceflight news
— Perseverance launch slips again (spacenews.com)
— Centaur has been repaired (twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)
Short & Sweet
— Rocket Lab suffers second-stage failure and loss of vehicle. (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/RocketLab)
— ULA receives its first BE-4. (spacenews.com)
— First indigenous-owned ground station to be built in Australia (satnews.com)
Interview: John Z. Kiss, Professor of Biology and Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of North Carolina Greensboro
— twitter.com/jzk60
— linkedin.com
— UNC bio and publication list (biology.uncg.edu)
— Read more
— Exploratory study ahead of sending Arabidopsis on CLPS (content.sciendo.com)
— Feature article on Dr. Kiss’ work (researchmagazine.uncg.edu)
— TedX talk “Someday We Will Live on Mars) (youtu.be)
— Seedling Growth-2 (youtube.com)
— Seedling Growth-3 (nasa.gov)
This week in SF history
— 7 July 1998: first orbital launch from a sub (en.wikipedia.org)
— Based on R-29RM (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week in 1975: How long does it take an astronaut to flip a patch upside-down? 7.5 hours.
Spaceflight news
— Demo-2 and spacewalks (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com)
— Suborbital Crew (spacenews.com)
— SpaceShip Two news (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— ISRO opens up spaceflight to the private sector. (deccanchronicle.com)
— ULA completes wet dress rehearsal ahead of Perseverance launch (americaspace.com) (HT Andrew Z: twitter.com/TJ_Cooney)
— SpaceX plans a booster recovery for a military satellite. (spacenews.com)
— Canadarm3 contract signed (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 4 July, 2005. Deep Impact strikes comet Tempel-1 (en.wikipedia.org)
— Next week in 1998: Low slung rocket
Spaceflight news
— Astrobotic to deliver VIPER rover to Moon (spaceflightinsider.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Some instruments will fly on earlier CLPS payloads (geekwire.com) (nasa.gov)
— Crew Dragon Endeavour is still nominal. (teslarati.com)
Short & Sweet
— Another trickle of Boeing Artemis HLS information (HT deltaV: washingtonpost.com)
— Small launch company Astra to make new orbital attempt. (spacenews.com)
— NRO awards Rocket Lab with back-to-back launches. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— From the intro: Crew Dragon reuse: (spacenews.com) (HT Ben Hallert: spaceflightnow.com)
This week in SF history
— June 25, 1997: Progress M-34 collides with Mir (history.nasa.gov) (books.google.com) (astronautix.com) (PDF: spaceflight.nasa.gov) (youtube.com)
— Ben Hallert’s excellent photoshop (twitter.com/chairboy)
— Next week in 2005: Smarter than a deformed copper disc
Spaceflight news
— Loverro misconduct update (wsj.com via marketscreener.com)
— Kathy Lueders selected to lead HEO Mission Directorate (twitter.com/JimBridenstine) (arstechnica.com)
Short & Sweet
— InSight’s mole is fully underground (livescience.com) (reddit.com/r/InSightLander) (twitter.com/InSightImageBot)
— Northrup Grumman received contract to develop Gateway module (spaceflightnow.com)
— Raytheon gets a DARPA contract. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert: Demo-2 things (twitter.com/chairboy) (twitter.com/chairboy)
This week in SF history
— 1977 June 15: First shuttle SRB drop test from NB-52 Balls 8 (PDF: commons.erau.edu) (youtube.com)
— Next week in 1997: Full of menace, like a shark
Some black voices and hashtags to amplify and listen to
— twitter.com/astrotoya
— twitter.com/astronaia
— twitter.com/astro_eustice
— twitter.com/_xPrecious
— twitter.com/itsafronomics
— #BlackAndStem
— #BlackBirdersWeek
Find local black-owned businesses
— officialblackwallstreet.com/directory
Learn about the problem
— mappingpoliceviolence.org
Spaceflight news
— Demo-2 mission: Endeavor docks with ISS (spacenews)(twitter.com/lorengrush)
— A bell in Unity is rung twice to announce the arrival and departure of vehicles (twitter.com/planet4589)
— A fantastic CollectSpace thread with lots of suit zipper images (collectspace.com)
— Note that the A7L Apollo suit had the pressure zipper on the outside. The inside zipper was just to close the garment
— Crew Dragon/Falcon 9 believed to have lower risk factor than Shuttle (spacenews.com)
— Mark 3 parachutes (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— Virgin Orbit’s first launch attempt fails. (spacenews.com)
— Launch vehicle for China’s Mars mission arrives at space center. (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 8 June, 1966: Saturn 500F moved from the pad to the VAB as Hurricane Alma approached (drewexmachina.com) (wikipedia.org)
— The famous tennis shoe test (youtube.com)
— Next week in 1977: Bombs away!
Spaceflight news
— Loverro quit! (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com) (arstechnica.com) (washingtonpost.com)
— Crew Dragon launch prep (HT Andrew Z: nasaspaceflight.com) (planetary.org) (americaspace.com)
— Commercial crew is an amazing deal. (planetary.org)
— NASA & SpaceX: Journey to the Future to air May 25 at 9 p.m. PT/ET on Science and at 10 p.m. PT/ET May 26 on Discovery (deadline.com)
Short & Sweet
— WFIRST renamed after pioneering astronomer, Nancy Grace Roman (spacenews.com)
— Skyrora completes first full static firing in the UK in half a century (skyrora.com)
— Northrop Grumman gets a Space Force contract (spacenews.com)
— Relativity hires SpaceX executive to lead launch vehicle production (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert on Artemis orbit limitations (twitter.com/chairboy)
— Also quoted in an article on the cult of Elon Musk (theatlantic.com)
This week in SF history
— 1971 May 30: launch of Mariner 9 (sci-hub.tw) (en.wikipedia.org) (space.skyrocket.de)
— Next week in 1966: “Not just any port in a storm.”
Spaceflight news
— Three-part NASA Lunar News
— Plans for Gateway and Artemis undergo refinement (spacenews.com)
— NASA advisory committee skeptical of 2024 landing goal (spacenews.com)
— Artemis Accords (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— 3D printing had a good week. (cnbc.com) (upi.com)
— First real task for Space Force is… on the ground. (spacenews.com)
— SkySat to hitch a ride with Starlink. (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— 19 May 2000: The launch of STS-101, the first Shuttle mission with a glass cockpit (wikipedia.org) (PDF: spaceflight.nasa.gov) (nasa.gov) (nbcnews.com)
— Next week in 1971: 9 ate 6 and 7
Spaceflight news
— China’s big Long March 5B (Chang Zheng 5B) flight
— — The flight (spaceflightnow.com)
— — The capsule landing (spaceflightnow.com)
— — Flexible Inflatable Cargo Re-entry Vehicle (spaceflightnow.com)
— — The unguided first-stage reentry (spaceflightnow.com)
Short & Sweet
— Next big step completed for Martian rover. (spaceflightnow.com)
— SN4 takes a step towards flight (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Email conversations about Artemis HLS with Andrew and Espen
Interview--Dan Hegel, Director of Advanced Development, Blue Canyon Technologies
— List of BCT’s Small Business Innovation Research contracts (sbir.gov)
— bluecanyontech.com
— instagram.com/bluecanyontech
— twitter.com/bluecanyontech
This week in SF history
— 15 May 1987. The failed launch of Polyus-Skif. (airspacemag.com) (astronautix.com) (youtube.com)
— Next week in 2000: No stones thrown
Spaceflight news
— NASA selects companies to develop Human Landing System (HLS) for Artemis (nasaspaceflight.com) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace)
— Source Selection Statement (PDF: beta.sam.gov)
— Scott Manley’s summary (youtube.com)
— Excellent scaled image of all HLS’s, and Apollo’s LEM (reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge)
— Superheavy update (twitter.com/Kristennetten)
— Prepping for Crew Dragon (spacenews.com)
— Flag to be captured: (reddit.com/r/SpaceXLounge)
Short & Sweet
— UAE Mars mission arrives at launch site (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Starlink sun visor testing to begin. (spacenews.com)
— OmegA is ready to go into production. (spacenews.com)
— Rocket Lab tests at Wallops (spacenews.com)
This week in SF history
— May 8 1962: The First launch of Atlas-Centaur ends in an explosion (twitter.com/RocketRundown) (youtube.com) (wikipedia.org)
— Next week in 1987: Pew-pew boom
Spaceflight news
— Firefly signs Launch Services Agreement with Spaceflight, Inc. (spacenews.com) (spaceflight.com)
— Originally autogenously pressurized tanks (space.stackexchange.com)
— Fire in Jan due to misconfigured software (youtube.com/watch)
— Spaceflight Industries In process of being bought by Mitsui and Yamasa (techcrunch.com)
Short & Sweet
— Starliner requires more than a reflight to be fit for crew (HT Sam in the chat twitter.com/thesheetztweetz)
— Dream Chaser gets its wings. (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Design narrowed for future Mars Ascent Vehicle. (spaceflightnow.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Stygarfield via Discord: Possible Starlink configuration (reddit.com/r/Starlink)
This week in SF history
— 1954 April 29: Launch of Nike Nike Deacon (space.skyrocket.de) (astronautix.com)
— More info on Deacon (astronautix.com)
— Next week in 1962: Don’t take your jacket off too early!
Spaceflight news
— Intuitive Machines selects lunar landing site (spacenews.com)
— Nova-C’s publicity page (intuitivemachines.com)
— Maps of Vallus Schröterie in Oceanus Procellarum (cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net)
— SpaceX and Gateway Logistics Services (spacenews.com) (PDF: beta.sam.gov/)
— Fan cross-section speculations (nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— MEV-1 completes Intelsat-901 relocation. (spacenews.com)
— SpaceX has a Demo-2 launch date. (spacenews.com) (twitter.com/SciGuySpace)
— LauncherOne captive carry. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Amy Parent: Rocket Lab will use a ballute (twitter.com/amyinorbit)
This week in SF history
— April 23, 1971, Soyuz-10 fails to dock with Salyut-1 (wikipedia.org)
— Next week in 1954: Puma Puma Priest
Spaceflight news
— Rocket Lab completes successful demonstration of mid-air capture. (rocketlabusa.com) (youtube.com) (spacenews.com)
— Tim Dodd published a great interview with Peter Beck (youtu.be)
Short & Sweet
— Mars helicopter has been attached to NASA rover. (nasa.gov)
— Starliner gets a second flight test. (spacenews.com)
— Long March Fails to loft Nusantara Dua (spacenews.com) (spaceflightnow.com)
— Masten Space Systems wins lunar lander award from NASA. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Chris Hofmann: It’s not LOX vents that have flares, it’s Methane.
— Ben Hallert and Chris Hofmann: Grasshopper didn’t explode, that was F9R dev (twitter.com/chairboy/)
— Ben Hallert: “Starpopper” was the same thing as SN1. (twitter.com/chairboy)
— Eric Blood via email: worm logo (PDF: nasa.gov)
— Apollo 13: Home Safe viewing party
— April 14, Tuesday at 7 p.m. Eastern
— Join us on Discord and Watch2Gether! (discordapp.com) (watch2gether.com)
This week in SF history
— 16 April 1965: first five-engine test stand firing of S-IC at MSFC (nasa.gov) (heroicrelics.org) (wikipedia.org)
— Next week in 1971: Like Jar-Jar and an off-cast 620C
Spaceflight News
— Starship SN3 Collapse (space.com) (arstechnica.com) (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— RIP Starship Mk1 (twitter.com/NASASpaceflight)
— RIP Starship SN1 (twitter.com/WyattJGeorge/)
— Starship SN2’s thrust puck (https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/41761/what-is-a-thrust-puck-on-starship)
— Jamestown Base considered for real (spacenews.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)
— Laura Forczyk poll: “What’s a reasonable new goal [for Artemis 3]?” (twitter.com/LauraForczyk)
Short & Sweet
— Virgin Orbit selects site in Japan for horizontal launches. (spacenews.com)
— NASA selects SunRISE. (nasaspaceflight.com)
Interview: Jordan Noone, Cofounder/CTO, Relativity Space
— USC rocket propulsion lab (uscrpl.com)
— twitter.com/theJordanNoone
— twitter.com/Relativityspace
— relativityspace.com
This week in SF history
— March 7 1962: launch of OSO-1 (nasa.gov) (wikipedia.org) (PDF: ntrs.nasa.gov)
— Next week in 1965: Five alive
Spaceflight news
— Gateway Logistics Services Program awarded to SpaceX (arstechnica.com) (spacenews.com) (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Dragon XL (youtube.com) (twitter.com/Caspar_Stanley)
— OIG is investigating NASA’s acquisition strategy (twitter.com/NASAOIG)
— Crew Dragon Mk 3 Parachute Test (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— NASA files a request for new engines. (spacenews.com)
— Astra suffers damage in pre-launch test. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Artemis-1 flight profile details
This week in SF history
— April 3, 1926: The birth of Gus Grissom (en.wikipedia.org)
— Tough and Competent speech (garrett.co.uk)
— Next week in 1962: sail and wheel
Spaceflight news
— Artemis-1 Orion tests complete (spacenews.com) (americaspace.com)
— Ships to KSC March 23 (twitter.com/NASAKennedy)
— Cubesat ridealongs (en.wikipedia.org)
Short & Sweet
— L3Harris wins NASA contract for LISA observatory. (nasa.gov) (Our interview on the LISA Pathfinder: theorbitalmechanics.com)
— Long March 7A is unsuccessful. (spaceflightnow.com)
— SpaceX launches Darksat, with lackluster results. (spacenews.com) (arxiv.org) (PDF: arxiv.org)
Questions, comments, corrections
— ICPS, not IUS (twitter.com/Jeff_Snively)
— From the intro: OneWeb considers bankruptcy (bloomberg.com)
This week in SF history
— March 24, 2006: HiRISE takes first test images of Mars (mars.nasa.gov) (mars.nasa.gov)
— Detector Chip Assemblies (DCAs) (PDF: asprs.org)
— Uses push-broom method (hirise.seti.org)
— Next week in 1926: Listen in for an audio clue
Spaceflight news
— RS-25 Testing (nasaspaceflight.com)
— Gateway officially non-critical for Artemis landing (spacenews.com)
Short & Sweet
— SpaceLogistics teams with DARPA on satellite servicing vehicle. (c4isrnet.com)
— ExoMars gets delayed. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Law Loving via email on Musk and Bezos
— Thanks to Emory Stagmer for the outro music! (twitter.com/VAXHeadroom)
This week in SF history
— March 18, 1965: The launch of Voskhod-2 (wikipedia.org) (airspacemag.com)
— Next week in 2008: McEwen’s baby
Spaceflight news
— Starliner update (spacenews.com) (youtube.com)
Short & Sweet
— Last minute scrub costs Astra the DARPA Challenge (spaceflightnow.com)
— DSCOVR resumes operations. (spaceflightnow.com)
— SLS scheduling update (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Winning entry for the Mars 2020 naming contest (mars.nasa.gov)
— Destin’s ULA tour (youtube.com) (youtube.com)
This week in SF history
— 14 March, 1934. Birth of Eugene Cernan (wikipedia.org)
— Next week in 1965: No vacuum in a vacuum.
Spaceflight news
— SpaceX plans a mobile service tower (twitter.com/Falcon9Block5) (space.com)
— Starship SN-1 suffered pressure failure (twitter.com/JohnRand0061) (youtube.com)
— Artemis changes? (arstechnica.com)
— “This is not the plan.” says Bridenstine re Moon 2024 Mission Manifest (twitter.com/JimBridenstine)
Short & Sweet
— NASA's safety advisory panel finds Boeing didn't perform end-to-end software check prior to Starliner demo mission. (orlandosentinel.com) (twitter.com/ChabeliH) (twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF)
— OmegA’s second stage has been test fired. (spacenews.com)
— MEV-1 performs first ever docking between commercial spacecraft. (c4isrnet.com) (twitter.com/northropgrumman)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Paul via email: Lousma pronounced like “lousy.”
— Jason Friesen via email: Skylab rescue was a totally different mission from Skylab-4! (en.wikipedia.org)
This week in SF history
— March 10, 2006: MRO enters Mars orbit (wikipedia.org)
— Next week in 1934: Puppetteer
Spaceflight news
— InSight’s HP3 to get a lil push (www.dlr.de) (twitter.com/NASAInSight) (mars.nasa.gov)
Short & Sweet
— JAXA going forward with sample return mission to Phobos. (spaceflightnow.com)
— SpaceX has a date for a polar launch from the Cape. (teslarati.com)
— CSLI, selects the next round of 18 smallsats to fly on ELaNa missions (nasa.gov)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Andrew Z via email: Interesting read about Space Shuttle software development (aviationweek.com) (PDF: nasa.gov)
Interview -- Laura Forczyk, space careers counselor and author
— Read more about and purchase Rise of the Space Age Millennials
— astralytical.com/rise-of-the-space-age-millennials
— barnesandnoble.com
— amazon.com
— twitter.com/hashtag/SpaceMillennials
— Find out more about Laura
— astralytical.com
— twitter.com/LauraForczyk
— twitter.com/astralytical
— linkedin.com/in/lauraforczyk
This week in SF history
— February 29, 1936, birth of Jack Lousma (wikipedia.org)
— STS-3 landing (youtube.com)
— Next week in 2006: Car crashes apply dV in 300-400 ms. What about five months?
Spaceflight news
— Discovery Program selects four finalists (nasa.gov) (spacenews.com) (spacenews.com)
— DAVINCI+ (PDF: hou.usra.edu) (wikipedia.org)
— IVO (PDF: hou.usra.edu) (wikipedia.org)
— Trident (PDF: hou.usra.edu) (wikipedia.org) (HT Sam in the chat: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
— VERITAS (PDF: dlr.de) (wikipedia.org)
— Abstracts for the other proposals (HT sam in the chat: forum.nasaspaceflight.com)
Short & Sweet
— JAXA selects partner for country’s first debris removal project (spacenews.com)
— Spaceway-1 has been safely decommissioned. (spacenews.com)
Questions, comments, corrections
— Ben Hallert on AS-103/Pegasus (twitter.com/chairboy)
— Also, Iranian space suit (twitter.com/fab_hinz) (apnews.com)
— Espen via email: Starship and Starliner presser
— Interesting article we forgot to mention! (forrestheller.com)
— Correct pressure numbers (twitter.com/elonmusk)
— Lovarro quote (twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF)
— Andrew via email: thoughts on Starliner
This week in SF history
— February 19, 1932: birth of Joe Kerwin (wikipedia.org)
— A13 quotes mentioned (hq.nasa.gov)
— Next week in 1936: white hot stick
Spaceflight news
— ASAP report on CST-100 Starliner (arstechnica.com) (blogs.nasa.gov)
— Astra Space emerges from stealth mode (spacenews.com) (arstechnica.com) (astra.com) (bloomberg.com)
Short & Sweet
— SpaceX likely to spinoff Starlink business. (bloomberg.com).
— Cape Canaveral is getting a name change. (spaceflightnow.com)
Interview -- Jason Batt, Editorial and Creative Director, 100 Year Starship
— 100yss.org
— One Sky project (space.com) (nationalgeographic.com)
— Onliest, J Daniel Batt (amazon.com)
This week in SF history
— 16 February 1965, launch of Pegasus 1 (wikipedia.org) (astronautix.com)
— Next week in 1932: Dammit, Jim, I’m a doctor, not a…
