It’s sixty years old today.
I think it’s earned an early retirement.
[Via Gail Heriot, with the usual stupidity about “Muslim outreach” in the comments]
Category Archives: Space History
Congress Tells USAF To Consider Reusables
Eric Berger has the latest.
@SciGuySpace Part of that history was the idiotic policy in the early 90s of telling USAF to use expendables, and assigning reusables to NASA, which resulted in the disastrous X-33 and X-34 programs, which "proved" that reusables couldn't be done.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) July 27, 2018
July 20th
It’s not just the 49th Apollo anniversary; it’s also the anniversary of the failed attempt to assassinate Hitler. Plus, it’s the 25th anniversary of the (likely) murder of Vince Foster.
I’ll Have a Bloody Tongue
I scored a ticket to the VIP gala at KSC Saturday night, to celebrate the 49th anniversary of the first moon landing. I just found out I’ll be seated at a front table with commercial-spaceflight basher Walt Cunningham.
Buzz
Emilee Speck got the court documents. As someone who’s known them all for years, this is very sad.
[Afternoon update]
Here’s a statement from Christina:
Personal Statement by Christina Korp @Buzzs_xtina regarding article about @TheRealBuzz lawsuit in the @WSJ pic.twitter.com/okyW8aztvY
— NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) June 25, 2018
[Wednesday-morning update]
Here’s the latest, from Chris Davenport.
[Bumped]
[Late-morning update]
Marina Koren has more at The Atlantic.
SpaceShipOne
It’s the fourteenth anniversary of its first space flight. Here’s a blog post I wrote in Mojave the evening before.
And fourteen years later, not a single passenger has flown in this flawed concept. https://t.co/fi4iBuTH7b
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) June 21, 2018
[Update a while later]
The future ain’t what it used to be: Space tourism edition.
I do think though, that with Blue Origin getting ready to start test-passenger flights, it’s finally arriving.
End Of An Era
Georg von Tiesenhausen died on Sunday, at the age of 104. He was the last of von Braun’s rocket team. Amazing that he lived so long after what he went through in his youth.
And Then There Were Four
Alan Bean has left the earth for the last time.
I just saw Buzz last night at the ISDC awards ceremony, which was probably the most encouraging in the history of that meeting, in which (amid saving The Expanse for another season, with many of the cast and production crew present) Jeff Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, laid out his vision for humanity in space that was shared by all in that room. There will be a party tonight, and I don’t think the organization will have had a more joyous one in its history. It was fitting that it occurred in the very same hotel where the very first conference was held, thirty-seven years ago.
Tom Wolfe
Thoughts from Tim Fernholz on his space legacy.
NASA’s Aging Work Force
I talked to Haley Byrd about this yesterday, and she quoted me.