A review of the Cernan documentary, by Chris Petty.
Category Archives: Space History
My “Ending Apolloism” Talk At Space Access
I’ve uploaded the Powerpoint to the site.
It’s an outgrowth of my “SLS Roadblock” project, which I’m figuring out how to either wrap up or extend.
[Update a while later]
Erratum: At the time I originally created these charts, for the FISO telecon at the end of January, Dana had proposed the Space Settlement bill. He has since actually introduced it.
Gregg Easterbrook
I’ve had my differences with him over the years, but he has a piece in the WSJ with which I basically agree. I’d say the only thing he gets wrong was that it was Apollo itself that set us on the wrong path. The Shuttle was just a symptom of Apolloism.
[Behind the paywall, but do a Google search for “Mission to Nowhere” and it should come up]
Space Exploration’s Impact On Society
The NASA History Office has issued a new book, that is quite long, but has some interesting-looking essays in it.
The Fastest Man-Made Object Ever
Some of the nuke types over on Twitter have been discussing this. It would have beaten Sputnik to space, but not to earth orbit.
The SEDS Act
Dana has been talking about this for a year, but he’s finally introduced it:
To require the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to investigate and promote the exploration and development of space leading to human settlements beyond Earth, and for other purposes.
Development and settlement demand low cost of access to space, while NASA is forced by Congress to pursue a giant rocket that has exactly the opposite effect. I wish they’d left the E word out, because that’s implicit, and it allows people to maintain the status quo: “Well, the first thing we have to do is exploration, before we can think about development and settlement. And we can’t do exploration without SLS!”
I have a query in to Tony DeTora as to how this differs from the 1989 bill, because I still see no teeth in it regarding what to do if the administrator ignores it and doesn’t submit reports.
[Update a while later]
Related: A new book of essays and stories on the spiritual aspects of space
Today’s NASA Appropriations Hearing
I expect stupidity from Congress, but I wish that we had an administrator who was a brighter bulb. Bolden also said earth was “the most important planet in the world.”
Prizes, Technology, And Safety
Doug Messier has a history of early aviation, and Virgin Galactic.
Space Resource Distribution
This article at The Space Review seems profoundly ignorant of economics and history, including the history of the Moon Treaty, because that basically seems to be what he’s proposing.
Ending Apollo To Mars
I couldn’t give a heads up, because they only want people on the approved list to call in, but I was the speaker for today’s FISO talk. The audio and PDF are up now.