It’s Halloween and Sea Launch is Back From the Dead

Sea Launch is back from the dead (as opposed to being undead like zombiesat Galaxy 15). Sea Launch emerged from U.S. bankruptcy court in July and cleared the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in September and they’ve now completed their Chapter 11 reorganization effort. As such, Sea Launch should be tanned, rested, and ready for [...]

Ariane-5 Works, Eutelsat’s W3B Doesn’t

The 5.4-metric-ton Eutelsat W3B failed in what was described as an anomaly with the satellite’s propulsion subsystem following its successful launch by an Ariane 5. The W3B was to be located at 16 degree East to replace Eutelsat’s EUROBIRD 16, W2M, and SESAT 1 satellites. Of course the anomaly is under investigation. Check out the [...]

Power Failure Shuts Down Squadron of Nuclear Missiles?

The Atlantic reports …a power failure at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming that took 50 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), one-ninth of the U.S. missile stockpile, temporarily offline on Saturday. How serious – or better said, how weird – is this whole event?  First off, part of the story is mangled, because power [...]

Planetary Defense Coordination Office Proposed to Fight Asteroids

Planetary Defense Coordination Office Proposed to Fight Asteroids says Space.com. Ah, but the giggle factor.  Will the issue ever gain space-traction? Plus it always brings to mind National Lampoon’s Vacation.  How so? As the recently incarcerated Randy Quaid might say “Sometimes I get the asteroids so bad, I can’t hardly sit on the toilet.”

Why Do We Have A Space Station? (Part Deux)

One of the more enduringly popular posts on this site is the rhetorical Why Do We Have A Space Station? So it’s been almost two months since that post and maybe it’s a good time to ask the question once again using 10 years studying in orbit from Decatur Daily.com as a point of departure.  [...]

Bolden Back From China: Objectives Met

I take the NASA Administrator’s press release and the Space News headline to mean nothing threatening happened during the recent China visit. And that’s ok.  It’s like the doctors say: first do no harm. From the press release: I am pleased that NASA was able to meet its objectives for the visit, which included becoming [...]

Sweden Does It, No Big Deal. U.S. Does It, Freak Out Expected

The Swedish Prisma mission, which includes autonomous satellite formation flying, rendezvous, targeting, proximity operations, and inspection is about halfway through its planned 10 month mission. From Spaceflight Now: The mission reached a new first last week, when the satellites spent several days at close distances, eventually accomplishing an approach to a range of about 7 [...]

No Ticket, No Nukes

Bob Dylan told us the pump won’t work ‘cause the vandals took the handles. Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Hugh Shelton, in his recently released memoirs, said America couldn’t have used its nuclear weapons because then-President Bill Clinton lost the presidential identification codes. So to channel Dylan, the nukes won’t go ‘cause [...]

The Nedelin Disaster

The site as it looked in ten years ago From the here-to-for unfamiliar France24.   If a tree falls in the forest but no one hears it happen, most of us would agree it still makes a noise. Similarly, if a disaster happened in the USSR fifty years ago that few know of, it’s still [...]

Space Tourism: We’re Doomed

Let us now rightfully agree to wring hands. Why?  Because nature news is relaying the idea space tourism will accelerate “climate change.” The findings, reported in a paper in press in Geophysical Research Letters, suggest that emissions from 1,000 private rocket launches a year would persist high in the stratosphere, potentially altering global atmospheric circulation [...]