THE NEW SPACE RACE: China launches its first medium Earth orbit broadband satellites.

SOME PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK: SpaceX breaks Space Shuttle pad record with Falcon 9 Starlink mission. “With a Wednesday afternoon launch, SpaceX’s Falcon family of rockets exceeded the total number of Space Shuttle missions from historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The combination of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket launches passed the total number of shuttle flights seen at that pad.”

The Space Shuttle flew for 30 years. The first Falcon 9 was launched in 2010 and has made 329 successful launches compared to the Shuttle’s 133.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Chang’e-6 enters lunar orbit ahead of far side landing attempt.

UPDATE: Link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!

MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: New university creates space for debate, but it’s not ‘safe.’ “University of Austin students, who will be chosen on the basis of test scores, grades, and a willingness to take a chance on something new, will not be offered an intellectual ‘safe space.'”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China launches first Long March 6C rocket.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China’s Chang’e-6 is carrying a surprise rover to the moon: This is not the first time a Chinese mission has harbored hidden spacecraft.

SOME PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK: SpaceX successfully launches 23 Starlink satellites from Florida.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX Gears Up for Starship Flight Test 4 with Unprecedented Upgrades and Preparations.

The technological advances and rigorous testing at Boca Chica are at the heart of SpaceX’s preparation for Starship Flight Test 4. This phase of development is not only about refining the spacecraft but also about validating a host of new technologies that will be crucial for the success of future missions. As Marcus House pointed out, “SpaceX is conducting the fastest tower arm tests ever seen, suggesting that the company is on the brink of mastering the booster catch mechanism, which could revolutionize rocket reusability.”

The tower arms, crucial for the innovative booster catch technique, are being tested under extreme conditions to ensure they can handle the dynamic stresses of catching a booster as it returns from space. If successful, this method will eliminate the need for traditional landing legs on the booster, reducing weight and complexity and potentially allowing for quicker turnaround times between launches. “These arms need to move with precision and speed, and the recent tests show that SpaceX is making significant strides towards achieving these goals,” House explained.

Would it be rude to ask, “Faster, please?”

FROM RACONTEUR PRESS, WITH STORIES BY LAW DOG, LEE ALLRED AND OTHERS:  Space Cowboys 5: Cattle Drive.

#CommissionEarned

When every inch of our planet has been explored, from the depths of the sea to the top of every mountain, Space and her untamed frontiers will still be beckoning us, calling us to go beyond the farthest star and see what there is to see.

Old Sam Clemens once said that History don’t repeat itself, but it do rhyme. In Space, we got a vast, unexplored, mysterious, and dangerous frontier. We’ll have herds of some kind to watch over and to drive to market. Most times we’ll be far and beyond the reach of “civilization,” with their myriad of laws, lawyers, and politicians. Those tough enough to carve out a living will need the independent, rugged spirit of the cowboy to survive. There will be leeches and villains, for sure, heroes and anti-heroes, and some folks just trying to eke out a living. If we choose to tell their tales draped in the lingo and trappings of the cowboy, that’s just another rhyme, with form following the function.

If you’re new to the Space Cowboy series, you’re in for a treat. These ten stories, from ten different authors, are where you’ll find Explorers charting new frontiers in space, Trailhands and Drovers watching over their cattle on alien plains, and Lawdogs of every stripe meting out frontier justice, and doing their best to make sure scallywags with evil intent don’t win in the end. These cowboys and cowgirls don’t back down from a challenge. It’s not in their nature.
(From the Introduction written by Rick Cutler)

THE NEW SPACE RACE: SpaceX reveals EVA suit design as Polaris Dawn mission approaches.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA awards studies for commercial Mars missions.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China launches Chang’e-6 mission to collect first samples from the moon’s far side.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: South Korea Plan for Space Based Solar for More Than All US Nuclear Power.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Lawmaker presses Pentagon official on Russia’s potential space nuke.

SPACE: SpaceX successfully launches Maxar Intelligence next-gen satellites.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA chooses 9 companies for Mars Exploration Program concept studies.

THE NEW SPACE RACE/EASTER EGG: China Releases CGI Video of Moon Base and It Contains Something Very Strange. “The video is also raising eyebrows for a bizarre cameo: a NASA Space Shuttle taking off from a launch pad in the distance.”

A RELIGIOUS TEST FOR SPACE EXPLORATION?

An editorial recently published on SpaceNews took the position that my company’s Luna Memorial Spaceflight service should not be permitted on the Moon because the Navajo Nation views the Moon as sacred.

In essence, the author is arguing that lawful space missions should be subject to the religious test of a single culture.

No religious tests. And no religious vetoes on humanity’s future.

HAPPENING NOW: Watch SpaceX’s Crew-8 astronauts move their Dragon at the ISS May 2 to make way for Boeing’s Starliner.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China ready to launch lunar far side sample return mission.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China selects new space missions including lunar far side astronomy and terrestrial exoplanet survey.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China compiled the most detailed moon atlas ever mapped.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Advisory committee recommends moving FAA commercial space office out of the agency.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA still doesn’t understand root cause of Orion heat shield issue: “When we stitch it all together, we’ll either have flight rationale or we won’t.”

Well, that’s comforting.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA still doesn’t understand root cause of Orion heat shield issue.

NASA officials previously said it is unlikely they will need to make changes to the heat shield already installed on the Orion spacecraft for Artemis II, but haven’t ruled it out. A redesign or modifications to the Orion heat shield on Artemis II would probably delay the mission by at least a year.

The charred material began flying off the heat shield in the first phase of the skip reentry. Engineers are looking at how the skip reentry profile affected the performance of the Orion heat shield. NASA wants to understand how the Orion heat shield would perform during each of the possible reentry trajectories for Artemis II.

“What we have the analysis teams off doing is saying, ‘OK, independent of what the constraints are going to be, what can we tolerate?” Kshatriya said.

Once officials understand the cause of the heat shield charring, engineers will determine what kind of trajectory Artemis II needs to fly on reentry to minimize risk to the crew. Then, managers will look at building what NASA calls flight rationale. Essentially, this is a process of convincing themselves the spacecraft is safe to fly.

“When we stitch it all together, we’ll either have flight rationale or we won’t,” Kshatriya said.

The heat shield worked during Artemis I reentry but didn’t burn off as expected. SLS is stacked and ready for Artemis II and Starship is coming along…