SCHEDULED FOR 9:29 EST: Watch Live: NASA SpaceX 31st Resupply Launch to International Space Station. Routine, but not boring.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Chinese launch startup Cosmoleap secures funding for rocket featuring chopstick recovery system. “The company also plans a 126-meter-long rocket, capable of carrying 100 tons to the same orbit when expended, or 36 tons when reused. The first launch is targeted for around 2030.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Blue Origin hauls massive New Glenn 1st stage to launch site with hot fire up next.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: India plans lunar sample mission for 2028.

WOEING: What is happening with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft?

CAN WE TRUST THEM TO CONDUCT AN URGENT EVACUATION IN TIME?  Astronauts Aboard International Space Station Told to Prepare for Urgent Evacuation.

HELLO, VGER: Voyager 1 spacecraft phones home with transmitter that hasn’t been used since 1981.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Chinese launch startup Cosmoleap secures funding for rocket featuring chopstick recovery system.

I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY SPACE PORN ANYMORE: lest the prigs at Google demonetize the site. So here is Pre-Election Astronomical Eye-Candy

A VIP article.

THE NEW SPACE RACE, PRIORITIES EDITION: NASA to restart Mentor-Protege program to help improve contractor diversity.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA updates list of Artemis 3 landing sites.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China launches 3 astronauts to Tiangong space station on Shenzhou 19 mission.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA Reveals Nine Potential Landing Sites for Artemis III Mission to the Lunar South Pole.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: NASA identifies 9 possible landing regions for Artemis III moon mission.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: China to send 14th crewed mission to space on Shenzhou-19.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: DIPLOMACY ROLLS ON. Chile and Cyprus sign the Artemis Accords. “The two countries bring to 47 the number of nations that have signed the Artemis Accords since 2020. Four of those countries have signed in October.”

FASTER, PLEASE: Breakthrough coming? Iceland could get solar power from space in 2030.

I remember talking about space solar power to people in the eighties and nineties to responses that ranged from skeptical to disdainful. Likewise space tourism. But now that stuff is becoming real.

LIMITED TIME DEAL: ALORAIR Crawl Space Dehumidifiers. #CommissionEarned

SOME PARTS OF AMERICA STILL WORK: SpaceX sends 22 Starlink satellites into orbit in record-setting launch.

YES: America is at risk of high impact GPS jamming and spoofing from space.

WELCOME HOME: Crew-8 returns to Earth.

A Crew Dragon spacecraft successfully returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Oct. 25, wrapping up a record-setting mission.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast from Pensacola, Florida, at 3:29 a.m. Eastern. The spacecraft had undocked from the ISS at 5:05 p.m. Eastern Oct. 23.

The splashdown marked the end of the Crew-8 mission, returning NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin. The four spent 235 days in space, 232 of them on the station.

In a statement several hours after splashdown, NASA said the four had been taken to a local medical facility “for additional evaluation” separate from the standard medical evaluations done on the recovery ship. NASA did not elaborate on what prompted that evaluation, and the agency said at a post-splashdown briefing that the the crew was doing well after splashdown. NASA added in its statement that “out of an abundance of caution, all crew members were flown to the facility together.”

That 235-day mission is a record for the longest flight of an American crewed spacecraft.

Crew-9 is set to return in February with Starliner strandees Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board.

STAR PICTURES ARE COOL [VIP]: GOLDEN AGE OF SPACE PORN.

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Cyprus signs NASA’s Artemis Accords, becoming 46th nation to commit to safe space exploration.

ANOTHER SUCCESS FOR SPACEX: NASA’s Crew-8 returns to Earth, successfully splashing down into Atlantic. “The four-member SpaceX Crew-8 aboard Crew Dragon Endeavour returned to Earth early Friday, completing their nearly eight-month mission in space. Their Endeavour spacecraft splashed down into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida near Pensacola at 3:39 a.m. EDT, after undocking from the International Space Station some 34 hours earlier.”

LIKE SPACESUITS? How Prada’s fancy Artemis III spacesuits work. I just hope that they’re compatible with SpaceX connections.