Space News #3

[ottarrus]

Two bits of space related news this week, folks. Wikipedia links posted below.

1. The PRC's National Space Agency [CNSA] launched a lunar exploration mission, Chang'e 6, on 05May. That mission successfully landed on the Moon, collected samples, and returned to lunar orbit. This is the 3rd phase of a 4-phase project to land a man on the moon.

2. Boeing's Starliner has completed it's first manned flight, taking two astronauts to the ISS. The mission is ongoing, but it is intended to return the astronauts via a piloted ground landing. The crew are NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore [Mission CO] and Sunita Williams [Pilot], both on their third trip to space. This is the first manned mission launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station [yeah, that one's weird for me too] since Mercury-Atlas 9 [Gordon Cooper] in 1963.

Chang'e 6 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Boeing Crewed Flight Test - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Sigtrygg]

I think you missed the most important one.

Starship flight 4 demonstrated it can soft land the booster, the ship can survive re-entry (next time there will be less issues) and soft land.

SpaceX Starship integrated flight test 4 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Elon aims to build a thousand of these.

 

[ottarrus]

I've lost a lot of confidence in Elon Musk over the last three years. Apparently the guy is a Grade-A cloaca who had a handler staff working overtime keeping his behavior out of the media. Turns out Space-X under Steve Jobs Jr. was about as healthy as Three Mile Island.
I hope that Space-X succeeds, I really do. But I have absolutely zero faith in Elon Musk.

 

[Sigtrygg]

So you ignored the Space X news due to politics?

Tip - don't believe the narrative fed to you by people with an agenda.

Elon was the darling of the left until he bought Twitter and revealed how the Democrats and the wokerati had stifled free speech and weaponised social media. Then he became the bogie man.

 

[Jame Rowe]

I've lost a lot of confidence in Elon Musk over the last three years. Apparently the guy is a Grade-A cloaca who had a handler staff working overtime keeping his behavior out of the media. Turns out Space-X under Steve Jobs Jr. was about as healthy as Three Mile Island.
I hope that Space-X succeeds, I really do. But I have absolutely zero faith in Elon Musk.

I have a similar thought, but my issue is Musk, not SpaceX.

 

[Anstett]

Having a friend who worked at SpaceX. They would talk about how things worked best when Musk was not paying attention. Shotwell does a very good job of running the company as a space company administrator.

I cover SpaceX things on my podcast all the time, Musk very rarely.

 

[ottarrus]

So you ignored the Space X news due to politics?

Tip - don't believe the narrative fed to you by people with an agenda.

Elon was the darling of the left until he bought Twitter and revealed how the Democrats and the wokerati had stifled free speech and weaponised social media. Then he became the bogie man.

I honestly missed the story and would have posted about it had I known. I mean, if I can post about Communist China then Elon Musk isn't much of a barrier.
And no, I don't avoid Space-X because of politics. As I said, I have no issue with someone being more conservative than I am. I object to his conduct, not his politics. And again, I do hope that Space-X is successful.

 

[Condottiere]

Musk is the modern Henry Ford - you really don't want to look under the hood.

 

[ottarrus]

Musk is the modern Henry Ford - you really don't want to look under the hood.

Complete with virulent antisemitism, belief in conspiracy theories, and treating employees like shit....

Henry Ford didn't just demonstrate these traits, he was proud of them. Yeah, he was a genius, credit where it's due, but there was whole bunch not to like about the man. And it appears that Elon Musk grew up to be JUST like him....

But let's get this thing back on track.

In sad space news, William 'Bill' Anders, the astronaut that took the Earthrise photo, died while flying his restored Beechcraft Mentor T-34 aircraft near his home on San Juan Island, WA. It's about 100 miles from where I sit right now. Anders was a man of many parts: Retired USAF Major General, industrialist, restorationist, diplomat, and advocate for peace. The family announced yesterday that his body has been recovered, but no funeral plans have been given to the public.
[link to William Anders wiki page, followed by Earthrise photo]

William Anders - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org