SLS–Play Out the Line? Or Cut Bait?

I happened upon this editorial today: NASA’s New Rocket Is Huge but so Is Its Budget It’s an article from “The National Interest,” so approach it with a little skepticism. As with these kinds of writing, there’s some truth and some spin. Relative to nearly everything else government, NASA’s budget is not that big at […]

May 25, 2018: Weekly Spatial Resolutions

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has invited Australia’s new space agency to help it reach the moon Since Blue Origin is used to testing rockets in godforsaken places, the Australian Outback is probably a logical place for the company’s considerations in plans to launch rockets. I don’t know if Australians should be excited, because “space tourism” […]

Blue Origin’s In-flight Escape Test

It’s not every day that you see a rocket come apart in mid-air, fire coming from each part, and then have both parts come back to Earth, safely. But that’s just what Blue Origin did today during their in-flight escape test of the New Shepard rocket and capsule. When the smoke and dust cleared, the […]

Landing the Business of Launch

SpaceX was very confident that today’s successful landing would happen. Instead of hedging the outcome as they had in previous launches, statements from people within the company before the launch today indicated that today was the day. And today was their day. I’m assuming you’ve seen the footage of the Falcon 9’s first stage landing […]

Amazoom? Blue Origin launches a rocket

Blue Origin is one of those rocket companies that’s been fairly secretive in its activities. But it’s very difficult, unless you’re Russia or China, to secretly shoot a rocket 307,000 feet (58 miles) into the sky. But launch is just what Blue Origin did last week, on 29 April. The company not only tested the rocket, […]