Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022
"... SpaceX, dominant though it may be today, would benefit from some real competition. But space is hard, as veterans of the field like to say, and the legacy aerospace companies, like Boeing, that dominated the Apollo, space shuttle, and ISS era of spaceflight will need deep cultural shifts to compete in the new era of entrepreneurial discovery."
https://www.city-journal.org/article/can-boeing-catch-up-with-spacex
According to the car thermometer, it was 97°F here in Merritt Island at noon time. 😓
Having worked there for ten years, I've always been interested in the history of the #KSC Visitor Complex. Its original name was the VIsitor Information Center (old-timers called it "the VIC.")
It opened in 1967. This photo is October 1975. The first expansions have begun. Two rockets have been planted in the Rocket Garden. Segments of the Saturn IB sit in the parking lot, awaiting assembly. The Orbit Cafe is under construction in the upper left.
Coming up at 9 AM EDT / 6 AM PDT, #NASA TV will air live a tour of the #Boeing #Starliner currently docked at #ISS. Watch live on their YouTube channel.
Fun facts about Bill Anders ... After Apollo 8, President Nixon appointed Anders to lead the National Aeronautics and Space Council, a presidential advisory body created by the NASA Act in 1958.
In 1973, Nixon appointed Anders to a position with the Atomic Energy Commission.
In 1975, President Ford appointed Anders to chair the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
In 1976, Anders was appointed ambassador to Norway.
My new Windows wallpaper (1920x1080 if you want to use it), in memory of Bill Anders.
The Earthrise photo is credited by some as the inspiration for the Earth Day movement. It's also been credited for giving humanity its first significant change of perspective, that we all share one fragile world, without borders visible from the rest of the universe.
Or you can just appreciate a man with a camera being in the right place at the right time.
Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders dies in vintage airplane crash in Washington state.
https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/william-anders-wa-plane-crash
#Politics #Economy From #CNN: They double down on the "bad news for #Biden" message.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/07/economy/bad-news-in-good-jobs-report/index.html
From Eric Berger at #ArsTechnica:
"The microscopic structural cracks are located inside the small PrK module on the Russian segment of the space station, which lies between a Progress spacecraft airlock and the Zvezda module."
Zvezda's frame was built in the mid-1980s. It's a colossal achievement that it's lasted this long.
ISS is the pathfinder for space habitat technologies. Now we can learn how to put these habitats in "hospice."
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/on-the-space-station-band-aid-fixes-for-systemic-problems/
Here's the video of the #Biden speech today at Pointe du Hoc, France. If the link doesn't take you there directly, go to the 51:45 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/live/76a88l3nFao?si=7kZxSIIaZwiADrai&t=3105
Just watched #Biden deliver his D-Day speech at Pointe du Hoc, France. For all the complaining about Biden's age, consider there are WW2 vets in attendance who are 20 years older than he is. Service to the country is about more than age.
#Space #SpaceCoast #Obama #Boeing #Starliner #CFT
From #FloridaToday:
"As we’ve seen over the past 14 years, this may be President Obama’s greatest success in hindsight."
Personal note ... My Florida space history book is about this time, how the Obama administration fixed what Florida politicians would not.
More bad news for #Biden as the U.S. economy adds 272,000 jobs in May. 🤣
The unemployment rate reached 4%, which should please the Fed.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/07/economy/may-jobs-report-final/index.html
As the locals say, it's fixin' ... although I don't think it'll make it across the river from the mainland.
From "Everyday Astronaut" Tim Dodd on Zombie Twitter ... Tim gets more-or-less exclusive interviews with Elon before Starship test launches. (Tim is apolitical and an acquaintance, so no shots please.)
We learn two things from this video:
(1) Elon knew before today's test flight that the flap hinge was a vulnerability, and
(2) Elon has put on a *lot* of weight. Maybe he's stress-eating.
Separated by 80 years, two heroes who saved Europe meet at Normandy -- a WW2 veteran, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Stephen Smith 🇺🇦
I am a long-time advocate of space exploration, settlement and commerce. Migrated from @WordsmithFL on Twitter.
Joined Nov 2022