October 15, 2022

The Russian Space Program Is Falling Back to Earth (Source: The Atlantic)
“Space exploration is one of the two reference points in recent history”—the other being the Soviet Union’s victory in World War II—“that enjoys a broad consensus among Russians and defines many features of Russian political culture,” says Pavel Luzin, a Russian space-policy analyst. Beyond the ISS, though, Russia’s space portfolio isn’t all that grandiose these days.

Although cosmonauts fly into orbit regularly, Russia does not have a rover on the far side of the moon, as China has, or orbiters around Mars, as India and the United Arab Emirates have. It does not have a fleet of space telescopes like the U.S has. Russia has long hoped to rekindle its moon efforts, and eventually put people on the surface, but the European Space Agency, its partner in the effort, has withdrawn its participation because of the war in Ukraine. Europe has also kicked Russia out of the effort to send a new rover to Mars to search for signs of ancient life.

If Russia were to jump ship early, it would have no spaceflight program to speak of. “We must bear in mind that if we discontinue manned flights for several years, it will be very difficult to restore what we have achieved afterwards,” Vladimir Solovyov, a former cosmonaut and the flight director for the Russian side of the ISS, said. The country is working with China to build a lunar base by the 2030s. (10/14)

Telescopes on the Moon (Source: Aeon)
The Moon will initially be a playground for the super-rich. Their appetite for new forms of tourism seems insatiable. However, access is certain to change over time once low-cost space transport systems are developed. Only from the lunar surface can we mount the ultimate search for our origins. We’ll achieve this by constructing novel telescopes of unprecedented scope in dark lunar craters and on the far side of the Moon.

We can build huge telescopes on the Moon to peer further back in time than we could ever do from Earth, or even in space. We must look beyond the compelling goals of lunar and even interplanetary exploration along with commercially driven projects to seek answers to the most fundamental questions ever posed by humanity: where did we come from? Are we alone in this vast Universe? Telescopes will eventually provide the answers, but on a scale beyond our current dreams. (10/14)

Dragon Returns ISS Crew to Florida Waters. SpaceX has Flown More Astronauts Than Anyone (Source: Ars Technica)
After 170 days in space, four astronauts splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, bringing an end to a successful NASA-SpaceX mission to the ISS. SpaceX's Crew Dragon Freedom returned to Earth off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida.

In a little more than two years, SpaceX has surpassed the total number of astronauts launched into orbit by China, whose human spaceflight program dates back to 2003; and in the time Crew Dragon has been operational, it has exceeded even the Russian Soyuz vehicle in terms of the total number of people flown into space during that period. (10/14)

Georgia Rattled by Sonic Boom Caused by SpaceX Dragon Capsule Splashdown (Source: WSB-TV)
People who heard a loud explosion this evening in north Georgia can chalk it up to the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The capsule flew across Georgia, rattling parts of the state with a sonic boom as it broke the sound barrier. (10/14)

SpaceX Launches Long-Delayed European Telecommunications Satellite (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The Eutelsat Hotbird-13F geostationary communications satellite launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The Falcon 9 booster 1069-3, which had flown the CRS-24 and Starlink 4-23 missions, launched the Hotbird satellite to geostationary transfer orbit.

While the fairing halves targeted for a splashdown and retrieval some 781 kilometers east of Cape Canaveral, B1069 completed its third flight with a landing on the drone ship Just Read The Instructions, stationed approximately 663 km downrange of the Cape. (10/15)

Inside Pittsburgh’s Extraordinary New Moonshot Museum (Source: i News)
Walking into the Moonshot Museum feels like becoming a child again, dreaming of what lies beyond. Here, the astronauts of the future (and star-struck adults alike) can watch scientists working on state-of-the art technology that will travel almost 400,000km to the surface of the Moon.

Created with Pittsburgh space robotics company Astrobotic, the $2.5m (£2.2m) museum is a non-profit – and is part of the firm’s working warehouse. Its scientists and engineers design parts for Moon landers and rockets, while also coming up with innovative infrastructure plans for long-term lunar exploration, and eventually, habitation. (10/15)