YazataJan 14, 2021 07:21 PM (This post was last modified: Jan 14, 2021 09:06 PM by Yazata.)
Yeah, Z-Man. The reason today's rocketeers do so well is that they are standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak. The engineers in the wild-and-crazy 1950's and 1960's shoot-for-the-Moon (literally!) era solved so many technical problems that the answer to almost any question, or useful hints pointing at a solution, can be found in some old almost illegible photocopy of a type-written technical paper sitting in a nasa or air force archive somewhere.
That's one reason why I love all these private space enterprises. I much prefer projects that are created and managed by engineering visionaries to huge expensive risk-averse pork-barrel boondoggles conceived by government bureaucrats. I love the 'I think we could actually do this! So let's try!!' attitude. It doesn't hurt that SpaceX and Blue are bankrolled by the two richest men on Earth, who are both space-nuts in their own ways. (The world's never had that before.)
Appears that the capsule reached 108 km this morning, over the Karman line but still beneath orbital altitude. High enough that it will be black all around with the blue Earth down below.
I wonder if Blue's next flight of this thing will have people on board. This was a test flight of the booster and capsule meant for human flights.
I really do want to fly on this!!! (It will probably be too expensive though.)
Edit to add this little video tour of Blue's rocket engine plant in Huntsville AL. Watch it in full screen, since the narration gets out of synch with the images when it's playing small in the tweet.
YazataFeb 12, 2021 06:31 PM (This post was last modified: Feb 13, 2021 04:37 AM by Yazata.)
Somebody at Cape Canaveral got this photo of the super-secret Blue Origin rocket factory with a door open so that what appears to be some kind of manufacturing jig can go in.
There's definitely some kind of rocket hardware in there. Rumor is that it isn't a flight article, but rather a manufacturing pathfinder. They are trying to determine what kind of tooling and manufacturing methods they will need by actually trying to build one of their big rockets and seeing what needs arise. That's basically what the old Mk.1 Starship was a year ago at Boca Chica.
It's expected that there will be more photographs of Blue's new reusable orbital rocket in future months as flyable ones have to emerge from the hanger to be turned vertical, be stacked, and undergo vibration tests and whatever before they try to fly it on their new launch pad they are building there at the Cape.
C CFeb 12, 2021 07:20 PM (This post was last modified: Feb 12, 2021 07:22 PM by C C.)
(Feb 12, 2021 06:31 PM)Yazata Wrote: Somebody at Cape Canaveral got this photo of the super-secret Blue Origin rocket factory with a door open...
"Super-secret" probably won't stop them, but at least it'll obstruct the Borg [er...] Chinese a little more than what it otherwise would when it comes to assimilating the technology of other worlds slash civilizations. ("Resistance is futile.")
YazataFeb 24, 2021 05:04 AM (This post was last modified: Feb 24, 2021 05:22 AM by Yazata.)
Irene Klotz of Aviation Week interviewed Blue's VP for Flight and Test Scott Henderson who says that the rollout date for Blue's New Glenn rocket will be announced this week. New Glenn will have a reusable first stage like the Falcon 9 and be kind of midway between Falcon Heavy and Starship in size and payload. (Blue is said to have a Starship class New Armstrong rocket on the drawing board.)
Here's a Blue photo by way of Irene showing Blue's new nearly complete launch pad at Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ("slick 36" in Cape Canaveral talk). This is where they will be launching the New Glenn.
Rocket size comparison chart. The big rocket on the right is the old Saturn V Moon rocket. Starship and SLS are comparable to Saturn in size. The game changer is that all parts of Starship are designed to be reusable.
YazataFeb 25, 2021 09:44 PM (This post was last modified: Feb 26, 2021 02:23 AM by Yazata.)
The target date for New Glenn's maiden flight wasn't what we were expecting at all. Q4 2022! Everyone was expecting it to fly sometime later this year. So it's been delayed a year and now it's two years off! very disappointing.
Blue says that their suborbital new Shephard is set launch net (no earlier than) Wednesday 4-14. Once again, it will be unmanned. (I'm getting impatient to see people fly on this. Maybe this summer.)
Blue's suborbital new shephard rocket is set to fly this morning from Corn Ranch in west Texas. 11:15 AM EDT, 15:15 UTC and 8:15 AM PDT.
Another flight up to the Karman line and back, with a propulsive landing. And once again, this flight won't have any people aboard. Hopefully their first manned flight is coming this summer sometime.
Jan 14, 2021 07:21 PM
(This post was last modified: Jan 14, 2021 09:06 PM by Yazata.)
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