This Year We’re Asking Ourselves If The People We’re Supporting Are Supporting Us Too 

Remembering Col. Frank Frederick Borman II (March 14, 1928 – November 7, 2023), who passed away earlier this week at the incredible age of 95.

What an incredible life he had. Frank was the commander of Gemini VII and Apollo 8 and one of the first humans to fly around the moon. Until his death, he was the oldest living American astronaut—now his best friend Jim Lovell, who is 11 days younger, holds the distinction.

Frank’s beloved wife Susan, to whom he was married for over 70 years, passed away in 2021 and they are survived by their two sons.

Frank will be remembered as one of NASA’s best and brightest. He was known to be direct and to-the-point with a sharp sense of humor to match.

Every December 24th, I listen to Apollo 8’s Christmas Eve broadcast from lunar orbit in 1968, which included the crew’s recitation from Genesis and Frank’s message to the world: “Good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas —and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.” I’ll do so again this year with a little sadness and a lot of gratitude to Frank and his extraordinary life.

"When you're finally up at the moon looking back on earth, all those differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend, and you're going to get a concept that maybe this really is one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people." Frank Borman (1928-2023)

Crescent Earth seen from the Moon

The spacecraft Rosetta made this incredible picture during a Mars flyby!

hooked noses, flat noses, big noses, and nose bumps are cute society just has bland taste and a preference for white features

My thoughts on the upcoming IFT-3 flight of Starship-Super Heavy

As of writing (12th of February), IFT-3 is currently scheduled to occur later this month, but it could still easily get delayed.

My prediction is that IFT-3 will probably achieve orbit and will probably conduct an internal propellant-transfer, but that the upper stage (SN28) will probably suffer a failure of some kind during reëntry, either being destroyed or deviating far from its targetted splashdown-zone.

It's safe to say that successful reëntry is unlikely on IFT-3. Here's why:

The Starship upper stage will be the largest reëntry-vehicle ever built.

This reëntry profile (a belly-first reëntry with four fins used for stability) is unique and has never been done before. Starship's belly-first orientation is inherently ærodynamically unstable, which is why it needs constant corrections from the four fins. It could get trapped in a nose-first or tail-first orientation, both of which might be more stable. Else, a loss of control would just result in endless tumbling.

We've already seen heatshield-tiles falling off during IFT-1 and IFT-2. In fact, more fell off the latter than the former due to higher ærodynamic pressures and engine vibrations.

A failure during reëntry would be consistent with the general pattern of testflight-failures established so far. Essentially, each flight is a failure, but less of a failure than the previous one.

Honestly, I don't know what could happen to the first stage booster (B10). SpaceX knows how to do boostback-burns and propulsive landings. It's seemingly just a matter of preventing the vehicle from blowing itself up. Engine reliability will probably determine the booster's success.

It'll be interesting to watch nonetheless.

The fate of the Artemis Programme now depends on the success of these test flights and in SpaceX rapidly developing and utilising this reüsable launch-system. Development has been ongoing for over five years now, and the vehicle has yet to reach orbit. The landing of astronauts on the Moon is scheduled for September 2026. How likely is it that SpaceX will have humans on the Moon in just two and a half years from now?

The most complex flying machine ever created

Underappreciated Space Shuttle photos

Endeavour being serviced in the OPF

Columbia, STS-62. The OMS pods can be seen glowing due to interactions with atomic oxygen in an unusually low perigee of 195km. The hexagonal outline of the Extended Duration Orbiter Pallet is also visible.

Atlantis, STS-98. Approaching the ISS.

Endeavour, STS-54. Reflections in the window.

Challenger, rolling out before STS-6.

Mission Specialist Kathryn Thornton looking out the window while aboard Endeavour, STS-49.

Discovery, stacked ahead of STS-41.

Atlantis, STS-44. Bumped camera.

Discovery ahead of STS-128.

Challenger, STS-41B. Launching for the heavens (zoom in).

Columbia STS-1 landing at Edwards AFB

STS-1 was the first orbital spaceflight of NASA’s Space Shuttle program. The first orbiter, Columbia, launched on April 12, 1981 and returned on April 14, 1981, 54.5 hours later, having orbited the Earth 36 times. Columbia carried a crew of two – mission commander John W. Young and pilot Robert L. Crippen.