Space Quote: Dumbing Down NASA Contracts

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

“In accordance with Executive Order 14434, Inaugurating the Era of Super Intelligence, this solicitation uses the terminology “Super Intelligence (SI)” exclusively. This includes SI-enabled capabilities such as machine learning, large language models, and foundation models. Please note that certain existing governmental reference materials and documents predating this solicitation may still contain legacy terminology, as they were previously issues before the establishment of Executive Order 14434.”

-Statement in the cover letter to with the subject line “Request for Proposal (RFP), Solicitation No. 80JSC027R0004, for Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destination Contract (CLDC) Asquisition.” Basically, NASA is looking for someone to build a space station but it is not allowed to acknowledge the term AI because the White House has a new name for it. It is bad enough NASA cannot say “space station,” but now it is unable to use common industry language when asking for help building one. There is little sign of SI, or any intelligence for that matter, at work in the government these days.

Crew-13 Safely Arrives at the ISS

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The SpaceX Dragon, with its nose cone open and carrying four Crew-13 members, approaches the International Space Station for a docking yesterday evening. (NASA)

A new ISS crew was launched from Cape Canaveral at 11:10 a.m. EDT Thursday, October 1, 2026 . Crew-13, consisting of NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. The ride to the space station was scheduled to be about 8 hours. The SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the crew safely docked with the ISS at 9:19 p.m. EDT.

The new crew will replace Crew‑12 consisting of NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev. These four crew members will be returning to Earth as soon as Monday, weather permitting.

Image (Credit): From left to right, Crew-13 NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, CSA astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov. (NASA)

The Original Star Wars Returns: Get Your Tickets

Posted on by onespaceman2000

If The Mandalorian and Grogu was not your favorite film this summer, you have plenty of time to prepare for the release of the original Star Wars film on its 50th anniversary. That’s right, it will be 50 years old next year.

The original Star Wars film was released on May 25, 1977. The re-release on IMAX will be available on February 19, 2027. You can sign up here to be notified when tickets become available in your area.

By original, I mean the version of the film before George Lucas started mucking it up with extra effects, such as the addition of a CGI Jabba the Hutt. You will be able to watch what everyone was watching in 1977.

And if that’s not enough, next year will also see the release of Star Wars: Starfighter with Ryan Gosling. It will premiere on 28 May, 2027, the same week as the original film in 1977. Starflighter was filmed for IMAX screens, so that will be an option as well.

Pic of the Week: The Black Eye Galaxy

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Composite image of Messier 64 (M64) from the JWST and the Hubble Space Telescope. (NASA, CSA, ESA, F. Belfiore (ESO), J. Lee (STScI), A. Leroy (OSU), and D. Thilker (JHU); Image Processing: G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University))

This week’s image is from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. It is a composite image from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Hubble Space Telescope showing Messier 64 (M64), which is a spiral galaxy about 17 million light-years away.

Here is a little more information from NASA explaining what you are seeing here:

Sometimes where Hubble finds darkness, Webb sees light. An example is today’s composite images of Messier 64 (M64), a nearby spiral galaxy of many names. The dark band of dust partially blocking its bright core earned it the moniker “the Black Eye Galaxy.” Webb’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) sees that dust, shown in red, as it absorbs and re-emits light from surrounding newborn stars. These young stars are embedded in pink star-forming regions in the secondary Hubble-only image. M64’s inner and outer gas regions counter-rotate, creating regions of increased star formation where the two gas “currents” meet and compress. A merger between M64 and a smaller galaxy was likely the cause of the opposing motion of the outer gas. Spiral galaxies were once thought to have peaceful histories. M64 was key evidence that spiral galaxies, including the Milky Way, can and do experience mergers. Webb’s view of M64 will tell astronomers about the structure, motion, and composition of the galaxy’s dust and add context to the galaxy’s merger history and evolution.

Sci-Fi Quote: You Must Have Been Living in a Hole in the Ground If You Missed Silo

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Apple TV.

“It’s not like they’re writing the show and then having to come up with, ‘Oh, how to end this?’…This is a 40 episode story. So the ending… is very satisfying because it’s the end of a novel.”

–Statement by actor Ashley Zukerman, who plays Daniel Keene in the Silo television series, regarding the fourth and final season of the series coming out on July 9, 2027. If you missed the series, particularly season three, it is a show you need to watch. We talk about living in lava tubes on the Moon or Mars, but this show is about living in an underground silo for generations here on Earth after some pretty horrible terra-forming above. You can catch it on Apple TV.