Here’s your “Huh” space news story for today

aircraft, blather, Hmm..., news, projects, rockets, spacecraft Add comments

Apr 032014

XCOR Aerospace Announces Brian Binnie as Newest Test Pilot

What makes this “Huh”-worthy is that Bran Binnie flew SpaceShipOne back in the day. You woulda thought he’d’ve been onboard for SpaceShipTwo, but he’s signed on with XCOR instead.

I have heard *rumors* to the effect that SS2 has been having difficulties with their hybrid rocket motor. Given that XCOR is a rocket engine company, I would imagine their propulsion system does what it’s supposed to.

The Unwanted Blog

Little Metal Excelsiors April 16, 2024
I’ve achieved a measure of success with getting metal casting up and running. I don’t intend to make too many of these NX-Excelsiors; they’re practice. But I have some spares and can make some more. Anyone interested? Say, $20 plus postage? It is my intention to make some NCC-2000 Excelsiors, and then some NCC-1701-B Enterprises. […]
Gyrojet in high speed/high rez April 11, 2024
For all the documentaries and such about the 1960’s Gyrojet “rocket gun,” this is the first time I’ve seen rounds fired with this sort of clarity. The rounds cost $200 each… which once again makes me wonder why someone hasn’t decided to put them into production. If there’s a market for them at $200 each, […]
Bell-Boeing LHX Tiltrotor art April 8, 2024
Artwork circa 1983 depicting a one-man combat tiltrotor tearing up a column of Soviet armor. At this time the Light Helicopter – eXperimental program included the possibility of tiltrotors as well as conventional choppers. In the end the RAH-66 won… and was then cancelled before series production. Tiltrotors showed promise, but also promised to be […]
Metal casting April 7, 2024
Some thirty or so years ago I took a stab at casting small parts and models in metal… my very early 1/144 lifting bodies, X-20, etc. The results were sad, so the project was abandoned. For reasons that evade me I’ve recently decided to try again. Materials available to me today are much better… high […]
Coming to ebay: ships, phasers, books March 26, 2024
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Canon March 24, 2024
A few days ago someone on twitter repeated some nonsense that getting irritated about canon violations in, say, Star Trek was a sign that you’re kinda dumb, because canon is an impediment to writers who want to tell stories. Well, guess what: established canon is an impediment to only one kind of writer: the lazy […]
RIP Vernor Vinge March 22, 2024
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Starship launch 3 videos March 17, 2024
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Some stuff on ebay March 16, 2024
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Rockwell Space Station: 1982 March 7, 2024
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