Engr student, SF writer, & space nerd. My favorite person is @veejericaodd ❤ The universe is probably littered with the one planet graves of cultures... - R.M.

One AU, more or less
Joined December 2015
David King retweeted
The MMX spacecraft carries two pieces of NASA hardware: The MEGANE instrument will be key to revealing the origin of Mars’s moons by measuring their elemental composition. The P-Sampler demonstration will advance capabilities for surface material acquisition in low gravity. ½
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LAUNCH! JAXA's H3-24L launches MMX to Phobos. Overview: nasaspaceflight.com/2026/10/… Live: youtube.com/watch?v=Fn6gzuGa…
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David King retweeted
That was the 10th post in my “Every single rocket launch in history” series, so here is a poster with the first decade of spaceflight:
Every single rocket launch in history: 1966 Luna 9 makes the first soft landing on the Moon, and Luna 10 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit it. Gemini 8 performs the first docking in orbit, and Surveyor 1 and the Lunar Orbiters scout landing sites for Apollo.
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it takes a team to make liftoff happen 🚀🤘 #HookEm | @FireflySpace
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From the downcomer going into the stage 1 tank to stage 2 completing its wet dress rehearsal at Stennis, September brought progress across every discipline. 🔩 Build: The downcomer was installed into the stage 1 flight tank. The interstage completed drilling and was passed off to the Tender Loving Crusher ahead of structural testing. Engine production continues to ramp, with articles for flights 2 and 3 well into manufacturing. 🧪 Test: With all 13 engines installed, the thrust structure transitioned into integrated gimbal testing. At Stennis, stage 2 completed a wet dress rehearsal on the A2 stand, building towards the first hot fire test. 🏗️ Launch: The east lightning protection tower reached its full height of 530 feet, the east launch table structural steel is complete, and permanent 480-volt power has been energized at the pad.
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David King retweeted
Gene
@SpaceBasedFoxOct 9
>Europe building a reusable rocket
Study validates feasibility of European heavy-lift reusable rocket spacenews.com/study-validate…
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David King retweeted
Ship 40 watching workers with plasma cutters walk towards it at masseys after surviving for 3 months post flight:
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🆕 Our ESA/Webb Picture of the Month features a glowing and evolving star cluster ✨ Webb has peered through layers of dust to reveal the young stars hidden in NGC 7129, a stellar nursery just 3,300 light-years from Earth. 1/3
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David King retweeted
Ship 40 pulling up to the rocket garden after spending 75 days in the ocean:
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and booster RTLS from the Crew-13 launch!
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On this day in 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched the first-ever human-made object to orbit the Earth. Sputnik 1 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and remained operational for 21 days, sending an easy-to-track radio signal. The spacecraft burned up on January 4, 1958, when it re-entered Earth's atmosphere.
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David King retweeted
Sister ship Voyager 1 is currently ~23h 52m 52s of light travel time from Earth (2026:277:120000:1L)
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David King retweeted
HAPPY FIRST DAY OF WORLD SPACE WEEK!!! SPACE IS SO BEAUTIFUL
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SpaceX has launched every rocket in their lineup, 3 different vehicles, from 4 different pads, in 3 different states this week. They also lifted basically every “category” of payload. Starlink, Crew, Commercial, and Military. WHAT. A. WEEK.
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David King retweeted
How those Non-Starlink payloads feel seeing the pez dispenser:
Elon Musk
@elonmuskSep 30
Starship will expand the aperture of physics research by placing much larger telescopes in orbit and giant ones on the Moon
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David King retweeted
things to say when building your launch vehicle - 𝗳𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝗶𝘁 fly it - let me speak to the 𝗰𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘃𝗲 directly - do we have a 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 - is this copv 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 - where is my 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 - can we 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲 this sensor
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WE SAVED THE OZONE LAYER. It hasn’t fucking been forgotten. We as a humanity just took action and saved it.
What was the big manufactured fear when you were a kid? Mine was definitely the rainforest doom, acid rain and ozone. 40 years later those have all been forgotten.
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David King retweeted
Every crewed Mercury capsule flight happened in less than 4 years. Every crewed Gemini flight in less than 2. Even Apollo flew in less than 7 years. Crew Dragon will exceed the the Apollo CSM's active time in service in March 2027. Being stuck with the Shuttle for over 30 years or Soyuz for almost 60 is very much not how an active program progressing towards a goal acts. After all, it's natural to outgrow your first pair of shoes.
🎃MOON WAR NOW🎃@moonwarnowSep 17
People want the dynamism and innovation of the 1960s back but many haven't seem to have figured out that means the lifespan of your favorite thing won't be nearly as long as you're used to before it becomes obsolete.
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