April 2026 – Spinor Info

About those plushies at Mission Control

Apr 132026

I have since learned that the white toy cat at Mission Control, keeping a watchful eye over the CAPCOM station, was not just some random toy: Its name is Artemis, from the anime series Sailor Moon.

In the meantime, however, I also noticed another plush animal, one wearing a little mask. I was wondering about its backstory.

Today, I found out, courtesy of Reddit. The plushie’s name is Eugene, and it was there, in part, in memoriam of the late NASA engineer and flight controller, Jennifer Grassman.

May you rest in peace, Jennifer Grassman.

Cautious optimism?

Hungary, Politics 1 Response »

Apr 122026

Hungarians have spoken. They voted against Orban’s “illiberal democracy”.

It would be a lie if I said that I am not delighted by this result. I am. My optimism remains tempered, however. Does this result mean true change? A return to liberal democratic principles? Or did the country just replace one set of illiberal oligarchs with another?

We shall see. I remain hopeful but… guarded. The fundamental reasons that allowed Orban to rule as he did for the past 16 years have not changed. Nationalism, a misguided sense of history, the traction of grievance politics remain. How Peter Magyar will govern is still a mystery. The next several months will be telling.

But for now, this is good news. Fingers firmly crossed.

Meanwhile, the fact that all major news organizations treat this result as top-tier breaking news is telling. After all, none other than J. D. Vance, the vice president of the United States, visited Hungary just a few days ago, effectively campaigning for Orban. Trump also expressed his support. I already saw breaking news e-mails from the Associated Press and The Globe and Mail. The result is also top-page breaking news on CNN’s Web site.

Back home…

History, Space 1 Response »

Apr 102026

Aaaand… they’re back.

No wait, wrong image. That picture was from 160 years ago, a Jules Verne illustration that is uncannily accurate.

What I meant this screenshot from NASA TV:

What a day. What a mission. I hope it’s the first of many, and deep space is again open to human exploration.

Civilizational threat

History, Politics No Responses »

Apr 072026

This one deserves to be quoted in full: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”

No, these words were not uttered by Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Nero, Caligula or any of the other mad rulers from history.

They were posted on Truth Social by the sitting president of the United States of America.

And yes, this is a civilizational threat. No, not to Persian civilization — one of the oldest, grandest civilizations on the planet, which will survive this, just as it survived past calamities, just as it will ultimately survive the ayatollahs’ rule as well — but our Western civilization. A threat like this is in fundamental contradiction with our Western values, the values of Enlightenment, liberal democracy, human rights that Western civilization, however imperfectly, represents.

History in the making

History, Personal, Space No Responses »

Apr 072026

Earlier tonight, at 6:44 PM Eastern time to be precise, we saw this on NASA TV:

It was followed, 42 minutes later, by this image:

Yes, that tiny thing in the depth of space is Earth. Every human being currently alive, and the remains of every human being who ever lived, are there, except for the four people on board Artemis 4, the spacecraft that took these images as part of its live video feed as it circumnavigated the Moon. (And no, don’t worry, the Moon is still there in the second picture, it’s just that from their perspective it’s mostly dark. Soon thereafter, they actually experienced a solar eclipse in space, as the Sun vanished behind the Moon for about an hour or so.)

Meanwhile, a friend of mine sent me a picture of something that hangs on his wall:

Yes, it means exactly what it implies: he was a member of the recovery force that recovered the last human expedition to the Moon, after their successful return and oceanic splashdown, back in 1972.

I was not yet 10 back then. Now? I already celebrated my 63rd birthday.

Past and present, both now part of one of those rare arcs of history that are worth remembering for all the right reasons.

As the Artemis II crewmembers remarked after breaking the distance record from the Earth: they hope their new record will not remain unbroken for long.

I hope so, too. Very, very much.

Space cat

Cats, Space No Responses »

Apr 022026

And we heard the magic phrase earlier tonight: trans-lunar injection.

It happened. Whatever the outcome (and I hope it’ll be a good outcome) four humans are now committed to travel to the Moon, for the very first time in since December, 1972.

And the have a cat to watch over them. Not a real cat, but still: a cat at the Mission Control Center.

What can possibly go wrong when you have a cat supervising the flight? Nothing, I sincerely hope.

Another first in 53 years…

Space No Responses »

Apr 012026

For the first time in 53 years, NASA’s Deep Space Network is communicating not with a robotic spacecraft but with a human spaceflight in deep space.

Presently just over 32,000 km from the center of the Earth, in, as I understand it, a highly elliptical orbit, not quite yet heading to the Moon: that will involve yet another phrase we have not heard uttered “live” in 53 years: trans-lunar injection.

I never thought…

History, Space 2 Responses »

Apr 012026

I never thought (at least not in the past 25 years, give or take) that I’ll live long enough to see this.

Note the indicator I highlighted in the lower right.

Distance to the Moon.

For the first time since December, 1972.

I was not yet 10 in December, 1972. The world was troubled back then, just as it is troubled right now.

This launch? I was worried sick. A space launch system the design of which was very heavily influenced by politics. Political pressure to ensure launch. Frustrating issues with the rocket in the preceding months, with multiple delays.

And yet… so far so good. The launch proceeded without a glitch. The spacecraft is orbiting the Earth, soon to continue its journey to the Moon.

To the Moon.

I am astonished by my own reaction to these words. Thinking of Jules Verne, thinking of Apollo 8, of Apollo 11, Apollo 13, Apollo 17… and then 53 years — more than half a century! — with no human traveling beyond Low Earth Orbit.

You know what. Let me insert something here that these days isn’t very popular, for a whole host of (valid) reasons.

Yes. An American flag. On the Moon. Because…

Because they are on their way to the Moon again.