China releases photos from the first mission to land on the far side of the moon Article Link: https://amp.businessinsider.com/photos-dark-side-moon-china-change-4-landing-2019-1 China became the third country in the world to "soft-land" - land without damage - on the moon in 2013. But it has now become the first country to land on its dark side, a big step in President Xi Jinping's aims to make China a powerhouse of space exploration. There is a ton of exciting space stuff on tap for 2019 Article Link: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/01/this-year-offers-much-to-look-forward-to-in-spaceflight/?amp=1 Small-sat launch race Rocket Lab took huge strides in 2018 by launching its Electron booster three times, including twice in the last two months. The company has targeted a dozen launches in 2019 with its rocket, optimized for boosting small satellites and CubeSats into low-Earth orbit.  Space tourism As noted above, Virgin Galactic reached space in December (although the definition of space varies). With this milestone flight, the company appears on track to begin flying customers at some point in 2019, which would make it the first firm to offer suborbital space tourism rides to paying customers. However, Virgin may soon be followed by Blue Origin later this year. The company delayed an uncrewed test flight from December into this month, but officials say it is still on track to begin flying "test passengers" in 2019, although it is not clear when commercial flights will follow. Blue Origin's launch system will take passengers above 100km, so there will be no debate about whether customers will "reach space." Starship Over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted a number of details about the design of the Starship vehicle that SpaceX is developing to fly on top of its "Super Heavy" rocket.  Any test flights of Starship would be significant, as it seems that SpaceX must demonstrate some hardware before investors (and possibly government customers) step forward with funds needed to bring the Starship and its large rocket to completion. One of the big questions of 2019 is whether additional customers emerge for this ambitious spacecraft and launch system Show Stuff TeePublic Store - Get your UBR goodies today! http://tee.pub/lic/2GQuXxn79dg UBR Trurh Seekers Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/216706068856746 Manny Moonraker: https://www.facebook.com/MannyMoonraker/ UFO Buster Radio: https://www.facebook.com/UFOBusterRadio YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCggl8-aPBDo7wXJQ43TiluA Google Plus Manny’s Updated Google+ Profile: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MannyMoonraker To contact Manny: manny@ufobusterradio.com, or on Twitter @ufobusterradio  Call the show anytime at (972) 290-1329 and leave us a message with your point of view, UFO sighting, and ghostly experiences or join the discussion on www.ufobusterradio.com For Skype Users: bosscrawler