October 16, 2026

ROCKET REPORT: Stoke ships second stage for testing.

The reusable upper stage for Stoke Space’s Nova rocket has left the company’s factory in Kent, Washington, for what would be the last time, Stoke wrote on X this week. Now at Stoke’s test facility in Moses Lake, the second stage will undergo cryo-proof testing and a hotfire campaign with its Andromeda engine. The milestone follows the completion of “proto-qualification” testing on Nova’s first stage earlier this year. Nova’s booster section is a rather conventional reusable first stage, but the upper stage is what sets the rocket apart. Stoke designed Nova for full reusability, with the upper stage protected by a regeneratively cooled heat shield and powered by a ring of 24 thrusters, an engine collectively named Andromeda.

Next stop, Cape Canaveral … The upcoming tests at Moses Lake will be a linchpin for Stoke’s ambition to launch the Nova rocket next year. If all goes according to plan, Stoke will ship the reusable rocket stage to Cape Canaveral, Florida, where it will meet the other elements of the rocket for final launch preparations. The medium-lift Nova is the only fully reusable Western rocket other than SpaceX’s Starship in an advanced stage of development.

Godspeed…

Posted at 12:46 pm by Stephen Green

“IS THE NEW YORK TIMES A LIBERAL NEWSPAPER? Of course it is:”

(Classical reference in headline.)

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

WHAT DID AOC EVER BUILD?

Posted at 12:25 pm by Stephen Green

KRUISER: Now More Than Ever, the Survival of the Constitution Is on the Ballot. “Back in my ‘the Constitution can handle anything days,’ it wasn’t under relentless assault from the Democratic Party. There were attacks, to be sure, but they came from the radical fringe of the party. Here in the Year of Our Lord 2026, those in the mainstream Democratic Party establishment are so far left that they make the 20th century Dem radicals look like moderate Republicans.”

Posted at 12:15 pm by Stephen Green

ED MORRISSEY: WSJ: The Real Goal of Operation World War Eleven Is …:

… exactly what we thought yesterday. The Department of Justice may want to pursue criminal charges against Ilhan Omar related to her $30 million ‘mistake’ in financial disclosures, but the Department of Homeland Security wants to boot the House Democrat out of the country.

At issue, as noted yesterday as well, is Omar’s naturalization as a claimed refugee from the violence of the civil war in Somalia at the time. DHS believes her father, Nur Mohamed Omar/Nur Said Omar Mohamed lied in his asylum application when he claimed to be an educator, when in fact he was a high-ranking military official in the regime accused of atrocities in the war. Omar herself may have lied about her age, negating her naturalization and leaving her ineligible for Congress, and potentially the subject of deportation.

Related: Omar’s Kryptonite:

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll

SETTLER-COLONIALISM, STRAIGHT UP:

Posted at 11:55 am by Stephen Green

HMM: North Koreans Abuse ‘Work At Home’ Privileges. “Federal agents searched more than 40 Texas residences as part of an investigation into a North Korean cyber scheme that allowed foreign operatives to obtain remote jobs with American companies and generate revenue for the regime’s weapons program.”

Posted at 11:44 am by Stephen Green

THEY ARE NOT THE SAME:

Flying car on a life-size Hot Wheels track?

“Why not?” Musk asked.

Posted at 11:28 am by Stephen Green

THE TROLL IS STRONG IN THIS ONE:

Was he trolling or just speaking a difficult truth?

Posted at 10:57 am by Stephen Green

THE NEW SPACE RACE: Neutron’s first launch slips again amid trouble with carbon composites.

Engineers discovered voids, or air pockets, between layers of carbon fiber that make up the domes’ composite structure. Carbon composite manufacturing involves laying down carbon fiber layers in a mold, then curing, or heating, the material to bind the fibers together. But this is a tricky process, especially for large structures that won’t fit into an autoclave, a high-pressure thermal curing chamber common in modern aerospace factories.

The Neutron rocket’s first stage is the “largest pressurized structure ever made out of carbon composite,” Beck said. “Because of its scale, we’ve had to develop new out-of-autoclave processes to build Neutron, and this includes custom cure cycles for the very large pieces, like the forward and aft domes for the propellant tanks on Stage One.”

Space is hard, even when you don’t have to invent all-new manufacturing techniques.

Posted at 10:42 am by Stephen Green

IT’S DIFFICULT TO REMEMBER SHE WAS FUNNY ONCE:

Posted at 9:55 am by Stephen Green

C’MON, MICHIGAN: Meet Abdul El-Sayed’s Academic ‘Inspiration’: A Muslim Brotherhood Scion Barred From Entering US Over Terror Ties. “The Democratic Senate hopeful told the SenseSustainability podcast in a 2011 interview that he draws inspiration from Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the Muslim Brotherhood founder al-Banna, the extremist Egyptian imam. Ramadan is the son of Said Ramadan, who was married to al-Banna’s daughter and emerged as a top Brotherhood leader in the wake of al-Banna’s death.”

Posted at 9:40 am by Stephen Green

“F*** YOU, PAY ME,” THEY EXPLAINED:

“Ministers plan ‘YouTube tax’ by extending licence fee to online platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon – with new revenue used to boost journalism and tackle misinformation.”

Posted at 9:24 am by Stephen Green

REMINDER: Palestinian Authority (PA) is a Dictatorship, as in the harsh reality that individual freedom is nowhere to be found under its rule. Richard Pollock wonders why the West is doing nothing in response to 90-year dictator Mahmoud Abbas totally predictable cancellation, yet again, of legislative elections he’s promised for this year.

“Yet, so far Western countries haven’t imposed any sanctions on the PA. It’s unlikely they will do so. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, the European Union alone has poured an estimated $30 billion into a territory called “Palestine.”

“And the United States has bestowed $11 billion to Palestinian territory including the $6 billion given to the widely discredited United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

“Where did this money go? To Abbas and his cronies. In 2018, news organizations then estimated Abbas’ net worth – not including the lucrative government contracts he has awarded his sons – at $110 million.”

Uh, Mr. President? Secretary Rubio?

Posted at 9:21 am by Mark Tapscott

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: El-Sayed Goes Full Talarico. Never Go Full Talarico. “Both have legitimate shots at winning, largely due to the fact that the MSM has given their problematic backgrounds and campaigns a generous glossing over. In order to successfully run for office, Talarico and El-Sayed have had to run from who they really are.”

Posted at 9:09 am by Stephen Green

MAYBE HITLER WAS TRANS:

Posted at 8:53 am by Stephen Green