THE NEW SPACE RACE: Well, this is embarrassing: The Lunar Gateway’s primary modules are corroded.

How could both a module being provided by Northrop Grumman, a major US defense contractor, and I-HAB from Europe be corroded? It seems like a fantastic claim. However, half a dozen sources who worked on or near the Lunar Gateway program confirmed to Ars that the corrosion Isaacman mentioned was real and serious.

In a statement, Northrop confirmed the issue as well. “Using NASA-approved processes, Northrop Grumman is completing repairs to HALO after a manufacturing irregularity,” a company spokesperson told Ars. “We expect to complete repairs by the end of the third quarter. HALO can still be repurposed for any mission, and it’s the most mature technology to support a deep space or lunar habitat.”

By referring to a “manufacturing irregularity,” Northrop answered the central mystery here: how corrosion could appear in both modules. This is because a French-Italian space and defense company, Thales Alenia Space, built the primary structure of HALO for Northrop Grumman. The module was delivered from Italy to the United States about a year ago.

Not a good look, Thales.

YAY!

And if you do move to the States, whatever you do, do not move to Tennessee. Guns everywhere, drunken rednecks in pickup trucks, rattlesnakes, murder hornets — be smart and stay far away.

YOU OWE THE LEFT NOTHING:

HMM:

LEFTIES’ DISRESPECT FOR THE TROOPS:

THE HERO WASHINGTON DESERVES, NOT THE ONE IT NEEDS:

(Classical reference in headline.)

CHRIS MURPHY IS A CLOWN, BUT A NASTY AND DANGEROUS ONE:

But he’s doing a good job of making plain to the tech oligarchs why a Democratic regime is an existential threat to them and should not be allowed to take power.

JONATHAN TURLEY: The SPLC Indictment: Can Public Interest Groups Run Alleged Black-Bag Jobs and Confidential Informants?

Related:

IT’S NOT JUST PEOPLE BLUE COUNTIES ARE LOSING: When the people move out of blue counties and cities, they also take with them taxable income and spending inputs to the local economy. And not coincidentally, Open the Books also found that many of the counties former blue residents are moving to have fewer government employees.

SHUT IT DOWN:

FROM JEFF DUNTEMANN:  Whale Meat.

#CommissionEarned

Two 700-year-old witches in modern-day Chicago must confront a demand from the community of whales living in Earth’s oceans, that the witches’ unborn son join with them in their effort to heal the broken soul of humankind–with death the outcome should the child fail. Homeless, hungry, and mostly without hope, Yonnie and Mara find help in some unlikely places, including a young mathematics student struggling with calculus, and an alcoholic bum who is much more than he seems.