On this day, six decades ago, the old Space Age began with the launch of the first orbital satellite. Partly because it wasn’t delivered to orbit by Americans, it got the era off on entirely the wrong foot.

Remembering Jerry Pournelle (1933-2017).

The crony capitalism represented by the failed “green energy” firm Solyndra has gotten a lot of media attention lately, but much lower on the public’s radar is a much bigger example of corporate pork over at the national space agency—and it’s bipartisan. Let’s call it Shuttlyndra.