Ad Astra Rocket Company
Overview
 
The Ad Astra Rocket Company is a rocket propulsion company dedicated to the development of advanced plasma rocket propulsion technology
Plasma propulsion engine
A plasma propulsion engine is a type of Ion thruster which uses plasma in some or all parts of the thrust generation process. Though far less powerful than conventional rocket engines, plasma engines are able to operate at higher efficiencies and for longer periods of time...

. Located in Webster, Texas
Webster, Texas
Webster is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 9,083 at the 2000 census.-History:...

, several miles from NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

's Johnson Space Center, the company was incorporated on January 14, 2005. The President and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company is retired astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz. The company has been working on Chang-Diaz's concept of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, known by its acronym VASIMR.
Quotations

My duty is not affected by what others may or may not do to discharge their own.

quote from Honor Harrington

But what kept them on their feet when there was no sane reason for hope were the bonds between them, loyalty to one another, the knowledge others depended on them even as they depended on those others. And sometimes, all too rarely, it came down to a single person it was simply unthinkable to fail. Someone they knew would never quit on them, never leave them in the lurch.

The world's best swordsman doesn't fear the second best; he fears the worst swordsman, because he can't predict what the idiot will do.

quote from Honor Harrington

But the universe wasn't really unfair, she thought, and her mouth quirked. It just didn't give much of a damn one way or the other.

I suppose I ought to think up some dramatic, quotable phrase for Public Information and the history books, but I'm damned if any of them come to mind. Besides, admitting the truth wouldn't sound too good (...) The truth, Russell, is that now the moment's here, I'm scared shitless. Somehow I don't think even Public Information could turn that into good copy.

quote from Havenite Admiral Amos Parnell, after ordering his fleet to depart for the opening attack of the Haven-Manticore War.

… Henke sensed her terrifying aptitude for destruction as never before. Henke had feared for her sanity; now she knew the truth was almost worse than that. Honor wasn't insane — she simply didn't care. She'd lost not only her sense of balance but any desire to regain it.

Michelle Henke considering Honor Harrington's state of mind

Perhaps his love for her made him less than impartial, but he also knew how deeply she'd been hurt and chided her for judging herself so much more harshly than she would have judged someone else…

"Oh, Christ! We're all gonna die. You seen the kinds'a casualty lists she comes up with?"

 
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