Ben Bova’s faulty economics

Sunday’s Naples (Florida) Daily News features a column by noted science fiction author and space advocate Ben Bova. He uses the column to promote both NASA and space commercialization, suggesting the private sector, for the right money, might be motivated enough to either service or safely return to Earth the Hubble Space Telescope. Unfortunately, he […]

Kathuria, Ryan, and the Illinois Senate race

As noted here earlier, one of the candidates in the Republican primary for the US Senate race in Illinois is Chirinjeev Kathuria, one of the early investors in MirCorp. With that primary coming up in just over two weeks, I was curious to see how he was doing in a crowded field of candidates for […]

Kerry: go to the Moon right here on Earth

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported Thursday that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has picked up the endorsement of former Ohio senator and astronaut John Glenn. Less newsworthy than the endorsement—which doesn’t carry that much weight—is some of the comments Kerry said in his speech about whether there should be human missions to the Moon and […]

The AP polls the candidates on space

The Associated Press, as part of an ongoing series of articles on various issues of the 2004 presidential campaign, asked the major candidates if they supported plans to send humans back to the Moon by 2020. The sound bites published in the AP article aren’t terribly informative: both Kerry and Edwards offer general support for […]

AIA wants to accelerate CEV development

On Wednesday the Aerospace Industries Association released a five-year research and development plan for the aerospace industry. The plan focuses primarily on the aeronautics sector, but the press release announcing the plan does make mention of NASA’s plans to develop a Crew Exploration Vehicle:

Although AIA supports the president’s plan, which increases funding for exploration […]

Aldridge Commission provides details on next public hearing

The President’s Commission on Moon, Mars, and Beyond, aka the Aldridge Commission, issued a press release Tuesday with more details about their next public hearing, scheduled for March 3-4 in Dayton, Ohio. The hearing will take place in the “soon-to-be-completed” Missile Gallery at the Air Force Museum from 1-5pm on Wednesday the 3rd and 9 […]

President signs NASA workforce bill

President Bush signed into law on Tuesday the NASA Flexibility Act of 2004 (S.610). The bill gives NASA new power to attract and retain employees, including paying bonuses and establishing high salaries for a handful of positions deemed critical by the agency. The law also allows NASA to establish a scholarship program for college students; […]

Bush and the Kennedy moment

Tuesday’s Washington Times has an op-ed piece by Jim Muncy on the Bush space policy. For those who weren’t able to attend the Georgetown Law School panel session on the policy that included Muncy, this commentary is very similar to his remarks there, although he spoke in much greater detail during the panel. Towards the […]

Space vs. education

An article in the Council Bluffs (Iowa) Sunday Nonpareil suggests that some educators may be opposed to the Bush space plan because of the perception that it’s taking money away from educational programs. The opening paragraph is blunt:

Is the exploration of Mars more important than the education of your child? “Clearly, their priorities are […]

Four misconceptions about the new space initiative

I alluded in a posting a couple days ago that NASA comptroller Steve Isakowitz had outlined four “great misconceptions” about the new space initiative. I hadn’t had the chance until now to discuss what those misconceptions were that Isakowitz outlined during a Space Transportation Association breakfast earlier this month. In short, the four misconceptions are:

[…]