House Hubble hearing

The full House Science Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday morning (10am, Rayburn 2318) on “Options for Hubble Science”. The witness list currently stands as follows:

Dr. Lou Lanzerotti, Chair, Committee on the Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope, National Academy of Sciences; Dr. Steve Beckwith, Director, […]

Space policy internship

Undergrads who are looking for a summer job and have an interest in space policy should check out the Space Policy Internship sponsored by the National Academies’ Space Studies Board. The intern will have the opportunity to work on one or more projects over the summer, ranging from “future human exploration of space” to “a […]

More on House appropriations reorg

CongressDaily (via GovExec.com) offers some more details Friday about a potential reorganization of the House appropriations subcommittees. The report confirms that the VA-HUD subcommittee, which includes NASA, would be eliminated under the DeLay/Lewis plan, with NASA and NSF being reassigned to the Energy subcommittee. This would have the effect of making NASA a much bigger […]

House appropriations subcommittee shakeup?

One of the most common complaints by space advocates is that, in the House and Senate appropriations committees, NASA is placed in the same subcommittee as the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, as well as independent agencies like the NSF and EPA. (Not to mention the American Battle Monuments Commission.) NASA, […]

Mission not quite accomplished

One of the primary goals for Sean O’Keefe when he took the reins of NASA a little over three years ago was to reform its finances to restore its credibility with Congress and others. While O’Keefe made considerable progress towards that goal, as he leaves there appears to be considerable work left for his successor. […]

Another Congressman weighs in on Hubble

Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MD), whose district includes NASA Goddard, issued a press release Monday about the possibility of no funding for a Hubble repair mission in the FY06 budget. Hoyer said he was “very concerned” about those reports, adding that “I will fight to ensure that a new servicing mission is adequately funded and supported.” […]

More on Hubble

Since Friday’s Space News report that NASA will offer no funding for a Hubble robotic repair mission, there have been a few additional reports about the subject, including articles by the Washington Post, New York Times, and Baltimore Sun. These reports don’t offer many new details, instead mainly confirming the original report that, by the […]

Suborbital Institute lobbying

The Suborbital Institute is planning a two-day lobbying effort on Capitol Hill on February 8 and 9 (immediately before the FAA/AST Forecast Conference in Washington.) The Usenet message describing the event is scant on details; contact Andrew Case for more information.

Bye-bye Hubble?

Space News reported Friday afternoon that NASA plans to effectively kill a proposed Hubble robotic mission by not including any funding for it in its proposed FY2006 budget. Instead, NASA plans to request funding to develop a module that can attach to the spacecraft robotically to deorbit the spacecraft at the end of its life. […]

Politicians and pundits say the darndest things

A quiet week in space policy, but even during the quietest times you can count in people to say some odd things:

At a pre-inaugural event in Washington on Tuesday, Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) introduced Buzz Aldrin as “as the second man to walk on the moon, following ‘Neil Young,’”, the Washington Post’s lukewarm gossip […]