Really slow on the uptake

Remember when I complained back in late August that the AP was still claiming that Barack Obama would delay Constellation by five years if elected, although early that month he made it unequivocally clear he would not? (Whether he’ll follow through on that pledge, of course, is a different manner, but one beyond the scope […]

Frank talk about a NASA budget increase

While both major presidential candidates have promised to increase NASA’s budgets, those promises are just that. It will be up to the next Congress to pass budgets that incorporate—or not—that additional funding, and at least one key House member is expressing his opposition not just for additional NASA funding, but for current spending levels. In […]

Ex-astronauts and endorsements

As the Orlando Sentinel earlier this week put it, “My astronauts are better than yours”. Both the Obama and McCain campaigns have signed up a number of former astronauts as supporters and even campaigners. The so-called “Obamanauts” have signed up former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart as well as former shuttle astronauts Kathy Thornton and Dan […]

Lesson learned

Remember last week when McCain was criticized by Democrats for not mentioning NASA in his list of programs that would be exempt from a budget freeze, less than a week after vowing to add $2 billion to the agency’s budget? The campaign, it appears, has learned its lesson, based on a speech McCain gave Wednesday […]

Sally Ride endorses Obama

Former astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, made clear her support for Barack Obama in an Orlando Sentinel op-ed Wednesday. Part of her reason for supporting the Democratic candidate is his stance on space:

Obama also has impressed me with his grasp of the challenges our space program faces and his […]

Joe Biden, space advocate

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden did not have much of a reputation as a space advocate during his long tenure in the Senate. However, he’s learning the language of space policy on the campaign trail, particularly in places like Florida and even Colorado that are both key to the general election and also have concentrations […]

Richardson: make sure Obama is pro-commercial space

On Friday New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson paid a visit to Las Cruces International Airport to participate in a press conference with the Rocket Racing League and Armadillo Aerospace about their new joint venture to develop suborbital vehicles (with support from the state to help develop facilities at the airport for manufacturing the vehicles). At […]

Space Coast Congressional meeting on space industry priorities

A reader passed along a notice that Congressmen Tom Feeney and Dave Weldon will be meeting with state and local officials in Brevard County, Florida to “discuss local, state and federal partnership opportunities for Florida’s Space industry”. The meeting will take place Monday, October 27th at 10 am at 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way in […]

What McCain didn’t say: flip-flop or gotcha moment?

On Thursday John McCain gave a speech in Ormond Beach, Florida, that included many of the themes the candidate has repeated countless times now on the campaign trail, such as a one-year budget freeze. However, the Barack Obama campaign seized upon one part of that speech, notably what McCain didn’t say:

Days after attempting […]

Florida Today: Kosmas and her “willingness to fight” for NASA funding

Yesterday Florida Today formally endorsed Suzanne Kosmas in her bid to unseat incumbent Congressman Tom Feeney in Florida’s 24th district. While Feeney has a reputation as a strong space supporter in Congress (“No one disparages Feeney’s record as an advocate for NASA since his election in 2002,” the editorial notes), one of the reasons the […]