Brief updates

By Jeff Foust on 2009 January 13 at 7:21 am ET

While the House Science and Technology Committee has not released its membership for the new Congress yet, freshman member Parker Griffith (D-AL) says he’s won a spot on the committee. Griffith won the seat vacated by Bud Cramer, who retired; Griffith’s district includes Huntsville and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
Who isn’t the Obama NASA transition team meeting with? A pair of former MSFC officials met with the team to discuss “Marshall and Huntsville space issues”, according to the Huntsville Times. Meanwhile, Steve Kohler, the president of Space Florida, met with the team on Friday to talk about, naturally enough, Florida space issues.
NASA’s inspector general office was panned in a GAO report published Friday, noting that of the 71 reports issued by the office in fiscal years 2006 and 2007, only 1 has “recommendations to address the economy and efficiency of NASAâ€™s programs and operations with measurable monetary accomplishments”, a key mission of the office.
While it’s easy to poke fun at President Bush for referring to an “Orion rocket or Orion launching vehicle” in an interview with Texas reporters, give him credit, with everything else he’s had to deal with, for knowing enough about what’s going on at NASA to remember the Orion name itself—even if it’s not a “launching vehicle”.

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