Congress, Lobbying, NASA, States

Briefly noted

A few policy-related items published in the last few days worth mentioning:

• It’s not surprising that, after the series of articles it did on Space Florida, the Orlando Sentinel called for a shakeup of the agency in an editorial Sunday. The paper called on the state’s governor and lieutenant governor to “clean house at the agency”, starting with the removal of the agency’s current head, Steve Kohler.

• In an op-ed in Sunday’s Washington Times, former congressmen Nick Lampson and Dave Weldon call on the administration and Congress to maintain their commitment to the space program and apparently not change its overall strategy or implementation. “What the space program now needs,” they conclude, “is support for its goals, not a start-and-stop approach that will negatively impact our nation’s strategic capabilities for years to come.”

• Some at NASA Glenn feel that the Cleveland center won’t get “our fair share” of the agency’s $1 billion in stimulus money, and that current plans to allocate it are “a real slap in the face to Glenn”. How much money would be Glenn’s fair share isn’t clear, although the article identifies some earth science, exploration, and center repair funding union officials at Glenn are eyeing.

• The lack of an administrator nominee attracts the notice of the New York Times and Florida Today reminds us that the FY2010 budget to be detailed this week won’t do much to shorten the gap.

1 comment to Briefly noted

  • mike shupp

    The irony here, of course, is that The New York Times thoroughly despised manned space programs of any sort during the 1960’s and 1970’s, including Apollo and the space shuttle. So the ineffectual space program they’re currently pointing at with Great Concern is just the sort of manned space program the Times always thought we should have. They should be chortling with glee — and perhaps would be, if the internet wasn’t driving newspapers into equal insignificance.

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