Okay got it in the thread above… LOL if I may, Constellation will not go forward.

I did not see that in the article, i.e. cost effective and operationally effective. If such then I agree and I think my statement holds about political dance. As for Shuttle it will not go, every one knows that. It should have been a clue as to what KBH is doing. I am sure she is a lot smarter than that.

“On the no side, the bill provides no support for Constellation unless NASA determines that Ares I/Orion have a “cost-effective” and “operationally effective” role to play in the “National Space Transportation System” plan. NASA is obviously not going make such a determination under the current NASA Administrator and White House.”

Yes and no.

On the yes side, the bill extends Shuttle operations, confirms commercial cargo and crew as the preferred solution to meeting NASA’s ETO needs, confirms ISS extension, asks NASA to study HLV acceleration, and asks NASA to articulate a “National Space Transportation System” (but really just a NASA human space transportation) plan.

On the no side, the bill provides no support for Constellation unless NASA determines that Ares I/Orion have a “cost-effective” and “operationally effective” role to play in the “National Space Transportation System” plan. NASA is obviously not going make such a determination under the current NASA Administrator and White House.

Passage of any authorization bill is always an iffy proposition since they’re not required to pass a federal budget and keep the government operating. And even if this bill becomes law, the appropriators would have to provide additional funding, which they almost never do, to make the Shuttle extension the bill supports reality. So it’s a low probability that the Shuttle extension in the bill would become reality.

That said, more important than passage is the message this bill sends to the appropriators (who actually do have to pass a budget to keep the government operating). Sen. Mikulski (chair of NASA’s Senate appropriations subcommittee) sent a letter to Sen. Nelson (chair of NASA’s Senate authorization subcommittee) asking for the authorizers’ inputs. If this is their input, then it’s a vote for commercial crew and cargo and an early HLV over Ares I/Orion. The appropriators are unlikely to come up with the extra billions for Shuttle extension, but within the President’s budget request they have to work within, they’re getting a clear signal from the authorizers to terminate Ares I/Orion and push the basics (commercial crew, HLV, ISS extension) of NASA’s new budget plan forward.

FWIW…

begin sarcasm:

Don’t you know the people who wrote the Constitution were extremists? I mean, they were a group of people who believed that rights were something that each individual was born with as opposed to granted (or taken away) by some benevolent dictat, err, I mean government. Talk about batty.
You know what they say, one man’s constitution is another man’s toilet paper.

end sarcasm

If I had to guess, and since I don’t live in TX anymore it is just that, Perry may have trouble if the state is in debt as Oler stated above. Not many of the fiscally conservative types will want to vote for someone like that. I can tell you that’s one of the main reasons why Ritter (D) isn’t running for re-election here in CO (that he hasn’t done jack &@#^ in 4 years). His only hope may be to convince the independants that the alternative is worse than he is. Again, since I don’t live there anymore I’ll decline to comment further. It’s for those who live in TX to figure out who their next gov will be.

Ditto for whether or not KBH will stay in the senate. I have no idea, but I do know that the average age for a senator is 63 and there’s a 93 year old (Frank Lautenberg) running for re-election this year and Robert Byrd is even older than that. If she’s younger then them then she’s still a “spring chicken”.

2 cents…

interesting…I saw the earlier drafts and full bill…and talked to some folks in DC about them.

The devil is in the actual wording, details, and funding…but it seems as though this is good news for commercial space

Robert G. Oler

And yet she is not a screamer…

neither is Howard Dean, unless you are going to take one incident and apply it to his entire life. By that logic then Nixon’s bitter statement “you wont have Nixon to kick around anymore” or any ONE statement that anyone makes becomes the defining measure of their life.

are you that shallow?

Palin is not one event…she is a consistent “book” of goofy statement after another. She is not a dull person, but a person who you have met worked with her on the 08 campaign and his statement about her (and you know he is a player in the GOP) is “she wont do her homework”…

I pushed Palin on the McCain blog before you even knew who she was…what I had no idea of is that she was not willing to do the hard work to be a serious player on the national stage. That fact is now obvious.

Robert G. Oler

And yet she is not a screamer.

Bill White – Looks like Kay means to stay in the Senate for a while.