Comments on: Astronaut safety and contract termination

By: nasaengineer.com » Blog Archive » Opinion: ADA, Working Backwards from June 9

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:10:05 +0000

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By: Library: A Round-up of Reading « Res Communis

Library: A Round-up of Reading « Res Communis — Mon, 17 May 2010 21:14:01 +0000

[…] Astronaut safety and contract termination – Space Politics […]

By: common sense

common sense — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:50:56 +0000

@ Bill White wrote @ May 13th, 2010 at 8:31 pm

“ULA says they need a cost-plus bail out (plus incentive bonus) if they are to deploy sufficient EELV in time to keep ISS up and running.”

A very real risk, unfortunately. As we already saw Boeing’s CCDev management would be happy to go the cost-plus route (can’t find the link though, nasawatch.com I believe). This is precisely why SpaceX has been turned into the poster child of commercial space. They do not have cost plus contract and have not said they want one.

So may be the WH answer ought to: No fixed price, No Buck Rogers…

By: Bill White

Bill White — Fri, 14 May 2010 00:31:58 +0000

Stephen C. Smith wrote @ May 13th, 2010 at 7:32 pm

But does Obama have the political firepower (and the motivation) to see this through?

Might Obama get something like his FY2011 through Congress? Yes, that might very well occur.

However, the rubber will thereafter meet the road if SpaceX is delayed, shuttle derived is off the table and ULA says they need a cost-plus bail out (plus incentive bonus) if they are to deploy sufficient EELV in time to keep ISS up and running.

Will Obama have the gumption, then, to tell ULA “No deal! Its fixed price or else!”

If not, then I predict all that will change is the flavor of the pork sausage NASA buys.

By: Stephen C. Smith

Stephen C. Smith — Thu, 13 May 2010 23:32:54 +0000

Bill White wrote:

But does Obama have the political firepower (and the motivation) to see this through?

I think the fact that Senator Jay Rockefeller (from West Virginia) is chair of the committee works in Obama’s favor. Rockefeller told Armstrong/Cernan to their faces that he’s a skeptic of human space flight, and challenged them to give him a compelling argument why we should send humans back to the Moon. Cernan rambled on without making a point until Rockefeller cut him off.

Rockefeller will control whatever budget proposal comes out of the committee. The Republicans on the committee, being in the minority, won’t have significant input unless Rockefeller needs votes. I’d think that Bill Nelson will have some say, but buffoons like Hutchison and Vitter won’t.

Of course, there are other committees and lots of votes yet to come, but I think what emerges from the Commerce Committee will by and large support Obama’s proposal.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:03:31 +0000

Input on methodology and protocol for developing systems and techniques most certainly are elements for planning a space program. Lori Garver is no Armstrong, Cernanâ€” or Wernher von Braun.

It’s a shame that what you wrote has no relevance to what I wrote.

By: Robert G. Oler

Robert G. Oler — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:38:13 +0000

DCSCA wrote @ May 13th, 2010 at 6:32 am

@Oler : The days of government run space are drawing to an end.

The Chinese and Russians should get a laugh out of that.

and their programs are not doing all that much

Robert G. Oler

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:09:08 +0000

@RandSimberg- Input on methodology and protocol for developing systems and techniques most certainly are elements for planning a space program. Lori Garver is no Armstrong, Cernan— or Wernher von Braun.

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:05:12 +0000

@BillWhite/@StephenCSmith- Politics has fueled the space program from day one. Lay out a map of contractors over a map of the U.S. for reference. The states with the fewest contractors squawk the most about wasting money on NASA. The last piece of space work to come out of West Virginia was Homer Hickham, as Rockefeller’s staffers know. The MSC is in Houston purely because of LBJ when it should have been based in Florida. Politics as much as funding fuels space exploration.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:46:22 +0000

@StephenCSmith- Armstrong and Cernanâ€™s credentials remain valid and smart people in the space community listen when they offer input. They helped â€˜inventâ€™ the techniques and protocol necessary to perfect piloting spacecraft and perform work in space and on the lunar surface.

Those are not credentials for evaluating cost or schedules of development programs.