A much quieter Florida visit

Just over a year ago President Obama visited the Kennedy Space Center to give a major space policy speech about his vision for NASA’s future in space exploration. Yesterday, the president returned to KSC, a visit originally intended to watch the launch of space shuttle Endeavour on its final mission. Although the launch was scrubbed […]

FAA commercial space budget hearing and a policy initiative

The space subcommittee of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee is holding a hearing next Thursday, May 5, on the FY2012 budget request of the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST). George Nield, the associate administrator of commercial space transportation at the FAA, is the only scheduled witness so far.

The FY2012 budget […]

No workforce funding for the Space Coast

Speaking at the Kennedy Space Center just over a year ago, President Obama promised $40 million for “regional economic growth and job creation” on Florida’s Space Coast, $35 million of it in in the form of grants through the Commerce Department to support business in the area. Late today, though, Florida Today reported that the […]

Are spaceships like farm subsidies?

In a related story to the previous post about Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) op-ed on human spaceflight, the Daily Caller reports on similar comments made by George LeMieux, the Florida Republican planning to run for the Senate against incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. (LeMieux served in the Senate in 2009 and 2010, filling out the remainder […]

Rubio worries about “full retreat” from human spaceflight

In an op-ed published today in the Orlando Sentinel, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) worries about the future of NASA’s human spaceflight efforts under the current administration. “The president’s space policy is jeopardizing America’s longstanding commitment to manned space exploration,” he claims, citing the administration’s efforts to cancel Constellation (which was “our most reliable path to […]

Briefly: shuttle op-ed, NASA’s lack of a White House friend

Houston area members of Congress are continuing to complain about NASA’s decision not to award the city with a retired shuttle, nearly two weeks after NASA announced the sites that will host a retired orbiter. In an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday, Reps. Gene Green (D-TX) and John Culberson (R-TX) complain that the […]

Briefly: Obama visit; shuttle updates; “Moon mission”

A roundup of miscellaneous items on a slow space policy news week:

As has been widely reported, President Obama will visit the Kennedy Space Center next Friday to witness the scheduled launch of space shuttle Endeavour on STS-134. His appearance will only heighten the media frenzy surrounding the launch, which has less to do with […]

Supporting space in Florida

Florida Senate president Mike Haridopolos, who is also seeking the Republican nomination to run against US Senator Bill Nelson in 2012, called for more support from the federal government for Florida’s space industry in a curious op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday. Haridopolos laments the impending layoff of 1,900 workers at the Kennedy Space […]

Budget wrapup and heavy-lift language

On Friday the president signed into law the final fiscal year 2011 appropriations bill, ending an appropriations process that started over a year ago. Passage of the bill last week was greeted relatively quietly, with a rather generic statement of appreciation from NASA administrator Charles Bolden, who noted the bill gives NASA the funds to […]

Texas versus New York

In the immediate aftermath of NASA’s announcement Tuesday, officials from Ohio and Texas, who were both left empty-handed, reacted differently to the bad news: while Ohio officials criticized the decision on geographic grounds and immediately issued a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) asking them to review the decision-making progress, Texas officials vented their […]