Campaign '12, Congress

Congressional reelection notes

The chairman of the space subcommittee of the House Science Committee, freshman Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), cites space as an issue as he prepares for reelection. “Being here has put me in a position to a make sure that our path back to space goes through South Mississippi, which it has always done,” he tells Gannett’s Washington bureau. His district in southern Mississippi includes NASA’s Stennis Space Center, a key site for rocket engine testing. In addition to ensuring a role for Stennis, he said, he wants “to kind of bring focus to NASA’s mission… and work with the administration and NASA to protect our legacy of space leadership.”

Another, more veteran, member of that subcommittee, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), is holding a fundraiser Wednesday night specifically targeting the commercial space industry. That event is timed to coincide with the 15th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference, taking place Wednesday and Thursday in Washington. Rohrabacher’s campaign is also hosting an “aviation and space briefing” with Burt Rutan later this month in California.

19 comments to Congressional reelection notes

  • Jeff Foust wrote:

    The chairman of the space subcommittee of the House Science Committee, freshman Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), cites space as an issue as he prepares for reelection. “Being here has put me in a position to a make sure that our path back to space goes through South Mississippi, which it has always done,” he tells Gannett’s Washington bureau.

    Which is Southern for, “Give me my pork!”

  • GuessWho

    Smith – “Which is Southern for, “Give me my pork!””

    Frankly, there are a number of NASA centers that should be shuttered; Langley, Ames, Stennis to name a few. However, Palazzo is doing what every Congressman is trying to do, retain Govt-funded jobs in his district. Extending your rationale/sentiment one more step, all Govt-funded jobs are pork and therefore their advocates should be equally criticized. Given this current president’s path of ever-increasing size of Govt, he should top your list of porkers.

  • Coastal Ron

    GuessWho wrote @ February 14th, 2012 at 7:59 am

    Given this current president’s path of ever-increasing size of Govt, he should top your list of porkers.

    Considering that only President Clinton had budget surpluses during his term in office, Obama is following in the footsteps of Bush 43, Bush 41 and Reagan. I’m not saying that’s a good thing (i.e. emulating deficit-producing Republicans), just that it’s not something new or unusual.

  • February 20th will be the 50th anniversary of America’s first manned orbit of the Earth in 1962. Since America is currently unable to travel into space, it should be interesting to hear from the various Presidential and Congressional candidates on this matter– and what kind of political spin they’ll place on it.

    Marcel F. Williams

  • Robert G. Oler

    Marcel F. Williams wrote @ February 14th, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    February 20th will be the 50th anniversary of America’s first manned orbit of the Earth in 1962. Since America is currently unable to travel into space, it should be interesting to hear from the various Presidential and Congressional candidates on this matter– and what kind of political spin they’ll place on it. >>

    If it gets much mention in the political world I will be surprised. RGO

  • amightywind

    Obama is following in the footsteps of Bush 43, Bush 41 and Reagan. I’m not saying that’s a good thing (i.e. emulating deficit-producing Republicans), just that it’s not something new or unusual.

    Obama’s lunatic spending is a bit more of an outlier than you’d have us believe. A pattern has developed and the numbers don’t lie. I am amazed anyone would buy our bonds.

  • amightywind

    The link I forgot to add to my previous post.

  • John Malkin

    Windy you blow more hot air than all the Politicians in Alberkerky. The Republicans are as much to blame for the deficit as the Democrats. I doubt Americans are ready to pay the piper. Note the Super Committee ended in a dead-locked so you can’t expect Obama to make major cuts in the percentages needed to fix the debt. The cuts to NASA are symbolic and have very little effect on the deficit. I hope commercial is fully funded at the levels in Obama’s budget. I would also like the Appropriation Committees find some additional money for NASA Science. A couple of wasteful earmarks should cover it.

    Even if we cut the budget by two-thirds it would take us at least 10 years to pay off the debt even with a stellar economy. Meanwhile we spend $400B+ on interest. What will happen when large numbers of our big bread earners become social security receipts? We are lucky to have a Space program at all.

  • Doug Lassiter

    Marcel F. Williams wrote @ February 14th, 2012 at 12:40 pm
    “February 20th will be the 50th anniversary of America’s first manned orbit of the Earth in 1962. Since America is currently unable to travel into space, it should be interesting to hear from the various Presidential and Congressional candidates on this matter– and what kind of political spin they’ll place on it.”

    They may well just point out all the other magnificent things we’re doing in space. MSL, LRO/LCROSS, Chandra, as well as ISS, and not be hard over about human space launch technology. What exactly did John Glenn do when he was up there, anyway, besides showing that “we can do it too!” ?

    FWIW, February 20 is when Ranger 8 successfully returned detailed pictures of the lunar surface. Also, FWIW, that’s the date that prohibition was repealed. I’ll drink to that.

  • amightywind

    The Republicans are as much to blame for the deficit as the Democrats.

    The democrats have brought us to the threshold of fiscal ruin in the last 3 years. They have grown the total debt by over 30%. Stunning. There is no running from this fact.

    What will happen when large numbers of our big bread earners become social security receipts? We are lucky to have a Space program at all.

    All the more reason for all of us to embrace the Ryan budget plan and the radical restructuring of entitlements. We must do our fair share.

  • Doug Lassiter wrote:

    They may well just point out all the other magnificent things we’re doing in space. MSL, LRO/LCROSS, Chandra, as well as ISS, and not be hard over about human space launch technology.

    Just for reference, here’s the very long list of all of NASA’s current missions:

    http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html

    For people to claim we’ve somehow ceded space leadership is absurd. No other nation on Earth is even doing deep space research. Russia tried with Phobos-Grunt and it fell back to Earth.

  • Robert G. Oler

    amightywind wrote @ February 14th, 2012 at 7:28 pm

    The democrats have brought us to the threshold of fiscal ruin in the last 3 years.>>

    that is patently absurd and one reason that the GOP is becoming more and more likely to receive the beating of its life come election day.

    If “space policy” indicates anything; it is that the GOP is far worse in terms of pork then their Dem counterparts. I am not telling you that Dems do not do pork, they do; but at the very least if space politics is to be examined the “pork” that the Dems advocate are things which change the lives of people here on earth; not uselessly building hardware that never flies or if it does accomplishes things of almost no value to The Republic.

    Not all spending is equal, even deficit spending. My wife and I spend about 5 grand a month on our new place…I spend about 500 (or maybe a tad more) on my hobby amateur radio. We can do it: my wife and I make the money but in the end the 500 doesnt do much but let me enjoy a hobby, the 5000 changes lives forever.

    The GOP is into hobby spending. In rough terms Cx consumed 15 billion dollars. For nothing. It spend three times what Gemini did and that project actually flew. All the 15 billion did was transfer taxpayer wealth to mostly corporations who then gave some of it to employees. There isnt a darn thing from that 15 billion that has value. Period.

    Iraq was hobby spending. And that smashed about 1.5 or more trillion into simply NOTHING. OK it cost probably 100-200 million for Obama to kill OBL and thats a lot of money; but at least we got something to show for it. There is zero value out of Iraq and the stupid people in the GOP use to claim it would “pay for itself”. How is that working for you?

    In the end the money could have either not been spent, or bought energy independence or???

    the 15 billion of Cx? or this years 1.8 billion that mostly GOP people want on SLS?

    All spending is not equal. I dont know what all the nation got for the stimulus bill, but whatever it got from that, it got more then it got from Iraq (well one thing that happened the Clear Creek School District was able to open).

    Fiscal Ruin was Bush43 taking an economy that was working and killing it. And people like you going along

    Paul Ryan is an idiot. RGO

  • Robert G. Oler

    Doug Lassiter wrote @ February 14th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
    Also, FWIW, that’s the date that prohibition was repealed. I’ll drink to that…

    that is what Elliot Ness did. RGO

  • Robert G. Oler

    Doug Lassiter wrote @ February 13th, 2012 at 10:14 pm

    Doug…we are I think mostly in agreement.

    Three points.

    First almost any explanation now, other then ISS, for human spaceflight is circular logic…and for the most part it is completely useless. Every few weeks over at NASAspaceflight.com they babble on about some justification for SLS and Orion and its all circular.

    But sometimes politics works with circular logic and my viewpoint is that there are people here in Houston who work for Boeing but who are doing this in the “spare time” through the good offices of the Pete Olson and KBH where they are trying to put together a space program for Willard when he comes to Texas. That program’s circular logic is using Orion and Centaur to service Webb when it is at the L point…and to build a modest “semi tended” station there.

    Thats what they are trying to come up with.

    As for Hubble…I would save it but then thats me. Robert G. Oler

  • Justin Kugler

    What “servicing” of Webb would be done? I didn’t think it was even designed for servicing like Hubble was. That’s not leadership. It’s a solution in search of a problem.

  • Das Boese

    Justin Kugler wrote @ February 15th, 2012 at 8:58 am

    What “servicing” of Webb would be done? I didn’t think it was even designed for servicing like Hubble was.

    It wasn’t. The idea of servicing it is completely ridiculous.

  • A M Swallow

    Manufacturing costs less than developing so a replacement Webb telescope should cost a lot less, providing they keep the same design.

  • Robert G. Oler

    Justin Kugler wrote @ February 15th, 2012 at 8:58 am

    What “servicing” of Webb would be done? I didn’t think it was even designed for servicing like Hubble was. >>

    that is stupidity RGO

  • Doug Lassiter

    A M Swallow wrote @ February 15th, 2012 at 2:24 pm
    “Manufacturing costs less than developing so a replacement Webb telescope should cost a lot less, providing they keep the same design.”

    A very large part of the JWST cost was I&T, and you’d have to do that on any replacement you build. I&T for JWST is extraordinarily hard, needing to be done at very low temperature and keeping delicate mirrors aligned in 1-g when they’re designed to work at 0-g. But then, there was investment in technology that need not be repeated, if all you’re after is a one-off.

    JWST was, indeed, not designed to be serviced. Although there were promises made that a docking adaptor would get affixed to it, there is really very little that an astronaut could do once there. It’s not a shame that it won’t be serviced, but a shame that it wasn’t designed to be serviced.

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