Gingrich: “America has a destiny in space”

Feeling confident about a likely victory in Georgia’s Republican presidential primary (which indeed happened), former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich paid a visit Tuesday to Alabama, which holds its primary in a week. And not just anywhere in Alabama: he went to Huntsville, speaking before a few hundred people at the U.S. Space and […]

Briefly: Space blitz success, Senate hearing

The National Space Society (NSS) declared success in its latest Legislative Blitz it held on Capitol Hill last week with fellow member organizations of the Space Exploration Alliance (SEA). Blitz participants (about two dozen are included in a photo in the release) visited over 100 congressional offices over two days to discuss a range of […]

Alabama GOP candidates express commercial space concerns

In 2008, Parker Griffith won the election for Alabama’s 5th Congressional district—which includes Huntsville and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center—as a Democrat, succeeding longtime member Bud Cramer. In late 2009, though, Griffith switched parties, citing a perceived lack of support among other Congressional Democrats for NASA as one of the reasons for joining the Republicans. […]

Mars exploration versus commercial crew?

On Wednesday Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) director John Holdren appeared at a hearing of the Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. The hearing was held in a location without webcasting capabilities, so there was limited coverage of the event. Those reports, though, suggest that a battle may be […]

Congressmen seek to fix “safety glitch” with commercial crew program

When Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) director John Holdren testified before the House Science Committee four days after the release of the administration’s FY2013 budget, the first question he was asked by committee chairman Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX) was about NASA’s ability, or lack thereof, to require Commercial Crew Program companies to meet […]