The 180-Day report and lunar exploration

In her speech at the AIAA Space 2012 conference Tuesday, NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver mentioned that NASA had just delivered to Congress a “comprehensive report outlining our destinations” for human exploration of the solar system. That report, formally titled “NASA Exploration Destinations, Goals, and International Collaboration”, is now available on NASA’s web site. However, […]

Making the case NASA is better off than four years ago

The opening session of the AIAA Space 2012 conference in Pasadena, California, on Tuesday was originally billed to include a “presidential candidates forum” on space issues, featuring representatives of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney campaigns. However, no forum took place during that opening session, since AIAA could not get commitments from the two campaigns to […]

Packing the house for a Senate hearing

Adding to a busy week, the Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday afternoon titled “The Path from LEO to Mars”. The hearing will start with an update on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover, followed by a second panel of witnesses to discuss NASA’s “exploration portfolio” from low Earth orbit to Mars.

The Planetary Society […]

Obama only briefly mentions space in Space Coast appearance

President Barack Obama spoke for over a half-hour late Sunday morning in a campaign appearance on the campus of the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. However, those expecting him to spend some time talking about space, particularly contrasting his policies with those espoused by the Romney campaign, likely came away disappointed. Obama only briefly […]

House commercial crew hearing next week

The full House Science Committee is planning a hearing for the morning of Friday, September 14, on “Recent Developments in NASA’s Commercial Crew Acquisition Strategy”. NASA associate administration William Gerstenmaier and Joseph Dyer, the chairman of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, are the two scheduled witnesses.

The hearing is likely to cover NASA’s decision last […]

Disappointed advocates, advocating scientists

Don’t count the members of the space advocacy group the Space Frontier Foundation fans of either the Democratic or Republican parties’ positions on space. Last week they issued a press release critical of the Republican platform’s space language, suggesting it was as odds with broader party ideology. “NASA seems to be one Big Government program […]

White paper outlines “key accomplishments” of Obama Administration in space

The Obama campaign in Florida released earlier today a three-page white paper detailing what the Obama Administration has accomplished in space policy during its first term. The paper itemizes those accomplishments in several areas: extending the life of existing space efforts (such as the ISS), supporting the growth of commercial spaceflight, continued investments in science […]

Obama to visit Florida’s Space Coast this weekend

Florida Today reports that President Barack Obama will make a campaign stop Sunday in Florida’s Space Coast region. The appearance in Melbourne, Florida, at a time and location yet to be announced, is part of a series of visits in a state that is key to the outcome of the election. A private meeting with […]

House hearing next week on SLS and Orion

Congress will be returning from its extended summer/convention break next week, and one committee already has a space-related hearing lined up. The space subcommittee of the House Science Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday morning titled “Examining NASA’s Development of the Space Launch System and Orion Crew Capsule”. Only two witnesses are listed as of […]

Examining Romney’s ScienceDebate space answer

Yesterday ScienceDebate 2012 released answers to a series of questions on science topics provided by the Obama and Romney campaigns. (Interest was high enough that the web site was largely inaccessible for most of the day; while it appears to be up and running now, a copy of the questions and answers is on Scientific […]