Space Politics
Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway…
Archive for Campaign ’04
October 28, 2004 at 8:10 am · Filed under Campaign '04
In Thursday’s edition of Florida Today John Glenn has a column about John Kerry’s recently released space policy. One of the most notable comments is at the very beginning of the column:
There have been false rumors circulated that if my good friend John Kerry is elected president, he will limit future space shuttle flights to 10 or less. Kerry has no such plans.
This appears to be references to rumors that NASA Watch alleged that Lori Garver had been circulating in recent days. Another interesting statement by Glenn is that Kerry “intends to be at the return-to-flight launch of shuttle Discovery next year.” Most of the rest of the commentary is largely a restatement of the Kerry space policy document.
October 26, 2004 at 7:37 pm · Filed under Campaign '04
An Alamogordo (NM) Daily News article reports on a speech given Monday by former astronaut Rusty Schweickart in town (this appears to be a separate appearance from the New Mexico Tech talk he was also scheduled to give Monday.) It appears that Schweickart did not talk about space policy during his appearance (or else the reporter didn’t think it worthy of mention): the article focuses on what Schweickart thinks about Iraq, energy, and getting students to pursue careers in science and engineering.
October 25, 2004 at 6:05 pm · Filed under Campaign '04
The Kerry/Edwards campaign has posted a space policy statement on its campaign website. The content of the policy should not come as much of a surprise for those who attended and/or read the press accounts of the Garver-Sietzen debate. The statement calls the Vision for Space Exploration “a purely political stunt, without being backed up by the necessary funding.” The alternative proposed by the Kerry campaign has five major points:
- Increasing NASA’s funding “above current levels adjusted for inflation”, paid for (along with other R&D initiatives) by accelerating the transition to digital TV broadcasting and auctioning the existing analog spectrum;
- Develop a “more balanced” program that “assigns appropriate priority to all NASA programs”. This would appear to place less of an emphasis on exploration in favor of space science, earth science, and aeronautics programs;
- Encourage international participation in NASA programs “in a meaningful way”;
- Increase the emphasis on aeronautics R&D (a partial restatement of point 2);
- Improving the current management of NASA; which the campaign alleges has failed in its bid to reform the agency’s financial and management problems.
Again, not too much of a surprise, although it is the most detailed official campaign statement on space policy to date.
October 25, 2004 at 7:52 am · Filed under Campaign '04
On Saturday Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin appeared at a Bush campaign rally at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida, just south of Cape Canaveral. The Florida Today article about the event includes one quote from Aldrin’s speech: “There is so much more to explore. We need a vision for the future.” According to an official campaign transcript, Bush did not mention space during his address other than recognizing Aldrin’s presence:
I’m honored to call Buzz Aldrin friend. I appreciate him being here today. He’s one of the great pioneers of America. I appreciate you, Buzz, coming. I want to thank you for the example you have set for future pioneers.
Meanwhile, a participant on the Kerryspace email list notes that Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart is scheduled to speak at New Mexico Tech Monday afternoon on behalf of the Kerry campaign, in a speech sponsored by the campus Young Democrats chapter. However, Schweickart is scheduled to speak about renewable energy and “the importance of energy independence in the global context”, not space policy.
October 19, 2004 at 9:04 pm · Filed under Campaign '04
Since there’s a not a lot of space policy news of late, here’s a recap of a few articles written recently about the Garver-Sietzen debate and related topics.
- Offering some straightforward reporting about the debate are articles in Aerospace Daily, SPACE.com/Space News, and my own article for The Space Review. (I will note for the purposes of full disclosure that I’ve known both Garver and Sietzen for several years.)
- The Houston Chronicle had an article Monday with a combination of notes from the debate as well as the standard discussion of why space doesn’t get any attention from the candidates.
- Much of the discussion about the debate has centered on Keith Cowing’s article, the first full-length article to be published after the debate. What’s most interesting about it is not the bias towards Bush some see in the article (as well as the disclaimers about his association with Sietzen), but that, in the end, after strongly criticizing Garver and Kerry, he says that he’s voting for Kerry because of his positions on other (presumably more important) issues. If anyone’s ever doubted the role of space policy in Presidential campaigns, that should clear things up…
October 14, 2004 at 12:59 pm · Filed under Campaign '04
I attended the debate between the representatives of the Bush and Kerry campaigns this morning on the aerospace platforms of the two candidates. There were no major revelations from the event, as you might expect, but a few interesting items, which I’ll try to summarize below (while finishing my lunch.)
- Lori Garver, representing the Kerry campaign, said she had been volunteering for Kerry for about eight months. Frank Sietzen, representing the Bush campaign, said he had recently decided to stop writing about the exploration plan and start defending it, clearing up any potential conflicts with his journalism work.
- Sietzen’s main argument was that people had griped for years, particularly after the Columbia accident, that NASA lacked an overarching vision. Now that President Bush provided one, it’s time to support it, and him, and not risk handing that over to someone (Kerry) whose views are less clear.
- Garver argued that while exploration is important, it should not be the only thing NASA is working on; it must be done in balance with aeronautics, earth sciences, and space sciences.
- Both said that their candidates would keep open the option of restoring a shuttle servicing mission to Hubble.
- Sietzen described the current relations between the White House and NASA as the closest since James Webb was NASA administrator during the Kennedy and Johnson administration, adding that O’Keefe talks with the president almost every other day.
- Garver said that both Kerry and John Edwards were inspired by space during the Kennedy days, but didn’t go into specifics.
- One of the interesting claims made in the debate, particularly by Garver, is that NASA has become too politicized and partisan; she noted that a Kerry administration would work to depoliticize the agency. While O’Keefe has been more involved in party politics than previous administrators, Sietzen noted that Goldin made at least one campaign appearance during him time at NASA. Support—and oppostion— of NASA programs still crosses party lines: Democrats worked with Republicans in the Senate last month to add money to NASA’s FY05 budget, and Republicans have been as critical of aspects of the exploration plan as Democrats (recall Trent Lott’s comments last month.)
I’m sure other readers attended the debate, so feel free to add or correct the points made above. Standard disclosures and disclaimers apply; I’ll also note I’m registered to vote in Maryland with no party affiliation.
October 12, 2004 at 9:27 pm · Filed under Campaign '04
The debate between representatives of the Bush and Kerry campaigns on aerospace issue is still scheduled for Thursday morning; as of late Tuesday space was still available to attend but reservations are required by 11 am Wednesday. Since my original post the debate participants have been announced: Frank Sietzen for the Bush campaign and Lori Garver for the Kerry campaign. This selection is disappointing but not necessarily surprising: while both are knowledgeable on space topics neither is intimately involved with their respective campaigns, another sign of how important space policy is to both campaigns.
October 2, 2004 at 11:23 pm · Filed under Campaign '04
Well, not quite, but this is going to be as close as we get in this campaign: the Washington Space Business Roundtable and Women in Aerospace are jointly hosting a debate between unnamed representatives of the Bush and Kerry campaigns on “The Aerospace Platforms of the Presidential Candidates”. The event is scheduled for 7:30-9:30 am on October 14 at the offices of Reed Smith, LLP in downtown Washington. Admission is limited and costs $5.
September 20, 2004 at 7:25 am · Filed under Campaign '04
Anyone who still doubts that space is a relatively unimportant topic in Presidential politics should read this Philadelphia Inquirer article that follows a Gallup pollster, Jeffrey Jones, as he works on the latest poll questionnaire:
Jones and his colleagues wrote many good questions, but research has shown that people won’t stay on the phone more than 18 minutes to answer them.
Something had to go. Out went question 36, about whether NASA, the U.S. space agency, was doing an excellent, good, only fair or poor job. Replacing it was an open-ended question on campaign issues.
In any case, if Gallup was really interested in space policy and the Presidential election, there are any number of better questions they could have asked.
September 16, 2004 at 7:50 am · Filed under Campaign '04
This week’s issue of the journal Nature features a special report on the science policies of President Bush and Senator Kerry. One of the 15 questions asked of the two Presidential candidates was the following:
Do you think the United States should send astronauts to the Moon or Mars in the next 10 to 15 years? If so, why send humans instead of robots? If not, what is the purpose of the space shuttle and space station?
The answers (which may be easier to read in this PDF file or in an HTML version provided by Discovery.com) don’t break any new ground. Bush’s response looks like it was primarily taken directly from his January 14th speech. (The BBC interprets his response to mean that Bush has “back-pedalled from his ‘man on Mars’ ambition”, but that would seem to be an erroneous conclusion: Bush publicly voiced little “man on Mars” ambition in his original address or other statements.) Kerry reiterated his support for the ISS but his opposition to the Bush plan because it doesn’t contain what he believes is sufficient funding for carrying it out. He added that “John Edwards and I are committed to increasing funding for NASA and space exploration”, but doesn’t specify how it would be spent.
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