NASA « Space Politics

ASAP warns on commercial crew funding (again), gets philosophical about risk

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 21 at 7:13 am ET

Late last week, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) released its annual report on safety issues at NASA. As in recent years, one concern it highlighted in the report and accompanying cover letter is the level of funding for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP). ASAP remains worried that shortfalls in funding appropriated for the program […]

A forgotten anniversary

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 19 at 2:23 pm ET

Most of the space community spent this past Tuesday, January 14, examining the details of the omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2014 that funds NASA at ann overall level of $17.65 billion. Overlooked in that analysis, though, was another event: Tuesday marked the tenth anniversary of the speech by President George W. Bush at […]

Briefly: Fattah endorses ISS extension; Dryden renaming bill becomes law

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 17 at 1:00 pm ET

The announcement last week by the Obama Administration that it seeks to extend the life of the International Space Station to at least 2024, which already has the support of a number of members of Congress, received the support of another key member earlier this week. Speaking at the AIAA SciTech 2014 conference Monday outside […]

NASA: upcoming senior review won’t pit Cassini versus Curiosity

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 17 at 7:10 am ET

Many in the planetary science community, and space advocates in general, have been dreading the upcoming “Senior Review” later this year of ongoing NASA planetary missions. This biennial process examines those missions that have completed their primary missions to determine which should continue, and at what funding levels. The concern is that the funding available […]

With a budget in place, House members plan to return to NASA authorization bill

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 16 at 7:07 am ET

Now that the fiscal year 2014 appropriations bill is all but done, and a two-year budget deal in place as well, the House Science Committee is planning to revisit a controversial NASA authorization bill. Appearing on a public policy panel at the 22rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society last week outside Washington, Chris Shank, […]

Reactions to NASA’s fiscal year 2014 appropriation

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 15 at 7:05 am ET

A number of observers were surprised that NASA did as well as it did in the omnibus fiscal year 2014 spending bill, with its overall appropriation of $17.65 billion falling just about $70 million short of the administration’s original request. Although some programs did better than others (space technology, for example, saw its request cut […]

Omnibus bill gives NASA $17.65 billion (and launch indemnification extension as well)

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 14 at 5:30 am ET

Late Monday evening, House and Senate appropriations formally released their joint omnibus bill to fund the federal government for fiscal year 2014. For NASA, the bill provides the agency with $17.646 billion, a decrease of less than $70 million from the administration’s original proposal and a billion dollars more than what House appropriators approved last […]

Senate passes bill renaming NASA Dryden after Neil Armstrong

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 10 at 4:03 am ET

A bill passed by the House nearly a year agoâ€”and since all but forgottenâ€”to rename one of NASA’s centers is now on the verge of becoming law. On Wednesday, the Senate passed via unanimous consent HR 667, legislation that would rename NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center the “Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center.” The bill […]

ISS extension plan wins domestic support, but international uncertainty

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 9 at 6:21 am ET

After word broke that the White House had backed plans to extend the life of the International Space Station to at least 2024, the administration scrambled to make the news official, holding a midday media telecon Wednesday to discuss the extension. Late in the day, NASA administrator Charles Bolden and presidential science advisor John Holdren […]

Report: White House approves plans for ISS extension

By Jeff Foust on 2014 January 8 at 7:20 am ET

The Orlando Sentinel reported last night that the White House has approved plans to extend ISS operations beyond 2020 to 2024. NASA is expected to announce the extension this week, likely in conjunction with an international conference on space exploration featuring officials from over 30 nations tomorrow and Friday in Washington. Such an extension would […]

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