NASA « Space Politics

Reaction to the NASA budget proposal

By Jeff Foust on 2013 April 11 at 1:33 pm ET

The fiscal year 2014 budget proposal for NASA is, as previously noted, fairly similar to the agency’s 2013 proposal, with the notable exceptions of the new asteroid initiative and changes to NASA’s education programs as part of the administration’s broader STEM education consolidation. That may be why the budget has, so far, not gotten a […]

New bill would redirect NASA back to the Moon

By Jeff Foust on 2013 April 11 at 9:10 am ET

Just days after NASA admininstrator Charles Bolden said that a NASA-led human return to the Moon would not take place “probably in my lifetime,” a group of mostly Republican members of the House introduced a bill that would require NASA to do just that, and within a decade.

The “RE-asserting American Leadership in Space Act,” […]

Quick look at NASA FY14 budget proposal

By Jeff Foust on 2013 April 10 at 11:41 am ET

The White House has released its documents for the FY14 budget proposal, including a fact sheet for NASA. The administration is seeking approximately $17.7 billion for NASA, about the same as its FY13 proposal. The proposal, as expected, includes funding to begin work “on a mission to rendezvous withâ€”and then moveâ€”a small asteroid.” There’s also […]

Final tweaks to the 2013 budget

By Jeff Foust on 2013 April 9 at 7:13 am ET

Everything is set for tomorrow’s unveiling of the administration’s fiscal year 2014 budget proposal. The overall budget proposal will likely show up on the OMB website Wednesday morning, with NASA posting its detailed budget proposal documents at 1 pm Eastern. At 1:30 pm, the Office of Science and Technology Policy will hold a budget briefing, […]

Nelson confirms asteroid mission study to be in FY14 budget proposal

By Jeff Foust on 2013 April 5 at 9:12 pm ET

Details about the fiscal year 2014 budget are supposed to be embargoed until Wednesday, when the administration formally releases its budget proposal. When NASA administrator Chalres Bolden spoke before the joint meeting of the Space Studies Board and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board in Washington on Thursday, he said he knew some people there […]

Back to the Moon? Not any time soon, says Bolden

By Jeff Foust on 2013 April 5 at 1:05 pm ET

A week from Monday marks the third anniversary of President Obama’s speech at the Kennedy Space Center where he formally announced the goal of a human mission to an asteroid by 2025. While that is an official goal of NASA’s human space exploration program, there remains some opposition or, at the very least, lack of […]

Next week: “Threats from Space,” the sequel

By Jeff Foust on 2013 April 3 at 9:39 pm ET

When the House Science Committee met last month to discuss the threats posed by near Earth objects (NEOs), they indicated that there would be at least one other hearing on the topic in April. That hearing has been scheduled: “Threats from Space: A Review of Non-U.S. Government Efforts to Track and Mitigate Asteroids and Meteors, […]

Sequestration’s effects on commercial crew, and planning for FY14

By Jeff Foust on 2013 March 29 at 7:09 am ET

At a media telecon Thursday afternoon to talk about the just-completed Dragon mission to the International Space Station, NASA administrator Charles Bolden said that budget sequestration could have an adverse effect on the agency’s commercial crew program if it extends beyond the end of this fiscal year. “So far, we don’t see any significant impact […]

Don’t send Bruce Willis to do a robot’s job

By Jeff Foust on 2013 March 26 at 12:04 pm ET

The Senate Commerce Committee’s space subcommittee hearing last Wednesday on “Assessing the Risks, Impacts, and Solutions for Space Threats” was seen by many as the Senate’s counterpart to a House Science Committee hearing the day before on the subject of threats posed by near Earth objects (NEOs). While it didn’t have the star power of […]

With budget uncertainty resolved, sequestration’s effects kick in

By Jeff Foust on 2013 March 23 at 11:20 am ET

The good news for NASA and other federal agencies is that they finally have a fiscal year 2013 budget. On Thursday, the House passed the Senate’s version of a 2013 spending bill as expected, a day after the Senate approved it. The passage ends any worries about a potential government shutdown when the current continuing […]

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