NASA « Space Politics

Nelson crosses the aisle on ISS, KSC issues

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 30 at 7:48 am ET

It’s frequently noted here and elsewhere that space issues do not follow party lines closely, if at all, with differences of opinion more likely to be along regional or other lines than party affiliation. That’s demonstrated in the last few days by a couple of statements on space issues by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), working […]

Griffin’s skepticism, Bolden’s optimism

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 27 at 7:22 am ET

The current and former administrators of NASA were both in Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday, with widely varying assessments of the agency’s human spaceflight programs. Appearing on a panel hosted by Huntsville mayor Tommy Battle on Friday afternoon, former NASA administrator Mike Griffin claimed that the current White House “has done everything it could to oppose […]

Report clears NASA shuttle selection process, but doesn’t make Dayton or Houston any happier

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 26 at 7:49 am ET

One of the more controversial decisions that NASA has made in the last six months has had nothing to do with the Space Launch System, Commercial Crew Development, or James Webb Space Telescope programs. Instead, it was the agency’s decision, announced April 12, on where the shuttle orbiters will be displayed upon retirement. The decision […]

Hutchison: Progress failure underscores need for SLS

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 25 at 6:06 am ET

Yesterday Rep. Dana Rohrabacher reacted to the loss of a Progress cargo spacecraft by requesting an “emergency transfer of funding” to NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program to provide the US with its own means to access the station. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison also issued a statement in response to the launch failure, and like Rep. […]

Rohrabacher calls for “emergency” funding for CCDev in light of Progress failure

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 24 at 5:52 pm ET

Earlier today a Soyuz rocket carrying a Progress spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the 44th such cargo spacecraft launched by Russia in the ISS era. Unlike the previous 43, though, this one failed to reach orbit: an apparent failure in the Soyuz’s third stage caused the loss of the Progress as […]

An independent cost assessment, without costs

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 23 at 9:18 pm ET

For those expecting many details about the independent cost assessment (ICA) of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) recently completed by Booz Allen Hamilton, an executive summary released Tuesday by the space agency was disappointing. The report provides no specific cost numbers for the SLS, the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), or the “21st Century Ground Systems […]

What will be caught in Webb’s budgetary web?

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 23 at 6:31 am ET

On Monday Aviation Week and Nature reported on the latest cost estimate for building and operating the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): $8.7 billion. That includes the costs to build and launch the telescope, as well as five years of science operations. That new total figure should not be surprising: last month Rep. Frank Wolf […]

Happy birthday, Charlie. Now where’s that SLS study?

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 19 at 5:36 pm ET

Today is NASA administrator Charles Bolden’s 65th birthday: he was born in Columbia, South Carolina, on August 19, 1946. So what did Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) get him for his birthday? A press release about the status of studies for the Space Launch System (SLS). According to Hutchison, the independent cost study for the […]

Another round of belt tightening

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 19 at 6:15 am ET

While work on fiscal year 2012 budgets is slowly making progress in Congress, federal agencies are already working on their planned 2013 budgets, preparing submissions to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Those agencies, including NASA, are now being given guidance from the White House to be ready to trim their budgets. In a […]

SLS: Senators’ Letters about SLS

By Jeff Foust on 2011 August 17 at 6:20 am ET

Earlier this month came word that a draft letter was circulating on Capitol Hill, reportedly linked to Utah’s congressional delegation, calling on the administration to publish its design for the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift launch vehicle and ensure it makes use of solid rocket motors. The advocacy group Tea Party in Space (TPIS) recently […]

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