NASA « Space Politics

Boeing, Space Adventures, and the commercial crew debate

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 16 at 12:52 pm ET

At a press conference yesterday, Boeing and Space Adventures announced an agreement where Space Adventures will market seats on Boeing’s planned CST-100 commercial crew capsule. The announcement comes, of course, in the midst of a debate on Capitol Hill about NASA’s future direction, including how much agency funding should be devoted to commercial crew development […]

Augustine’s “lukewarm endorsement” of Senate NASA bill, and more

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 16 at 7:04 am ET

What does the head of the committee that proposed options for the future of human spaceflight think of the legislation currently making its way through Congress? Space News put the question to Norm Augustine, and got a “lukewarm endorsement” of the Senate bill. “I am of course prepared to address â€˜facts,â€™ and I believe it […]

More opposition to House NASA authorization bill

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 15 at 7:13 am ET

If there are supporters of the House’s version of the NASA authorization bill, they’re not nearly as vocal as the opponents of the legislation, as a couple more recent examples illustrate. Yesterday the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, decried the bill as “sole source space […]

Briefly: standing up for ULA, SpaceX and India, and decolonizing NASA

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 14 at 7:22 am ET

In an editorial Monday, the Decatur (Ala.) Daily opposes provisions of the Senate NASA authorization bill and accompanying report that define what a heavy-lift launch vehicle should look like. The editorial is a followup to an article Sunday that described how “the overly prescriptive legislation”, which mandates a shuttle-derived design, would rule out a role […]

Where not everybody knows your name

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 12 at 2:23 pm ET

Let’s say you’re a major aerospace company. You have a significant presence in a state, employing hundreds of people. Your work plays a critical role in both national security and civil space activities. You might assume that political leaders in that state would be familiar with your company’s work, or have, at least, heard of […]

Crafting an ideal (for some) authorization bill

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 10 at 6:27 am ET

As some space advocates seek to block the House’s version of a NASA authorization bill, others have expressed support for at least key elements of the legislation. At a roundtable on Capitol Hill Thursday organized by the Space Transportation Association, former NASA administrator Mike Griffin offered his ideas of what he would like to see […]

More lobbying against House NASA bill

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 9 at 8:40 pm ET

With the House set to return from an extended summer recess next week, and presumably try to pick up where they left off on issues such as HR 5781, its version of a NASA authorization bill, opponents of the legislation are stepping up their efforts. The Space Access Society, which had not been actively involved […]

Briefly: NASA lobbying, asteroid R&D, and a rocket scientist candidate

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 9 at 7:22 am ET

One of the members of last year’s Augustine Committee is urging his fellow panelists to support the Senate version of the NASA authorization bill. Space News reports that Chris Chyba emailed other members of the committee last month to ask them to support the bill. Chyba, a Princeton professor of astrophysics and international affairs, said […]

A tense issue

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 9 at 6:38 am ET

NASA administrator Charles Bolden, as you might expect, didn’t make much in the way of policy pronouncements in a speech Tuesday night at Purdue University. But in a Q&A with the audience after his speech he did stumble upon one issue: how do you refer to Constellation? “Orion and Ares are two components of a […]

A stealthy anti-HR 5781 web site

By Jeff Foust on 2010 September 8 at 7:41 pm ET

A reader informed me today about a web site called Reform Space Now whose raison d’Ãªtre appears to be to oppose the House version of the NASA authorization bill, HR 5781. The web site features a one-minute narrated video that first builds up the administration’s new direction for NASA and then states, “But to some […]

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