NASA « Space Politics

Conservative conundrum

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 18 at 6:58 am ET

One of the most documented ironies of the new plan for NASA unveiled by the White House in February is the clash of ideologies: a president widely regarded as a liberal (or even by some as a socialist) is supporting a plan to turn over to the private sector one aspect of NASA—transport of astronauts […]

Mikulski unhappy about NASA contact termination plans

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 16 at 10:32 am ET

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is the latest member of Congress to raise issues about NASA’s approach to dealing with the potential termination of Constellation contracts. In a May 10 letter to OMB director Peter Orszag (reported by Space News and also independently received here from a third party), Mikulski said she was “deeply troubled” by […]

Compromises, rallies, and more

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 15 at 11:25 am ET

Aviation Week sees signs of a developing compromise between the White House and Congress on NASA’s future, based on its interpretation of this week’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing. That assessment is based in part on comments at the hearing by Sens. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), the latter stating that he believes […]

Reiterating their opposition

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 14 at 8:52 am ET

Yesterday two members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Robert Bennett (R-UT), introduced and got included into an FY10 supplemental appropriations bill an amendment that prevents NASA from terminating any Constellation contracts. The two argued that this was a significant step in protecting Constellation: Bennett’s press release claimed the amendment “gains traction” […]

Holdren: astronauts support our plan, too

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 13 at 10:39 pm ET

The video above is a response to a question about NASA’s new plan posed to presidential science advisor John Holdren at the AAAS Forum on Science and Technology Policy in Washington on Thursday, one day after he appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee to discuss the administration’s new human spaceflight plans. He outlined the […]

Clash of the bailout quotes

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 13 at 5:39 am ET

So did NASA administrator Charles Bolden say that he would “bail out” commercial crew transportation providers on a scale similar to government bailouts of major automotive and financial companies? That was perhaps the most interesting item in a three-hour hearing yesterday by the Senate Commerce Committee on the future of human spaceflight. During the first […]

Astronaut safety and contract termination

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 12 at 6:31 am ET

At today’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the future of US human spaceflight, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the ranking member of the full committee, will bring up the issue of astronaut safety as an argument for extending the shuttle, the Houston Chronicle reports. She expressed concern to the paper about past anomalies with the […]

Lyles: NASA underfunded and out of balance

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 10 at 9:40 pm ET

Retired general Lester Lyles, a member of the Augustine Committee, warned a key House appropriator in a letter released today that NASA is underfunded and its key programs out of balance. In a letter (available at SpacePolicyOnline.com) Lyles and two co-signers, Raymond S. Colladay and Len Fisk, who together led a 2009 NRC study “America’s […]

An all-star panel Wednesday

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 10 at 8:52 pm ET

The Senate Commerce Committee has announced the witnesses for Wednesday afternoon’s hearing on “The Future of U.S. Human Space Flight” and it’s a high-powered list:

The Honorable John P. Holdren Director Office of Science and Technology Policy

The Honorable Charles F. Bolden Jr. Administrator National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Mr. Neil A. Armstrong Commander, […]

Briefly noted: committee hearing, Griffin talks

By Jeff Foust on 2010 May 7 at 1:10 pm ET

The full Senate Commerce Committee (and not just the space subcommittee) is planning a hearing next Wednesday afternoon on “The Future of U.S. Human Space Flight”. A witness list has not been posted yet, but MSNBC’s Jay Barbree claims that Neil Armstrong and/or Eugene Cernan “may” testify. NASA administrator Charles Bolden, perhaps with other senior […]

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