NASA « Space Politics

NASA’s “next steps” telecon

By Jeff Foust on 2010 April 8 at 8:44 am ET

NASA announced early this morning that it will be holding a teleconference this afternoon to discuss the “the next steps in implementing the agency’s new exploration initiatives outlined in the new fiscal year 2011 budget.” The only other details about this event, called on rather short notice, is that it will feature much of the […]

Differing predictions for April 15

By Jeff Foust on 2010 April 6 at 6:29 am ET

With still few details publicly announced about next Thursday’s presidential space conference at the Kennedy Space Center, there’s no shortage of speculation and predictions about what may be announced there. On SpaceRef Keith Cowing sees signs of a compromise that would preserve Orion in a scaled-down “Orion Lite” version, along with a shuttle sidemount HLV […]

District 19

By Jeff Foust on 2010 April 3 at 12:45 pm ET

There are no prawns or other extraterrestrials (that we know about) in Florida’s 19th congressional district, but it’s still of interest to the space community as it will host a special election this month to fill the House seat vacated by Robert Wexler earlier this year. The Palm Beach Post posed questions to the two […]

Griffin on government versus commercial human spaceflight

By Jeff Foust on 2010 April 2 at 8:48 am ET

Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin sat down for an interview with the web site Ars Technica and reiterated his belief that the change in direction for NASA’s human spaceflight program is a bad decision. “I can’t imagine anyone is wondering what I think, because I’ve been quoted often on that,” he said. “The administration’s new […]

Two months later

By Jeff Foust on 2010 April 1 at 6:06 am ET

Two months ago today the White House released its FY11 budget proposal that contained sweeping changes for NASA, initiating a cycle of commentary and criticism of the planned change in direction for the agency’s exploration plans that has not ceased. As the Orlando Sentinel notes, many people are anxiously awaiting additional details about the plan, […]

The goal remains the same

By Jeff Foust on 2010 March 31 at 6:49 am ET

In the eyes of many the new NASA exploration plan announced in the FY2011 budget proposal is a massive change, one that abandons the previous goal in the Vision for Space Exploration of returning humans to the Moon by 2020 and, some fear, human space exploration altogether. However, one NASA official said yesterday that the […]

Mikulski on the importance of safety and astronaut destinations

By Jeff Foust on 2010 March 29 at 7:19 pm ET

While her subcommittee’s hearing on the NASA budget last week as postponed, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) did get an opportunity to speak briefly about the agency’s new direction at the end of an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” program yesterday. Asked by host Candy Crowley about the president’s decision “to end all funding […]

For military launch, failure is not an option

By Jeff Foust on 2010 March 27 at 2:04 pm ET

If there was a key takeaway from Friday’s Space Transportation Association luncheon speech by Gary Payton, the deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space programs, it’s that there’s no room for error when launching key military spacecraft. “We’re at the point now where our programs are so critical to the warfighter that we […]

If at first you don’t succeed…

By Jeff Foust on 2010 March 27 at 9:03 am ET

Last week a group of senators led by Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL) introduced an amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill defending Constellation. That amendment reiterated an earlier provision in the FY2010 appropriations bill preventing NASA from terminating any part of Constellation and related measures. That amendment, though, was never taken up, and the FAA legislation […]

Who needs a Plan B when you can have a Plan A?

By Jeff Foust on 2010 March 25 at 7:22 am ET

Appearing before the space subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee yesterday, former Lockheed Martin executive Tom Young, a veteran of a number of space-related committees and reviews in the last decade, described his issues with the NASA budget proposal. During his testimony he made several references to a “plan A”. “A plan A […]

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