NASA « Space Politics

Ares politics gets local

By Jeff Foust on 2009 November 6 at 7:18 pm ET

Members of Alabama’s Congressional delegation have spoken out in recent weeks in favor of continuing the current Constellation program, including the Ares 1 launch vehicle; now that message is reaching down to local politics as well. As the Huntsville Times reported Friday, Huntsville, Alabama, mayor Tommy Battle says the city needs to support continued development […]

Now the real budget battle begins

By Jeff Foust on 2009 November 6 at 1:20 pm ET

Yesterday the Senate passed its version of HR 2847, the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill, which includes NASA. The bill funds NASA at $18.686 billion, the same level as requested in the White House budget proposal and more than $480 million above what the House passed earlier this year. This passage was spun in […]

A Thanksgiving decision on NASA’s future?

By Jeff Foust on 2009 November 2 at 12:52 pm ET

A decision on the future on NASA’s human spaceflight program could be coming in time for Thanksgiving, according to a key senator. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) told WFTV in Orlando that he expects President Obama to make a decision “sometime around the Thanksgiving holiday” on which direction he wants to take the space program. Nelson […]

Congressional reaction to Ares 1-X

By Jeff Foust on 2009 October 29 at 7:03 am ET

It should be little surprise that many of the same members of Congress who issued comments about the Augustine committee report last week also issued statements after the successful test flight of the Ares 1-X rocket Wednesday. Indeed, they were able in many cases to repeat the same themes as their comments last week. For […]

Debating the Augustine committee report’s implications

By Jeff Foust on 2009 October 29 at 6:11 am ET

The AIAA is planning an event this Monday afternoon, November 2, titled “Aerospace Industry Leaders to Debate Americaâ€™s Next Steps in Space” on Capitol Hill. The half-day event will feature two panels, one discussing access to LEO and servicing of the ISS and the other focusing on heavy-lift launch vehicle development and exploration beyond LEO. […]

Save Space: catching on or falling short?

By Jeff Foust on 2009 October 25 at 1:13 pm ET

Florida Today provides an update today on the status of Save Space, a Space Coast effort to get half a million letters in support of space exploration delivered to the White House. The article gives the impression that the movement is gaining momentum (“catching on”, as the headline puts it; “gaining steam”, as the lede […]

More Congressional reaction

By Jeff Foust on 2009 October 23 at 12:19 pm ET

In a statement in response to the Augustine committee’s final report, Sen. Richard Shelby again emphasized his concerns regarding safety that he mentioned in a Senate floor speech earlier this week:

While I commend the Augustine Commission for their work, I find many of the options proposed in their final report to be unsatisfactory […]

Final WH decision: wait till February?

By Jeff Foust on 2009 October 22 at 8:42 pm ET

Shortly after the Augustine committee released its final report, Alan Ladwig of NASA spoke at the luncheon of the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in New Mexico. Ladwig, filling in for deputy administrator Lori Garver (who was scheduled to speak but stayed in Washington because of the report’s release) did briefly address the […]

Brief pre-Augustine notes

By Jeff Foust on 2009 October 22 at 11:12 am ET

An op-ed in the Washington Examiner by three Republican House freshman, including Pete Olson of Texas and Bill Posey of Florida, stresses the importance of properly funding NASA and increasing its budget even though it might seem at odds with their philosophy of limited government. “We do not take spending $3 billion lightly, but […]

Creating commercial spaceflight “centers of excellence”

By Jeff Foust on 2009 October 22 at 9:18 am ET

Yesterday the two representatives from Florida’s Space Coast, Suzanne Kosmas and Bill Posey, introduced HR 3853, “Commercial Space Transportation Cooperative Research and Development Centers of Excellence Act of 2009″. The bill would authorize NASA to make grants to two more universities (with at least one of which within 100 miles of “an active commercial spaceport”, […]

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