Other « Space Politics

SLS report and another poll

By Jeff Foust on 2011 July 28 at 12:35 pm ET

NASASpaceFlight.com reported late Wednesday on a draft manifest for the Space Launch System (SLS) under a “budget restricted” scenario. According to that document, the first SLS launch would take place in 2017 and send an uncrewed Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) on a circumlunar trajectory. The next SLS mission would not take place until 2021, […]

Polls suggest support for space exploration but not bigger budgets

By Jeff Foust on 2011 July 24 at 12:46 pm ET

The end of the shuttle program, in addition to prompting its share of political reactions, was also a cue for pollsters, who used the occasion to seek out the public’s views on a variety of space issues. The responses suggest the public, while generally supporting NASA, is reluctant to let the shuttle go and also […]

Americans want to be leaders in space exploration. But what does that mean?

By Jeff Foust on 2011 July 6 at 5:28 am ET

The Pew Research Center released poll results yesterday that concluded that Americans wants the US to remain leaders in space exploration. Fifty-eight percent of those polled said they agreed it was “essential” that the US “continue to be a world leader in space exploration”. Slightly higher positive responses came from people with family incomes in […]

Still waiting on an SLS

By Jeff Foust on 2011 July 2 at 11:08 am ET

Going into Friday afternoon’s speech at the National Press Club, there was little expectation that NASA administrator Charles Bolden would make any major announcements, including on the agency’s plans for the Space Launch System (SLS). And that’s how it turned out: his speech was focused on the agency’s general plans for life after the space […]

The national space policy turns one

By Jeff Foust on 2011 June 28 at 6:15 am ET

One year ago today the Obama Administration released its national space policy, a document that, while having much of the same policy foundations as previous documents, differed in both details and tone. The new policy placed a greater emphasis on space sustainability, responsible use of space, and international cooperation, while also supporting commercial space efforts, […]

LightSquared, problems squared

By Jeff Foust on 2011 June 23 at 7:57 am ET

It’s tough enough to raise the billions of dollars needed to build out a nationwide hybrid satellite/terrestrial wireless network, as LightSquared has found. But when that system may interfere with one of the most crucial satellite systems anywhere, those problems are, well, squared, something that Congress will be looking into during a hearing today.

Scrutiny […]

Albrecht’s policy prescription for NASA

By Jeff Foust on 2011 June 21 at 7:10 am ET

In this week’s issue of The Space Review, I reviewed the new book Falling Back to Earth by Mark Albrecht, who was the executive secretary of the National Space Council during the George H.W. Bush administration and, later, president of International Launch Services. Much of the book, as I note in the review, talks about […]

A “pretty bleak picture” for a weather satellite program

By Jeff Foust on 2011 June 10 at 8:34 am ET

Later this morning a Delta 2 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying the Aquarius/SAC-D earth sciences satellite to orbit. That mission, designed to study ocean salinity and its effect on global climate, has not been immune to the delays that affect many satellite programs: it was originally […]

Briefs: strange space bedfellows, human spaceflight poll, Mars mission budget squeeze

By Jeff Foust on 2011 June 8 at 8:09 am ET

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a Tea Party group saying it’s in agreement with a pair of Democratic senators. Florida-based TEA Party in Space (TPIS), part of the larger Tea Party Patriots coalition, announced Monday that it has “publicly praised” a letter from Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to NASA […]

Strategies for space settlement and NASA’s survival

By Jeff Foust on 2011 May 31 at 7:32 am ET

One of the more compelling speeches at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Huntsville, Alabama, earlier this month was by Jeff Greason, president of XCOR Aerospace and a member of 2009’s Augustine Committee that reviewed NASA’s human spaceflight plans. Greason’s speech, the video of which is now available online, focused on […]

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