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One of the now-standard criticisms of NASA’s change in direction is that the agency is relying far too much on a commercial space transportation sector that, in the eyes of critics, isn’t up to the task, while at the same time abandoning existing, largely government-owned and -operated capabilities and the thousands of jobs that sustain […] A space program suffering from long-running problems, including schedule delays and cost overruns, is radically reshaped in the FY 2011 budget proposal announced Monday. And hardly anyone notices. Obviously, we’re not talking about Constellation. Instead, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Satellite System (NPOESS) underwent a shakeup in the budget proposal, right down to its name: it’s […] As the shuttle programs ends and NASA’s future direction remains uncertain, it’s clear that there will be changes in how NASA and the nation approach human spaceflight. In an essay in this week’s issue of The Space Review, Roger Handberg argues that the US will have to take a different approach to international cooperation. In […] Former NASA chief of staff Courtney Stadd is facing another legal battle. Stadd pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Mississippi to nine charges, including fraud and conspiracy. The government alleges that Stadd conspired with a NASA official starting in 2004 to award contracts to Mississippi State, one of his consulting clients, who then […] In July Virgin Galactic announced that it had sold 32 percent of the company to Aabar Investments, an Abu Dhabi-based fund, for $280 million; Aabar would also provide an additional $100 million for the development of a smallsat launch system. Aabar would get exclusive regional rights to host Virgin Galactic flights. The press release included […] Most of the arguments for NASA’s Constellation program, specifically Ares 1 and Orion, have fallen along familiar lines: safety, performance, jobs, national prestige, and the like. Planetary defense and climate control? Not so much. But that’s exactly what NBC’s Jay Barbree suggested in a brief report yesterday about the meeting between Obama and Bolden: […] Space advocates in the UK finally got something Thursday they had long sought: a national space agency. Minister for Science Innovation Lord Drayson announced the plans for the space agency Thursday at the Rutherford Appleton Space Conference. The “bureaucracy busting agency” will bring together a number of government departments and other offices and was billed […] NASA administrator Charles Bolden’s comments earlier this week that greater international cooperation would be a priority for NASA in the near future has attracted some debate. To learn more about potential advantages of obstacles to such cooperation, Scott Pace of GWU’s Space Policy Institute is speaking on “International Opportunities and Challenges for U.S. Space Policy” […] Yesterday’s rollout of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo vehicle featured appearances by two sitting governors: Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Bill Richardson of New Mexico. However, there wasn’t much in the way of politics at the event other than a brief statement by Richardson, echoing something he said over a year ago: We know that being […] |
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