States « Space Politics

Can a letter-writing campaign save Florida jobs?

By Jeff Foust on 2009 September 28 at 7:17 am ET

That’s the hope of a new effort on Florida’s Space Coast that’s launching today. Save Space, an effort led by Brevard County’s board of commissioners, is encouraging Floridians and other Americans to write letters to President Obama in support of the space program. The draft letters on the web site ask the president to:

add […]

“Nagging doubts” about Space Florida

By Jeff Foust on 2009 September 23 at 7:25 am ET

An editorial in today’s Orlando Sentinel discusses the current state of Space Florida, the state space development agency. For those who missed the events last week, a search committee picked former NASA deputy administrator Shana Dale as the agency’s new president, a decision that caused consternation among some Space Coast officials, who backed interim president […]

Virginia is (still) for spaceport lovers

By Jeff Foust on 2009 August 15 at 9:43 am ET

This week Bob McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, toured the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), the commercial spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia. He used the visit to release his plans to support the continued development of MARS to make it “Americaâ€™s top commercial Spaceport”.

The biggest part of the plan is a pledge […]

Virginia’s governor candidates are spaceport lovers

By Jeff Foust on 2009 June 9 at 6:50 am ET

In this off year in the Congressional election cycle, one of the few elections of interest is the Virginia gubernatorial race. The primaries are today, although only the Democratic nomination is contested, with three major candidates: Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe, and Brian Moran. The good news for space advocates in the state is that all […]

Briefly noted

By Jeff Foust on 2009 May 4 at 1:53 pm ET

A few policy-related items published in the last few days worth mentioning:

• It’s not surprising that, after the series of articles it did on Space Florida, the Orlando Sentinel called for a shakeup of the agency in an editorial Sunday. The paper called on the state’s governor and lieutenant governor to “clean house at […]

Space Florida dodges a budget cut

By Jeff Foust on 2009 May 1 at 12:04 pm ET

An entanglement with a space tourism training venture that hired a former state employee, running afoul of state ethics rules? Not much of a problem. Spending millions on a new launch facility that doesn’t have any customers? A needed investment. But spend money on lobbyists? That was a bit too much for one Florida lawmaker […]

Illinois stands up for Pluto

By Jeff Foust on 2009 March 13 at 6:02 am ET

The Illinois Senate, fresh off its conviction of former governor Rod Blagojevich in his impeachment trial, has taken a stand on another controversial issue: whether Pluto should be a planet. Really. Late last month the state senate passed SR0046, designates today, March 13, “Pluto Day”, in honor of the 79th anniversary of the announcement of […]

Florida vs. Alabama

By Jeff Foust on 2009 March 4 at 7:17 am ET

Today is Florida Space Day, when representatives of the state’s space industry as well as Space Florida meet with state legislators in Tallahassee “to discuss the challenges we face in ensuring Florida remains at the forefront of the nationâ€™s space program.” And that challenge, according to an article in today’s Orlando Sentinel, may be based […]

Lobbying efforts ramp up

By Jeff Foust on 2009 February 5 at 4:59 am ET

We don’t know who the next NASA administrator is going to be, nor what the new administration’s space policy plans are, nor what sort of budget the administration will request, but that’s not stopping some advocacy groups from pressing their agendas on Congress. The National Space Society is planning its annual Legislative Blitz in conjunction […]

Et tu, Dave?

By Jeff Foust on 2009 February 4 at 7:51 am ET

If you saw this Orlando Sentinel headline—“Former Fla. lawmaker to help Palin on space”—the first thing that may have popped into your mind was the former vice presidential candidate was already assembling a coterie of advisers to prepare for a future run at national office. And while that might eventually be the case, the news […]

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