SpaceX, suborbital advocates fight NASA authorization bill

This morning SpaceX sent out a message to those subscribed to the company’s email updates asking for help to block the NASA authorization legislation the House is set to consider as soon as this week. The key portion of the email, signed by “–Elon–“:

Your Help Urgently Needed to Save the Future of Human […]

What NASA programs could be vulnerable to a budget cut?

NASA has been relatively sheltered from the freeze on most discretionary spending the White House imposed in its FY2011 budget proposal: the agency got a $6-billion increase over five years in the budget proposal released in February. However, the agency might be asked to cut some future spending in a very targeted fashion, according to […]

Congressional reaction to Falcon 9 launch

It appears that the inaugural launch of the Falcon 9 was a success, in that it appeared to place its demonstration payload into orbit. (SpaceX hasn’t released full details about the 2:45 pm EDT launch yet, so we’ll have to wait until later to get confirmation the Dragon mockup is in orbit, and if so, […]

Commercial vs. Ares?

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) attended Friday’s launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on what is currently scheduled to be its final mission, and made the rounds of the press site before and after liftoff. He slipped into the post-launch press conference there and, afterwards, could be seen talking with NASA officials, including shuttle launch director […]

Senators want more details about NASA’s new direction

If NASA and the White House thought that President Obama’s speech last month outlining his vision for the future of the agency’s space exploration plans would be enough to satisfy members of Congress, they get a strong reality check Thursday in a hearing by the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee of the Senate […]

“Snowmageddon” cancels advocacy event

The historic snowstorm that hit the Washington DC area over the weekend with over two feet of snow in many locations (I measured 24″ as of mid-afternoon Saturday and just got my power back at home after being without it for over a day) has claimed a space advocacy casualty: the Space Frontier Foundation’s “Take […]

On his desk

A person attending this morning’s Augustine committee panel session at MIT passed along, via Twitter, this comment from committee chairman Norm Augustine: “I’m told that some of the decision documents are on [Obama’s] desk right now”. That should not be that surprising, since a decision would have to be made soon (if not already) to […]

Mars Society executive director steps down

To pick up an earlier theme of space advocacy and its problems, I’ve confirmed that the executive director of the Mars Society, Chris Carberry, has resigned. Carberry cited “irreconciable differences” with the organizations founder, Robert Zubrin, in an email and follwup phone call yesterday. There hasn’t been an official statement about the leadership change from […]

Augustine panel session at MIT December 11

Haven’t gotten your fill of discussion about the Augustine committee and its final report? MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics is hosting a panel discussion about the committee’s work on December 11. Two members of the committee, chairman Norm Augustine and MIT professor Ed Crawley, will speak, among others.

Stadd gets probation

Courtney Stadd won’t do any jail time after being convicted on ethics charges stemming from an incident in 2005 when he worked at NASA. Stadd, found guilty in August of helping steer $9.6 million in earmarked funds to Mississippi State University, a client of his private consulting practice, was sentenced to three years of probation […]