Cheney on China’s ASAT test

During his visit to Australia late last week, Vice President Dick Cheney briefly mentioned China’s ASAT test last month:

Last month’s anti-satellite test, and China’s continued fast-paced military buildup are less constructive and are not consistent with China’s stated goal of a “peaceful rise.” For our part, the United States and Australia have the same […]

FY07 budget inches closer to approval

The Senate is poised to vote on the FY2007 joint funding resolution as early as Tuesday, after a cloture vote to end debate on the bill. According to reports it doesn’t seem like any effort to raise NASA’s share of the funding is getting much attention: the AP report and others have focused primarily on […]

NASA FY08 budget: top-level numbers

Here are the most basic numbers for NASA in the proposed FY2008 budget released this morning by the White House:

Science, Aeronautics, and Exploration: $10.483B Exploration Capabilities: $6.792B Office of Inspector General $0.035B TOTAL: $17.310B

That would be an increase of over one billion dollars compared to what the agency will most likely get for […]

NASA FY08 budget proposal: $17.3B

Space News [subscription required] reported this afternoon that the Bush Administration will request $17.3 billion for NASA in its FY2008 budget proposal, scheduled to be released Monday morning. There are no other details about the budget beyond that topline figure in the article. The budget would be about a 3 percent increase over its original […]

Gerald Ford’s space policy legacy

Yes, he actually has one, but not necessarily as president. Prior to being selected to replace Spiro Agnew as vice president, Ford had a long career in the House and played a role in the formation of NASA in 1958, as he recalled in an April 1975 speech at the presentation of the Goddard Memorial […]

Bush mentions the Vision (sorta)

One of the criticisms leveled at the Vision for Space Exploration is that, since President Bush’s January 2004 speech at NASA Headquarters, he has done little, if anything, to promote it publicly. A break in the silence came today, with the release of a presidential proclamation designating December 17th as Wright Brothers Day. According to […]

Bush talks with astronauts

President Bush spoke Tuesday morning with the crews of the shuttle and station. NASA, which called the event a “private phone call”, only said that “the president told the astronauts that they represent the best of service and exploration, and he thanked them for the job they are doing.” The White House only offered a […]

VP Cheney coming to STS-121 launch

The Orlando Sentinel and Florida Today reported late Tuesday that Vice President Dick Cheney plans to attend the STS-121 launch scheduled for Saturday. He’s not making a special trip to the launch: assuming the launch goes off as scheduled Saturday afternoon, he’ll head up to Daytona for the Pepsi 400 race there Saturday night. (One […]

New national space policy soon?

A Reuters article last week reported that a new overall national space policy—something that has been anticipated for months, if not a year or more—may soon finally be released. According to the article, “The White House is due to announce a new space policy this month, the first overhaul in a decade.” However, the article […]

How important is presidential space policy?

That’s the question I consider in an article in this week’s issue of The Space Review. It’s based on a forum earlier this month on the topic organized by the Marshall Institute. Many space advocates have looked to the presidency to provide leadership to make bold new projects happen, citing the success of President Kennedy’s […]