Space Politics

Opening the Personal Spaceflight Revolution

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 15 at 8:12 am ET

That’s the title of a presentation Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill by Peter Diamandis, president of the X Prize Foundation. The talk and luncheon is scheduled for 11 am in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building, and is sponsored by AIAA, ASME, IEEE-USA, and the Congressional Research and Development Caucus.

This week at TSR

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 15 at 8:06 am ET

As part of my continuing shameless self-promotion, let me point out a few space policy articles of interest in this week’s issue of The Space Review:

Douglas Jobes discusses Rohrabacher’s space prizes act, HR 5336, and whether Congress is really serious about such legislation;
Last Friday at the SpaceVision2004 conference at MIT, Lori Garver talked about the formation of John Kerry’s space policy, which I summarize in an article;
Greg Zsidisin weighs whether or not President Bush will be willing to spend some of his political capital to support the Vision for Space Exploration, particularly given the other challenges the administration faces in its second term.

Good news for FY05 NASA budget?

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 12 at 5:55 pm ET

An article by CongressDailyPM, published on GovExec.com, discusses the negotiations on an omnibus FY 2005 budget bill that would include funding for NASA. The article notes that the Bush Administration “was likely to receive close to its full requests” for NASA funding, after the House cut $1.1 billion from the proposed budget. The article doesn’t mention, however, whether all of the major programs would be fully funded, or if NASA’s total budget would simply be about the same as the original request, with some redistribution of funding among the various programs (perhaps, for example, to accommodate shuttle RTF or Hubble repair work at the expense of exploration or other programs.) The article adds that while there’s hope that the budget can be wrapped up by November 20 (when the current continuing resolution expires), there is some skepticism that this can be achieved.

Government space prizes

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 12 at 8:17 am ET

A correspondent pointed out to me earlier this week an interesting piece of legislation. HR 5336, the Space and Aeronautics Prize Act, was introduced by Rep Rohrabacher last month, just before Congress adjourned for the election. The bill calls for a “National Endowment for Space and Aeronautics” that would run prize competitions “that have the potential for application to the performance of the space and aeronautical activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.” The bill would specifically create a $100-million prize for a privately-developed manned orbital vehicle, similar to Robert Bigelow’s America Space Prize.

The timing of this bill’s introduction is a bit odd, since the bill has effectively zero chance of any consideration before the end of this Congress. (The lame-duck session starting next week will likely be quite short, with no time to consider new legislation like this.) Presumably similar legislation will be introduced next year; it’s my understanding that the House Science Committee has been studying prize legislation in general.

Space and the press secretary

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 10 at 8:09 am ET

During a press briefing with White House press secretary Scott McClellan, a reporter (not identified by McClellan other than as “Greg”) surprisingly asked about the status of the Vision for Space Exploration, and whether it was, in the reporter’s words, “on the back burner”. McClellan’s response:

It’s reflected in our budget and I think it will be reflected in our upcoming budget, as well. Remember, this is a long-term vision that the President outlined for NASA, that made sure that they were focused on a very clearly-defined mission that is based on 10, 20, 30, 40 years down the road. So he remains committed to it.

McClellan also claimed that Bush mentioned the exploration vision on the campaign trail “a few weeks ago”, adding that “we had an astronaut traveling with us one day.” This appears to be a reference to Bush’s speech at Space Coast Stadium on October 23, when Buzz Aldrin spoke before the President. However, as previously noted here, there’s no evidence, from the campaign’s own transcript of Bush’s speech or press accounts, that Bush actually mentioned space himself other than acknowledging Aldrin’s presence.

Post-election roundup

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 8 at 7:39 am ET

A few recent articles of note about space policy and last week’s election:

A Huntsville Times article Sunday argues that the Vision for Space Exploration will move ahead with President Bush’s reelection, with one local person, NASA Advisory Committee member Mark McDaniel, saying “People throughout NASA have been waiting on this election to start work.” However, local Congressman Bud Cramer (D-AL) says that the fate of the vision will depend on “budget priorities and the war.”
In this week’s edition of The Space Review, Taylor Dinerman asks if the election is “a mandate for exploration”. He argues that “unless the American people are given the chance to get involved or, at least, to feel that this investment will pay direct dividends to their children and grandchildren, the Vision will not be sustained.”
Also in TSR, Sam Dinkin reviews the passage of a California measure to fund stem cell research and wonders if a similar approach could work for space exploration. “If you look at NASA’s share of the federal budget, which runs at about 1%, it is not inconceivable that Sacramento could fund space to the tune of $10 billion over ten years and launch the first Mars mission, Hollywood-style.”

Election aftermath

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 4 at 1:15 pm ET

With the 2004 election now behind us (sooner than I had imagined—or feared), Florida Today examined what Bush’s reelection and the Republicans’ hold on Congress meant for space policy. According to those interviewed, the election gives NASA an opportunity to solidify the Vision for Space Exploration through CEV development, an initial lunar robotic mission, and related activities. The article cautions towards the end, though, that budget pressures could cause problems for the program—and presumably NASA in general— down the road. (Ignore the reference to a $7-trillion budget deficit, though.)

The success of the vision appears to depend on the answers to a few key questions:

Will Congress be more willing to support and fund the VSE now that Bush has been reelected?
Will the President be willing to speak out and use political capital to support the VSE if Congress isn’t willing to fully support it?
Will Sean O’Keefe be “promoted” to a higher, possibly Cabinet-level position next year, as has been frequently rumored? If so, when does he leave (before or after RTF), and who might take his place?

Leadership changes for the Senate Commerce Committee

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 4 at 1:01 pm ET

An Aviation Daily article Thursday notes (near the end) that there are some changes in store for the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the current chairman, is leaving and will be replaced by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). That could result in changes in who chairs the subcommittees, although there was nothing in the article suggesting any changes were forthcoming. Also, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) will become the ranking minority member of the committee, replacing the retiring Ernest Hollings (D-SC).

Calvert wins

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 3 at 7:32 am ET

Another Congressman with space ties who won reelection last night is Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA). Calvert told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that he hopes to take over from Rep. Dana Rohrabacher as chairman of the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee, saying that such a job “would be an extraordinary challenge.”

Rohrabacher wins, Lampson loses

By Jeff Foust on 2004 November 3 at 1:17 am ET

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), chairman of the space subcommittee of the House Science Committee, has easily won reelection, beating his Democratic challenger by a 2-1 margin. However, Nick Lampson (D-TX), the ranking minority member of that subcommittee, lost his reelection bid to his Republican challenger, Ted Poe. Lampson was one of the staunchest pro-space Democrats in Congress, pushing such measures as the Space Exploration Act, which called for an ambitious new exploration policy long before President Bush unveiled the Vision for Space Exploration.