By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 30 at 5:54 am ET A two-time former member of Congress who has been active on space issues won a Democratic primary for another Texas district last night. Nick Lampson won the primary for Texas’s 14th congressional district along the Gulf Coast south of Houston, currently held by Ron Paul, who is retiring. (The Republican nominee will be determined in a July runoff election between Felicia Harris and Randy Weber.) Lampson was active on space issues during his previous tenure in Congress, serving on the House Science Committee and presenting districts that included the Johnson Space Center (now in the 22nd district, which Lampson won in 2006 and lost in 2008.)
The man who beat Lampson in the 22nd district in 2008, Rep. Pete Olson, won the Republican primary, putting him on track to win a third term this fall. The general election is shaping up to be a rematch of the 2010 campaign, with Kesha Rogers narrowly winning the Democratic primary. Rogers, who affiliates herself with Lyndon LaRouche, appears to be running again on the theme “Save NASA, Dump Obama”; her “Space Colonization & Planetary Defense” platform calls for, among other things, restoring full funding for the canceled Constellation program.
Last month, Chuck Meyer, a Republican candidate for the new 36th district, proposed special-purpose “Space Bonds” to fund NASA’s human spaceflight program as part of his candidacy. It apparently didn’t win over many voters: Meyer finished sixth in the GOP primary in that east Texas district.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 28 at 2:22 pm ET Perhaps it was the fact that the berthing took place on a Friday of a holiday weekend, with Congress in recess. Or, perhaps, members thought they said enough with the successful launch of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 in the early morning hours Tuesday. In any case, the reaction from members of Congress to Friday morning’s successful grappling and berthing of the Dragon by the International Space Station got less of an official reaction from members of Congress than the launch itself.
“I congratulate SpaceX and its employees for accomplishing another historic feat today when its Dragon capsule successfully berthed with the International Space Station,” said Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), whose district includes Cape Canaveral, in a statement Friday. “The completion of today’s space mission further underscores what’s possible when American scientists and engineers accept tough challenges and take another important step in U.S. space leadership.”
Posey was the only member to comment on both the launch and berthing, but a couple new voices expressed congratulations on the achievement. “This is a historic milestone for space exploration and an important achievement for the commercial space industry. We no longer live in a world where space is only explored by government agencies, and we should all take pride that an American company is the first to accomplish this mission,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (F-FL) in a statement Friday. “If the promise of the International Space Station (ISS) is to be achieved, it is essential that a reliable and cost-effective means to transport cargo to the ISS be available. Today’s successful berthing of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to the ISS is an important step on the path to demonstrating operational commercial cargo transport support for the ISS,” said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), ranking member of House Science Committee, in a statement by the committee’s Democratic leadership that also included comments from Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL), ranking member of the committee’s space subcommittee.
Not everyone was in a congratulatory mood, though. “The reality remains that SpaceX has spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to launch a rocket nearly three years later than planned,” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) told the Huntsville Times. “The ‘private’ space race is off to a dilatory start at best, and the commercial space flight market has yet to materialize.”
The White House, as one might expect, was in far more effusive in its praise for the successful berthing, seeing it as validation of the administration’s emphasis on commercial spaceflight. “That is exactly what the President had in mind when he laid out a fresh course for NASA to explore new scientific frontiers and take Americans ever deeper into our Solar System while relying on private-sector innovators—working in the competitive free market—to ferry astronauts and cargo to Low Earth Orbit and the International Space Station,” Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) director John Holdren said in a statement. “It’s essential we maintain such competition and fully support this burgeoning and capable industry to get U.S. astronauts back on American launch vehicles as soon as possible.” OSTP also issued a selection of quotes from “space community leaders”, ranging from Norm Augustine to Sir Richard Branson to Steve Sqyures.
Also included in that statement were quotes from two former astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Rusty Schweickart. While they expressed congratulations for the berthing, other retired astronauts have been more skeptical of commercial ventures. Their criticism—and their recent silence—did not escape the notice of journalist Miles O’Brien during a commercial space panel Saturday at the International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Washington. “I haven’t heard any of the ‘national heroes’ congratulating Elon Musk,” he said. “It would be kind of nice and gentlemenly if they would.”
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 26 at 12:40 pm ET Former astronaut Mark Kelly—perhaps best known as the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords—reveals in an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel that he initially was not a suporter of the Obama Administration’s change in direction for NASA. “I was not a fan at first of canceling the Constellation rocket program. I worried about what it would mean for NASA’s overall mission, and what it would do to the brilliant and patriotic men and women who work there,” he writes.
That assessment has changed, though, he says. “I’m impressed by how far SpaceX has come in the past 17 months,” he states, referring to the company’s Dragon test flight to the ISS this week. “The dramatic cost savings of commercial spaceflight — savings we need to reduce the deficit and grow our economy — let us expand the frontiers of space and stay at the forefront of technological innovation.”
He goes on to express support for various aspects of the administration’s efforts, from commercial crew to infrastructure upgrades at the Kennedy Space Center. “The president made a tough, bold decision — and I now believe he was right,” he concludes. Ironically, it was his wife who, in the debate on the NASA authorization act of 2010 on the House floor, spoke out against the bill that enshrined many elements of the administration’s plan into law.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 24 at 5:20 am ET Days after the House passed a defense authorization bill that includes an export control reform provision, a Colorado senator has introduced similar legislation in the Senate. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) announced Tuesday that he introduced the “Safeguarding United States Leadership and Security Act of 2012″ to provide for export control reform. The text of the bill, S. 3211, hasn’t been posted yet, but the release indicates the bill’s language is similar to what was included in the House: giving the President the authority to move satellites and related components off the US Munitions List (USML), but prohibiting the export of such items to China, Iran, and several other nations.
“The report released by the Administration highlights how our outdated export controls undermine our nation’s ability to compete and innovate in the international marketplace,” Bennet said in the release, referring to the so-called “Section 1248″ report issued by the Defense Department last month that found that most satellites and their components could be moved off the USML without jeopardizing national security. “This bill will ensure that our nation’s export controls will treat satellites and their components in a manner that is consistent with other items that serve both a military and a commercial purpose.”
The legislation has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with no timetable for its consideration. It’s possible that, like in the House, the provision will be incorporated into a larger bill: the Senate Armed Forces Committee is working this week on the markup for its version of the defense authorization bill for later consideration by the full Senate.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 23 at 5:56 am ET Shortly after SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket placed the company’s Dragon spacecraft into orbit early Tuesday, the White House issued a congratulatory statement from John Holdren, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. “Partnering with U.S. companies such as SpaceX to provide cargo and eventually crew service to the International Space Station is a cornerstone of the President’s plan for maintaining America’s leadership in space,” he said in the one-paragraph statement. “This expanded role for the private sector will free up more of NASA’s resources to do what NASA does best — tackle the most demanding technological challenges in space, including those of human space flight beyond low Earth orbit.”
A few hours later, Holdren brought up space policy in a different setting: at “The Science of Science Communication” colloquium at the National Academies of Science in Washington. At the meeting, ScienceInsider reports, Holdren mentioned the challenge of communicating that plan for “maintaining America’s leadership in space” he cited in his statement yesterday. The problem, in essence, is that space policy is too complex an issue to communicate simply, he claimed.
“It’s an interesting object lesson about how difficult it is to communicate when the messages require a lot of references to analysis and detail,” Holdren said, as quoted by ScienceInsider. Criticism of the plan, by comparison, was much simpler, he suggested: “the counter-messages are very simple: Losing leadership, no vision, and giving up proven technologies for unproven ones. It’s a real challenge.” The administration had “fabulous” responses for those criticisms, he said, “but the answers were basically too complicated. So in many respects, we haven’t won that communications battle about NASA.”
What isn’t mentioned in the article, though, is whether Holdren believes some of setbacks in the “communications battle” regarding space policy were self-inflicted. One of the biggest criticisms of the administration’s plans for NASA was how that plan was rolled out over two years ago: tucked into the administration’s 2011 budget request, with little or no communication with congressional stakeholders prior to the public release of the budget. That immediately put the administration on the defensive. A better rollout would not have eliminated all of the criticism about the plan, but it might have made Holdren’s job a little less complicated.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 23 at 5:34 am ET Although Tuesday morning’s launch by SpaceX of a Dragon spacecraft to the ISS was only the beginning of a complex test flight, some members of Congress were in a celebratory mood after the Falcon 9 rocket placed the Dragon into orbit. “The successful launch of today’s test flight of SpaceX to the International Space Station (ISS) marks the beginning of an exciting new era in space travel,” said Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), ranking member of the commerce, justice, and science subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. “Today’s launch is not just a single venture into space but a change in the trajectory of how we think of space exploration.”
“This morning’s launch offers the public a glimpse of what the future holds for space travel and exploration,” said Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), whose district includes Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It’s a marvelous achievement for Space X [sic], for our scientists and engineers and for the American commercial space industry,”
“This program brings NASA one more step in the right direction,” noted Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), an outspoken advocate of commercial spaceflight. “We must change orbital spaceflight from being dependent on and controlled by government employees, toward more entrepreneurial, cost-effective, commercial-based alternatives.”
Even those who have been critical of the administration’s emphasis on commercial programs offered congratulations. “This is an important moment in the next generation of the US space program. America will follow this mission closely,” said Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX). “There are several critical and challenging mission objectives to complete and I look forward to a successful mission concluding with splashdown on May 31.”
Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), chairman of the House Science Committee, also congratulated SpaceX on the launch, but indicated in his statement that he doesn’t believe that this launch alone demonstrates that SpaceX or other companies are ready to make the leap from cargo delivery to crew transportation. “I have long supported the development of commercial cargo spaceflight, and while we still have a long way to go before American astronauts can fly aboard a commercial spacecraft, I hope SpaceX can build upon this success.”
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, subtly hinted at the delays experienced by SpaceX in her congratulatory statement. “This launch has been a long time coming, and I am happy to see this very challenging mission begin,” she said. “Reliable cargo delivery is critical to fully utilizing this magnificent National Laboratory capability, in which we have invested so much as a nation and as a partnership.”
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 18 at 7:42 am ET Given how heated a topic like export control reform can be, yesterday was almost an anticlimax. At the beginning of debate on HR 4310, the defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2013, the House approved by voice vote a group of amendements deemed sufficiently non-controversial that they could be enacted without individual debate on each. Included in that group of amendments was one that would give the President authority to take satellites and related components off the US Munitions List, although still requiring Congressional consent and with restrictions on the export of such items to China and several other nations.
The passage of the amendment was celebrated by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Treating commercial satellites and components as if they were lethal weapons, regardless of whether they’re going to friend or foe, has gravely harmed American space manufacturers,” he said in a statement. “We depend on these manufacturers for our own critical defense needs; if onerous restrictions prevent them from competing in the international marketplace, then they can’t innovate and ultimately cannot survive.”
It’s not the first time that export control reform has made it through the House: the House included similar language in its State Department authorization act in 2009. That legislation died in the Senate, though. A companion provision (either in the Senate’s version of the defense authorization bill, in another bill, or as a standalone piece of legislation) has yet to be introduced.
Also included in that block of amendments passed on a voice vote was one introduced by Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) regarding cooperation on spaceport infrastructure, allowing the DOD to work with and accept funding from outside organizations to improve facilities at federal ranges. “Rolling back the red tape and enabling Defense Department, Space Florida, and the commercial sector to collaborate and work together is just a common sense way to make America more competitive,” Posey said in a statement Thursday.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 17 at 1:22 pm ET The House of Representatives is debating today HR 4310, the fiscal year 2013 defense authorization act. The legislation covers a very wide of issues, many of which attracted the attention of the White House in its Statement of Administration Policy (SAP), which stated that if the bill passes as currently written, senior advisors will recommend a veto.
One space-related issue cited by the administration is language regarding a proposed “code of conduct” for outer space activities. Section 913 of the bill prohibits the DOD from spending any money “to implement or comply with an international agreement concerning outer space activities unless such agreement is ratified by the Senate or authorized by statute.” That refers to efforts announced earlier this year by Secretary of State Clinton to work with countries on an “International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities” based on an earlier proposed code by the European Union. Some in Congress had expressed concern about the administration potentially signing onto the EU code or other document without subjecting it to the advice and consent of the Senate, as is required for a formal treaty. The section would also require reports every 90 days to Congress on the status of developing such a code.
The White House “strongly objects” to that language in a discussion on page 5 of the SAP. “The Code would not impose any legal obligations on the United States, nor would it restrict the exercise of the U.S.’s rights of individual and collective self-defense,” the SAP states. “The Administration is concerned that this provision would create confusion about the legal status of the Code and lead our international partners to conclude that the U.S. will treat the Code as an international agreement, greatly complicating negotiations. Furthermore, section 913 encroaches on the Executive’s exclusive authority to conduct foreign relations and could severely hamper U.S. ability to conduct bilateral space cooperation activities with key allies.”
Some other issues may come up for discussion during the floor debate on the legislation. A bipartisan amendment introduced by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), and several other members, including HASC chairman Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), would seek to give the President the authority to remove satellites and related components off the US Munitions List and thus free of the restrictive provisions of ITAR. The amendment would still require Congressional consultation and prevent the export of such items to China, Iran, and several other nations.
Another amendment, offered by Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), would permit better cooperation between the government and commercial users regarding spaceport infrastructure at federal ranges. The amendment is similar to standalone legislation Posey introduced last month.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 16 at 1:15 pm ET Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is campaigning in Florida today, which prompted President Obama’s campaign organization in the state to issue a statement calling on Romney to take a position on space policy. “Today, Floridians deserve to know if Mitt Romney agrees with his Republican allies in Congress or if he stands with President Obama in supporting the next era of space exploration,” said Eric Jotkoff, press secretary for Obama for America Florida, in a statement emailed earlier today.
Romney, Jotkoff said in the statement, “has provided unwavering support for the Republican budget plans that would undermine America’s space program and our country’s future as the leader in a new industry. He is seeking advice on space policy from the strongest advocates of a Bush Administration plan that tried to recreate the glories of the past with the technology of the past.” That’s a reference to a January open letter issued by the Romney campaign on space policy, whose signatories include former NASA administrator Mike Griffin.
The Obama campaign statement sought in particular to link Romney to the CJS appropriations bill passed by the House last week that, among other measures, includes report language calling for an immediate downselect to one or two companies for NASA’s commercial crew development program. “Now his allies in Congress are trying to eliminate competition in a nascent private space industry which is driving innovation, moving space exploration forward and creating hundreds of jobs on Florida’s Space Coast. Mitt Romney has said he supports the House Budget,” Jotkoff stated.
The Romney campaign has largely been quiet on space since the candidate’s January 27 speech on Florida’s Space Coast, where Romney declined to take a particular stand on space policy (in marked contrast to Newt Gingrich’s call for a lunar base by 2020, made just two days earlier). Instead, he talked about how he would bring in experts from throughout the space community to develop a mission for NASA. In that speech he was critical of President Obama’s approach to space, calling out “his failure to define a mission for the space program for this nation.” One month later Romney said he was in no hurry to go back to the Moon, which actually would put him more in line with the current administration, which abandoned plans by the Bush Administration for a human return to the Moon by 2020, than fellow Republican Gingrich.
By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 16 at 7:32 am ET The relationship between NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC) and Internet search giant Google has occasionally attracted scrutiny. For the last few years H211, a holding company owned by top Google officials, has based several aircraft at the center’s Moffett Field, allowing them to be used by NASA for scientific flights as well as for other purposes. A recent report by the local NBC affiliate noted that H211, which pays over $100,000 per month in rent to Ames, has flown 52 science flights since the agreement was signed in 2007, although H211 aircraft have made over 1,000 flights in an out of the center overall during the same period.
The latest person to raise questions about this arrangement is a senior member of Congress. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released yesterday a letter to NASA administrator Charles Bolden about this deal. “My office recently received troubling allegations regarding the Google fleet of aircraft housed at Moffett Airfield,” Grassley wrote, citing the NBC report as well as “allegations that Google has purchased jet fuel from the government at a discounted price” well below the going market price. The letter then includes nearly a page of questions that Grassley asked Bolden for answers by May 25.
This is not the first time Grassley has raised issues about NASA Ames activities. Last month he sent another letter to Bolden about alleged ITAR violations at the center. Grassley, citing unidentified “whistleblowers”, said he understood Ames director Pete Worden was under investigation for ITAR violations along with another Ames official and unnamed foreign nationals. “These allegations came to my office from individuals who are concerned about the direction of the ARC under Mr. Worden’s leadership,” Grassley wrote. He asked for a briefing by late April, but has not received it “despite repeated follow-up inquiries,” according to a statement from his office.
“The allegations are substantive,” Grassley said in a statement Tuesday. “NASA should address the allegations in the interest of public accountability.” So why is Grassley speaking out? He said in the statement that whistleblowers contacted the senator, who is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, “because of his reputation of receptiveness to whistleblowers.”
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