July 2010
1 post
3 tags
WTF!? Obama and Bolden are stretching it on this... →
NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World
April 2010
3 posts
4 tags
Obama sets Mars goal for America
President Obama’s speech at Kennedy Space yesterday was a small victory for NASA and America in general, but he did not deter from his previous outline for the US space agency. NASA will receive an extra $6 billion over the next five years. This will be used to fund the continuation of the Constellation’s Orion crew capsule program, which is now slated to merely be a lifeboat for the...
3 tags
“We will go back to the moon, notwithstanding our president and his outlook for...”
– Gene Cernan at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The man who in 1972 was the last to walk on the lunar surface.
March 2010
20 posts
4 tags
Obama Nasa plans 'catastrophic' say Moon... →
Former Nasa astronauts who went to the Moon have told the BBC of their dismay at President Barack Obama’s decision to push back further Moon missions.
2 tags
Astronaut families press NASA's case with... →
A blog from The Washington Post.
3 tags
“It’s bad for the country. This administration really does not believe in...”
– Harrison Schmitt, Apollo astronaut and former US Senator, speaking about the Constellation program cancellation.
2 tags
“It’s incredibly difficult to build a rocket that goes to orbit.”
– Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, a start-up rocket firm that would be in the running for one of the new NASA commercial contracts.
3 tags
“The closer we get to Shuttle retirement, the more Russia increases the price per...”
– Rep. Bill Posley (R-Florida)
2 tags
“I cannot understand how the administration can propose such an ill-conceived...”
– Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas)
China to launch an unmanned space module in 2011 →
spacethebeyond:
fuckyeahspace:
The bottom line is that China is constructing a space station and this is the first step. As an American, I have a strange relationship with China. China is like our smarter younger sibling and even though they’re making us look bad we’re still happy for them.
2 tags
A Visual History of NASA's Project Constellation →
2 tags
“I appreciate that the administrator is at least reconsidering the...”
– Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah)
3 tags
“Not only are we turning our backs on 40 years of American space superiority, we...”
– Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas)
1 tag
2 tags
SPACE.com -- Senator Proposes Bill to Extend Space... →
spacethebeyond:
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) introduced legislation Wednesday that would keep NASA flying the space shuttle program two years beyond its planned 2010 retirement.
SPACE.com -- NASA Prepares 'Plan B' for New Space... →
spacethebeyond:
WASHINGTON – NASA chief Charles Bolden is expected to discuss an alternative to U’S’ President Barack Obama’s plan to scrap the agency’s Constellation program with at least one top lawmaker this week, according to an internal agency e-mail shared with Space News’
4 tags
A Defense Against the New [corporate] NASA
Washington, we have a problem. On February 1st of this year President Obama released his FY 2011 federal budget proposal. This effectively cancelled NASA’s Constellation program, the successor to the space shuttle. Obama called for a new step, albeit one giant step backward for mankind and America, that involves utilizing commercial companies to transport American astronauts into space.
The...
Human Space Flight Is Awesome: STS-131 is on the... →
spacethebeyond:
Discovery has completed the 3.4 mile trundle to launch complex 39A and the Kennedy Space Centre. On March 2-5, the crew will be performing dress rehearsals of the launch, which is slated for April 5. The shuttle is loaded with science experiments for installation aboard the ISS.
Once this…
3 tags
1 tag
“The last time a country voluntarily gave up its pre-eminent position in...”
– Walter Cunningham, former Apollo astronaut.
4 tags
U.S. Will Lose Its Hard-Earned Technology Edge →
Written by Walter Cunningham, former Apollo astronaut, published in the Houston Chronicle.
“Proposed job cuts to the space program would leave at least 9,000 people...”
– wftv.com; Channel 9, Orlando
3 tags
NASA Workers Rally To Save Jobs →
An article posted by a news station in Orlando, FL. If America’s means of manned space flight is shifted to a commercial industry new jobs will be created, but will it be enough to fill the void created by the cancellation of the Constellation program?
February 2010
36 posts
2 tags
“A significant upheaval in this work force related to shuttle retirement is going...”
– Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.)
3 tags
Only $2.5 Billion to Cancel Constellation...
The Obama administration has estimated the cost to cancel the Constellation program, which was due to be the next step in NASA’s manned space program, will be around $2.5 billion. This money will be needed to buyout the contracts of multiple contractors for the Constellation program. The following is from an article published in the L.A. Times by Robert Block, it does a good job stating the...
3 tags
“I am fearful that the commercial guys will fail; i.e. they will do little more...”
– Burt Rutan, the designer of the first commercial suborbital rocketship.
4 tags
Will Commercial Space Flight Companies Require...
This brings up an interesting point that needs to be addressed by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. The following is from an article written by Frank Morring, Jr. and posted on aviationweek.com.
Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House science panel, said Feb. 25 he fears the companies that take over U.S. crew transport will become “too important to fail,” and thus require government...
Michael Okuda Supports Manned Missions To Space →
ensignau:
Here is Michael Okuda’s site dedicated to saving Project Constellation and human space exploration.
If you’ve been following the debate since President Obama announced plans to scrap funding for human space exploration in favor of advancing technologies for unmanned space missions, Okuda’s site makes an extensive argument for why that’s a mistake.
For a point of comparison, here’s...
3 tags
“President Kennedy didn’t say, ‘We’re going to spend several...”
– Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) referring to the lack of specifics for NASA’s plan. In 1962 Kennedy clearly defined that the US was going to the moon before the decade was out. Here’s a transcript of the historical speech that he gave at Rice University in Houston: ...
“With the retirement of the space shuttle later this year, and if the...”
– Robert Gibson, retired astronaut who’s flown on five shuttle missions. NASA currently has three space shuttles, but these are due to retire in September. After that, American astronauts will have to rely, indefinitely, on Russian Soyuz spacecraft fly into space.
“You don’t accomplish great things without a clearly defined mission, and...”
– Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana) on the NASA fy 2011 budget
http://www.spacepolitics.com/ →
A good weblog of all things dealing with the politics of space.
Commercial Space Pioneer Burt Rutan Blasts NASA... →
Burt Rutan was the man who designed the first commercial suborbital rocketship. This is a compelling article on his argument that the US should not yet rely on commercial transportation for America’s manned space program.
“Based on the little information that has been provided to the Congress, it...”
– Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), ranking member of the Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittee.
“Fifty years ago, Kennedy opened the New Frontier. Obama has just shut it.”
– Charles Krauthammer, “Closing the New Frontier” The Washington Post
Follow NASA on Twitter! →
“Based on initial reports about the administration’s plan for NASA, they...”
– US Senator Bill Nelson (D.FL)
1 tag
Wikipedia: NASA Budget →
Why is Twitter so cool?
itsfullofstars:
Because I just asked an astronaut (Cady Coleman) a question, and she answered it… from SPAAAAACE!!!
@Astro_Cady Did you decide to be an astronaut while serving in the USAF, or was it a life dream?
@joebarone My Dad was NAVY so I always wanted to serve. The astronaut dream came first but was a long shot.To do both is a dream come true!
Augustine Report Summary →
A review of the viability of commercial space flight.
The Other Side: Analysis of Augustine Report →
Article in support of commercial space flight.
Budget Analysis: Space Exploration. NPR. →
“Now is not the time to turn human space flight over to inexperience and hopeful...”
– US Senator Richard Shelby
US Senator Richard Shelby: NASA Budget Begins... →