Ferris Valyn takes a closer look at the Obama NASA transition team, delving into the backgrounds and experience of leaders Lori Garver and Roderic Young and their support cast of Edward Heffernan, George Whitesides, and Alan Ladwig. He also looks at the space views of some of the other officials in the next administration. Valyn writes:
“It is worth noting that while many people within the transition team are former NASA employees, much more interesting, and important, is that many are proponents of Cheap and reliable Access To Space (CATS), a majority are members of the CATS coalition, and some are proponents of NewSpace, or work for NewSpace companies. Could this be a foretelling of the direction of Obama’s Space Policy? I would like to think so.”
Speculation that Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota could become the next Secretary of Transportation has sent a chill running up and down the carbon composite spines of space tourism advocates. MSNBC’s Alan Boyle has a nice summary at Cosmic Log:
“The idea that Oberstar might play a role in commercial space transportation has sparked concern on the part of New Space proponents such as Transterrestrial Musings’ Rand Simberg and Clark Lindsey over at RLV and Space Transport News.
Continue reading ‘Oberstar at DOT Raises Heckles with NewSpace Supporters, Prospects for Regulation’
Politico.com says that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a big supporter of space tourism, could be on a short list to become Barack Obama’s Secretary of State:
“If the soon-to-be 44th president wants to draw on the expertise of the Democratic Party’s foreign-policy establishment, three names likely would be at the top of his State Department short list: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former United Nations ambassador Richard Holbrooke and Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry.
Continue reading ‘Bill Richardson to Replace Rice at State?’
Congratulations to Barack Obama on his election as president. I can only echo the words of John Adams on the morning of July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:
“It is a great day. It is a good day.”
It is indeed.
NASA clears hurdle on Soyuz
Orlando Sentinel
“NASA Administrator Michael Griffin on Tuesday won the approval of a key Senate committee in his battle to buy Russian spacecraft as a four-year replacement for the space shuttle.
“But the fight is far from over. And Griffin has less than two weeks to persuade the rest of Congress to allow the use of Soyuz spacecraft to take U.S. astronauts to the international space station after the space shuttle’s planned retirement in 2010.”
Obama Calls on Senate and House Leadership to Renew America’s Commitment to NASA
Text of Letter to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi
Dear Majority Leader Reid and Madam Speaker Pelosi:
This Administration’s lack of leadership for our nation’s space program has left Americans without access to space or the ability to support its astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) without paying Russia for transportation. The ISS is a world-class research facility, built with approximately $100 billion of U.S. taxpayers’ money. With the planned retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2010, the U.S. will be paying Russia for rides to and from the ISS, and for emergency lifeboat services, using their Soyuz spacecraft. Furthermore, at the end of 2011, NASA will no longer even have the legal authority to continue paying Russia for Soyuz flights, so unless we act immediately, the U.S. will abandon its role in supporting, and benefiting from, missions to this amazing facility, leaving it to our international partners.
Continue reading ‘NASA Moves Toward Buying More Soyuz Vehicles’
Some interesting on-going discussions over at SpacePolitics.com….
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has picked up the endorsement of a major aerospace union, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE).
With a crucial Puerto Rico primary looming on June 1, Hillary Clinton is trying to save the Arecibo Observatory so it can continue to be used for radio astronomy and blown up in James Bond movies. (Probably more the former than the latter; what are the chances that a future Bond villain will launch another death star into orbit? Actually….pretty damn good, come to think of it.)
Down on Florida’s Space Coast, Republican Representative Tom Feeny and his Democratic challenger, Suzanne Kosmas, are fighting over who can best represent the region in Congress. What will the denizens of KSC decide?
Meanwhile, current members of Congress are fretting over the decision to retire the space shuttle in 2010 now that the Russian Soyuz has suffered its second Tower of Terror landing in a row. They don’t seem convinced by the Russian space chief Anatoly Perminov’s belief that we should simply limit the number of women aboard the space station. That’s definitely a sign of progress in at least one country….
Rand Simberg has an interesting analysis of the emerging space policies of the three major U.S. presidential candidates over at Popular Mechanics. It’s an interesting analysis that’s worth reading in detail.
“For voters already behind NASA’s targeted human spaceflight, don’t get your hopes up—none of the three major candidates are likely to fund the current plan, because they’ll all face the budgetary pressures implied by an aging population and a burgeoning federal deficit,” Simberg concludes.
The Space Review has some interesting essays this week concerning America’s future in space.
The Vision for Space Exploration and the retirement of the Baby Boomers (Part 2)
As the Bush Administration winds down, Jeff Foust and Charles Miller look at the substantial gap between the president’s bold vision for space exploration and the nation’s budgetary realities as millions of Baby Boomers begin to retire. It’s not looking real good, but they have a solution (which, of course, they will reveal in Part 2).
Obama’s Modest Proposal: No Hue, No Cry? (Part 2)
Greg Zsidisin finishes his look at how Bush’s vision might fare under a Barack Obama presidency and explores why space advocacy groups seem “pretty mum” despite the enormous stakes of this election.
Introducing the Committee for the Advocacy of Space Exploration
Jeff Brooks explains what this new political action committee is doing to promote space development.
Point-to-point suborbital spaceflight and military logistics
Taylor Dinerman takes a look at whether the military could help jump start point-to-point travel on Earth.
