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ISS News

Fumbling Opportunities To Be Relevant

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
September 14, 2007

Editor’s 14 Sep note: It has been more than 48 hours and it would seem that ARC PAO is utterly uninterested in updated its events page or home page to reflect this upcoming conference. However, someone did send me an invitation after I made this posting. Update several hours later: they finally put a link up. Wow, this website stuff is so hard to do.

Free Evening Lecture: “International Space Station: Your Lab of the Future”

“On Tuesday, October 2, 2007 from 7-9 p.m., the NASA Research Park Exploration Lecture Series will present a lecture and panel discussion featuring Dr. Baruch S. Blumberg, Nobel Laureate; Thomas B. Pickens III, CEO, SPACEHAB; & Dr. Cheryl Nickerson, Assoc. Professor Life Sciences at Arizona State Univ. …”

Editor’s 12 Sep note: Wow. Barry Blumberg – a Nobel Prize winner – and former NASA Astrobiology Institute Director – is speaking about the science value of the International Space Station at Ames. What a perfect heavy hitter to roll out just as the NIH/NASA MOU is signed. Alas, who knew he was even speaking? I only found out about this because I am on some upcoming lecture mailing list. Nothing is mentioned on the ARC events page and nothing is to be found on the main ISS page. NASA has all these great opportunities to enhance the value and relevance of what it does and yet it seems to fumble nearly every one of them.

But wait – there’s more. According to the Alliance of Commercial Enterprises and Education for Space there is an ISS National Laboratory Workshop at NASA Ames from 2-4 October 2007. That’s in less than 3 weeks folks. Speakers include Baruch Blumberg, William Gerstenmaier, Jeff Bingham, etc. etc. Does NASA ARC – or NASA HQ or SOMD – tell anyone about this? No. No links. No media advisories or press releases. Nothing. I guess they were going to wait until the last minute after airfares had gone up for all of us non-government folks – the same audience that they are trying to court to use the ISS. Go figure. Will someone please tell me where the “strategic communications” is?

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.