Frank’s note: Readers, Keith has asked me to keep posting for awhile, so heres my latest query: been reading some of the ideas for a commercially-derived lifting body crewed spacecraft that would make use of the existing expendable launch vehicle fleet, although the spacecraft itself would largely be reusable. My question: If a COTS-D solicitation is to be made, should it be opened to a lifting body as well as […]

Haney, ‘voice of NASA’ reporter, dies of cancer, AP “Paul Haney, who was known as the “voice of NASA’s Mission Control” for his live televised reports during the early years of the space program, has died of cancer. He was 80. Haney died Thursday at a nursing home. Kent House, owner of the Alamogordo Funeral Home, confirmed that Haney died of complications from melanoma cancer, which spread to his brain […]

Chiao another likely member of Augustine commission, Orlando Sentinel “Add another name to the Augustine commission: ex-NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao. Sources said the former space station crew member likely would be named to the blue ribbon panel headed by retired Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine that will help chart the future of NASA’s human spaceflight program. Reached by phone, Chiao said that he had been contacted by administration officials assembling […]

Frank’s note: Readers, Ive been working of late with Buzz Aldrin and his team to help prepare a series of presentations related to this summers 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. There are so many commemorations planned around the world that a friend is writing an article for a travel magazine about them. But do you think it will resonate with the American public? In other words, […]

Obama Turns to NASA Veterans to Lead Space Agency, Science “President Barack Obama has chosen two long-time advocates of human space flight to lead NASA. On 23 May, the White House nominated former astronaut Charles Bolden Jr. and Washington lobbyist Lori Garver to take the positions of administrator and deputy administrator, respectively, for the space agency. If confirmed by the Senate, Bolden and Garver will confront a series of momentous […]

“How can we inspire today’s science teachers and students to meet the challenge of the American science education crisis and reclaim the worldwide lead in science and technology? Northrop Grumman is flying teachers on the Zero G aircraft to experience weightlessness just like the astronauts — for a start. This is the story of the adventure from teachers across the nation. A film for teachers, about teacher, but inspiring to […]

Where Staring Into Space Is Actually Encouraged, Washington Post “Since 1982, Wood Acres students have learned about astronomy by studying the night sky in the planetarium and through lessons in its classroom. The beige dome is suspended by chains from the ceiling over a carpeted circular pit in the retrofitted classroom. Through a program run by trained parent volunteers at Wood Acres, students in first through fifth grades visit the […]

NASA marks 50th anniversary of monkeys Able and Miss Baker in space, Huntsville Times “Monkeys Able and Baker, known as “the monkeynauts,” were lofted from Cape Canaveral, Fla., 50 years ago today and were the first American mammals to survive a fiery ride into space. On May 28, 1959, Able, a 7-pound rhesus monkey, and Baker, an 11-ounce squirrel monkey, were crammed into the nose cone of an Army Jupiter […]

Is Sen. Bill Nelson flip-flopping on NASA’s COTS-D space program? “… Well, in case you assume that this exchange means that Sen. Nelson has become a champion of COTS D as a possible way to generate more Space Coast jobs and help fill the gap between the end of the space shuttle program next year and whenever the next rocket program is ready, think again. In comments to several space […]

Space station: Boon or boondoggle?, Discovery “I hope the space station becomes extraordinarily, scientifically productive, but it is not today,” said David Leckrone, the senior scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope, one of the agency’s most successful and well-regarded programs. Uhran said it is too early in the station program to gauge its success on scientific output, which so far has been meager. The agency’s Web site lists 172 station-related […]