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ARCHIVE
Month: February 2010
Acts of Desperation

Charlie Precourt: ATK’s astronaut fights Obama space plan, Orlando Sentinel “As reported on these pages earlier this week, some folks inside NASA and in Congress say ATK has been behind the sniping at NASA’s deputy administrator Lori Garver. The not so-thinly veiled broadside against her in Precourt’s email appears to lend further credence to the charges. It’s hard to understand how this will help ATK going forward as some could […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 28, 2010
Congressional Flak on NASA's Plans

NASA Gets Flak on New Course, Wall Street Journal “Criticism of Mr. Bolden’s actions came from unexpected directions. Various lawmakers typically supportive of NASA requests said they were “floored” or shocked by the budget package. Complaining that the agency provided only “vague assurances that [astronaut] safety will not be undermined” by the new plan, Rep. Pete Olson, a Texas Republican who represents many NASA employees, confronted Mr. Bolden. He said […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 28, 2010
JSC Job Loss Update

Amid sadness and anger at NASA, a time for gallows humor, Houston Chronicle “As NASA administrator Charles Bolden makes his two appearances on Capital Hill this week, it has become ever more clear that NASA’s Constellation program is going away, despite the protestations of some people in Congress. Constellation, the space program’s next generation of rockets and spacecraft, is managed at Johnson Space Center. Although the mood there is rather […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 28, 2010
KSC Job Loss Update

Space Workers Rally To Save Their Jobs, Channel 13 “Lew Jamieson is the president of the Machinist Union at the Kennedy Space Center. He’s been there for 32 years. “It’s a community issue and that is why we are here today. It’s an attempt to bring the community [together]. They need to recognize they can make a difference,” he said.” NASA Budget Cuts Rally, WCTV “In the bitter cold …thousand […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 28, 2010
NRC Report on NASA's Suborbital Program

NRC Report: Revitalizing NASA’s Suborbital Program: Advancing Science, Driving Innovation, and Developing Workforce “The Space Studies Board (SSB) was requested by NASA to conduct a review of the suborbital mission capabilities of NASA in the NASA Authorization Act of 2008 (Section 505). The act expresses the sense of Congress that suborbital flight activities, including the use of sounding rockets, aircraft, and high-altitude balloons, and suborbital reusable launch vehicles, offer valuable […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 27, 2010
How Much Will It Really Cost to Cancel Constellation?

NASA’s tough mission: Dismantling Constellation, Orlando Sentinel “Many of the deals are called “undefinitized contracts,” meaning that the terms, conditions — and price — had not been set before NASA ordered the work to start. That means the agency will need to negotiate a buyout with the contractor — and that can be a long and painful process, according to government officials familiar with the cancellation process. “It can be […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 27, 2010
Aaron Cohen

NASA Pioneer Aaron Cohen Dies “Spaceflight pioneer Aaron Cohen, a former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, died Thursday, Feb. 25, after a lengthy illness. He was 79. Cohen had a 33-year career with NASA. He was a steady hand at the helm of Johnson as NASA recovered from the shuttle Challenger tragedy and returned the space shuttle to flight. Cohen left the agency in 1993 to accept […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 26, 2010
NASA Still Can't Get That Metric Stuff Right

NASA Opens High Frontier to Education and Not-For-Profit Groups “NASA is announcing a new initiative to launch small cube-shaped satellites for education and not-for-profit organizations. CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called picosatellites, having a size of approximately four inches, a volume of about one quart, and weighing no more than 2.2 pounds.” NASA Solicitation: Announcement of CUBESAT Launch Initiative “A CubeSat is a type of space research nanosatellite, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 26, 2010
Space Policy: No Love On The Hill

NASA Plan Falls Flat In Congress, Aviation Week “Objections to it fall into two broad categories — the lack of a clear objective in space for the new program, and the “faith-based” belief, in the words of one House member, that a commercial route to orbit for U.S. astronauts is better than the government-managed Ares I and Orion vehicles. Members also are irritated over delays in getting specifics of the […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 26, 2010
HLV Legislative Language Is Bubbling Up In The Senate

Keith’s note: There is apparently some draft legislation floating around the Senate that addresses the development of Heavy Launch Vehicles (HLV) using Orion and Shuttle hardware at NASA. This thread at NASAspaceflight.com discusses a posting of some draft language on FlightGlobal. Take particular note of postings by “51D Mascot” i.e. Jeff Bingham, staffer on the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee, who notes that the most recent draft of this […]

  • NASA Watch
  • February 26, 2010