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Month: October 2012
Charlie Bolden: "I'm Not a Democratic Political Appointee" (update)

Keith’s note: Charlie Bolden held his SES summit the other day. This time it was done virtually so as to save travel funds. 400-500 people were on the telecon from across the agency. According to participants, at one point Bolden was asked a question about the election and what he thought as a political appointee. Bolden replied “I do not see myself as a Democratic political appointee.” He then went […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 31, 2012
Newsflash: George Bush Made U.S. Dependent on Russia

Obama failed space program; Romney would revitalize it, opinon, Gene Cernan, Orlando Sentinel “Frankly, the world’s leading space-faring nation shouldn’t have to pay Russia for rides to the International Space Station. That’s not only an insult to the hundreds of women and men like me who have built a legacy based on, literally, reaching for the stars, but it also hurts the local economy and puts local jobs at risk […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 31, 2012
SLS: Cool Ideas + No Budget = No Payload

NASA’s Huge New SLS Rocket Could Power Missions Far Beyond Mars, Space.com “NASA is contemplating space journeys far beyond a near-Earth asteroid, the moon or Mars for its new heavy-lift rocket in development. The Space Launch System (SLS), as it is called, could instead visit the moon of Pluto or return samples from other outer planets.” Keith’s note: Curiously, not a word is mentioned in this article about the cost […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2012
Dogs are Not Hippos – Even in Space

Soyuz spacecraft launches 32 fish, hippo to space station, space.com via Fox “I think it’s going to be something special, and I will get unforgettable memories,” Novitskiy said in a NASA briefing before the mission. Novitskiy picked a small toy hippo, a gift from his teenage daughter Yana, to use an indicator of when the Soyuz reached the weightless environment of space.” Keith’s note: Contrary to what some space bloggers […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2012
SDO Website Offline Due to Hurricane That Is Not Even Here Yet (Update)

Keith’s 29 Oct note: The @NASA_SDO twitter account just noted “Due to the impact of Hurricane #Sandy @NASA_Goddard the @NASA_SDO website is down. Sorry for the inconvenience We will have it up again ASAP”. This is baffling. The most weather we have here in the DC/Baltimore area right now is steady rain. No hurricane effects are being felt yet. But none the less a GSFC website is offline? I wonder […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2012
Hurricane Damages Bubble Protecting Shuttle Enterprise

Space Shuttle Exhibit Collapses After Sandy (Photo), CNN “The space shuttle exhibit on the Intrepid, normally a giant grey bubble from the outside, has completely collapsed due to Sandy.” Keith’s note: This Instagram picture shows another view of the damage to the bubble that surrounded Enterprise. The museum’s live webcam (which stopped updating before the storm hit) shows the bubble before it was destroyed.

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2012
Prospects for Commercial Space Continue to Rise

First Outing for SpaceX, Editorial, New York Times “SpaceX currently has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to carry out at least 11 more cargo resupply missions through 2016. Another company, the Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., has built a new cargo spacecraft under NASA contract and is preparing for a test flight next year. The best news from this first commercial flight is that the Falcon 9 rocket […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2012
Latest on Hurricane Sandy (Updated)

NOAA’s GOES-13 Image of Sandy on Tuesday Morning Keith’s note: This image was taken this morning by GOES-13. More recent images and animations can be found here. MetOp-A captures Image of Hurricane Sandy “Europe’s polar orbiting weather satellite, MetOp-A, captured this image of Hurricane Sandy just as the huge storm hit the east coast of the US yesterday.” GOES-13 Satellite Shows Sandy’s Extent on Monday “NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite captured a […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2012
NASA Hurricane Hunter

NASA Preps Drone Hurricane Hunters, But Misses Sandy, Wired “Hurricane Sandy has slammed onto the eastern seaboard. There’s been widespread damage and flooding across more than six states. There’s been loss of life. But at NASA, researchers are developing a pair of experimental unmanned drones to track future storms in the hope of being better prepared for when they strike.”

  • NASA Watch
  • October 30, 2012
NASA Watch Updating

Keith’s note: Power will eventually go out here in the metro DC area as hurricane Sandy strikes. When I go offline Marc Boucher will keep NASA Watch up to date from Toronto, Canada until such time as I get power back. Of course Toronto is going to get hammered too at some point so we may not update for a while. Who knows. Stay safe. Keith’s note: Amazingly we did […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 29, 2012