This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work - for YOU.
Election 2012

Obama Space Endorsements

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
October 8, 2012
Filed under ,

Astronauts, Business Owners, and Space Leaders Agree: Obama Vision for Space Exploration Ensures a Brighter Future, BarackObama.com
“Sunday night’s successful SpaceX launch marks another extraordinary new milestone in space. It also provides an opportunity to assess the significant advances we’ve seen in just four years on Florida’s Space Coast. … We, the undersigned, believe that President Obama’s vision for growing America’s leadership in space through investments in U.S. commercial space companies, high-tech research and development, and deep-space exploration capabilities, is critical for Florida’s Space Coast and essential for continued U.S. leadership in space.”

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

23 responses to “Obama Space Endorsements”

  1. Tom Sellick says:
    0
    0

    “Astronauts, Business Owners, and Space Leaders Agree: Obama Vision for Space Exploration Ensures a Brighter Future”

    What orbit are they in?

    (oh sorry, I couldn’t resist)

  2. jski says:
    0
    0

    This isn’t an objective article, it’s a Obama campaign tract.

    • kcowing says:
      0
      0

      DUH. It says “Source: BarackObama.com“.  All materials are sourced on SpaceRef.  What part of “BarackObama.com” don’t you understand? Please tell the Romney campaign to issue similar materials so that I can give them equal prominence.

      • Paul451 says:
        0
        0

        And indeed you did. Repeatedly.

        When “former astronauts/Griffin/etc” released open-letters or made statements criticising the President for a lack of vision/leadership, you gave them full articles. The bias that jski/Mordrid/Reynald see is their own.

  3. DocM says:
    0
    0

    MORE Obama electioneering?!? What’s next, a “Donate to Obama” button on every post header?

    C’mon….

  4. Reynald Lescarbeau says:
    0
    0

    You might want to point out that this is straight up Obama material.  The micron sized text (at least on my screen) that describes the source took me a minute to find…

  5. mattbratt says:
    0
    0

    [Rolls eyes]

  6. Steve Whitfield says:
    0
    0

    Guys,

    Let’s lose the political support aspect of this and discuss the implications.  What I find significant, just one month before the election, is that this document is mostly a list of past accomplishments that the Obama camp claims to have brought about.  There is really no detail about future activities/plans, other than some very general statements, which have been around for a while now.  I wouldn’t call it back pedaling, but it is less information and less commitment than I would have liked to have seen, which means to me that, now that we’re in the home stretch, people are getting more cautious.  Still, it’s a whole lot more info and commitment than we’re getting from the other side, and still seems like our best bet to me.

    Steve

    • DTARS says:
      0
      0

      So you can downlink from Dragon. How was that ride when the engine blow? Bumpy? Did they give you any free cheese on this one?

  7. Fred says:
    0
    0

    Because this article is from a political source it should be treated as a biased suspect propaganda set of statements that are endorsed by a list of democratic leaning partisans.

    • kcowing says:
      0
      0

      DUH. It is clearly from the Obama campaign. And if the Romney folks issue something – and I post it -the same caveats need to be applied to their releases as well.

  8. Cyraphina says:
    0
    0

    Hi,  Just wanted to point out that it appears that Romney posted a space policy paper on September 22, 2012 on his website.

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/1

  9. dogstar29 says:
    0
    0

    Naturally each campaign will try to portray their candidate in the best possible light and both have lined up some endorsements. We should be more objective,if we can. Personally I don’t think either candidate will override congressional self-interest, but the previous administration put us on a road to disaster, the current administration has made considerable progress toward practical human spaceflight, and Mr. Romney, although he hasn’t provided any specific policies, would be likely to reduce the NASA budget considerably in line with his central goal of reducing the size of government. Consequently,despite reservations, my vote goes with the current administration.

    • Steve Whitfield says:
      0
      0

      Vulture4,

      One thing that might make a difference is the Presidential veto.  It is not supposed to be used lightly, but GW Bush set a record using it, far surpassing any previous President.  I don’t think it likely that a President would use the veto on a space matter — unless there was a great deal of wasted money at stake, say like Constellation and (in my opinion) SLS.  The catch is, when the veto is used, Congress usually “gets even” somehow down the road.  But, Congressional self-interest is not necessarily the last word.

      Steve

  10. SpaceTeacher says:
    0
    0

    Endorsement don’t matter to me.

  11. grassrootsofone says:
    0
    0

    Just can’t help reflecting on what he could have done. If he would have started the development of something like the X-37 next-step (X-37C) in 2009 or 2010, he might have some advanced test hardware to point to, and he would not be associated so much with a delay. 

    That might also have had the clout to fend off the MPCV (which X-37C is sexier than), with the Dragon filling the deep space role. 

    Of course, one could point to the Dream Chaser, but the POTUS can’t really expedite that, or as strongly support its completion.  The commercial guys are doing “OK” but they’re not doing it in time to reflect dramatically on Obama.

    This brings up one of the shortcomings of commercial crew: We can’t expect to meet all our requirements by entrepreneurial coincidence. In this case one of those requirements was timing.
     

    It may be a singular missed opportunity for Obama.