Testimony by Paul Martin NASA Inspector General “Following the October 31 theft, the NASA Administrator accelerated the timetable to encrypt the hard drives of the Agency’s laptop computers. As of February 15, NASA reported that it had encrypted 99.4 percent of Agency laptops identified as requiring encryption, had exempted 1,636 laptops from the requirement, and was determining whether another 2,947 laptops required encryption or also would be exempted.” DATA AT […]
Review of NASA’s Internal Controls for Awards with Small Business “However, of the 67 sampled awards, we identified 20 that were made to firms that self- certified as being owned and controlled by women. Of those 20, we found indications that 7 (35 percent) may have been to companies that falsely self-certified their eligibility as a woman-owned small business.”
This Is How Dennis Tito Plans To Send People to Mars, SpaceRef “If Dennis Tito has his way, two people will leave our planet in January 2018 and make a trip to Mars and back. Tito will be footing much of the bill himself. This mission won’t stop at Mars, but rather, will do a quick flyby. Unlike the spate of space commerce companies that have flashed on and off […]
Review of the Space Leadership Preservation Act (Video and statements), SpaceRef Business “On February 27, 2013, the House Subcommittee on Space held a hearing to review a bill proposed by six Republican members of the House that would take away governance of NASA from the President and give it to a board appointed by the President and members of Congress.” Subcommittee Discusses Need for Stability of Vision for NASA Human […]
Letter from NASA Inspector General: Audit of NASA’s Management of Space Act Agreements “The Office of Inspector General is initiating an audit evaluating NASA’s management of its Space Act Agreements. Among the issues we intend to examine are: Whether NASA is accurately identifying its full costs for work performed under reimbursable agreements and properly billing partners; Whether NASA is receiving fair and reasonable benefits from partners when it chooses to […]
The Planets are Aligning for a Once-in-a-Generation Space Journey “The Inspiration Mars Foundation, a newly formed nonprofit organization led by American space traveler and entrepreneur Dennis Tito, invites you to attend a press conference detailing its plans to take advantage of a unique window of opportunity to launch an historic journey to Mars and back in 501 days, starting in January 2018. This “Mission for America” will generate new knowledge, […]
National Video Contest Asks the Public to Share “Why Space Matters to the Future” “Space exploration has challenged, inspired, and improved us for more than half a century. Today, the Coalition for Space Exploration (Coalition), in partnership with the recently-formed NASA Visitor Centers Consortium announced an expansion of the Coalition’s “Why Space Matters to the Future” video contest that encourages residents of the United States to visualize what life will […]
Message From The Administrator: NASA and Sequestration “NASA’s situation is somewhat unique from many other agencies. We have safely and efficiently phased out the Space Shuttle Program and managed existing programs to conservative spending levels. This has postured us so that we do not plan to resort to furloughs at this time for NASA employees to meet our spending reductions under sequestration. Nevertheless, this still will be a difficult situation […]
House Renames Flight Center After Neil Armstrong “The House of Representatives today approved a resolution to rename the Dryden Flight Research Center, located in southern California, the “Neil Armstrong Research Center.” H.R. 667 also re-designates the surrounding test range to honor Hugh Dryden, a prominent aeronautical engineer.” House Republicans are over the moon about sequestration, Washington Post “The lone Democrat to speak, Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.), noted the irony in […]
Vulcan Tops Online Voting to Name Pluto’s Moons’, PC Magazine “Vulcan was the only candidate in the contest run by the SETI Institute to top 100,000 votes, garnering 174,062 votes out of about half a million cast in online voting that ended Monday at 6 a.m. Eastern. “Cerberus” was the other winning name with 99,432 votes, according to the Los Angeles Times.” William Shatner’s Campaign to Name One of Pluto’s […]