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Congress

Bill Nelson Wants Everyone to Start Complaining

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
October 12, 2013
Filed under ,

Nelson Tells Blakey: “Put a Fire Under Your Executives”, Space Policy Online
“[Sen. Bill] Nelson was not assuaged. “You do not have to convince the White House,” he admonished [AIA President Marion Blakely], adding that he had met “with two of your CEOs last week” and “they were not ready to step up and go talk to the [House] leadership” about the shutdown, but would if a debt default appeared likely. “Well, default is in another half a week,” Nelson declared. “It’s been a week and a half that we’ve been in shutdown. So I would implore you all to activate your people. Now where — where are the people that are so affected at the Johnson Space Center in Houston? Where are they going to the congressional delegation and talking to them? And I could go through the NASA centers. … But you need to put a fire under your executives.”

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

3 responses to “Bill Nelson Wants Everyone to Start Complaining”

  1. dogstar29 says:
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    From the article it appears that the shutdown is affecting commercial crew but not SLS/Orion contractors, who may actually move faster without civil service oversight. Ironic. But also ironic the Nelson is pushing SLS/Orion when the country is so short on cash.

  2. Rocky J says:
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    Nelson is calling on Marion Blakey, President of the Aerospace Industries Association to activate Aerospace executives to call for an end of the shutdown. This does absolutely nothing to change the status quo. The shutdown has very short term impact on HEOMD when compared to the mandates set by the NASA Authorization Act of 2010. Nelson, Shelby, Mikulski are the senior Senate members controlling NASA spending. In the House, it is Palazzo and Posey (District with KSC) and a slew of other republican congressmen with aerospace industry in their districts. If I left out any key senator or congressman, please add to this list. The problem for advocates of human space flight is that those three senators are senior level and entrenched. The only way they will leave is through their retirement. All three have one six year term left which is well enough to block any change to SLS or Orion.

    Unless there is a nationwide grassroots effort by advocates of space exploration and human space flight that calls for cancellation of SLS and revision or cancellation of Orion, NASA will be stuck with SLS and Orion development until after both have launched and are operational and a stark comparison to commercial alternatives cannot be ignored.

    Advocacy groups such as the Planetary Society have little sway on NASA policy written into appropriations. Planetary tried and claims to have helped save some of the SMD funding. What is needed is a much larger effort, a consortium of SMD related groups and also a advocacy group that organizes citizenry to alter the mandates set on HEOMD. I do not know of any significant group at present. Studies by the NSF and funded independent advisories have not led to the correct decisions.

    My cynical view is that nothing will change. At a great cost to the NASA budget, SLS and Orion will be implemented but will be prematurely retired in the 2020s. The cost will be time lost, budget allocations of several $10s of Billions lost by NASA. Accounting must start with Constellation because it was initiated at the proper time to replace the Shuttle. The Shuttle replacement cost starts with Constellation and by the time SLS (and Orion) are canceled in the 2020s, ~$100 Billion will have been wasted.

  3. Denniswingo says:
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    Where do I complain about him pushing the waste of billions of dollars at NASA for a launch vehicle without any payloads?