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Month: January 2014
Waypoint2space Clarifies A Few Things About Astronaut Training at NASA JSC

Keith’s note: I finally had a chance to talk with Kevin Heath from Waypoint2space about their astronaut training services in response to earlier postings on NASAWatch. Heath confirmed that they do not have a signed Space Act Agreement with NASA in place and that it is currently stuck in NASA Legal limbo (that certainly can happen). Waypoint2space says that they do have a signed agreement with Jacobs Engineering but that […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 31, 2014
Day of Remembrance

NASA Observes Day of Remembrance Jan. 31 “NASA will pay will tribute to the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, as well as other NASA colleagues, during the agency’s Day of Remembrance on Friday, Jan. 31. NASA’s Day of Remembrance honors members of the NASA family who lost their lives while furthering the cause of exploration and discovery. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and other agency senior […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 30, 2014
Waypoint2space: Closer Look at Website Claims About Operations at NASA JSC

Keith’s note: The other day I wrote about the announcement made by Waypoint2space about the astronaut training services they are currently selling – services that claim use of NASA JSC facilities. I did get a few responses from the company (with legal disclosure caveats attached) before they stopped responding. I have asked NASA PAO to respond but they have yet to do so. Below are some observations regarding what is […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 30, 2014
Can You Train Like An Astronaut at JSC for $45,000? Not Without NASA's Permission.

Keith’s note: According to Waypoint2space.com “To go into space, step out of the vehicle, and float above the earth while reaching for the stars – but wondered if you have what it takes? For the first time in history, you can train like an astronaut using the most advanced facilities and equipment in the world. Operating from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, we offer the definitive training experience with our fully […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 28, 2014
Remembering

Columbia: Thinking Back – Looking Ahead, Excerpt from “New Moon Rising”, by Frank Sietzen, Jr. and Keith Cowing “At the end of the event, Rona Ramon, Ilan’s widow, spoke last. Steeling her emotions with grace and clarity, she spoke elegantly and briefly. She thanked all for coming. And then she talked of her husband, and the flight of the lost shuttle. “Our mission in space is not over” she told […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 28, 2014
"The lesson we learn from the Californian garages"

Reinventons le programme Ariane pour rivaliser avec les Americains, LeMonde (English translation) [translation] ” … its technical definition and industrial organization has, since the beginning, been designed with the goal of minimizing development and operations costs: instead of being a cutting edge technology launcher, the Falcon 9 uses proven technology engines that were easy to develop and inexpensive to industrialize/mass produce, and there are very few subcontractors involved in launcher […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 27, 2014
More Wasteful EPO Spending at NASA

NASA GRC Educational and Outreach Support for NASA’s Orion Program “NASA/GRC intends to contract to Alphaport, Inc. This is a follow-on effort to activities originally performed by Alphaport under contract NNC13QB53P in which Alphaport developed a visually library of Orion illustrations, graphics facts sheets, and other media products. Currently, Alphaport is the only contractor who has develop the initial media material and has the needed understanding of the media activities […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 27, 2014
2014 BA3 – Possible Asteroid Robotic Retrieval Mission Target?

2014 BA3 Goldstone Radar Observations Planning “2014 BA3 was discovered by the Mt. Lemmon Survey (Arizona) on January 21, 2014. It has an absolute magnitude of 28.3 suggesting a diameter within a factor of two of only 7 meters, but nothing else is known about its physical properties. This object is one of the best candidates ever discovered for NASA’s new Asteroid Robotic Retrieval Mission, so we will try to […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 26, 2014
NASA Requires You To Pay To See Mars Curiosity Results (update)

Keith’s note: NASA has spent $2 billion on Curiosity. But NASA allows researchers to post the research results – results paid for by taxpayers – behind a paywall at Science. You have to pay twice if you want to see what has been discovered. Too bad NASA is not interested in following OSTP guidelines on Open Data, Transparency, etc. Keith’s update: Note: the papers from the 24 January issue of […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 25, 2014