Editor’s note: AN exercise like this, if properly planned, could be useful in getting stagnant civil servants to think outside the box – and perhaps tune their tasks to the big picture. Based on personal experience, such creativity is usually absent from such exercises – and the default assumption is that everyone will still have Blackberrys, Franklin Planners, performance plans, etc. Reader note: “This was on @LaRC today. Is this […]

Editor’s note: Mike Griffin would like to have the Space Station go away. He can’t have that – so he is doing the minimum it takes to least annoy America’s partners. To their credit, lawmakers such as Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison believe that the ISS represents more than just a financial commitment – it represents a multi-decade committeement to science – more than just human-based research. They also see the […]

NASA Advisory Council Science Committee Presentation 18 May 2006Astrobiology – These scientific investigations support NASA’s strategic goals. In addition, this program is particularly attractive to the general public. – Science Committee recommendation: NASA’s Astrobiology Program shuld have been treated in the same way as any other R&A program, and should be in future planning.

Global Space Agenda: Sen. Hutchison on “Exploration and the Future of U.S. Leadership in Space.“This event will feature Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for a discussion on “Exploration and the Future of U.S. Leadership in Space.” Editor’s note: According to a source who was at today’s event “Senator Hutchison said that the ISS should be used as a site for developing “dark energy” into a usable energy source for US security. […]

Son of Apollo, Air & Space Magzine“The Architecture calls for sending four astronauts at a time to the lunar surface, compared with Apollo’s two. Instead of spending three days on the moon, they’ll stay a week. And rather than being confined to a narrow band of landing sites around the lunar equator, they’ll be able to land anywhere, even the poles, where scientists believe ice in the soil could be […]

Bigger Prop Tank Was Key To NASA’s RS-68 Decision, Aviation Now“NASA opted for the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-68 engine to power its next-generation moon rocket in part because the factory that built the Saturn V can still handle the 33-foot diameter tankage that went into it.”NASA Alters Its Course To The Moon. Again. Is the Program Heading For Trouble?, Tom Jones, Popular Mechainics blog“The downside of the RS-68 decision […]

NASA Names Scales Associate Administrator for Institutions and Management“NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale announced Monday Charles H. Scales as the new associate administrator for the Office of Institutions and Management.”

Modification: NASA’s Exploration Team (NEET) Educators Resources Center/Exploration Station at NASA KSC“This is a modification to the synopsis entitled NASA’S Exploration Team (NEET) Educators Resources/Exploration Station at the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida, NNK06156918C which was posted on June 18, 2006. You are notified that the following changes are made: The Cooperative Agreement Announcement is hereby canceled and will be reissued at a future date. The due date for […]

GAO: NASA’s Ability to Meet Future Deep Space Communications Demand Is at Risk, House Science DemocratsNASA’s Deep Space Network: Current Management Structure Is Not Conducive to Effectively Matching Resources with Future Requirements, GAO“While NASA’s Deep Space Network can meet most requirements of its current workload, it may not be able to meet near-term and future demand. The systemsuffering from an aging, fragile infrastructure with some crucial components over 40 years […]

NASA administrator shares his vision of returning to moon, DC Military“In his presentation, “NASA’s Exploration Architecture,” Griffin laid out NASA’s future plans to the midshipmen. Some of those plans include completing the International Space Station, safely flying the space shuttle until 2010 when NASA will retire the space vehicle which took astronauts like Neal Armstrong to the moon, and to develop and fly the new Crew Exploration and Crew Launch […]