Cooke: America needs a plan for space exploration, Opinion, Houston Chronicle “Through logical progression and meaningful missions, I believe Americans will be motivated to support appropriate but reasonable budgets, that are commensurate with the value of the plan and the work needed to accomplish it. We cannot afford to delay or prolong the debate, because timing is critical to catch the unique planetary alignment that makes the first step possible […]

Hearing: Mars Flyby 2021: The First Deep Space Mission for the Orion and Space Launch System? 27 Feb 2014 10:00am live webcast – Dr. Scott Pace, Director of the Space Policy Institute, George Washington University Statement – General Lester Lyles (ret.), Independent Aerospace Consultant and former Chairman of the Committee on “Rationale and Goals of the U.S. Civil Space Program” established by the National Academies Statement – Mr. Doug Cooke, […]

Volunteers Line Up For Tito’s Mars Flyaround, Aviation Week “Doug Cooke, a recently retired top NASA manager who spearheaded exploration-systems development for the agency, has joined the private group’s board advisors, MacCallum said. … MacCallum said work has already started on ground facilities to test the life support hardware, which will be largely crew tended for simplicity, but will be designed effectively to give two-fault-tolerant redundancy comparable to NASA safety […]

NASA Internal Memo: Farewell Note from Doug Cooke “This is my last day at NASA and writing to you is one of my final acts here. In looking back on my career at NASA that began in September of 1973, I have many great memories of working on Space Shuttle, Space Station, and Exploration. The memories are also of many great people like you that I have had the opportunity […]

NASA’S Exploration Associate Administrator Doug Cooke To Retire “Doug Cooke, who worked for nearly 38 years in NASA’s space shuttle, International Space Station and exploration systems programs, will retire from the agency effective Oct. 3. Cooke most recently served as NASA’s associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD), which is responsible for developing capabilities for sending humans deeper into space. Before retiring, Cooke will serve as deputy associate […]

Constellation Celebration & Recognition Event at NASA LaRC “All Constellation team members are invited to join Dale Thomas, our NASA Constellation Program Manager, Thursday, January 20th for a Constellation LaRC Celebration and Recognition Event in honor of the great accomplishments you’ve made to the program. It will be held in the Reid Center auditorium and starts at 8 am with breakfast (courtesy of the Constellation Program) followed by an All […]

Click on Image to enlarge “Cost and Schedule of Shuttle sidemount compared with HEFT alternatives. This is the only HLV option that meets all legal requirements and fits within the budget and schedule assumptions of HEFT. Data derived from SSP Study NSTS 60583, dated June 8, 2010” HEFT, Lies and Videotape, Paul Spudis, Air & Space “So as Oliver Hardy would say, here’s another fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. […]