Keith’s note: Not everyone is happy with the proposed merger of ESMD (Exploration Systems Mission Directorate) and SOMD (Space Operations Mission Directorate). Sources report that the White House is not sold on the idea and Congress is not exactly keen on it either. One concern is that the merger would make it harder to see how Constellation cancellation is being handled (paid for), how Shuttle is being phased out, how […]

NASA Might Merge Human Spaceflight, Operations Directorates, Space News “In a Dec. 20 memo to agency employees, the heads of NASA’s Exploration Systems and Space Operations mission directorates said they had been tasked by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to formulate a plan for combining the two organizations and report back to the agency chief in early 2011. “With the upcoming retirement of the Space Shuttle and the likely transition away […]

Summary of the ISS National Laboratory CAN (not so) “Public Day” “NASA held a “public day” for the recently-released Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) for the ISS National Lab Management Entity at NASA Headquarters today. Didn’t now about it? You’re not alone. In summary: Its the same wonderfully capable, yet under-utilized space station burdened with the same flawed and closed thinking that NASA never seems to be willing – or able […]