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The House passed Wednesday evening HR 1, the stimulus bill, with $600 million for NASA for Earth sciences, aeronautics, and hurricane repair work. As the Houston Chronicle notes, the bill does not include the additional $2 billion to reduce the Shuttle-Constellation act that had been sought by freshman Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL). Indeed, it’s hard […] While the US Congress debates how much NASA should get in the proposed stimulus package, and for what programs, the Canadian government is proposing a budget increase for its own space agency. The Budget 2009 Plan, released Tuesday, proposes to add C$110 million (US$90 million) to the Canadian Space Agency’s budget over the next three […] While the House’s version of the proposed stimulus package offers only a modest amount for NASA, and none for spaceflight programs, the Senate appears to be in a more generous mood. A Senate Appropriations Committee press release about their bill notes that NASA would get $1.5 billion, compared to only $600 million in the House. […] A few items from this week’s issue of The Space Review: Dwayne Day discusses how the new administration might lead to declassification of historic documents about early reconnaissance programs. Plans to declassify some of those projects, long since declared obsolete, were in progress in the Clinton Administration when they were suddenly halted, and the Bush […] When Congresswoman Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL) wrote a letter to House leadership last week asking for an extra $2 billion for NASA in the latest stimulus bill, it appeared that she was advocating that the money be used primarily, if not exclusively, for accelerating Constellation. “This infusion of funds will accelerate the Constellation program, which will […] The Democratic leadership of the House Science and Technology Committee announced its subcommittee assignments Thursday. Picked to chair the space and aeronautics subcommittee is Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Entering her second term in Congress, Giffords is probably best known in space circles not for her legislative work—she was on the science committee, but not the […] Congressman Pete Olson (R-TX) has been named the ranking Republican on the space subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee, according to a statement released Wednesday by the congressman’s office. Olson, who defeated Nick Lampson in November, represents a district that includes NASA’s Johnson Space Center, making him a logical choice for the position […] President Obama’s first official interaction with NASA appeared to be a success: he was seen smiling as the NASA entry in the inaugural parade, featuring the SS-126 crew and a lunar rover prototype, passed by. Of course, he could have simply been happy that the parade had finally come to an end, since NASA […] As the Bush Administration wound down to its end today, it, like other outgoing administrations, has been taking steps to try and shape its legacy. One form has been a a series of publications titled “The Bush Record” that identifies what, in the administration’s own view, it has accomplished in the last eight years. How […] In today’s issue of The Space Review a couple authors take different tacks on reforming how NASA procures hardware and services. In one piece, Derek Webber advocates moving from cost-plus to fixed-price contracts for the space agency. Such a switch would avoid cost overruns and allow for milestones to monitor whether the contractor is making […] |
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