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June « 2010 « Space Politics

Briefly: wish lists, space socialism, and questionable polls

Earlier this week the Greater Houston Partnership and the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership issued a release this week critical of the administration’s human spaceflight plans and asking for a revised plan. They don’t ask for much: a “limited” number of additional shuttle flights, continuation of Constellation, and to “fast-track” a heavy-lift launcher starting in […]

House appropriators defer on human spaceflight plans

Would members of the Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, in the markup of their FY11 appropriations bill Tuesday, signal their willingness to support the White House’s new direction for human spaceflight or defend the existing Constellation program? The answer is… neither. The subcommittee elected not to take a position on […]

Reactions to the new national space policy

It’s not surprising that NASA issued a statement about the national space policy on Monday, with administrator Charles Bolden noting that the agency “is pleased to be an integral part” of the new policy. But he was not the only administration official to speak out about the new policy. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates released […]

Another bid to save Constellation funding

On Monday Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) announced plans to introduce legislation that would compel NASA to spend FY10 funds on Constellation. The “Protecting Human Space Flight Act of 2010″, which Aderholt said he was introducing Monday (it has not yet shown up in Thomas), would require NASA to spend remaining FY10 Constellation funds on that […]

A hearing doubleheader today

At 10am this morning the House Science and Technology Committee’s investigations and oversight subcommittee will hold a hearing on the country’s troubled polar weather satellite program. “Since 2003, there have been seven hearings before the Science and Technology Committee or its subcommittees on the subject of the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) program,” […]

The new national space policy is out

The White House released at around 2 pm EDT today the administration’s new national space policy, along with a fact sheet and a statement by the president about the policy. A quick glance through the policy (and comparison to the 2006 policy issued by the Bush Administration) reveals a few initial impressions:

The new policy […]

The budget debate heats up

It appears that NASA has complied, at least partially, with a request by a House committee for documents about the FY11 budget process. Tucked into an article about impending layoffs at Constellation contractors, the New York Times reports that NASA sent over documents to the House Science and Technology Committee Friday evening, which staff members […]

What will the new national space policy look like?

With all the debate about the future of NASA, it’s easy to overlook the fact that the administration has also been busy crafting its overall national space policy, taking into account commercial, civil, and national security issues. That process has been ongoing for months and appears to be nearing completion. As SpacePolicyOnline.com reports, Secretary of […]

Grumbling about Bolden

In an article in the Birmingham News yesterday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) described a meeting Tuesday with NASA administrator Charles Bolden as “troubling” because he didn’t see any signs of compromise from the administration. “We should not think that the president at the moment has any plans to make significant alterations to what they have […]

Commercial space gets its day on the Hill

Or, at least, its morning on the Hill. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) announced today that Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) will be hosting an event tomorrow morning for senators and their staffers to discuss commercial spaceflight. Keynoting the event will be Norm Augustine, with other speakers from SpaceX, ULA, Orbital, and Sierra Nevada Corporation. The […]