Keith's note: This video shows Neil deGrasse Tyson speaking at the University at Buffalo making an impassioned plea for NASA and the value it has to all Americans. In my experience, no one has ever managed to capture this in such a cogent response. Tyson is the sort of people who should be speaking at the OSTP space summit. But no. Politics preside. Instead, its OSTP Vs NSC and OSTP/NSC Vs NASA and a food fight over who gets to say what NASA needs to do at the Summit. What a colossal missed opportunity.

Obama's Space Summit Coming Amid Discovery's Mission, 13 News

"Even if the shuttle program were extended today, there would still be some a gap. "The real issue we would have is just in manufacturing," [space shuttle program manager John] Shannon explained. "While you have a supply chain, while you can get a workforce back to build things like external tanks, there would be some type of a gap -- and right now, we estimate that gap would be about two years, from when we're told to when we would have the first external fuel tank rolling off the assembly line."

If shuttles kept flying, what would mission be?, Orlando Sentinel

"In response, NASA has reached out to shuttle suppliers and vendors to check whether there would be any issues, beyond the cost of restarting production lines, should NASA keep flying the orbiter fleet. The agency is also examining whether there will be enough spares on the station to continue operations until 2020."

Without Shuttles, Astronauts' Careers May Stall, NPR

"NASA administrator and former astronaut Charlie Bolden talked about that prospect when he visited Kennedy Space Center in Florida earlier this year, saying it would be a different approach for NASA to rent not just the space vehicle, but also a private crew of astronauts to go with it. "We need to have the discussion of how important is it to have a career astronaut contingent, as opposed to none," Bolden said. He said that NASA's international partners like the idea of an elite corps, and that he doubted some random person could quickly be trained to perform at the same level as NASA astronauts, who have devoted their lives to preparing for work in space. "We need to have the discussion of what the future -- the next generation of astronauts -- will be like," Bolden said."

NASA Lost its Way, Paul Spudis, Air & Space

"Although the purpose of the VSE was clear to the White House and the Congress, it became increasingly clear over time that NASA was having difficulty understanding the mission. They eventually embarked on a multi-year study to define exactly why they had been tasked to go to the Moon and to understand what they might do once they got there. The mission to understand their mission involved lots of meetings, workshops and conferences, whereby all the "stakeholders" had an opportunity to give their input. All this "input" was distilled into a series of documents containing six themes and 181 different specific objectives. No one at NASA could state the mission of the VSE in a single sentence."