Hubble Space Telescope Celebrates 20 Years of Discovery

"As the Hubble Space Telescope achieves the major milestone of two decades on orbit, NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute, or STScI, in Baltimore are celebrating Hubble's journey of exploration with a stunning new picture and several online educational activities. There are also opportunities for people to explore galaxies as armchair scientists and send personal greetings to Hubble for posterity."

Lockheed Martin-Built Hubble Space Telescope Marks 20 Years of Astronomical Discovery

"NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST), built and integrated at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems facility in Sunnyvale, was launched 20 years ago aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, on April 24, 1990, ushering in a new golden age of astronomy. HST was released by the crew into Earth orbit the next day and the universe hasn't looked the same since."

Obama should rethink NASA's space program, editorial, Washington Post

"... with the cancellation of Ares I, the administration wants to rely on private companies to develop vehicles to get passengers to low-Earth orbit. These "space taxis" would stretch current capabilities, but the private sector could play an important, and potentially cost-effective, role. It is odd for those who accuse this administration of wanting to take over the private sector to blast this initiative."

Shuttle backers say space station needs safety net

"[Senator] Hutchison's scenario "says you have to protect against something that's extremely unlikely," said John Logsdon, a space historian and former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. "I think it is trying to make an argument in support of a relatively parochial position of keeping the shuttle flying." Retirement of the shuttle fleet would have no impact on crew safety, said former shuttle astronaut John Grunsfeld. "We don't rely on the shuttle as a rescue vehicle in the event of a problem on space station -- that's exactly why we have Soyuz that are docked up there all the time," he said."

Keith's note: The following was circulated by NASA Orion Management recently: "Today, a contracts letter was sent to Lockheed Martin relative to termination liability (TL). This letter, directed through NASA Headquarters, interprets the contract language to require the contractor to account for termination liability in its planning for each year of execution. Termination liability is the estimated value of contractor work required to close out the contract if terminated. This is not a notification of termination, but an interpretation of how the contractor should account for TL projections in the current year. The effect of the interpretation may have implications in how we execute the project. However, there are options available within NASA and Lockheed Martin that will be considered in the coming days to assure that we operate within the law while we attempt to execute the program. It is important that everyone keep in mind the President, the Congress, and the NASA Administrator have all publicly expressed their clear expectation that an Orion vehicle will continue to play a central role in the overall emerging space exploration policy and strategy. We are working closely with Lockheed Martin and NASA management to identify acceptable resolutions to this issue that have the least disruption to our integrated government/industry team and our collective ability to perform our mission."

Letter from IFPTE to Senators Mikulski and Shelby Regarding NASA's Proposed FY 2011 Budget
 
"The greatest strength of the President's budget is that it is honest and forward-looking; in February, President Obama asked NASA to deliver $19 billion worth of work for $19 billion in funding and invested the necessary attention back into long-term R&T so that America can someday lead a crewed mission into deep space. To those in Congress who argue passionately and cogently that NASA should do more and move faster, we say "show me the money". IFPTE would support an increase in NASA's workload as long as it is linked to an appropriate increase in funding. Never again should NASA be asked to deliver $22 billion worth of work for $19 billion in funds as this is a formula for failure."

20 Years Later: Hubble, Humans and the Future of Space Flight, The Atlantic

[Story Musgrave] "[The Space Station] does nothing for nobody and it never has," he says. "The cost of space station is 300 Voyager-class satellites. We could have had multiple Voyagers landed or floating in the atmosphere on every planet and on every moon of every planet. That is what we gave up when we went with a jobs program, which is what the space station is. And that's an ungodly sin. And yes, I'm a human space flight person, but listen to me. That's what we could have offered the public."

Keith's note: Oh well. So much for the notion that a whole bunch of college degrees and lots of trips into outer space automatically makes you enlightened.

Spaceballs - Fox News article about NASA's future stokes Cold War fears with false experts, Columbia Journalism Review

"Obama's proposal marks a dramatic shift in the U.S. program for space exploration, worthy of debate. It's unfortunate, then, but unfortunately not surprising, that some news outlets have turned questions of serious policy into political spaceballs. One week before Obama's speech, a science reporter at FoxNews.com, who frequently provides a platform for climate change skeptics (examples here, here, here and here), zeroed in on long-standing plans to retire the deteriorating space shuttle this fall, a cost-saving (and perhaps life-saving) move that will force NASA to depend on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for transportation to and from the space station."

And Now A Word From The Lunatic Fringe, Earlier Post

Obama's April 15th Speech at Kennedy Space Center

"Obama started out his day visiting the KSC area by avoiding the workers. Though NASA and United Space Alliance had sent down word that no personal opinions of the employees would be allowed (also no twitter, Facebook, or talking with the media) would be allowed or tolerated, many of the workers, from what I've been told, had left their jobs briefly to line the road and express their "opinion" of Obama's new policy. But Obama the coward took a back route in from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to get to his teleprompter at the Operations and Checkout Building many miles away from the workers."

NASA: ATK has to shrink to remain competitive, Salt Lake Tribune

"Unfortunately the solid rocket industry has been overcapitalized for many, many years," Bolden told an appropriations subcommittee as part of his push for President Barack Obama's new direction for NASA. "We are carrying 70 percent of an industry for a capability that no one uses but NASA." And NASA isn't sure to what extent it wants to use it any more either. ATK's solid rocket motors have launched the shuttle into orbit for decades and the company has been constructing the Ares rocket as its replacement. But President Barack Obama wants to drop Ares and the overall Constellation program. In its place, Obama would pay for flights on as-yet-unbuilt private space vehicles to reach low-earth orbit, while NASA would focus on creating a completely new deep-space vehicle starting in 2015."

Obama plan to end much of Constellation program angers Republican senators, Washington Post

"In scrapping large parts of the Constellation program, however, Obama has outraged lawmakers from Gulf Coast states and Utah, where contracts and jobs may be lost. In a meeting Thursday of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) accused Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. and NASA on Thursday of ceding space exploration to the "Russians, the Chinese and even the Indians," and he accused the administration of setting up a "welfare program for commercial space industry."

Lawmakers Question NASA's Plan for Private Rockets, Wall Street Journal

"But it's the panel headed by Sen. Mikulski, who has been wooed by the White House in recent weeks, that could play the leading role in shaping NASA's future. Unbtil Thursday, Sen. Mikulski hadn't expressed her views publicly. At this point, however, many veteran lawmakers predict Congress will adopt a continuing resolution for the agency, which wouldn't resolve the controversial issues this year."

Key Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski reluctant to endorse Obama's NASA plan, Orlando Sentinel

"Right now I feel like a deep-space probe; I'm in reconnaissance," said Mikulski, after a Thursday hearing of the commerce, justice and science appropriations subcommittee. A key issue, she said, was whether commercial companies would be held to the same safety standards as NASA. "We're not sending cases of Tang into space. We're sending our astronauts and the astronauts from other countries that they provide to us," she said. "

NASA has escape plan for space station astronauts, LA Times

"The president's plan has drawn criticism from Democratic and Republican lawmakers in states with NASA operations. Last week, Obama announced that part of the Constellation program, the Orion capsule, was being revived to provide astronauts an emergency escape from the station and reduce U.S. reliance on Russian Soyuz vehicles when the space shuttle program ends this year."

Obama Touts Connection to Space Program in New National Ad (2008)

"BO: One of my earliest memories going with my grandfather to see some of the astronauts brought back after a splashdown, sitting on his shoulders waving a little American flag. And my grandfather would say you know boy American's we can do anything that we put our minds to."

Feud Over NASA Threatens America's Edge in Space, Wall Street Journal (2010)

"Mr. Obama, who often recounts watching NASA launches as a youngster perched on his grandfather's shoulders, says he hopes to lead the agency through a historic shift."

Keith's note: This is how urban news myths start. A single landing in Hawaii becomes multiple launches (presumably) in Florida. I first posted this a week ago. The WS Journal has not corrected their website. Nor has the author (Andy Pasztor - I sent him an email) apparently paid any attention to my citation of his overt error.

NASA ARC Solicitation: Rodent Habitat Systems for Manned Space Flight Opportunities

"NASA is investigating the availability and feasibility of options for expanding its capability to provide in-space habitation systems for rodents (rats & mice) for scientific research on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA seeks the following information about any existing concepts/designs or hardware for rodent habitat systems for spaceflight: ... Vehicle accommodations - Describe any space transportation and in-space interface capabilities of the design or hardware. (i.e. Shuttle Middeck, ATV, HTV, ISS EXPRESS, DRAGON, etc.)"

Will private spaceships have the right stuff? Commercial orbital taxis won't have to retrace NASA's footsteps, MSNBC

"First of all, the space taxis being created to serve the new policy are being designed for an entirely different mission. Unlike America's previous spaceships, these new taxis will be focused only on delivering passengers from Earth's surface to an existing space facility and back again. There's no need for long periods of independent orbital cruising. There's no need for carrying equipment to be later used for moon flights. The plan to reshape the Orion spaceship as a standby rescue vehicle for station crews has profound implications for the requirements of the commercial taxi and its cost. This strategy means the taxis won't have to last for six months "parked" in space, like Russia's Soyuz spaceships. The simplification of the taxi's mission will allow its hardware to be significantly less expensive to build and to validate."

Mikulski: U.S. cannot afford new NASA 'every four years', The Hill

"As the White House seeks to cancel most of NASA's manned-space flight program, provoking congressional outrage, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said during an appropriations hearing more investigation and research was needed before she could decide whether that was the correct course of action."

Keith's note: Huh? "As the White House seeks to cancel most of NASA's manned-space flight program"? Where did this reporter get that scoop? George Bush cancelled the Shuttle back in 2004, not Barack Obama. The ISS is getting increased funding and billions are being poured in to support commercial crew access to space.

Senate leaders make move for more NASA money, Houston Chronicle

"Senate Budget Committee chairman Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. unveiled the Democrats' version, a resolution that would increase NASA's current $18.7 billion budget by 5.3 percent to provide uninterrupted testing of the Ares I-X rocket motor. The committee must debate and vote on the proposal before it goes to the Senate floor."

Nelson pushes Ares I tests, Florida Today

"Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Or- lando, requested the funding to continue testing of the solid-rocket motor based on the Ares I rocket, which is cancelled under the White House's latest budget proposal. Nelson said additional testing will be helpful in the development of a much more powerful rocket needed to launch astronauts on missions beyond Earth-orbit. Solid rocket motor development also remains important to the Defense Department's space and missile programs."

Nelson aims to save Ares I testing, Orlando Sentinel

"Instead of the Ares I, Obama wants to use commercial rockets to resupply the space station with crew and cargo. That way, NASA engineers could concentrate their efforts on designing futuristic new technologies that could one day take astronauts to nearby asteroids or Mars. But in an afternoon budget hearing, Nelson argued that NASA still needs the Ares I so that it could test technologies needed to eventually build bigger rockets that could launch the heavier spacecraft needed for missions beyond low-Earth orbit and the space station."

GOP senator warns NASA budget cuts will help China overtake U.S. in space, The Hill

"Shelby then took aim at NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, whose approach Shelby said "only ensures members cannot trust you." He added that Bolden was "creating an atmosphere in which you and your leadership are becoming a major impediment for moving forward." "No matter how many ... press releases and summits you conduct, hope is not a strategy," continued Shelby, whose state houses a key NASA base. "This budget is not a proposal for space exploration worthy of this great nation."

- Shelby: Gov't Spending is Bad - Except for Spending on NASA, earlier post
- Shelby Was For The Private Sector Before He Was Against It, earlier post
- Alabama Political Donations Go National, earlier post

House Appropriations: Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies

Planetary Society Teleconference

"Today, board members of the Planetary Society will be joined by former NASA astronauts and other space community leaders on a teleconference for the media. This expert panel will provide comments and take questions on President Obama's recent speech at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on April 15, as well as discuss the results of today's hearing chaired by U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski."

Keith's note: What's the sense of the Senate with regard to the President's space policy? Well, according to Jeff Bingham, minority staffer on the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee's Subcommittee on Science and Space posting on nasaspaceflight.com as "Mascot 51D": "In addition, of course, the authorizers--often referred to as "policy and oversight committees" have the power to direct NASA policies and programs, and can point NASA in directions different than those recommended by the President, if they can pass their bills doing so and over-ride any presidential veto. This year, the exercise of that power will be especially interesting to watch, as there is still a considerable difference between many Members of Congress' views on the proposed NASA budget and the new direction proposed by the President."

Congress takes another stride toward public access to research: Federal Research Public Access Act introduced in the House of Representatives, Alliance for Taxpayer Access

"Like the Senate bill introduced in 2009 by Senators Lieberman (I-CT) and Cornyn (R-TX), H.R. 5037 would unlock unclassified research funded by agencies including: Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Science Foundation."

Study concludes aerospace industry must evolve new ways to recruit and retain future engineers

"Aerospace companies must consider offering newly recruited workers flexible job assignments and a variety of projects to remain competitive with other scientific fields of employment. This was among the conclusions of the "2009 Survey of Aerospace Student Attitudes" discussed at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Joint Societies Capitol Hill Reception, April 13, on Capitol Hill."

FOIA Request Response: 6 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Audit Reports, 1996-1998, Government Attic

"The following reports could not be located:

- A-GO-96-006, Survey of NASA Space Operations Consolidation;
- JS-96-007, Russian Involvement in the ISS Program;
- AKE-96-001, Orbiter Valuation;
- G98-0I8, Modifications to NASA's Safety Reporting System;
- IGMEMO 11, (sic); and
- an unredacted version of IG-99-036, X-38/Crew Return Vehicle Operational
Testing."