Commercial Space: What Role Is It Ready For?, Scott Horowitz, Space News

"For instance, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has conducted five launches of its simple Falcon 1, four of which failed (three totally, one partially). The company has learned from its failures and is working on upgrades. The more complex Falcon 9, designed to carry cargo to the ISS, is two years behind schedule and has yet to be launched. Moreover, this is the same vehicle they say can carry crew to ISS within three years."

Keith's note: It is rather hilarious for Scott Horowitz to cite one company's developmental woes and yet ignore the immense problems, delays, and cost overruns that his Ares 1 team had. Go look at the Atlas' flight record when they flew John Glenn.

Newsflash, Scott: SpaceX was flying a real rocket from the onset - not a cobbled together one-off rocket (Ares 1-X), half of which was a dummy inert mass that experienced an anomalous post-staging flight profile, damaged its first stage, etc. And Scott, let us not forget, your rocket - one that would still not fly for the first time for another few years (according to your own schedule) - would be flying crew within a similar time frame as Falcon 9 - yet doing so with a spacecaft (Orion) that was constantly reduced in capacity and underpowered due to flaws inherent in your rocket's design.

Even if you were to double the amount of launch/testing problems Falcon 1/Falcon 9 will end up costing a small fraction of the $8-9 billion you wasted and will be working in space sooner - and more cheaply - than Ares 1 would ever have been capable of doing.

Face it Scott - you placed all your (our) money on the wrong rocket.

As for astronauts flying on rockets, I wonder what Ken Bowersox knows that you do not?

Keith's note: A paradigm shift is in the making - a shift from government-operated to private sector operated human and cargo transportation systems. Of course, everyone wants to get a word in about this. How two groups express their support points to a shift in how this will happen. It is one thing to wave your arms around about what is broken and offer semantic solutions. It is quite another to quietly build vehicles to make this actually come to pass. Witness the attitude difference between two pro-space commercialization organizations - one old (and tired) one new and fresh.

First there is the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (formed by a group of companies actually building space vehicles) who sees the opportunity to take a shift in direction and make things work better. And then there is the Space Frontier Foundation (fast becoming a noisy "me too" fringe group) who gleefully celebrates the cancellation of a program that has consumed $8 billion by issuing a press release that points fingers and makes absolutely sure that we all know that they told you so ...

I'll take CSF's forward-looking approach any day.

Commercial Spaceflight Federation Statement on NASA's Anticipated Announcement of a $6 Billion Commercial Crew Program and NASA Budget Increase

"At a time when job creation is the top priority for our nation, a commercial crew program will create more jobs per dollar because it leverages millions in private investment and taps the potential of systems that serve both government and private customers. We have a tremendous opportunity here to jump-start private activity in low-Earth orbit that will further lower the cost of access to space and unleash the economic potential of space long promised."

Space Frontier Foundation Praises Death Sentence for Ares

"The Space Frontier Foundation has been fighting to kill Ares I for years. We predicted this disaster in 2006 , put out press releases, op-eds and worked with our many friends inside NASA, Congress, and both large and small NewSpace companies. ... Our Mind the Space Gap campaign emphasized that Ares was a boondoggle that guaranteed sending more taxpayer money to Russia to pay for Astronaut visits to a space station we mostly paid for," continued Werb. "Now the NewSpace industry must step up and fill the Gap, creating jobs and innovation here in America."

At sushi happy hour on Tuesday my friend Andrew Horn asked us, “What are you not doing now that you wish you were?” (he is really into the importance of asking good questions). I said that I wanted to be working on a book and that I have long been meaning to create a Facebook group for all the students who have been to my Launching Your Career in Space workshops. Our dinner mate said he wanted to be working on a new model for sustainability in economics. Andrew leaned forward and said, “What can you do to shift those things from something you are going to work on to something you are working on right now?”

I realized that even if you are taking the smallest next action on something, it goes from being a someday, maybe in-the-future project, to something you have started! As the famous saying goes, “Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!” (I remember reading that on the wall in my mom’s office at the St. Rose rectory in high school).

I went home and the next morning, I got on Facebook and took the 20 minutes to make the group, I even opened and read through the outline for my book that I hadn’t looked at in over a year. Not only was I relieved to be doing things I had meant to for over a year, but I was also very excited, for what was possible, what I was capable of, who I am. It super-charged my day. We got all our Yuri’s Night LED bouncy balls, LED lapel pins and 10th annual stickers ordered, set up an e-introduction to a space workforce guru I have been wanted to meet for years, and starting talking about some exciting collaborations for promoting science with kids nationwide.

The next day I flew to Miami for annual flight attendant refresher training for Zero Gravity Corp. I was working in my hotel room, planning to go to bed early when I found out that another friend Brad Cheetham was going to be on SpaceVidCast at 10:00 pm to be interviewed about http://www.WeWantOurFuture.org. Watching it I got really inspired and energized about the cool things that my friends are up to. Too excited to go to bed I went down to the lobby to meet up with Tim Bailey and Stevie Steiner.

Stevie was regaling us with the latest stories of his company (that he does on the side of his PhD) buyaerogels.com. I was inspired by his passion and energy but most of all by the potential of game changing material science (and Yuri’s Night logo aerogels!!). The potential future there extends beyond where my imagination can see and I am excited to get to be around that and possibly even contribute to making it happen!

I finally went to bed at 2 a.m. reflecting on a thought I have been having a lot this week– that over the last 20 years I have carefully, concertedly built a world around me filled with amazing, uplifting, supportive people and that, that has made all the difference.

NASA to Review Human Spaceflight, NY Times

"The expansive, multimonth technical study, still in the preliminary stages, might be similar to the Exploration Systems Architecture Study that in 2005 settled on the design of the agency's program to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020."

Keith's note: Forget the long-rumored, ponderous "ESAS 2" activity folks. It is not really needed. Charlie Bolden and a small team have already (quietly) put the basic architecture in place. Think LEO, cis-lunar, near-Earth, and inner solar system utilization and exploration of space - all with a significant, paradigm-shifting emphasis on the use and participation of the private sector and (eventually) partnerships with other nations. Look back a few years at previous "architectures" and you will get the basic idea. All Bolden's team needed to wait for was the final word from the White House.

After half a decade, NASA's human space flight program may have unfortunately "lost the Moon" -- but it may be about to gain the solar system - that is, if Congress wants it to happen. Stay tuned.

Keith's update: Let me add (with a prod from Anne Spudis) is that I think it is short-sighted to exclude the Moon as part of the so-called "Flexible Path". We have unfinished business on the Moon - and the resources needed to fully utilize the inner solar system are waiting there for us to utilize. One would hope that the "Flexible Path" is truly "flexible" and not just this Administration's euphemism for "not ESAS".

PETA to hold protest at NASA Ames against monkey experiment, SJ Mercury News

"Six demonstrators plan to be in front of NASA Ames' main gates at noon today, carrying signs that read "No Tax $ for Animal Abuse" and "Stop Radiation Tests on Monkeys," according to a PETA statement."

Report: Obama Budget to Scrub Moon Mission, CBS News

"Instead of blasting off to the moon, NASA's hopes for a manned mission there have been blasted to pieces, sources in the White House, Congress and NASA tell the Orlando Sentinel."

White House won't fund NASA moon program, Orlando Sentinel via LA Times

"When the White House releases its budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was to return humans to the moon by 2020. The Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for the Ares V cargo rocket that was to launch the fuel and supplies needed to return to the moon. There will be no lunar landers, no moon bases. "We certainly don't need to go back to the moon," one administration official said."

NASA to Review Human Spaceflight, NY Times

"Michael D. Griffin, the former NASA administrator who oversaw the creation of Constellation and remains a staunch defender, said that would be a mistake. "I can't imagine the situation where the United States doesn't want to have end-to-end capability to reach the lunar surface," Dr. Griffin said."

Flat budget, limited goals may be in NASA's future, Houston Chronicle

"Far from getting the $3 billion more each year that experts suggest NASA needs for meaningful human spaceflight, President Barack Obama is expected to offer little new money to the space agency when his budget is released Monday. Although there's no official word from the White House or NASA, space policy analysts and legislators say it's likely the space agency's budget will remain "flat" for the coming year, potentially leaving humans stuck in near-Earth orbit for the foreseeable future."

Keith's note: NASA has just spent more than half a decade telling Americans that we are all going back to the Moon - and why. In the process, billions of dollars have been spent. Children have grown up being told this again and again - just like my generation heard in the 1960s. Now this is being taken away from them. I can only imagine how my generation would have reacted. It is one thing to alter a plan, change rockets, etc. But it is quite another to abandon the plan altogether.

The ISS has great potential - much of it yet to be realized. But much of that untapped potential was preparing humans to go out into the solar system. Now those destinations have evaporated and have been replaced with the elusive and ill-defined "Flexible Path".

How is NASA going to explain this about face? Answer - they won't - because they can't. They are incapable of admitting mistakes or even stating the obvious. What I really want to see is how NASA attempts to explain this bait and switch to all of the students it has sought to inspire since the VSE was announced. A "Summer of Innovation" centered around a stale and contracting space program seems somewhat contradictory to me.

How will NASA - and the White House - explain the use of vast sums of taxpayer money to bail out the decisions of incompetent financial institutions on Wall Street and yet not be able to find a paltry fraction of that amount to bail out the future of space exploration that future Americans will benefit from - and participate in.

I just spent a few days wandering around Yosemite looking up at vast expanses of rock such as El Capitan - things that humans have surmounted - and yet still inspire later generations to attempt. Now I have to fly home and witness the slow motion dismemberment of NASA's human exploration program. You will pardon me if I fell like I have been whip lashed.

There are two options open to those who wish to explore the solar system - personally. One is to ignore NASA altogether and promote commercial space. The other is to totally overhaul NASA once and for all. Despite its collection of incredibly skilled and motivated people, NASA is also a bumbling behemoth that cannot get out of its own way. Personally, I think the best approach is to pursue both.

But something needs to change. Clearly the status quo has utterly failed and yet another generation is at risk of missing out on the chance to personally explore space.

It is my understanding that Charlie Bolden worked very, very hard on getting more for NASA. So the blame for these cutbacks should not be laid on his shoulders. He does have a chance, however, to use this opportunity to truly reconfigure the agency in response to this slap from the White House. The last time NASA was in this situation in the mid-1990s, its Administrator simply did not understand that his people were his greatest asset. Charlie Bolden does not have that character flaw.

NASA is simply going to have to do more with less. NASA has little choice at this point than to look for the silver lining in all of this. In so doing, Bolden's people - all of them - contractor, civil servants, and others - need to step up to the task of finding this silver lining - or get out of the way and find something else to do so that others can fix things.

Keith's update: This reader note says it all: "Tomorrow the President and Vice President will be together in Florida to announce they are awarding $2.5 billion (of the $8 billion federal dollars slated for similar projects) to build a high-speed rail system from the Tampa airport to Disney World. It will help people visit entertainment venues at Disney World (Space Mountain), Epcot (Spaceship Earth), Universal Studios (A Day at The Park with Barney)."

To be certain a job is a job - but I wonder how well these new jobs will offset the old jobs being lost in the KSC area. Will workers be able to move from one to another? I doubt it. Also, the fact that the Obama Administration seems to be more interested in moving tourists to see fantasy depictions of space exploration as opposed to doing the real thing speaks volumes. What sort of message is this sending?

Griffin's statement, Huntsville Times

"Today we have in orbit a $75 billion International Space Station, a product of the treasure and effort of 15 nations, and the president is recommending that we hold its future utility and, indeed, its very existence hostage to fortune, hostage to the hope that presently nonexistent commercial spaceflight capability can be brought into being in a timely way, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle."

Mike Griffin Reveals His Commercialization Vision for NASA: Part 1 (2005)

"So it is a real dilemma - it is a real dichotomy: how do we engage competition and position ourselves to take advantage of the successes and accept the failures which inevitable occur in that environment while, at the same time, meeting the goals and objectives that we have as managers? What I've come to, after considerable thinking (with some discussion and modifications to come) - for NASA: the best way to do that is to utilize the market that is offered by the International Space Station and its requirements to supply crew and cargo as the years unfold."

NASA to get more money, but must scratch moon plan, AP

"The money in the president's budget is not enough to follow through with NASA's Constellation moon landing plan initiated by President George W. Bush. An aide to an elected official who was told of Obama's plans, but who asked that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said Obama is effectively ending the return-to-the-moon effort, something that has already cost $9.1 billion."

Congresswoman Kosmas' Statement on the President's State of the Union Address

"The President has pledged to minimize the spaceflight gap and Space Coast families are looking for him to fulfill that promise. It will be unacceptable if his budget does not reflect a commitment to a robust human spaceflight program."

President's NASA "Plan" Is A Giant Leap Backwards and Would Be Devastating to America's Space Program and the Space Coast, Rep. Posey

"My biggest fear is that this amounts to a slow death of our nation's human space flight program; a retreat from America's decades of leadership in space, ending the economic advantages that our space program has brought to the U.S., and ceding space to the Russians, Chinese and others. I will do all that I can to stop this ill-advised plan."

Should NASA's plans to return to the moon be scrapped for budgetary reasons? , Cafferty File, CNN

"Here's my question to you: Should NASA's plans to return to the moon be scrapped for budgetary reasons?"

Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 Newspad finally arrives, nine years late, TAUW

"Those who read Arthur C. Clarke's novelization of the movie will remember that he described this device as the "Newspad," something that was used by people of the future (as envisioned in 1968) to watch TV and read newspapers. You can read the full description of the device after the break -- it's described as a newsreader, with two-digit codes for each article online, and a constant stream of information from the hourly updates on "electronic papers."

I should start this post by fully disclaiming that I don’t think I have any significant or impressive credentials to be making the following assertions. They are merely my opinions and thoughts, accumulated in a storage space in my mind over the last few months, as speculations of the current administration’s plans for NASA have reached a fever pitch, with rumors and supposedly confirmed facts rampant in the media.

From a young age, I buried my nose in astronomy books in my spare time. I, in fact, love to tell the story of my first direct contact with NASA – a fateful visit to Space Center Houston at the tender age of eight. I walked away, declaring I’d one day work in Mission Control and be an astronaut. I half realized that dream just under a month ago, when I sat in the Space Station Flight Control Room for the first time and spoke to the crew on the International Space Station, whom I helped train. I left the building that night, with my footsteps echoing across the empty parking lot, knowing that I had the amazing opportunity to contribute to a legacy left by the pioneers of yesteryear, ever single day.

Thus, I speak as a very passionate space enthusiast, who’s known no reality but one with humans in space. I make the following points to acknowledge that frustrations are entirely plausible and understandable at this pivotal juncture in our nation’s space program. But, I also implore you, in spite of this, to consider the true implications of the changes that lay before of us. I ask that we embrace the opportunity for change, as we approach a unique moment in our agency’s history, one that we have not seen since its inception, yet one that gives us the freedom to actually define our future.

Over the last few days, even hours, I’ve heard countless, generally depressing thoughts about the future of our nation’s space program, based largely on supposedly confirmed reports from various media outlets. The most flagrant of these speculations, and perhaps the one that will eventually be revealed to be fact, is the cancellation of the Constellation program, inevitably delaying the return of humans to the moon.

Specific implications of these actions are not within my realm of knowledge or expertise. However, in my very naïve viewpoint, I believe we are now at a critical impasse, where we have the opportunity to set the course for the future of human space exploration. Never before have we been faced with such apathy, lack of support and funding; and yet, this same moment, though it may seem a burden, presents us with a challenge. How can we prove to the administration, Congress, the American public, our international partners, the world…that we are truly capable of pioneering the future of human spaceflight?

Critics of the Ares program have voiced their opinions since the groundwork was laid for the Constellation program, and yet now that there’s a possibility for its cancellation, outcries of the absurdity of this happening are widespread. Yes, we lose our immediate and near-term capability for sending humans beyond LEO. But this presents us with an opportunity, an opportunity to take the lessons learned from the Ares program, from the ISS program, from the Shuttle Program, from our very history, to go back to the drawing board.

In our changing world, it’s time that we realize that ignoring the commercial spaceflight sector will not benefit our agency in the slightest. On the contrary, by accepting their role in human space exploration and working to define their roles and develop requirements, we capitalize on the ability to contribute to the future of human space exploration. We give ourselves the chance to innovate in a way that has never been tried before. In essence, it gives NASA the perfect opportunity to define its next step.

Yes, this does now mean that we aren’t landing on the moon by 2018…I think it’s time to accept this fact and just move on. The Shuttle Program was done for, as soon as the Vision for Space Exploration was announced. We, as an agency, saw this coming. Perhaps we could’ve prepared for it a little more practically; hindsight is always 20/20. But now that we are at this pivotal juncture, it’s time to view the impending change as an opportunity to prove what we are capable of as an agency. It’s a chance for us to truly innovate and develop a plan for getting humans beyond LEO. It’s an opportunity for NASA to work with both the commercial sector and the international community, as partners for getting humans to the moon and onto Mars. Though the timeline is significantly delayed than previously thought, this is one of the most crucial moments in our agency’s history where we actually get to contribute in defining its direction.

So, think about why you became a part of the space program in the first place. Think about what interests you and makes you so passionate about human space exploration. If you’re like me, it’s a “je ne said quoi” quality that embedded itself in your soul at an early age and never left. It’s the yearning to explore and see new horizons. It drives you every day and excites your very being at the thought of your contributions, however minute or significant, helping humans fulfill one of our innate desires: to explore. How can we be upset over the new adventures that lay ahead? Why look back and criticize past decisions, when there is little we can do about them? Why not look forward to the future and use our position to drive our agency in the direction we’d all like to see it go: help humans get beyond LEO. There’s no single solution to getting this done. We have all the resources in the world at our disposal, literally, to accomplish what we did in the 1960s. Let’s prove our naysayers incorrect; let’s collaborate with our commercial and international partners; let’s expand the realm of possibilities and forge ahead with ambition, passion, and determination to accomplish what we all truly believe in, in our hearts. As someone once said, “We would not be honoring the legacy of those who came before us, if we didn’t believe our greatest accomplishments lay ahead of us.”

Challenger Center Remembers the Challenger Flight 51-L Crew - Invites its Alumni and Friends to Share Their Stories

"January 28, 2010 - Twenty-four years ago today the space shuttle Challenger and its crew of seven men and women launched into a clear blue sky at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Their mission, designated 51-L, was cut short that day, but their legacy of exploration and discovery lives on at nearly 50 Challenger Learning Centers worldwide. A special podcast has been created to honor the Challenger crew as well as the Apollo 1 and Columbia astronauts. All will be honored this Friday during NASA's Day of Remembrance."

The Big 'Y', Miles O'Brien

"I was fast asleep when the Challenger exploded. It was almost high noon - but I had turned in only about three hours before. I had spent the night in a citrus grove in Polk County, Florida. I was a general assignment reporter for a TV station in Tampa, and we were up all night providing viewers constant updates on the record freeze. The fate of the citrus crop is very big news in that part of the world. ... When the call came from the assignment desk, I was in a deep sleep, so it took me some time to comprehend what I had just been told: "You are not going to believe this, but the shuttle has blown up."

Keith Cowing's Devon Island Journal - 18 July 2007: Ancient Memorials for Modern Space Explorers

"Building memorials to lost comrades is as old as humanity. Humans have been looking at special places and building evocative monuments - often of great complexity and utility back to the era of Stonehenge - and perhaps earlier. So there was something primal - transcendent - about building these ancient structures to honor people whose job entailed trips above the sky."

NASA Internal Email From Mark Geyer: The Future

"A few news bureaus and bloggers have been reporting on some major changes coming our way. Sometimes the number of reports gives the impression of validity when in fact they are all reporting on the same rumor. I can tell you that I have not received any direction or information that would confirm what they are saying. That being said, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that there will be some changes announced next week and that they may be significant. Again, I have no specific information on what that might be."

NASA tops off new Ares launch tower at the Cape, Spaceflight Now

"The total cost of the mobile launcher project is estimated at around $500 million, according to NASA. But the ultimate fate of the skyscraping tower is up in the air as the White House appears on the brink of canceling the Ares 1 rocket and scrapping NASA's Constellation program taking aim on the moon."

Keith's note: I can certainly emphathize with the Constellation folks: I was part of the Space Station Freedom team at Level II and we sat around for months working on a program that we knew was (more or less) going to be totaly overhauled as innumerable redesigns went on around (and without) us. It was maddening. But we just kept on working. We did not have the Internet back then - just NASAMail and fax machines. FWIW I do not think that all of the work done on Constellation will have been done in vain. Indeed, I see lots of "Freedom" in the ISS. Worry not: the hard work done by Constellation folks will certainly emerge elsewhere - eventually. Whatever happens, y'all done good.

Anxiety rises over NASA budget, Huntsville Times

"I've read what you've read," said Steve Cook, who ran the Ares rocket component of Constellation at Marshall Space Flight Center from conception until leaving for a job in industry in September. "This is just a lot of speculation," Cook said Wednesday. "We just need to wait and see what the president does." Constellation employs about 1,500 contractor employees and 700 government workers at Marshall Space Flight Center, Cook said."

No space for Constellation? Former NASA Administrator speaks out

"I personally believe the rumors are likely to be true," said Griffin. "If they're true it's a very bad day for the nation and the space program." Griffin said tens of thousands of people will be effected by cuts."

Keith's note: Ares 1 is dead and Ares V is morphing into a commercially-provided HLV for TBD uses. The ISS will be serviced by commerical spacecraft for crew and cargo (not by Orion) and deep space "Flexible Path" missions will almost certainly use something other than Orion for crew transport. As such, there is not going to be much left of "Constellation".

Keith's note: Reliable sources tell me that all of the arm waving and negative stories (many sourced directly from within NASA BTW) that have been flying around do not constitute the entire picture of what NASA is going to get and what it is going to be asked to do. Indeed this is only part of the story. This back and forth is going to continue - all from folks inside NASA - until the actual budget with the full picture is released.

As the picture continues to emerge, not only is the push for commercial crew and cargo to the ISS going to expand in the new budget, but that push for commercialization will cover all aspects of American human spaceflight - LEO and beyond, cargo and capsules, and even the development of HLVs. This will all be done as part of an overall agency budget increase of $5.9 Billion over the next 5 fiscal years.

Notice below that NASA only saw fit to talk with some - but not all - of the media before the budget release while details of the budget are still under Administration embargo. Yet another example of how Morrie Goodman seems to be trying to parse access to the agency by the media. Update: I have now learned that these media briefings were set up directly by the White House - not NASA PAO. Looks like the White House decided to take NASA PAO out of the loop. Not a good sign. Sorry Morrie.

Obama To Abandon Return To Moon, Extend Iss, Florida Today

"President Barack Obama will propose $6 billion in new funding for NASA over the next five years, administration officials said Wednesday. The proposed increase, which will be part of the president's fiscal 2011 budget request on Monday, aims to encourage the use of commercial rockets and extend use of the International Space Station until at least 2020 as the agency switches priorities away from sending astronauts back to the moon."

Obama officials: NASA to get $6 billion for commercial rockets, Orlando Sentinel

"The news teleconference at which the officials and astronaut spoke was organized for reporters at two Florida newspapers in response to the Orlando Sentinel's report on Tuesday, which said the White House budget next week would kill NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon and scrap the rockets being developed to take them there. On the teleconference was an administration official, a NASA official and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space. ... But the NASA official stressed that just because the Constellation program to return humans to the moon and its Ares I and Ares V rockets were going to be canceled did not mean that the Obama administration was abandoning exploration and human spaceflight."

Keith's note: Places where you can expect to hear Charlie Bolden and others spell things out:

- 27 Jan: Possible (unlikely) mention in State of the Union message
- 1 Feb: NASA budget press conference
- 2 Feb: NASA event at National Press Club
- 3 Feb: Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee - Hearing: Key Issues and Challenges Facing NASA: Views of the Agency's Watchdogs
- 11 Feb: 13th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference
- 12 Feb: The State of the Agency: NASA Future Programs Presentation Don't bother to RSVP - there are no more seats available. Watch it on NASA TV. NASA is only allowing some media (Space News and Nature) into the event (where they can ask questions) while other publications/websites are not being allowed to send representatives.

NASA Day of Remembrance at Kennedy Space Center Jan. 29, NASA

"NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., will pay tribute to the crews of Apollo 1 and space shuttles Challenger and Columbia, as well as other NASA colleagues, during the agency's Day of Remembrance observance on Friday, Jan. 29."

Now A Stationary Research Platform, NASA's Mars Rover Spirit Starts a New Chapter in Red Planet Scientific Studies, NASA

"After six years of unprecedented exploration of the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit no longer will be a fully mobile robot."

Marc's note: After all these years Spirit keeps on giving. Good news in an otherwise difficult time for NASA.

Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee - Hearing: Key Issues and Challenges Facing NASA: Views of the Agency's Watchdogs

Witnesses:

- Hon. Paul K. Martin, Inspector General, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Ms. Cristina T. Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office
- Vice Admiral Joseph W. Dyer [U.S. Navy, retired], Chair, Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, National

Keith's note: Hmm... Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, known Ares 1 hugger, who is anti-commercial spaceflight and an Augustine critic - and Joe Dyer (ditto) at the same hearing. Gee, I wonder what they will talk about ...

- Congressional Hearing on Safety, earlier post
- Too Close to NASA For Comfort?, earlier post
- Flying Air NASA, earlier post
- Congress Falls For Time Magazine's Ares Award Too, earlier post
- Chairman Gordon and Subcommittee Chairwoman Giffords Comment on Augustine Committee Report, earlier post
- Commercial Spaceflight Federation Takes Aim at ASAP's Report, earlier post

Budget Freeze Is Proposed, Wall Street Journal

"President Barack Obama intends to propose a three-year freeze in spending that accounts for one-sixth of the federal budget--a move meant to quell rising concern over the deficit but whose practical impact will be muted. To attack the $1.4 trillion deficit, the White House will propose limits on discretionary spending unrelated to the military, veterans, homeland security and international affairs, according to senior administration officials. Also untouched are big entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare."

Obama to propose freeze on government spending, Washington Post

"Under mounting pressure to rein in mammoth budget deficits, President Obama will propose in his State of the Union address a three-year freeze on federal spending that is not related to national security, a concession to public concern about government spending that could dramatically curtail Obama's legislative ambitions."