Not much new here for people who have been following, but Discover magazine has an interview with Burt Rutan. I don’t think that he’s the “Granddaddy of space colonization,” though. If anyone deserves that title, it’s probably Gerry O’Neill.

Ken Murphy has a first-hand report from the recent Lunar Exploration and Analysis Group Conference in Houston.

Alan Boyle has a link-rich roundup.

Space Politics has three posts, with a lot of commentary, here, here and /here.

Also, the Carnival of Space for the week is up.

[Update at 10 AM]

Keith Cowing notes that this is the most any presidential candidate has had to say about space policy in a long time (perhaps in memory). Whatever you think about what she said, that’s probably right.

Space Politics has three posts, with a lot of commentary, here, here and /here.

Also, the Carnival of Space for the week is up.

[Update at 10 AM]

Keith Cowing notes that this is the most any presidential candidate has had to say about space policy in a long time (perhaps in memory). Whatever you think about what she said, that’s probably right.

Space Politics has three posts, with a lot of commentary, here, here and /here.

Also, the Carnival of Space for the week is up.

[Update at 10 AM]

Keith Cowing notes that this is the most any presidential candidate has had to say about space policy in a long time (perhaps in memory). Whatever you think about what she said, that’s probably right.

Charles Krauthammer has some thoughts on the day after the anniversary (many of which were similar to mine, but some different), this morning. Also, check yesterday’s post and scroll to the bottom for some late-night updates, if you didn’t already.

[Update at 10 AM]

Here’s a Sputnik link I missed yesterday, from Michael Belfiore. He notes another anniversary, that I thought about writing something about, but didn’t get the time. Also, it’s a little disappointing (though not entirely unexpected) that three years later, we haven’t made more progress.

Note: I’m going to keep this post at the top of the page all day, so you might want to scroll to see if I’m putting up other stuff.

Homer and I continue our week-long space policy debate over at the LA Times, this time with a discussion of the event that kicked off the space age, and its impact down the five decades since.

[Update at 8 AM EDT]

Jeff Foust is having a Sputnikpallooza over at The Space Review today. In particular, you should read his essay on the wonder and disappointment of the past half century, which reflects and expands on a lot of the themes that I’ve been debating with Homer Hickam all week.

[Update a few minutes later]

Did Sputnik create the Internet? Well, it’s a stretch, but it was, at least indirectly, one of the pieces of the puzzle. Anyway, it has at least as good a claim as Al Gore…

[Update at quarter to nine]

Dwayne Day’s prognostication about military space systems fifty years from now is worth a read–they will look a lot like todays. But he has one key caveat, that could make them quite wrong:

Weapons delivery from space has been possible for decades. What has changed is that it is now possible to precisely deliver conventional weapons onto an enemy. But the cost is prohibitive compared to other forms of weapon delivery such as cruise missiles or bombers, which have the benefit of reusability. Given the cost of putting something into orbit, the goal is to keep it there as long as possible rather than bring it down to hit something. That seems unlikely to change barring a radical decrease in launch costs.

Emphasis mine.

[9:15 Update]

Lileks has Sputnik beeps.

Alan K. Henderson is collecting Sputnik links today as well.

[10 AM update]

Alan Boyle has a roundup of space history links, and is collecting Sputnik memories in comments. People are welcome to leave some here as well, of course. As I noted to Homer (as does Alan) we were a little too young for it to leave an impression. And of course, for many of my readers, it’s as far away an event for them as WW II was for me.

[Update at 10:25]

It’s Sputnik, the movie!

Update at 4 PM EDT]

The satellite versus the supermarket. How did we really win the Cold War? I wonder if this LA Times editorial was influenced by the week’s discussion between me and Homer?

[Update at 5 PM EDT]

Jim Oberg has further thoughts on Sputnik and the space age at fifty.

[Evening update]

My final thoughts for the anniversary on Sputnik, the past and the future, are up at TCSDaily.

[Update at 10 PM]

Tim Cavanaugh, at the LA Times, who masterminded my dust-up with Homer Hickam this week, has a piece on how space has been making us crazy for fifty years.

And our last dust-up edition is up, in which I talk about transhumans in space.

Well, Hillary’s science policy has been released. No surprises here.

The “space policy” is motherhood (again, as expected):

Hillary will enhance American leadership in space, including:

• Pursuing an ambitious 21st century Space Exploration Program, by implementing a balanced strategy of robust human spaceflight, expanded robotic spaceflight, and enhanced space science activities.
• Developing a comprehensive space-based Earth Sciences agenda, including full funding for NASA’s Earth Sciences program and a space-based Climate Change Initiative that will help us secure the scientific knowledge we need to combat global warming.
• Promoting American leadership in aeronautics by reversing funding cuts to NASA’s and FAA’s aeronautics R&D budget.

Leave aside the fact that aeronautics is not space (though it’s part of NASA).

Who decides what is “balanced”? Absent details, there is nothing here to critique or comment on. If there is a real policy (goals, schedules, budgets) behind the platitude, there’s no evidence of it.

And of course, it’s all about “exploration,” as usual. Same mindless pap we’ve seen in Congressional or presidential discussions of space for the past fifty years.

Oh, well, at least, unlike Kerry’s, it doesn’t mention George Bush.

That’s the title of today’s Dust-Up at the LA Times, between me and Homer Hickam, as we continue our Sputnik week debate.

[Late evening update]

Tomorrow’s Dust-Up, on whether NASA has been helping or hindering private enterprise in space, is up today. Transterrestrial, your personal time machine!