Keith Cowing notices a curious lack of enthusiasm.

Well, it aint nothing new and exciting, is it ? NASA got its yearly pie as it always does, sometimes larger sometimes smaller. A depressing portion of this is going to be basically blown into the wind anyways.
What remains to be seen is if they are going to do anything worthwhile with it. Doesnt appear to be much on the radar, for the next year.

"Congress cut all but $10 million from the planned Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission"

That is really exciting, aint it ?

"Big Spending Bill Makes a Winner of Mars Program but Many Losers Elsewhere"
That is really really good news. Because martian science is exactly the first priority of the VSE ?

Full funding of the VSE is a very good thing; but what now? We clap, praise Bush and Delay loudly, and sit around waiting for the CEV flight tests in a few years.

In the meantime, shuttle returns to flight; a gadzillion unanswered questions remain about the future of ISS; and we spend big bucks for a long shot Hubble robotic mission.

The real payoff of the VSE is when NASA starts cutting its shuttle workforce via attrition. A necessary thing perhaps but hardly something you fly down to Canaveral to watch.

PS - Who actually believe NASA, Boeing and Lockmart can use "spiral development" to return to the Moon faster and cheaper than Sir Richard Branson can, if supported by Burt Rutan and Elon Musk?

Perhaps a lack of excitement arises from thoughts such as these.

Keith's point is that these were groups that were pushing hard for the initiative last year, but now that they've achieved victory, they don't seem that excited about it. I suppose it's possible that somehow SpaceShipOne has turned the off to NASA, but given their history, this seems unlikely.

I think Keith is just getting ahead of himself a bit.

I feel these things will come in time.

Most people are in kick-back mode right now, just simply glad the electoral, political and budegtary fights are over for now.

Um, let us also not forget it's Thanksgiving, and Christmas in four weeks.

What would be a reasonable prize for _doing_ the Hubble Repair misison?

What would be a reasonable prize for _doing_ the Hubble Repair misison?

Depends on the odds of success.

Personally, I'd send the orbiter with an alternate safe haven (crew of 3 with a Soyuz DM in the cargo bay?) and do ALL the upgrades at once.

Which do you value more? Hubble or ISS?

If the orbiter really is too unsafe to go get Hubble, we would be better off grounding STS today and finding another way to either complete or walk away from ISS.