The Tea Party in Space is very concerned about the Shuttlyndra.
Category Archives: Space
Lori Garver’s Speech
It’s Wednesday morning at ISPCS, and the deputy administrator of NASA is the keynote speaker.
Commercial Crew Procurement Issues
Joe Pappalardo has a good rundown over at Popular Mechanics (though I haven’t read it in detail).
Bob Bigelow’s Talk
I’m at the ISPCS in New Mexico, and He’s about to speak. Keep an eye on this post for updates, if it scrolls down. Continue reading Bob Bigelow’s Talk
Shuttlyndra And The Smoking Rocket
I have some thoughts on the recent revelations about NASA’s propellant depot trades over at Pajamas Media.
Hiding The Propellant Depots
Doug Mohney has picked up the story. I’ll probably have something up at Pajamas Media tomorrow. If anyone cared about space, or how much money Congress forces NASA to waste, this would be a big story.
Travel Emergency
I’m flying into El Paso tomorrow afternoon for the ISPCS in Las Cruces, and I apparently didn’t reserve a car in time, because there are now none available. This is complicated by the fact that I’m not staying at the conference hotel, so I would also need a ride from where I’m staying to and from the Ranch Museum. Is anyone else getting in about that time (late afternoon) with a car who could at least get me to the Encanto?
[Update a few minutes later]
Well, there’s a shuttle for forty-five bucks (fifty if I don’t reserve today). So I guess that’s my fall-back.
Propellant Depots
…and NASA’s integrity. It’s frustrating that there is nothing in the news about this.
Reusable Rockets
Jeff Foust has an article on the latest developments at Technology Review.
Whittington Strikes Again
He has a typically ignorant opinion piece over at Yahoo News on SLS:
The proposal to stretch out the Space Launch System, crucial for plans to send astronauts beyond Earth orbit to the moon and other destinations, is an ill-advised attempt at predatory budgeting. It would increase the cost of developing the SLS while not addressing the reasons that the JWST has gotten into trouble.
SLS is not only not “crucial” for plans to send astronauts beyond LEO, it will be the death of any such plans, because even if it ever flies (unlikely) it will eat up all the available funding for the hardware and technologies needed to actually do that. We now know that NASA itself has identified several ways to send humans beyond LEO without SLS, and that all of them are much less costly, and can happen much sooner, than an SLS-based scenario.
…underfunding the SLS will disrupt a program that has finally gotten on track, which NASA insiders believe will be ready to finally take astronaut explorers beyond low Earth orbit before this decade is out.
In what way is the SLS “on track”? He doesn’t say. Which “NASA insiders” believe this? What pharmaceuticals result in such a belief? There have been no credible scenarios put forth for the SLS do a mission beyond LEO before this decade is out. Does he just make this stuff up?
[Evening update]
I hate to give his web site hits, but this is hilarious. What’s particularly hilarious is that after all these years, he still can’t get his permalinks to not have a double hash tag.
Rand Simberg really should get out more often and read more than just the latest press release from “Tea Party in Space.”
This is stupidity on a monumental scale. I don’t get my information from “Tea Party In Space.” They often, in fact, get info from me. I work on this stuff for a living, while Mark is too innumerate to even understand it. And note, he has no response to my question of who his “NASA insiders” are, or what drugs they are on.