…from Alan Boyle.
Category Archives: Space
Saving Suborbital
I have some thoughts on the House authorization bill (which looks like it’s being voted perhaps tomorrow), over at PJM.
Pushback In The House
It looks like (contrary to the idiotic claims that there was “widespread opposition” in Congress to the new direction for human spaceflight) Bart Gordon is having trouble selling his porkfest to “aggrieved” representatives outside the committee:
In a July 21 letter to Gordon, 13 California Democrats urged the committee to restore funding for commercial crew and cargo initiatives and exploration technology programs requested in Obama’s 2011 spending plan.
“These reductions will have a serious effect on California’s workforce and economy, and that of many states,” states the letter, which was spearheaded by Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Silicon Valley Democrat who has worked closely with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on energy and technology policy initiatives in Congress. “These are areas that should be the cornerstone of NASA’s new direction because they will drive innovation and job creation across the nation.”
It’s nice to see the California delegation finally acting like they give a damn about space, after all of the jobs they allowed NASA to move to Florida, Alabama and Texas in the nineties. I assume that some of this is a result of successful lobbying by SpaceX.
I Write Like
Except when I write about politics; then I write like:
Wayne Hale
…is retiring from NASA this week. He has some parting thoughts on rockets and steamboats.
The agency will miss him, even if it doesn’t know it.
Saving Commercial, Orbital And Suborbital
The House authorization bill is apparently being voted on today. Call your congressperson and urge a “no” vote.
Commercial Space
…we have a problem. Thoughts from Jeff Foust on the latest congressional “compromise.”
Klaus Heiss
RIP.
Paul Spudis had some recollections of Klaus when he heard about his stroke back in February. I hadn’t seen him since the AIAA space meeting in San Jose in the fall of 2006. I first met him back in the eighties, at a AAS conference in DC, and I worked closely with his company, ECON, in the eighties and nineties, though he wasn’t very involved at that time. Many blame him for the flawed ops cost projections for the Shuttle, but he never intended that it be so misdesigned as it was, with the solid boosters and expendable tank.
Anyway, ad astra, Klaus. The space movement has lost another visionary.
A Fragile Compromise
Justin Kugler has some insight into the nature of the Senate NASA appropriations bill. He’s probably right that it’s the best we can do for now. The question is whether the House will have the sense to go along, or continue to bang its rattle and want its POR bottle back.
The NewSpace Conference
I couldn’t make it up this year, due to other commitments, but Clark Lindsey is live blogging it, and I think it’s being webcast.