I missed it because I was too busy traveling and attending and covering the ISDC, but I had a piece at Pajamas Media yesterday on the challenges facing Bolden, if confirmed.

Some criticism (to put it mildly) of Constellation over at SpaceVidCast, in comments.

I agree with the commenter over at Clark’s place, though, that the purpose of the program should not be to create jobs, and layoffs at NASA centers are a feature, rather than a bug, if we want to get more for the taxpayers’ money. Of course, if NASA could come up with something useful for those people to do in advancing the goal of becoming a spacefaring nation, and keep them on, that would be even better.

…assuming that he really will be on the commission, of course.

Jeff Foust has a report on an aspect of Jeff’s talk yesterday that I missed because I was late to the session. It provides an interesting context for his commission duty, if it occurs.

Here are my notes from this morning’s session on NASA and Constellation. There’s a little bit of transterrestrial commentary in parentheses, but it’s mostly just trying to capture what was said. Continue reading NASA Plenary →

It’s not official, but the Orlando Sentinel has some names, including one surprising one:

Christopher Chyba – Professor of Astrophysical Sciences and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. He once held the Carl Sagan Chair for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif.

Sally Ride – Physicist and a former NASA astronaut who, in 1983, became the first American woman and youngest American (at the time) to enter space.

Lester Lyles – Retired Air Force General and NASA administrator candidate. He is an expert in military space issues and is a member of the NASA Advisory Committee.

Edward Crawley – Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT, and a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and of Engineering Systems. He is engaged with NASA on the design of its lunar and earth observing systems, and with BP on oil exploration system designs.

Bohdan “Bo” Bejmuk – Respected engineer and executive at Boeing Co. and one-time executive at Sea Launch, where he helped put together and run the company’s unique offshore rocket launch system. He also assembled and led an elite Boeing engineering team to assist leading the integration of Russian elements into the Station. He was also involved in the space shuttle program from its earliest days.

Jeff Greason – President, CEO and founder of XCOR Aerospace and the Personal Spaceflight Federation. He was the team leader for engine development at the now-defunct Rotary Rocket, and previously worked at the computer chip manufacturer Intel. He has been active in lobbying to encourage support for private spaceflight activities.

Wanda Austin — President and CEO of The Aerospace Corp., an independent non-profit dedicated to assisting the nation’s space program. NASA recently commissioned her company to study whether military rockets could lift people and cargo to the international space station and the moon, and the study concluded they could, contrary to NASA’s previous assertions.

Emphasis mine. As confirmation (sort of), Jeff mentioned to me yesterday that he was going to be doing some consulting this summer, which was going to be keeping him very busy. I didn’t ask him what it was at the time, but I think I can guess now.

I think that this is great news (I know Bo Bejmuk, too, from Rockwell days). Jeff will definitely have an oar in the water to steer in a useful direction.

I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I’d love to know how he was picked, and who suggested him.