…if Jack Kennedy had? That’s an intriguing question that Dwayne Day is asking in today’s issue of The Space Review. Unfortunately, the data isn’t yet available.

And I’m continually amused by Democrat space supporters who still buy into the Camelot myth, and think that we’d be on Mars long ago had only Oswald (or whoever they may think actually did the deed) missed, when he clearly wasn’t that big on space. In fact, based on the speech cited in Dr. Day’s article, he would have been solidly behind the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which basically declares space off limits, at least philosophically, to exploitation and settlement, through its ban on claims of sovereignty.

…we’re NASA.

Laura Woodmansee talks about some first-hand experience of the absurd prudishness of the space agency, and much of the space community.

It looks as though there may have been a mid-air collision, but we’ll have to await the accident investigation to know for sure.

The question in my mind is, why there were five people in a camera chase plane? Yeah, it’s probably a fun ride, and I’d like to have gone along myself, but I suspect that they’ll rethink who are and are not essential personnel on such flights in the future.

Jon Goff has a long, but interesting description of Masten activities at last weekend’s X-Prize Cup. And rocket geeks may want to chime in the comments section with John Carmack about the theoretical and practical Isp of the Masten engines.

Jon’s post reminds me that I forgot to mention this past weekend the tragic news that he notes about Ed Wright’s company, which lost five personnel in the crash of a camera chase plane. My condolences to him and his coworkers. It’s ironic, of course, because while we may expect to lose people in the development of new vehicles, an accident like that is always completely unexpected, and a shock.

One thing that strikes me is the behind-the-scenes look at the confusion of the operations people on the field, which was also apparent (but less so) from the press tent. Hopefully, they’ll get better at this in future years, and be able to offer a better show.

Another is the continued and heart-warming camaraderie of the industry, with cooperation and well wishes between all the players. A sign of maturation may be when they start to feel more competitive, because there are real businesses going, with real fortunes to be won or lost.

Clark Lindsey notes that, despite the fact that the prizes haven’t been won yet, Centennial Challenge is working. Which means, of course, that the Senate is now trying to kill it.

As Clark says, we’ll have to mobilize to save (or worst case, if we can’t win in conference) restore this funding next year. There are people spending a lot of time and sweat, and money, in the hopes of winning these prizes. It would be a tragedy if the prizes were snatched away now. Unfortunately, it would also be typical, and an example of why it’s hard to make government-funded prizes work, given the fickleness of the governors.

And of course, it’s one of the few really cost effective things that NASA is doing, in terms of advancing us in space.

Alan Boyle has an interesting interview on launch regulation with Marion Blakey and Patricia Grace Smith from last week’s X-Prize Cup Executive Summit.

John Carmack has a fascinating (at least to me) description of the lead up to the XPC and what happened there. And some thoughts about the future.

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John Carmack has a fascinating (at least to me) description of the lead up to the XPC and what happened there. And some thoughts about the future.

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John Carmack has a fascinating (at least to me) description of the lead up to the XPC and what happened there. And some thoughts about the future.

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Also in today’s issue of The Space Review, Bob Clarebrough asks if the EU is capable of allowing a space tourism industry to develop in Europe:

…consider this: the Gettysburg Address ran to 264 words, the Declaration of Independence required 1,332, yet the European Union regulations on the sale of cabbages need 23,826 words. It