Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

More Lunar Base Thoughts

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Over at Open Market, where I also discuss the Romney advisers.

[Update late afternoon]

More from Doug Messier.

Newt needs to make an issue of this before Tuesday: “Governor Romney, you said that you’d fire someone who came up with a costly plan for lunar activities, and yet you just hired someone as a space adviser who was already fired for doing just that…”

Also, here’s Marcia Smith’s report on the Romney non-event today.

[Saturday morning update]

On the 26th anniversary of the Challenger loss, Byron York has a report on the two candidates’ space policies.

[Update a few minutes later]

“Mitt Romney would have fired Mike Griffin.” I’m guessing that Jim Muncy had some input into this, and that it may become a Gingrich talking point in the next couple days. I just fed Jake Tapper some questions to ask him tomorrow morning on This Week.

Business, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

Gingrich’s Space Plan

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Is it science fiction?

Ummmmm…no.

By the way, did anyone else wonder why he asked about Atlas at the Cape, when Falcon 9 is already designed to human-rating specifications? Surely he’s aware of SpaceX.

[Update a few minutes later]

This is the most depressing thing I’ve seen all day, at least in terms of space policy:

ROMNEY WILL RESTORE AMERICA’S SPACE PROGRAM

Scott Pace, Chair of the Romney Space Policy Advisory Group
Director, Space Policy Institute, The Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University
Former Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Mark Albrecht
Chairman of the Board, USSpace
Former Executive Secretary, National Space Council

Eric Anderson
Chairman and CEO, Space Adventures
Chairman, Commercial Spaceflight Federation

Gene Cernan
Commander, Apollo XVII

Bob Crippen
Pilot, First Space Shuttle Mission
Former Director, NASA Space Shuttle Program

Michael Griffin
Former NASA Administrator
Former Head of the Space Department, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Peter Marquez
Former Director of Space Policy, National Security Council
Former Director of Special Programs, Department of Defense

William Martel
Associate Professor of International Security Studies, The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Former Alan B. Shepard Chair of Space Technology and Policy Studies, Naval War College

This is the first thing that I’ve seen that makes me want to see Obama reelected. It almost certainly implies that a Romney presidency means a resurrection of Constellation.

[Update a few minutes later]

I’m both surprised and disappointed that Eric Anderson has signed on to this.

This is potentially a perfect storm of space policy disaster.

[Afternoon update]

It is very frightening to see the name of the once (and future?) NASA administrator there. Top. Men.

[Update a few minutes later]

Heh: “So Mitt Romney is looking to Mike Griffin for space advice? I thought Mitt didn’t like impractical $200 billion lunar projects.”

Space, Space History

The Apollo Fire

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It’s been forty-five years since Ed White, Roger Chaffee and gus Grissom were horribly incinerated on the launch pad, in a ground test. Clara Moskowitz has the story of the changes to the program that ensued as a result. And tomorrow will be the twenty-sixth anniversary of the loss of the Challenger. Where has the time gone?

[Update late morning]

More from Amy Teitel. Note that for both these young women, this is history — it happened before they were born.

Political Commentary, Space

Romney’s Debate On Space

66 Comments

Top. Men.

[Update a few minutes later]

OK, it’s clear that Mitt is completely out to sea on the issue (if it wasn’t already).

He just lost the votes of anyone interested in space, completely needlessly, because he saw it as an opportunity to bash Newt. As I said, a soulless technocrat.

[Friday morning update]

Who has the best plan for space? Take the poll.

[Update a few minutes later]

For anyone interested, here’s the transcript.

Culinary, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society

More Media Dietary Ignorance

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So, here we have a young woman in the UK who has has eaten nothing but Chicken McNuggets™ her whole life, and is in poor health, but a mystery remains:

…despite a diet that regularly means she eats at least a third more than the 56g of fat recommended by experts, she manages to keep relatively trim.

This may be down to the amount of exercise she does or to her metabolism.

Or maybe, just maybe, eating fat is not what makes you fat.

It is an awful diet, to be sure, but not because of what’s in it (fat) but because of what is not (healthy vegetables). It has a reasonable balance of protein and carbs (though it would be better if the carbs weren’t a batter, and could be a little lower). It’s the lack of nutrients that is killing her, not the fat.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!