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Friday’s CSExtra features the latest reporting on NASA’s future following passage of a key authorization measure with a new agency road map earlier this week. New questions loom about which course the agency will follow to develop a heavy lift rocket on an aggressive schedule for future human deep space missions. Meanwhile, hundreds of NASA contract workers face layoffs in Florida, Texas, Alabama and Utah as the transition from the space shuttle era continues. Many of the job losses were previously announced. In Chile, NASA contributes to the high tech rescue of 33 trapped miners.
1. From Spacepolicyonline.com: NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver applauds Congress for its support of NASA multiple missions. Garver acknowledges differences between the Administration’s plans and the Congressional road map for NASA outlined in the 2010 authorization bill adopted late Wednesday. One key difference is the desire by lawmakers that NASA start now on the development of a new heavy lift rocket. According to Garver, the approach and the price tag are yet to be determined. Continued development of the Orion crew capsule for deep space missions will also cut into some of the White House initiatives.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1153:garver-praises-bipartisanship-of-congress-on-nasa-bill&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
A. From Spacepolitics.com: An examination of the House vote on NASA 2010 authorization bill shows that opponents included House Minority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican who could be in line to become speaker after the November elections.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2010/09/30/reaction-to-the-house-vote/
B. From the New York Times: With Congressional concurrence, White House plans to cancel NASA’s Constellation Program are now certain. However, work must begin quickly on a heavy lift rocket strategy, one of Constellation’s key features. In a telephone news briefing on Thursday, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver says the agency will consider all its options in a report due lawmakers 60 days after the measure is signed by the President.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/01/science/space/01nasa.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
C. From Space.com: NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver says NASA’s interest in the moon as a destination for exploration has not waned despite congressional backing of the future exploration of near Earth asteroids with Mars as a distant destination goal.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/news/nasa-says-moon-exploration-not-dead-100930.html
2. From the Orlando Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, and others: Congress rallies behind NASA with an authorization bill that backs human deep space exploration, however the near term outlook is bleak as thousands to lose their jobs in a transition that includes the shuttle program’s retirement and the termination of the previous administration’s Constellation Program. “There is no question there are challenges with the resources provided and the timeline goals,” NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver tells a news briefing on Thursday.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-nasa-policy-analysis-20100930,0,3819634.story
A. From Florida Today: Some 1,100 United Space Alliance shuttle program workers face layoffs Friday as the shuttle program winds down. The layoffs were announced previously.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20101001/NEWS02/10010327/Waiting+ends++space+layoffs+begin+today
B. From the Houston Chronicle: 333 shuttle workers to depart United Space Alliance on Friday. The shuttle program layoffs were announced previously.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7226383.html
C. From the Huntsville Times: 150-250 job losses expected Friday as the Constellation transition continues.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/09/more_huntsville_layoffs_loom_a.html
D. From the Salt Lake Tribune: ATK, the company that makes the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters, lays off 414 workers at three Utah installations. The job losses are linked to the shuttle program’s retirement as well as NASA’s termination of the Constellation Program.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/50388849-79/company-workers-rocket-space.html.csp
E. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: House passage of the Senate version of a 2010 NASA authorization bill not necessarily a good deal for NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/09/nasa_bill_passes_despite_worri.html
F. From The Hill: A collection of Legislative and Administration statements following the Congressional passage of a 2010 NASA Authorization measure.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/121891-congress-members-nasa-respond-to-approved-house-bill
3. From the Wall Street Journal: High tech is making life a little easier for 33 miners trapped a half mile underground in a Chilean gold and copper mine. They watch movies through a projector linked to a cell phone. They wear clothing developed to protect against disease. Some of the technology, including a rescue capsule to raise the miners, is coming from NASA.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704116004575522343755639692.html?KEYWORDS=NASA
4. From The Coalition for Space Exploration: China prepares for the launching of its second lunar orbiter, ChangE-2 as soon as Friday.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/china-set-to-launch-second-moon-orbiter
5. From The Coalition for Space Exploration: SpaceShipTwo, the suborbital passenger carrying spacecraft is nearing its first drop test, a key development milestone. The tests in the California mojave will further the efforts of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/first-drop-test-of-spaceshiptwo-looming
6. From Space News.com: Internationally backed space exploration goals appearing more likely based on recent efforts to cooperate, say those who attended this week’s International Astronautical Congress in Prague. The space, though, is slow.
http://www.spacenews.com/policy/100930-exploration-plan-slow.html
7. From Space News.com: Germany first in the European community to back an extension of International Space Station activities.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/100930-germany-commit-iss-extension.html
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