Apr 26, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
The following events may be of interest in the coming week. For further information, check our calendar on the right menu or click the links below. Meetings of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) and its committees (in preparation for the NAC meeting at Johnson Space...
Apr 24, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
The Obama Administration’s decision to extend the life of the International Space Station (ISS) may be welcome news to the space agencies involved in the project, but apparently not everyone in the Japanese government has bought into it. An editorial in...
Apr 24, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
Not many people really expected the remaining shuttle flights to be completed by the end of FY2010, a short five months away, but the extension into FY2011 reportedly is certain now that a scientific instrument due to be launched to the International Space Station...
Apr 23, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
One week after President Obama’s speech at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), it remains difficult to see who in Congress will take the lead in getting his new plan for the country’s human spaceflight program enacted into law. On the surface, at least, little...
Apr 22, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
Senator Barbara Mikulski, chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, told a standing room only hearing this morning that “My position on this budget [for human spaceflight] is very simple. I need to know more, Congress needs to know more,...
Apr 22, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
The Senate Budget Committee today recommended increasing the amount of funds available to NASA for FY2011 to $19.7 billion, $1 billion more than the agency’s FY2010 appropriations or $726 million above the President’s request for FY2011. Reading the...
Apr 22, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates continued to press his case for reform of the U.S. export control system in a Tuesday speech to Business Executives for National Security.
Apr 21, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
The Air Force’s experimental X-37B spaceplane is on the pad at Cape Canaveral, FL ready for launch tomorrow evening on an Atlas 5, according to Spaceflightnow.com. Some call it a spaceplane, some call it a mini-shuttle, and its classified mission adds an air...
Apr 21, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
UPDATE (April 23, 2010): The X-37B was successfully launched at 19:52 EDT (23:52 GMT) yesterday, April 22.ORIGINAL STORY (April 21, 2010): The Air Force’s experimental X-37B spaceplane is on the pad at Cape Canaveral, FL ready for launch tomorrow evening on...
Apr 21, 2010 | Capitol Hill News, Legislative Activity
Jim Oberg has an interesting take on MSNBC today on why commercial space taxis may be easier to build than many people think. He points out that with the decision to use Orion technology to build a Crew Return Vehicle, for example, the commercial taxis will not have...