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Saturday’s CSExtra offers new reporting and commentary on the future of NASA’s human exploration program. As Congress prepares to re-convene, the House and Senate have yet to reach agreement on strategies for a future heavy lift rocket and crew exploration vehicle as well as the White House commercial space transportation initiative. There is broad agreement, however, that NASA’s 2011 budget should be increased to $19 billion.
1. From Space News: An internal NASA working group, the Human Exploration Framework Team, or HEFT, has fleshed out how the deep space exploration strategy proposed by President Obama could be implemented. HEFT recommends some changes, including an immediate start to a shuttle-derived, heavy lift rocket and an in-house spacecraft for deep space missions. The HEFT plan appears to align with the Senate version of a 2010 NASA authorization bill.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/nasa-exploration-proposal.html
2. From Aviation Week & Space Technology: The trade publication assesses the space policy choices facing the House and Senate as lawmakers re-group, following a summer recess. Congressional staffers have been working behind the scenes to resolve differences in the NASA authorization measures favored by each chamber. However, the divisions run deep, Aviation Week reports.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/awst/2010/09/13/AW_09_13_2010_p26-253494.xml&headline=Space%20Policy%20Debate%20Set%20To%20Resume%20With%20New%20Issues
A. From spacepolicyonline.com: NASA’s former administrator, Mike Griffin, tells a Washington round table on Thursday that Congress must be specific about its expectations for a new heavy lift rocket for human deep space exploration. Otherwise, the White House will call for a design that is too small, the former administrator told the Space Transportation Association.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1097:update-griffin-congress-must-be-hllv-design-bureau-of-last-resort&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
B. From the Orlando Sentinel: A group calling itself Reform Space Now is rallying Congressional support in opposition to the House version of a 2010 NASA authorization bill. Many supporters of NASA’s Constellation back-to-the-moon program, which is facing cancellation by the White House, favor the House version. However, the full House has yet to vote on it. Reform Space Now opposes the House bill’s lack of support for a commercial space transportation initiative.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/2010/09/house-nasa-bill-draws-protests-ahead-of-possible-vote.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Fspace%2Fspace_blog+%28Space+Blog+The+Write+Stuff%29
3. From Space.com: A meteorite, discovered in France in 1864, is embedded with fragments from a nearby star that exploded at about the same time as our solar system was forming, according to researchers.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/scienceastronomy/earth-meteorite-contains-supernova-shrapnel-solar-system-birth-100910.html
4. From Spaceflightnow.com: Shuttle Discovery encounters a problem with an external tank attach bolt on Friday, a day after the ship entered the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center. Managers reach agreement on a strategy to resolve the issue that will keep Discovery on course to roll out to the launch pad on Sept. 20.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/100910bolt/
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