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Sunday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on the Washington space policy front. Congress re-convened last week after an August recess. Discussions are under way to resolve differences between Senate and House versions of a 2010 NASA authorization bill. Some believe Congressional action is possible this, week. Others see continuing impasses. New concerns arise over the cost of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. A look at trends on the military/national security launch front.
1. From the Washington Post: The outlook for NASA and a 2011 budget bill is gloomy at best, the post reports, The Post examines the politics and contractor infighting over issues of commercial spacecraft development as well as near term plans for a new heavy lift rocket and spacecraft for human deep space missions. There’s discord over funding that flows to Russia for astronaut transportation to the International Space Station as shuttle missions wind down. Meanwhile, hundreds of workers face layoffs as lawmakers and policy makers dig in.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/18/AR2010091802567.html
A. From Space.com: NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver spoke at the Explorers Club in New York last week, urging her audience to accept the changes under way at the space agency. Support the commercial sector as it shoulders the responsibility for transporting astronauts to Earth orbit, so the agency can take on more distance missions of exploration, Garver urges. MSNBC.com also features this report.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/news/nasa-officials-explain-future-space-plans-100917.html
B. From Florida Today: U.S. Rep Suzanne Kosmas, of New Smyrna Beach, says the House and Senate are looking for common ground on a 2010 NASA Authorization bill. The goal would look more like the Senate measure. A vote is possible by the middle of this week, she tells Florida Today in a story that was published Sept. 17.
http://space.flatoday.net/2010/09/kosmas-hoping-for-house-shift-on-nasa.html
C. From Florida Today: In an editorial, the newspaper endorses plans by the Boeing Co. and Space Adventures Ltd., to seek space tourists as part of a strategy to provide a commercial space transportation service to ferry NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. The strategy would fit nicely with the Senate version of a 2010 NASA Authorization bill, according to Florida Today.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100918/OPINION/100917016/Our+views++Tourists+in+space+(Sept.+18)
2. From Science News: NASA’s difficulties with the financing of the James Webb Space Telescope continue. The space observatory was developed as a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/63479/description/An_uncomfortable_silence
3. Florida Today: The newspaper offers four reasons why the White House and Congress are likely to authorize an extra space shuttle mission in mid-2011: Politics-jobs, a crew of four astronauts was named last week to begin training; the payload would extend the life of the International Space Station; the cost is negligible.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100919/NEWS02/9190321/Bet+on+one+more+shuttle+mission
4. From Universe Today.com: The Hubble Space Telescope has enabled astronomers to classify galaxies by type, mainly elliptical and spiral. However, the space observatory has begun to enable astronomers to identify even more subtle differences that are changing long held assumptions about the most common galaxy types.
http://www.universetoday.com/73933/the-case-of-the-missing-bulges/#more-73933
5. From Spaceflightnow.com: Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the launch complex responsible for launching polar orbiting national security and science missions embraces the Pentagon’s EELV fleet, the Atlas 5 and the Delta 4. The 4th Space Launch Squadron prepares to launch a National Reconnaissance Office spacecraft late Monday.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av025/100919sls.html
A. From Space News: Pentagon budgets for unclassified spacecraft are flat or declining as the military refocuses on maintaining current capabilities.
http://www.spacenews.com/military/classified-procurement.html
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