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Wednesday’s CSExtra finds another major shuttle program lay off announcement from United Space Alliance as well as more debate over NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s recent remarks suggesting one of the agency’s priorities is to reach out to Muslim nations for cooperation in space. Texas Gov. Rick Perry solicits NASA’s assistance in preventing future Gulf oil drilling disasters.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com: United Space Alliance, NASA’s shuttle prime contractor announces it will lay off of 15 percent of its 8,100 workers in Florida, Texas and Alabama. The departures will be effective Oct. 2. The total includes voluntary as well as forced lay offs. Individual employees facing lay offs will be notified on Aug. 2. Tuesday’s announcement follows NASA’s July 1 decision on a schedule change for the final shuttle flights.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/100706layoffs/
A. From Florida Today: Just half of USA’s Kennedy workers will remain at the shuttle program’s end. Though long anticipated, the layoffs cause more harm to Central Florida’s already weakened economy.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100707/NEWS0204/7070340/Lost-shuttle-jobs-USA-finalizes-layoffs
B. From the AP via the Washington Post: United Space Alliance to lay off 15 percent of its 8,100 workers on Oct. 1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/06/AR2010070604996.html
C. From Space News: U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, a Texas Republican whose district includes NASA’s Johnson Space Center, writes Vice President Joe Biden to say the Administration’s decision to terminate the Constellation Program is hurting an economic recovery. As many as 30,000 workers nationwide will be affected, Olson writes.
http://www.spacenews.com/policy/100706-lawmaker-nasa-plan-recovery.html
2. From ABC News.com: The White House and NASA defend NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s recent remarks in Cairo on Al Jazeera, stating he’s to reach out to Muslim nations to cooperate in space. It’s the same as past U.S. cooperation with Russia, Japan and Israel, a White House spokesman says.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/07/white-house-nasa-defend-comments-about-nasa-outreach-to-muslim-world-criticized-by-conservatives.html
A. From Fox News.com: Former NASA chief Mike Griffin calls cooperation with Muslim nations “deeply flawed.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/06/nasa-official-walks-claim-muslim-outreach-foremost-mission/
B. Florida Today: Conservative commentators pounce on Bolden.
http://flametrench.flatoday.net/2010/07/white-house-nasa-defend-boldens.html
C. From Space News: What some of the commentators are saying.
http://www.spacenews.com/commentaries/100706-fromwires-better-relations-muslim-world.html
3. From the Houston Chronicle: Texas Governor Rick Perry announces that NASA will join with the University of Houston and Rice University in the Gulf Project, an initiative to make Gulf oil drilling safer. The expense of collecting experts from those and other state universities will be picked up by the oil and gas industry, Perry says in an announcement at the Johnson Space Center. Perry opposes the Administration’s moratorium on deep sea drilling.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/biz/7096715.html
A. From the Huntsville Times: High waves hinder Gulf oil clean up, with photo from NASA’s Terra satellite showing oil off the Mississippi Delta on July 4.
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/gulf_oil_spill_photos_from_jul_4.html
4. From the Coalition for Space Exploration Blog: The House Science and Technology Committee will respond to proposed legislation that would establish the United States Commission on Planetary Defense. The new commission would offer advice on avoiding a collision threat from a Near Earth Object. U.S. Rep. Dana Rorabacher, R-CA, sponsors the legislation.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/newsroom/congressional-bill-calls-for-commission-on-planetary-defense
5. From the Orlando Sentinel: Space Florida, the economic development group, listens Tuesday as more than 30 bring proposals on how to use $40 million in federal grants to revive the economy as NASA’s shuttle program winds down. Some of the proposals: refurbish military hardware, assist an auto plant start up, commercialize super conductors, construct a marine terminal.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-public-money-for-nasa-20100706,0,2965244.story
6. Two essays from this week’s The Space Review examine the Obama Administration’s new space policy and suggest a re-focusing of NASA’s mission.
A. In “A Change in Tone in National Space Policy,” Senior Editor Jeff Foust examines the new White House Space Policy and finds the chief difference in the tone, a more inclusive approach to dealing with the issues created by growing numbers of nations using space for security and commerce. Foust also notes a change in the definition of commercial space. The latest defines a commercial entity as one that bears investment risk and offers its services to non governmental as well as governmental entities. Also, though it opens the door, Foust reports there is little likelihood of the new policy producing a space arms control agreement.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1660/1
B. A New Debate: Writer/innovation historian Bob Clarebrough, of England, suggests it’s time to re-focus the debate on NASA’s future. He envisions a space agency responsible for three top level activities, essentially carried out for external clients. Those broad activities include planning complex missions, research and development for advanced missions, oversight of launch infrastructure and services.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1659/1
7. From the Coalition for Space Exploration Blog: The latest from scientists as they look inside Japan’s Hayabusa spacecraft. They confirm the presence of particles that may have come from the asteroid Hayabusa visited, interstellar space, or the Earth. It’s still not clear.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/update-particles-detected-in-asteroid-probe%e2%80%99s-sample-containe
8. From the Boston Globe: Stephanie Wilson, whose three shuttle missions followed the 2003 Columbia tragedy, visits with students at Williams College, and a teacher/astronomer who helped to shape her career in aerospace. http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2010/07/06/astronaut_stephanie_wilson_tells_where_shes_been_and_where_she_wants_to_go/
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