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Wednesday’s CSExtra features the latest Washington commentary and reporting on the nation’s future in space, as the House prepares to take up the Senate’s version of a 2010 NASA authorization measure. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is at a space conference in Prague – to the chagrin of some. His predecessor, Mike Griffin, has called on House lawmakers to reject the Senate measure, extending the uncertainty over NASA’s direction. In Florida, officials attempt to look beyond previously announced shuttle program layoffs that will leave an estimated 1,100 workers without jobs. At the International Astronomical Conference in Prague, experts contend political and institutional uncertainties are jeopardizing progress in space exploration.
1. From the Washington Post: In an editorial, the Post suggests NASA tame its exploration ambitions until the economy improves. The Post is especially troubled by the Senate’s NASA appropriations bill, which includes objectives the newspaper says cannot be funded. Those include plans for a heavy lift rocket and an extension of shuttle operations into 2011. The Congressional battle over the agency’s future has again left NASA without a clear mission, according to the editorial.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/28/AR2010092805201.html
2. From Florida Today: In an editorial, Florida Today sounds a wistful note for the 1,100 space shuttle workers it counts facing previously announced job layoffs on Friday. The newspaper says concerned federal, state and local leaders must increase the momentum of their efforts in order to turn the economic picture around as quickly as possible. In addition to a new Washington inspired NASA road map, the Space Coast needs initiatives in commercial space like those proposed by SpaceX and Boeing as well as in green energy.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100929/OPINION/100928013/Our+views++The+road+ahead+(Sept.+29)
3. From the Wall Street Journal: The Journal questions NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s decision to abandon Washington this week for the International Astronomical Congress in Prague, the first destination on a trip that includes stops in Saudi Arabia and Nepal. The article suggests Bolden’s White House support has been damaged by a recent NASA inspector general’s report that pointed to an ethics violation on his part over a NASA green energy project and the administrator’s previous statements about reaching out to Muslim nations.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/09/28/politics-not-rocket-science-snags-nasa-chief/?KEYWORDS=NASA
4. From Spacepolicyonline.com: Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin urges the House to reject the Senate version of a 2010 NASA Authorization bill in an e-mail. The House is expected to vote on the Senate measure today. Griffin, a key architect of the Constellation Program that will be dismantled under the Senate measure, says the nation would be better off to embrace the policy backed by the Obama Administration and allow it to fail than to embrace the Senate measure. “As happened after the loss of Space Shuttle Columbia, it is time once again to ask ourselves whether we want to have a real space program, or not. If we do, then the Senate Bill won’t get us there.” Griffin writes. The House, at the urging of Science and Technology Committee chairman Bart Gordon, will pass up a vote on its own authorization bill, which would preserve core objectives of Constellation.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1139:griffin-urges-house-to-vote-qnoq-on-senate-nasa-authorization-bill&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
A. From Spacepolitics.com: The House vote could be close because it will require a suspension of House rules, according to the web site’s assessment. If the 2011 fiscal year begins Friday without an authorization bill, it will fall to appropriators in the House and Senate to set a course for NASA.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2010/09/28/griffin-to-house-just-say-no/
B. From the Orlando Sentinel: Expect a close vote in the House on the Senate measure. Opponents will include Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who chairs the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/2010/09/former-nasa-chief-mike-griffin-urges-congress-to-vote-no-on-space-bill.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Fspace%2Fspace_blog+%28Space+Blog+The+Write+Stuf
C. From The Hill: House passage is likely.
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/121399-house-likely-to-pass-senates-vision-for-nasa
D. From Space.com: The mayors of Huntsville and Madison, Ala., call for the preservation of NASA’s Constellation program. That’s not in the Senate version of a NASA authorization bill. It is in the original House authorization measure, which even the House has set aside.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/news/alabama-mayors-arguing-nasa-constellaion-future-100928.html
5. From The Coalition for Space Exploration: At the International Astronomical Congress in Prague, experts contend political and institutional uncertainties have become a roadblock to progress in space exploration around the world.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/handicaps-for-space-agencies-and-industry-flagged
A. From Spacefightnow.com: In Prague, European Space Agency leaders say spending on space activities in 2011 will match 2010 levels, or about $4.5 billion in U.S. dollars, because of a poor economy.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1009/28esabudget/
B. From The Coalition for Space Exploration: In Washington, the Aerospace Industries Association calls for closer White House coordination and planning of government and commercial space activities in a new study. The change is essential for national security as well as the nation’s economic well being, the AIA reports.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/exploration/greater-coordination-of-u-s-space-policy-essential-to-future-of-u-s-national-security-economic-well-being-says-aerospace-industries-association
6. Spaceflightnow.com: European and Russian space officials to confer in October on date for inaugural launching of a Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Launch Center in French Guiana.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1009/28csgsoyuz/
7. From the Associated Press via Yahoo.com: A Moscow-based space company, Orbital Technologies, announces plans to launch a commercial space station by 2016. The station would cater to researchers and space tourists, according to a brief announcement with no specifics on the transportation and life support strategy. The outpost would house seven people but could expand, according to the report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100929/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_commerical_space_station
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