Left to right: Chief of Staff Martin Kent; Christyl Johnson, Deputy Director for Science and Technology, Goddard Space Flight Center; Bill Wrobel, Director, Wallops Flight Facility; Governor Bob McDonnell; David Thompson, CEO, Orbital Sciences Corporation; and Les Kovacs, Wallops Site Manager, Orbital Sciences Corporation. (Credit: Virginia Governor's Office)

Outlining his budget proposal to state legislators, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed spending an additional $4 million on the state-run spaceport on Wallops Island and restructuring the body that oversees it.

“We should also be at the forefront of another growing part of the private sector: the space industry. We will introduce legislation to restructure the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority and turn it into a true independent agency to develop the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport into the number one commercial space flight facility in the nation, and we have added $4 million in targeted new spaceport investments in the budget,” McDonnell said in prepared remarks.

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NASA PR – HOUSTON – NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the Houston Technology Center (HTC) have formed a strategic partnership to further expand HTC’s mission of accelerating the growth of emerging technology companies in the Houston region and to further develop the insights required to support NASA’s long-term goals of increasing private and public collaboration.

By opening JSC’s facilities and resources to outside partnerships, NASA hopes to find areas of common interest where both parties can help each other foster new technologies that not only improve life here on Earth, but also pave the way for future human exploration in space.

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NASA PR – HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The National Institute for Rocket Propulsion Systems, or NIRPS, has named four expert teams to tackle a series of key challenges facing the rocket propulsion industrial base.

NIRPS is being established to maintain the nation’s leadership in rocket and missile propulsion that is being threatened by industry downsizing, a shortage of new propulsion programs and the ability to attract and retain fresh talent.

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This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston…. Monday, Dec. 19, 2-3:30 PM PST: There will be no program today as I am still away from the home studio. Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011: Tuesday evening I will upload a walking tour tape recorded visit to the Huntington Library’s “Blue Sky Metropolis: The Aerospace Century in Southern California.” Peter Westwick will lead this special Space Show walking tour. Mr. […]

MASP PR — Just one month after Mojave Air and Space Port and Spaceport Sweden signed a historic memorandum of understanding (MOU), Sweden hosted executives, researchers, students and political representatives from the Swedish space industry at the Swedish Institute for Space Physics in Kiruna (Swedish Lapland 200 KM north of the Arctic Circle) for the National Swedish Space Summit.

Mr. David McBride, NASA Dryden Center Director and Mr. Stuart Witt, CEO of Mojave Air and Space Port were keynote speakers on the topics of markets, collaboration and innovation in the new space industry at the event hosted by Ms. Karin Nilsdotter, CEO of Spaceport Sweden.

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Stratolaunch vehicle. (Credit: Stratolaunch Systems)

Well, the excitement of last week’s big (no, humungous!) Stratolaunch announcement has finally settled down. And that means there’s been time for those in the know, those who want to know, and everyone else to gossip, speculate and compare notes. Below are the results of what I’ve been hearing and reading….

Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…. Birdzilla? My nickname seems to be catching on. I heard several people use it in conversation during Plane Crazy Saturday in Mojave. It’s also being used in discussion forums. Birdzilla is leading the Parabolic Arc poll. Please cast your ballot. Vote your conscience.

What problem does this solve? This has been puzzling a few people, who tend to view this as an incremental step forward that doesn’t quite solve anything.

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BOEING PR — HOUSTON  — The Boeing Company  has announced that Christopher J. Ferguson, a retired U.S. Navy captain and former NASA astronaut, has been named director of Commercial Crew Interface in the company’s Space Exploration division, effective Dec. 16. Ferguson, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, will report to John Mulholland, Space Exploration vice president and program manager, Commercial Programs.

“Chris’ extraordinary managerial and spaceflight experience will be a significant asset to our team as we advance our development of the Commercial Crew Transportation System,” said Mulholland. “He will help us address all aspects of human spaceflight requirements, not only for trained NASA astronauts but also for a broad spectrum of people interested in accessing low Earth orbit.”

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SPACEX PR — You can now build and fly your very own 1:88 scale model of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft. The Falcon 9/Dragon model kit includes a molded nose and tail, along with full color stickers for the body and nose (no painting required).  The finished model stands 58 cm (22.8 in) tall. It has molded transparent fins for flight, which can be removed for display. Dual parachutes return […]

ESA PR —  The launch of ESA’s IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle on Europe’s new Vega rocket is now in detailed planning, a major step towards the craft’s flight in 2014.

Launched into a suborbital trajectory from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, IXV will return to Earth as if from a low-orbit mission, to test and qualify new critical technologies for future reentry vehicles.

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Burt Rutan came home to Mojave over the weekend, nine months after retiring from Scaled Composites and moving to Idaho. He was here to mark the 25^th anniversary of Voyager’s non-stop flight around the world that his brother, Dick, and Jeana Yeager flew in 1986.

Burt Rutan spoke for two hours in a conference room in the Mojave Air and Space Port’s administration building on Saturday, holding an overflow crowd spellbound as he recounted the daring 9-day flight completed a quarter century this month.

Rutan gave the talk on Plane Crazy Saturday, a monthly open house held at the airport. The tarmac was filled with planes that Rutan had designed, and the parking lot was overflowing with cars as aviation enthusiasts flocked to Mojave to celebrate the historic flight. Later that day, a dinner was held at the Mariah Country Inn & Suites just outside the airport gates.

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