Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

INSTITUTE FOR LIBERTY PRESS RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Institute for Liberty, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, delivered thousands of constituent letters to Capitol Hill today, directed at two embattled members of Congress and their lack of fiscal restraint. U.S. Representatives Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ8) and Alan Grayson (D-FL8) both have voiced support for HR5781, the NASA Authorization Act of 2010. Their constituents are urging these members to oppose this bill, which adds billions of unnecessary pork-barrel dollars to NASA’s budget, over the objections of the Senate and leading space scientists.

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A white-hot flame surrounded by red hot exhaust shoots from a recent test of the J-2X engine 'workhorse' gas generator at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. The workhorse gas generator simulates the flow path inside the actual J-2X gas generator that powers the engine's turbo machinery. Credit: NASA

PRATT & WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE PRESS RELEASE

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed the latest round of tests on the workhorse gas generator for NASA’s J-2X rocket engine. With the first NASA J-2X engine far along in development, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is on track to begin testing in 2011 at Stennis Space Center. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.
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NASA PRESS RELEASE
Sept. 16, 2010

NASA hosted government representatives from several Latin American countries in Washington on Thursday to share information about the agency’s work in that region and discuss potential future partnerships.

The event highlighted potential opportunities for cooperation with NASA in Earth science, space and International Space Station research, applications and education initiatives.
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A production assembly crew lowers a full-scale Orion mockup onto the crew module holding structure during an assembly pathfinding maneuver at the Operations & Checkout Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image Credit: NASA

LOCKHEED MARTIN PRESS RELEASE

Preparations for Orion’s first mission in 2013 are well under way as a Lockheed Martin-led crew begins lean assembly pathfinding operations for the spacecraft. The crew is conducting simulated manufacturing and assembly operations with a full-scale Orion mockup to verify the tools, processes and spacecraft integration procedures work as expected.

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NASA Chief Technologist Robert Braun

NASA PRESS RELEASE

NASA is seeking information from potential partners who could provide no-cost brokerage services for intellectual property transactions, such as patent brokering, to help transfer NASA-owned technologies into the U.S. marketplace.

“Technology transfer always has been an important objective of America’s aeronautics and space program,” said NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We want to accelerate the agency’s efforts to get groundbreaking technologies and innovations from development efforts out into commercial markets. We’re asking for information from broker services on how they might help us do this, without any cost to the taxpayer.”

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Thank you, Ambassador Harrison, for your kind introduction. It is a pleasure to see you and our other distinguished speakers and attendees at this conference, the Eisenhower Center’s fifth annual National Space Forum.

I am pleased to be able to join you here today to discuss the new U.S. National Space Policy. As you all know, the policy was released in late June, and we are now actively engaged in its implementation.

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AIAA MOURNS THE DEATH OF CAPT. ROBERT C. TRUAX
Key Figure in Modern Rocket History Was Prominent Advocate of Manned Spaceflight

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) mourns the death of Capt. Robert C. Truax, past president of the American Rocket Society, organizer of the U.S. Naval Missile Test Center’s propulsion research laboratory at Point Mugu, Calif., and AIAA Honorary Fellow. Capt. Truax passed away in Vista, Calif., on September 17, 2010. He was 93.

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Florida Senator Bill Nelson

Extra NASA Funding on Hold Until Lame-Duck Session, Sen. Nelson Says
Congressional Quarterly

Sen. Bill Nelson a leading champion of the nation’s space program, said Tuesday that increased funding for NASA would have to wait until the lame-duck session after the Nov. 2 elections.

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Ares I-X lifts off from the Cape.

Status Report on the NASA Funding Battle
by Henry Vanderbilt
Space Access Society

We hand-edited a brief status update onto the top of our main webpage last Monday 9/13; our apologies to anyone who may have missed it because we couldn’t mail it out as well.  We were on the road and without our usual web and mail tools.  (That report is now archived as https://www.space-access.org/updates/bulletin091310.html.)

A week later, the news is basically the same:  For the second week in a row, HR.5781 is not on the House calendar for the week (see the September 20th  “Weekly Leader” posted at https://www.majorityleader.gov/calendar/.)  We understand that, at least in part due to a significant number of constituent calls, the House leadership is aware that a lot of people don’t like HR.5781, and probably (no guarantees, of course) won’t put the bill in its current form up for a vote this session.  Press reports indicate that negotiations between House and Senate NASA Authorizers continue, with the outcome (if any) now more likely to be based on the Senate bill.  So, we’ve made progress – to everyone who made a call, thanks!
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Sultan Salman Abdulaziz Al-Saud

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting on a trip that NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden is taking to the Middle East, something that is bound to once again raise the ire of conservative pundits:

Bolden — against the advice of several top NASA officials — intends to lead a high-level agency delegation to Saudi Arabia this weekend to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first Arab astronaut’s shuttle flight.
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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

The NASA Office of Inspector General has concluded that Administrator Charles Bolden did not violate any federal laws in consulting an oil company about the viability of an alternative fuel project in which the agency is involved. However, Bolden did break an Ethics Pledge he had signed and raised concerns about an appearance of a conflict of interest, the IG concluded in a report released today.

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This week in The Space Review…. A paler shade of black As the National Reconnaissance Office marks its 50th anniversary, it appears to be preparing to declassify some of its secret satellite programs. Dwayne Day examines what may be, and what is likely not to be, revealed in the coming months. Space tourism and space policy Last week Boeing and Space Adventures announced an agreement to market seats on Boeing’s […]