George Whitesides and CBC members lead the discussion on jobs creation and business opportunities for blacks in space commercialization

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 6, 2010) — Coinciding with the Congressional Black Caucus, an exciting forum will explore how space entrepreneurship presents economic and development opportunities to emerging minority-owned businesses.

The forum will be held at the Rayburn Building’s Science and Technology Committee Room (Room 2318), September 15 from 3:00 – 5pm. The event is free and open to the public.

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Manhattan Approach Staten Island Ferry June 2001 America: A Tribute to Heroes Sept. 21, 2001 Pentagon Memorial October 2001

Space shuttle Atlantis lands on runway 33 at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility concluding the STS-129 mission. Photo credit: NASA Jack Pfaller

The Space Transportation Association conducted a panel discussion yesterday during which some quite divergent views were expressed over the future of NASA and the Obama Administration’s commercial focus.

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Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft

Russia to test unmanned lander for Mars moon mission
RIA Novosti

Russian scientists are due to carry out tests of an unmanned lander that will be used in a 2011 mission to Phobos, one of the moons of Mars.
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A Boeing CST-100 crew module docks at Bigelow Aerospace's Sundancer space station. (Credit: Boeing)

Alan Boyle over at MSNBC’s Cosmic Log writes:

Space Adventures, the Virginia-based company that has worked with the Russians to send seven millionaires to the International Space Station, says it has reached “a unique agreement” with the Boeing Co. on space transportation services — and executives from both companies will be talking about the deal next week.

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Drs. Freeman Dyson, John S. Lewis and Lee Valentine released the following statement about the House’s funding bill for NASA on behalf of The Space Studies Institute:

We believe there is a great benefit to our Nation in the opening of the space frontier. Space is about more than science or exploration. Frontiers are about creating prosperity and realizing potential. The contribution of American space efforts to our national economy and to human welfare has barely begun. We face many challenges: ensuring a permanent supply of clean, low-cost energy, strategic metals and, providing robust protection against asteroid impact. Affordable space transportation is necessary to enable all of these benefits.

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X-51 Waverider

Toward the end of a long article about the Pentagon’s effort to achieve Prompt Global Strike capability, reporter Sharon Weinberger looks at the military’s multiple ventures into the realm of hypersonics:

An alternative to the conventionally armed land-based ICBM is a hypersonic weapon, essentially a cruise missile capable of traveling at many times the speed of sound-faster than anything in today’s conventional arsenal. These missiles would not have to leave the Earth’s atmosphere and would have very different trajectories from ICBMs, so Russia would be less likely to mistake them for nuclear weapons.

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A recent view of the Spaceport America site from the runway.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

“The nation has established exploration as a priority. It wasn’t that long ago that we had to justify why we were pursing human space flight at all as a Nation. That is no longer in question—we will be doing human exploration, and we plan to develop the capabilities needed to go beyond low Earth orbit, farther into our solar system. The discussion underway now will determine the path we take to achieve this future of new capabilities and a new way of looking at space. We are no longer discussing whether or not we should be pursuing exploration at all. That’s a positive shift in the dialogue and a real testament to the accomplishments of NASA and the entire aerospace industry over the past decades.

“The President released his National Space Policy in June. It’s part of a national focus involving many agencies. A major goal is to enlarge and reinvigorate American research and development. The policy brings focus to efforts needed today to enable a bright future with space as an even larger part of the Nation’s efforts. This Policy will insure the U.S. remains at the forefront of innovation. We’re going to develop the capabilities that help our nation both in space and here on Earth. In doing so we’ll inspire those young and not so young, and actively encourage students to dream and build and become the engineers and scientists of tomorrow.”

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Email from Henry Vanderbilt
Space Access Society

We have a chance to head off HR.5781 at the pass over the next 24 hours.  The House will be back in session starting next Tuesday 9/14, and is scheduled to remain in session through the first week of October.  Only legislation formally placed on the House Calendar will be considered, and the contents of the Calendar will be decided before the end of this week, by Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader.

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Augustine Panelist Rallying Support for Senate’s NASA Bill
Space News

A former member of a White House-appointed committee that reviewed NASA’s human spaceflight program last year urged fellow panelists to back a Senate bill that supports commercial space and technology development efforts detailed in the group’s final report.

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Reform Space Now: Vote NO on HR5781 from Reform Space Now on Vimeo. The above video is from the reformspacenow.com website. There’s no information on who or what is behind it. There is also another group, Yes We Can (Even in Space), which is urging action against the House bill. The folks behind this website include: Steven Andrew, chief science blogger over at Dailykos, where he post under the name […]