As you might have expected, the Obama Administration’s decision to invoke the Anti-Deficiency Act in order to shut down the Constellation program has not gone over real well with Congressional supporters of NASA’s human spaceflight effort. I’ll let the senior Senator from the Lone Star State explain it all:

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today said NASA leadership was skirting the law to shut down the Constellation program after NASA leadership publicly announced a decision to reprioritize work on the program. NASA’s stated justification for these actions is the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA), which prohibits spending funds beyond levels that are appropriated in a given year, or obligating the government to pay money before funds have been appropriated. There are a number of unanswered questions on whether the ADA would apply in this situation, and if it did, the recently passed Defense Supplemental legislation clarifies that regardless of any provision of law, work must continue on the Constellation program.

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ASBL PRESS RELEASE

On Wednesday, April 28, the American Small Business League (ASBL) filed suit against NASA in Federal District Court, Northern District of California.  The case was filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) after NASA refused to release subcontracting reports for contracts awarded to General Dynamics C4 Systems Incorporated.

The ASBL requested information from NASA on a contract awarded to General Dynamics after discovering that a contracting officer reported the award as a small business contract.

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Some very bad news for South Korea’s fledgling space program, the Yonhap News Agency reports:

A South Korean rocket carrying a scientific satellite is believed to have exploded on Thursday a little more than two minutes after takeoff, the country’s science minister said.

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Ares I-X lifts off from the Cape.

NASA order may force shutdown of Constellation moon-rocket program
Orlando Sentinel

In a surprise move, NASA has told the major contractors working on its troubled Constellation moon rocket program that they are in violation of federal spending rules — and must immediately cut back work by nearly $1 billion to get into compliance. As many as 5,000 jobs from Utah to Florida are expected to be lost over the next month.

The effect of the directive, which went out to contractors earlier this week and which Congress was told about on Wednesday, may accomplish something that President Barack Obama has sought since February: killing Constellation’s system of rockets, capsules and lunar landers that has already cost at least $9 billion to date….

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NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is in Berlin this week to attend the International Aerospace Exhibition, where she will hold talks with DLR Chairman Johann-Dietrich Wörner about deepening ties between the two space agencies:

NASA-DLR efforts are likely to be focused on Earth observation technologies – including DLR’s strong suit of space-based radar – as well as composite materials, robotics and laser communications, says Wörner, who stresses that technologies geared to battling climate change are a priority.

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NASA PRESS RELEASE

NASA’s first Information Technology (IT) Summit will bring together government and industry leaders to explore the outer reaches of information technology.

The summit, which takes place August 16-18 at the Gaylord National Harbor in Maryland, will gather 750 participants and more than 100 expert presenters with themes on collaboration, social networking, innovation, infrastructure, operations and IT security and privacy.

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Spaceflight Now reports that ESA is going through some belt tightening as it deals with the global recession:

The European Space Agency’s spending freeze is not delaying missions yet, but all options will be on the table as the cash-strapped agency prepares for even tighter budgets in 2011 and 2012, the organization’s top financial official said.

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2010 SHIFTboston MOON CAPITAL Competition
Call for Entries: Monday, May 31, 2010
Submission Deadline: Friday, September 3, 2010

SHIFTboston is calling on architects, space-architects, scientists, engineers, urban designers, landscape designers, industrial designers, fashion designers, artists and futurists to submit their most provocative  ideas for the moon. Think: WHAT IF this could happen on the moon?

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Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center

The Houston Chronicle reports that the White House and Congress are beginning to get down the hard business of negotiations on NASA’s new budget:

The political potshots have subsided and the serious horse-trading lies ahead as the White House and Congress grind toward a compromise to salvage parts of the NASA moon program crucial to Houston’s Johnson Space Center. The legislative end-game is up in the air, as is any clear date to declare success or defeat. But the mood surrounding the space program in the nation’s capital has shifted from seizing partisan advantage to pursuing at least some political pragmatism….

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Falcon 9 takes off on its first flight. (Credit: Chris Thompson SpaceX)

The success of Falcon 9 has got ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain thinking, according to a report in Flight Global. Dordain that SpaceX’s approach is to make about 80 percent of components in-house, something that would be difficult for ESA because it needs to spread out contracts across Europe according the member states’ contributions.

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By 1st Lt Jonathan Simmons
Air Force Space Command Public Affairs

Gen. C. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, is the recipient of the 2010 Gen. Thomas D. White U.S. Air Force Space Trophy.

Established in 1961, the White Trophy is the Air Force Association’s premier space award and recognizes the most outstanding contribution to the nation’s progress in aerospace during the previous calendar year.

“Your inspiring leadership as commander, AFSPC makes you highly deserving of this honor,” said Gen. Norton Schwartz, Air Force chief of staff, in a congratulatory letter to General Kehler. “Your untiring dedication to excellence and innovative efforts in providing game-changing capabilities to Joint force commanders have helped assure our nation’s continued asymmetric advantage in the space domain.”

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Reuters is reporting that South Korea has scrubbed its planned launch of its KSLV rocket: South Korea scrapped plans to launch a scientific satellite into orbit due to a glitch in the fire-extinguishing system on the launch-pad in the latest setback for the country’s space programme. Last minute checks uncovered malfunctions, Ministry of Science spokesman Phun Kyung-bum told a briefing, adding it was unlikely engineers would resume the countdown on […]