An Atlas V launched the X-37B experimental space plane into orbit this evening from Cape Canaveral. The launch appears to have been successful, although the Department of Defense has placed a news blackout on the mission until it lands in Florida at some future date.
During a hearing this morning in Washington, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby fired a blast at the White House and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who appeared in person to testify. In it, the Republican senator accuses the White House of surrendering America’s lead in space to the Chinese, Russians and Indians by canceling the Constellation program and trying to squander money on an unproven commercial market that will fail to deliver.
“The proposed NASA budget abandons most of Constellation in favor of an unproven commercial option that will devastate any goal the United States has in exploring beyond low earth orbit. The President’s announcement of his new plan last week merely replaced one visionless plan with another. It is clear that the Administration, and more specifically you, Mr. Administrator, do not believe that American leadership in human space flight is a priority worth fighting for,” Shelby said.
The Senator has been fiercely protective of NASA Marshal Space Flight Center, which is located in Alabama and has a lead role in the Ares rocket programs that the Obama Administration wants to cancel.
You can read his full remarks after the break.
In a sign of growing support in Florida for President Obama’s new space policy for NASA, the president of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has endorsed the plan in a letter sent to several of the state’s newspapers. University President John P. Johnson wrote:
To narrow the post-Space Shuttle gap in U.S. human access to space, the plan will rely on commercial rockets like the Atlas V, Delta IV, and Falcon IX. This puts the commercial space transportation industry in a situation similar to the early days of aviation, which grew rapidly after the government established contracts to carry air mail. Some in the industry believe commercial launchers may not be up to the task, but the President clearly believes they can. We agree. Back in 1927, Embry-Riddle’s founders helped establish our nation’s first air mail service, so we know something about the power of entrepreneurship.
John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, moderates “Expanding our Reach into the Solar System,” one of four “breakout” sessions of the April 15 “Conference on the American Space Program for the 21st Century” hosted by NASA at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
BARCELONA MOON TEAM PRESS RELEASE
April 21, 2010
Today, Barcelona Moon Team, a multidisciplinary joint venture bringing together Spanish entrepreneurial, industrial and academic capabilities, announced its official entry into the Google Lunar X PRIZE – a $30 million competition that challenges space professionals and engineers from across the globe to build and launch to the moon a privately funded spacecraft capable of completing a series of exploration and transmission tasks.
OSC PRESS RELEASE
Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today expressed its strong support for President Barack Obama’s new direction for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as articulated in a major space policy address the President gave last week at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Mockup of India's human spacecraft (Credit: ISRO)
Bangalore: Astronaut Camp launched
Mangalorean.com
The Astronaut Camp, first-of-its-kind outside the US, was launched in Karnataka by a Pune- based company – – ‘Mission Apollo’. The camp, aimed at developing leadership skills along with environment study, space exploration and honing the personalities of young minds to face greater challenges of tomorrow, began yesterday at Dandelli, about 500 km from here.
ROCKET RACING LEAGUE PRESS RELEASE
Rocket Racing League® (RRL®) Announces 2-Hour Live Webcast of First Public Demonstration Flights of the Mark III X-Racer®
Hosted by Award-Winning National Anchor Miles O’Brien with Special Guests: NASA Astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Owen Garriott, and John Herrington, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, and others.
In a speech today before the Business Executives for National Security in Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for a major overhaul of America’s export control regime, saying the current system is outdated, hurts America’s competitiveness, and does not adequately protect national security.
The problem we face is that the current system – which has not been significantly altered since the end of the Cold War – originated and evolved in a very different era, with a very different array of concerns in mind.
Cecil Field in Jacksonville, recently designated a commercial spaceport.
Jacksonville well-suited for privatized space industry
Jacksonville Business Journal
Jacksonville stands to benefit when the private space industry lifts off. Even though NASA is winding down the space shuttle program, Florida is still an ideal site for private shuttle launches and as the industry tightens its supply chain, Jacksonville’s manufacturing base and logistical advantage positions it well, said Frank DiBello, director of Space Florida, the state’s aerospace economic development agency.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver leads a panel discussion about “Harnessing Space to Expand Economic Opportunity.” The session is one of four featured at the April 15 “Conference on the American Space Program for the 21st Century.”
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
Millions in incentives aimed at helping space workers
Florida Today
Brevard delegation members hope much of that will land in their districts, where the retirement of the space shuttle later this year is expected to cost 23,000 direct and indirect jobs.
“I feel like we’re in pretty good shape,” said Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, who chairs a finance and tax committee.