SEN. BILL NELSON PRESS RELEASE
President Barack Obama today unveiled revised plans for the nation’s human spaceflight program during a speech here and announced at least two significant changes sought by, among others, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.
One is having NASA proceed with building a new space capsule and another is the development of a so-called heavy-lift rocket.
WHITE HOUSE TRANSCRIPT
Thank you, everybody. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. Please have a seat. Thank you.
I want to thank Senator Bill Nelson and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden for their extraordinary leadership. I want to recognize Dr. Buzz Aldrin as well, who’s in the house. (Applause.) Four decades ago, Buzz became a legend. But in the four decades since he’s also been one of America’s leading visionaries and authorities on human space flight.
Few people — present company excluded — can claim the expertise of Buzz and Bill and Charlie when it comes to space exploration. I have to say that few people are as singularly unimpressed by Air Force One as those three. (Laughter.) Sure, it’s comfortable, but it can’t even reach low Earth orbit. And that obviously is in striking contrast to the Falcon 9 rocket we just saw on the launch pad, which will be tested for the very first time in the coming weeks.
President Barack Obama spoke at the Kennedy Space Center earlier today, outlining his plans for America’s future in space and defending his decision to end NASA’s Constellation program in favor of commercial alternatives.
The President broke no new ground in his address, largely reiterating a policy that was rolled out in February and refined over the last two months. He said he is strongly supportive of the space program, pointing out the $6 billion increase that he had proposed for NASA over the next five years.
CSF PRESS RELEASE
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation, the association of companies working to make commercial human spaceflight a reality, to preserve American leadership in aerospace through technology innovation, and to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and engineering, strongly endorsed President Obama’s space vision today.
The President’s plan increases NASA’s budget by $6 billion over 5 years and includes new investments in exploration to Mars and other destinations, new technologies, and commercial spaceflight. The President stated, “I am 100 percent committed to the mission of NASA and its future,†and added, “We will work with a growing array of private companies competing to make getting to space easier and more affordable.â€
ISRO’s effort to develop an indigenous cryogenic upper stage suffered a serious setback when the vehicle tumbled end over end and fell into the Indian Ocean. In a brief statement, the Indian space agency said: GSLV-D3 vehicle lifted off as planned at 16:27 hrs after a countdown procedure lasting for 29 hours. The countdown went off as planned. GSLV-D3 vehicle performance was normal up to the end of the second […]
Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes ("the two most successful outlaws in the history of the West") eventually quit their wild ways for amnesty and freedom. NASA faces a not dissimilar choice with its human space flight program - a decision that could reap substantial rewards and free it to return to the moon.
“There’s one thing we gotta get, Heyes.”
“What’s that?”
“Out of this business.”
— Outlaws Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes, realizing they needed another line of work
“Alias Smith and Jones”
One of the most intriguing presentations given during the Space Access ’10 conference came not from a “NewSpace” company but from one with an old lineage. The speaker was Jeff Patton from United Launch Alliance – a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, companies with over 50 years of space experience and 1,300 launches under their belts. Some of what Patton had to say has potentially staggering implications for the future of human spaceflight.
Patton reviewed ULA’s two main product lines, Delta IV and Atlas V. Both rockets were developed to loft satellites under the U.S. Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. Either one could be adapted to fill NASA’s needs to send astronauts to the International Space Station. None of that was new. But, what Patton said about another project was fascinating…
Model of NASA's Orion spacecraft
I’ve been trying to puzzle out exactly what’s behind the Obama Administration’s decision to re-focus the Orion crew capsule as an ISS return capsule. Because the vehicle doesn’t take anyone to the station, NASA will still be heavily reliant upon Russian Soyuz rockets and spacecraft for crew transport.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver shed some light on the issue in remarks to Space News:
“We will ask them to focus Orion for the government purposes on our unique requirement of crew escape,” she said, adding that Lockheed Martin would be welcome to use the Orion capsule to bid on the agency’s $6 billion commercial crew program proposed in the president’s 2011 budget.
“That would be a company decision on bidding for commercial crew technology,” she said.
ESA PRESS RELEASE
The Space Propulsion 2010 conference takes place in the port city of San Sebastian on Spain’s Bay of Biscay from 3 to 6 May. Following on from the positive response to an inaugural 2008 workshop in Crete the conference is being introduced on a regular two-year basis.
“Unlike comparable events, this conference brings together the launcher and spacecraft propulsion communities,†said Giorgio Saccoccia, ESA’s Head of Propulsion and Aerothermodynamics, co-organiser of the conference with Pierre-Guy Amand of SNPE and conference secretary Lisa Gabaldi of L’Association Aéronautique et Astronautique de France (3AF). “These domains are normally kept separate, but there is a lot of potential for cross-fertilisation between them.â€
Co-organised by ESA and 3AF in collaboration with national European space agencies, Space Propulsion 2010 will be a venue not just for technical information exchange but also debates on propulsion policy.
The first day of the conference will be a plenary session with participants including ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain, 3AF President Michel Scheller, ESA Director of Technical Quality Management Michel Courtois and ESA Director of Launchers Antonio Fabrizi, as well as high-level representatives from national space agencies, European governments and the worldwide propulsion industry.
RRL PRESS RELEASE
Rocket Racing, Inc, an interactive sports, aviation and entertainment company rocket-powered aircraft, and OnBoard Images, the leading provider of top quality in-cockpit video systems for extreme environments, including stock car racing, marine sports and aviation aerobatics, have announced a partnership to enhance the video components of the Rocket Racing League® (RRL®).
X-51 Waverider
Boeing Could Expand Hypersonic Follow-on Efforts
DefenseNews
If all goes well with this year’s four test flights of the hypersonic Boeing X-51A Waverider, the firm could add a rapid global-strike scramjet to its list of potential follow-up projects, said Steve Johnston, Boeing’s director of Advanced Space Exploration.
The list already includes the X-51A+, which would test a scramjet’s ability to change direction and splash down onto a targeted area at sea; and Rapid Identification and Prosecution of Targets in Denied Environments (RIPTIDE), which “would be more of an operationally representative configuration” that would include sensors and weapons, Johnston said during an April 13 briefing with reporters here.
Orbital Would Use COTS Boost To Augment Taurus 2 Testing
Space News
If Congress approves NASA’s plan to add $300 million to its 2011 budget to develop commercial cargo delivery systems for the international space station, Orbital Sciences Corp. likely would use its share of the funding to augment ground testing of its planned medium-lift Taurus 2 rocket and possibly conduct an additional test flight of the vehicle, according to David W. Thompson, Orbital’s chairman and chief executive.
Rocket Racers Rise Again
MSNBC
After shifting its business plan, the Rocket Racing League is revving up again for a gee-whiz demonstration of its X-Racer planes next week in Oklahoma. The new-look racing planes will feature crowd-pleasers such as rocket fins and colored flames – as well as an innovative system that will display a virtual “raceway in the sky” on the pilot’s helmet visor.
