Ex-NASA official pleads guilty over contracts
Associated Press

A former high-ranking NASA official has pleaded guilty in Mississippi to designing contracts in a way that netted him more than $270,000 in illegal profits.

Liam P. Sarsfield, a former chief deputy engineer in Washington D.C., controlled a $1.5 million fund and designed contracts that wouldn’t have to be put out for bid. He steered the contracts where he wanted them to go, including to Mississippi State University and a company in Ohio, prosecutors said Monday.

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PRESS RELEASE

American Aerospace Advisors, Inc. today announced that it is accepting commercial reservations for research on STS-133 (ULF-5), the last scheduled Space Shuttle mission, which will provide approximately two weeks of microgravity time.

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SpaceX aborted a “hot fire” of the first stage engines on its new Falcon 9 rocket earlier today. Spaceflight Now reported from the Cape at 2:27 p.m. EST: Spectators report they heard a loud bang at the time of ignition, but no other prolonged sounds of the engine burning. Visual indications at ignition included a flash of orange light, a cloud of steam and black smoke, and a brief fire […]

RT‘s Peter Lavalle leads a discussion of President Obama’s proposed space policy with policy analyst John Logsdon, Space Frontier Foundation’s Thomas Andrew Olson, and space tourist Anousheh Ansari.

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There are at least three private space stations in the works: Bigelow Sundancer Excalibur Almaz Galactic Suite Which of these projects will be most successful? And why?

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist

POLITICO reports that Florida Gov. and would-be Senator Charlie Crist doesn’t think much about President Barack Obama’s plan to hold a space summit in Florida on April 15:

“While continuing dialogue about the space program is welcome, I’m afraid we already know the outcome,” he said in a statement to POLITICO. “Unless we continue the Constellation program that allows America to be a leader in space innovation and provides jobs for many Floridians on the Space Coast, this discussion will leave many of the same problems unresolved.”

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This week in The Space Review: Jeff Foust discusses why NASA may need to make more of an emotional appeal for its new space policy, rather than just rely on budget documents, to win support in the coming months. Taylor Dinerman argues for more stable multi-year funding for the agency for it to be considered a good partner by other nations. Luis Fernández Carril looks at some of the other […]

The Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s annual report highlights progress made in the emerging field in 2009.

Some updates on Starwalker, the reality show that is supposed to send winners on trips into space. Activity on its Facebook page has withered as of late, with few updates of any kind. The show also has closed its blog with the following message:

An entirely new executive production lineup and partnership will now take the show forward, from this point to screening the final episode and beyond.

As such, this blog will now close until the NEW team reconfigures everything to their liking.

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Anousheh Ansari talks about space tourism in this video from Big Think.

The Space Show visits the Responsive Space Conference in Los Angeles this week.

This video looks at inflatable structures – a technology NASA is examining to meet its future space needs.