XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle
SWRI PRESS RELEASE
Southwest Research Institute announces a new initiative to build and fly experiments with SwRI payload specialists on next-generation suborbital vehicles.
The program, supported with a $1 million allocation from SwRI, will be led by Dr. Alan Stern, associate vice president of the SwRI Space Science and Engineering Division. It is the first program of its kind in the nation.
Although reported dead last week, the Starwalker astronaut reality show says it is still alive, apparently now with Arab support: STARWALKER is very much alive and well, albeit with massive crew changes behind the scenes. The Dubai financial partner will be assuming direct financial control, and the American filming will concentrate entirely on the resources that the amazing and amazingly talented team led by John Spencer can provide for us. […]
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will convene a “space summit,” Sen. Bill Nelson seems to warm to the new NASA plan, and Reps. Bill Posey and Suzanne Kosmas try to save Constellation.
“Third, the dramatically accelerated increase in funding for the development of a new heavy-lift launch vehicle will harness NASA’s unparalleled in-house rocket development capability towards the true key to any successful future Human Spaceflight program, a new launch system capable of doing what previous generations achieved through Saturn V and Shuttle. While the devil will be in the details, the above three strategic decisions signal a dramatic and promising change for America’s space agency. As we move forward on this new and existing journey, NASA must however work diligently to heal morale across the Agency by acknowledging and addressing the wound that lingers whenever dedicated public servants have been asked to sacrifice for years for a project that doesn’t come to fruition.â€
– Dr. Lee Stone
President, NASA Council of IFPTE Locals (NCIL)
Read the full press release after the break.
“The space industry, whether it is in the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan, or China, is a creation of government spending. If the private markets could create a successful private space industry we would have seen it develop somewhere by now. Other countries promote their space programs because they understand it is an important industry for both economic and national security purposes.”
– R. Thomas Buffenbarger
International President, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Letter to President Barack Obama
Read the full letter after the break.
PRESS RELEASE
At a Press Conference Tuesday at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum and Planetarium (TASM), Executive Director Jim Bridenstine announced the first-ever QuikTrip Air and Rocket Racing Show, and a new partnership with the Rocket Racing League® – which will highlight the day’s events. The QuikTrip Air and Rocket Show will be held at Tulsa International Airport on Saturday, April 24, 2010, beginning at 9:30am (CT).
Space start-ups see dollar signs in Obama’s NASA overhaul
The Hill
The X-Prize Foundation, a non-profit organization that awards prizes of at least $10 million to private teams that successfully complete space travel missions, has hired lobbying firm K&L Gates to gin up more congressional support for the competitions.
K&L Gates lobbyists Paul Stimers’s job is to help convince skeptical lawmakers that privatizing space travel will spur innovation and create jobs….
Ares I-X rolls out to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.
The upcoming battle over the future of NASA should be very interesting, if for no other reason than to watch politicians trying to balance between deeply held principles and political expedience.
The Houston Chronicle points to just such a case today: freshman Texas Congressman Pete Olson. The ironies are quite deep in this one.
Artists' conception of a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral. (Credit: SpaceX)
Adding Rocket Man to His Résumé
The New York Times
The coming debate over the future of the American space program will, in no small part, revolve around this question: Should the United States hire Elon Musk, at a cost of a few billion dollars, to run a taxi service for American astronauts?
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia
NASA’s proposed budget contains some very good news for NASA facilities and contractors in Virginia as well as a bit of bad news.
The likely winners: Orbitial Sciences Corporation, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The losers:Â contractors working on the Constellation program at NASA Langley.
SPACEPORT AMERICA PRESS RELEASE
The first batch of concrete was poured Thursday, February 11, marking the start of the final concrete finish phase of the runway construction at Spaceport America, the world’s first purpose built commercial spaceport. The runway project, which began in August 2009, is expected to be completed this summer, according to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA).
