A brief review of recent NASA history might be instructive in understanding what the Obama Administration wants to do with the space program. The rationale behind the human spaceflight plan is pretty simple, actually. Much of it is getting lost in the thicket of details.
President Obama’s plan to refocus NASA has a lot of people seeing red, not least of whom is retired NASA engineer Homer Hickam, author of the memoir “Rocket Boys” that was the subject of the film October Sky.
Last week, he wrote directly to NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and OSTP Director John Holdren demanding that they resign. He repeated the demand in a letter to Bart Gordon, Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology.
In The Space Review this week: Harley Thronson and Ted Talay describe some of the studies that have been done on the “Flexible Path” architecture and what could be a major element in the approach. Jeff Foust reports on the proposed changes to NASA and the reaction to them, and how this could be the beginning of a far more fundamental change for the agency. Bob Clarebrough offers some rebuttals […]
A taikonaut emerges from China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft after a successful orbital flight
Some critics fear that by abandoning a goal to return humans to the lunar surface by 2020, President Obama is ceding a new, undeclared moon to up-and-coming space powers such as China.
RIA Novosti about Russia’s future human spaceflight plans, which include a spacecraft capable of sending cosmonauts into Earth orbit and to the moon.
Russia intends to keep up with the U.S. in the space race and launch a new manned spacecraft by 2017, a senior Russian space official said on Tuesday.
“We plan to enter the market in 2015 with an unmanned spacecraft and are likely to launch it from the new Vostochny space center. In 2017, a piloted spacecraft should also be developed,” Vitaly Lopota, the head of Russia’s Energia space corporation, said.
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
President Obama’s new direction for NASA met with some mixed reactions from Florida officials, who are uncertain how the state — reeling from the impending end of the shuttle era – can best take advantage of the plan’s focus on commercial space.
The space shuttle Endeavour took off on Monday in a spectacular night launch.
The Space Show will feature Brent Sherwood, Bob Zimmerman and Paul Breed.
RIA Novosti has a very interesting article about the Kazakhstan government’s apparent intention to invest about $100 million in bankrupt Sea Launch.
The article quotes Talgat Musabayev, head of the Kazak space agency Kazkosmos, as saying the government wants to acquire shares in the rocket company, which is a joint venture of Boeing (US), RSC Energia (Russia), Kvaerner (Norway), and Yuzhnoye Design Bureau (Ukraine).
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The Aerospace Industries Association welcomed President Obama’s increase in NASA’s budget but expressed concerns about the cancellation of the Constellation program.
