Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has conceded the Senate race to Republican rival Rick Scott after a recount. Scott, who is leaving his job as Florida governor, won by 10,033 votes out of more than 8.1 million cast. Nelson, who has been a strong supporter of NASA, has held the Senate seat for 18 years. He previously served in the House of Representatives from 1979 to 1991. During his time in […]
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“Dana Rohrabacher”
Rep. Jim Bridenstine
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Members of the House Space Subcommittee were none-too-pleased on Wednesday when Robert Lightfoot showed up to testify about NASA’s proposed fiscal year 2019 budget.
It had nothing to do with Lightfoot, whom members praised effusively for the job he’s done as acting administrator over the past 13 months. Lightfoot, a career civil servant, took over after Charles Bolden resigned as the President Barack Obama ended his term.
Instead, their anger was focused on the Senate, which has yet to take action on the nomination of Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) to serve as NASA’s administrator six months after President Donald Trump nominated him.
Stephen Harper and cats.
Canadian science writer Graham Templeton says the election of Donald Trump and a Republican controlled Congress threatens a repeat of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s nine-year war on science.
Though Americans might be surprised to hear it, Canada offers a good example of why there is a very real need to worry, and of how the coming anti-science administration could realistically affect all of national research. My home and native land has been a fair ways down the road America is just now preparing to travel and, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the endpoint is absolutely disastrous….
A view from martian orbit. (Credit: SpaceX)
WASHINGTON, DC, September 27, 2016 (NSS PR) — At today’s meeting of the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Guadalajara, Mexico, Elon Musk, CEO of Space X, announced his bold plan to build a city on Mars. For over 40 years the National Space Society has led advocacy for space settlement.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) has introduced a bill that would enshrine the development and human settlement of space as one of NASA’s objectives. The Space Exploration, Development, and Settlement (SEDS) Act of 2016 would require NASA pursue “the expansion of permanent human presence beyond low-Earth orbit in a way that enables human settlement and a thriving space economy.” Rohrabacher’s bill would add the following text to the National Aeronautics and […]
Although members of the House Science Committee clashed on asteroid mining and FAA regulating on Wednesday, they did manage to approve two commercial measures with bi-partisan support.
Sponsored by Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK), the Commercial Remote Sensing Act would require the Commerce Department to produce annual reports on actions taken relating to remote sensing. The information would include lists of applicants, applications approved and denied, and related data.
The commercial space industry had a great day on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, with the Republican-controlled House Science Committee giving it most of what it wanted while swatting away proposed changes from the minority Democrats.
Among the goodies approved by the committee: a decade-long extension of the moratorium on regulating commercial human spaceflight; a nine-year extension of industry-government cost sharing for damages caused by launch accidents; and an act that would give companies property rights to materials they mine from asteroids.
The House Science Committee is back in action on Wednesday at 2 p.m. EDT, marking up four bills focused on commercial space. The measures include: H.R. ____ Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015 (Space Act of 2015) [Parabolic Arc Story] H.R. 1508 Space Resource Exploration and Utilization Act of 2015 [Parabolic Arc Story] H.R. ____ Office of Space Commerce Act H.R. ____ Commercial Remote Sensing Act of […]
Rep. Dan Rohrabacher
The hard working but chronically underachieving members of Congress have been back at it. And that means all sorts of legislation ranging from good to bad to what the frak? Some of it relates to space.
Settlement Act
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) is preparing to introduce the Space Exploration, Development and Settlement Act that would enshrine permanent human settlement as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Act, the legislation that created NASA and includes its goals and objectives.
The measure is being spearheaded by the Alliance for Space Development (ASD), a coalition of 11 space organizations that launched earlier this year. ASD has been trying to line up Congressional support for the legislation.
The newly established Alliance for Space Development (ASD) wants to introduce a bill in Congress offering $3.5 billion in prize money for companies capable of flying fully reusable human spacecraft into orbit.