I’ve received a couple of email queries about this subject recently, so it’s worth a brief post. While the House included some money for Centennial Challenges in its FY2007 appropriations bill (the exact amount I don’t have at my fingertips at the moment), the Senate has not included any funding for the program in its […]
Robert Pearlman, the Houston-based editor of the space memorabilia site collectSPACE, reports that he got “a recorded campaign call with a familiar voice” this morning: Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stumping for Nick Lampson, the Democrat and former Congressman running for the House seat formerly held by Tom DeLay. “Return Nick to Congress and he […]
The national space policy quietly introduced by the Bush Administration early this month generated—eventually—a strong reaction in many editorials, which criticized the White House for appearing to endorse the weaponization of space as well as making it national policy to deny space to any future adversaries. An example of such an editorial is one that […]
The national space policy released earlier this month marked the culmination of years of work on various space policy issues. Over the last few years the Bush Administration has released statements on various space-related topics, including remote sensing, exploration, transportation, and navigation. That should cover just about everything, right?
Not necessarily. In his presentation at […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report yesterday titled “Commercial Space Launches: FAA Needs Continued Planning and Monitoring to Oversee the Safety of the Emerging Space Tourism Industry”. The report is a review of how the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) oversees the safety of commercial launches, and how the office is […]
Last Thursday in Las Cruces, New Mexico the X Prize Foundation held an invitation-only “executive summit” to discuss issues associated with the emerging space tourism industry. The luncheon speaker was a very high-profile individual and a bit of an unusual choice: former vice president Al Gore. The entire event was supposed to be off the […]
[Sorry about the long gap between posts: I was tied up by a trip to New Mexico and other work.]
The attitude in the headline is essentially that expressed by Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL) during a visit to Boeing’s launch vehicle manufacturing facility in Decatur, which will become the United Launch Alliance’s key facility once […]
It only took a week and a half, but the new national space policy quietly released on the eve of Columbus Day weekend has finally received some heavyweight mainstream media attention, in the form of a front-page article in today’s Washington Post. The article is a fairly basic review of the policy, with a not-unexpected […]
A proposal by European officials to allow military use of the Galileo satellite navigation system has could cause new friction with the US and cost it one international partner. According to an article from the British newspaper The Independent (via the Belfast Telegraph), European transport commissioner Jacques Barrot has suggested that military users of Galileo […]
It’s not uncommon in the US for NASA officials to defend, either to members of Congress or the general public, the sums of money that are spent on the space program. However, it’s a bit surprising to see a Chinese official in the same situation. According to a Reuters report, China National Space Administration head […]