December 28 News Items

Armstrong: Transition Team Should Not Make Decisions on Constellation (Source: Space Politics)
The Wall Street Journal features a letter from none other than Neil Armstrong, in response to a recent article about deliberations President-elect Obama’s transition team is making on the future of NASA’s exploration architecture. Armstrong seems particularly concerned that the transition team would make a decision about accelerating Constellation, revamping the program, and/or extending the life of the shuttle: "While these [transition team] men and women are experienced and enthusiastic space program veterans, they are neither aerospace engineers nor former program managers and cannot be sufficiently knowledgeable to make choices in the technical arena."

It’s not at all clear, though, that the team is making any decisions, as opposed to simply gathering information and making recommendations for the new administration. Armstrong has no problems with allowing the new president to make those decisions, and states that, contrary to a report earlier this month in the Orlando Sentinel, he should have no problem getting the technical information from NASA needed to make that decision. Finally, while not explicitly calling for Mike Griffin to remain as administrator, he does endorse, in general terms, agency management. (12/28)

Lovell: Bail Out NASA, Not Those Wall Street Weasels (Source: Parabolic Arc)
“Why the necessity to bail out these mismanaged, short-sighted industries that are consumer based when a federal agency with strong management and awe-inspiring deliverables finds itself strapped for cash? Today’s NASA is at a crossroads - it is suffering under economic stress, desperate for the necessary funding to continue its magnificent work. It too faces an uncertain funding future tied to 400,000 to 500,000 federal and civil contractor jobs....NASA can be counted on to confront key issues here on Earth, from global climate change to energy independence to aeronautics research. As has been the case for over 50 years, there’s a payback to the public for investing in your space program.”

“It is imperative that NASA receive sufficient funds from the national budget to move on to the next phase of space exploration under the Constellation program. Provided that President-elect Obama holds true on his promise of $2 billion in additional funding for the program, NASA will be able to continue its great work and ensure that hundreds of thousands keep their jobs, allowing the work and dollars for the space program to remain within the U.S. economy. This is not a bailout for the agency, but necessary financing to accomplish all that NASA has been tasked with doing." (12/27)

Act Now to Position NASA Langley for the Future (Source: DailyPress.com)
NASA Langley Research Center is one of the most valuable economic assets in the Hampton Roads region, accounting for about 3,700 high-quality jobs and a nearly $1 billion economic impact on the state of Virginia. President-elect Barack Obama and the incoming administration have the opportunity to help meet critical national objectives in economic competitiveness, energy independence and developing green technologies by growing Langley's program activity and the jobs base it provides for the Virginia Peninsula.

Over the last decade, the center has been under constant budget pressure and has seen its employment and budget decline dramatically. Things would have been far worse but for the active and persistent advocacy on behalf of the center by concerned citizens in the Hampton Roads community. Ten years ago the community came together to form the NASA Aeronautics Support Team, or NAST, a nonprofit, community-based advocacy group that has directly intervened to restore about half-a- billion dollars to the center's budget from cuts proposed by the president's annual budget. (12/28)

Decisions in 2009 Will Determine NASA’s Direction for Decades to Come (Source: Florida Today)
Failure is not an option for NASA in the coming year. In fact, 2009 will be among the most important in the agency’s history as it faces major political and technological hurdles on its moon program that will determine its course for at least a generation. That’s why Florida’s members of Congress should work closely with delegations from other NASA-dependent states to press the incoming Obama administration to fulfill its pledge to boost funding for the lunar plan.

President-elect Barack Obama first made the promise during a campaign stop in Titusville, saying he would spend an additional $2 billion to speed up development on NASA’s new Orion manned moonships and the Ares 1 rockets that will be carrying them into orbit from Kennedy Space Center. The money is a critical investment because without it the program will be delayed, worsening job cuts at NASA facilities such as KSC and allowing other nations to outpace the U.S. in human space exploration. However, reported friction between Obama’s transition team and NASA Administrator Michael Griffin have some concerned about the program’s direction. (12/28)

San Antonio Centrifuge Could Support Spaceflight Training (Source: My San Antonio)
The 2005 base-closure commission ordered that Brooks City-Base's historic centrifuge be dismantled and moved to Ohio, but after going around and around on the matter, the Air Force decided to leave it here. No, a group is mapping big plans to market the centrifuge, which has trained NASA astronauts going back to the 1960s-era Gemini program, as the hub for a young space-tourist industry fueled by the rich and famous. The Brooks Development Authorit owns and operates City-Base, a 1,246-acre property that was conveyed to the city under BRAC. It is developing a plan that would make City-Base the nation's first civilian center for aerospace training and medical testing. Its centrifuge is one of just two in the Air Force inventory, the older and the only one capable of testing people and equipment.

Civilians flying to the International Space Station train in Russia's Star City. Jakeway believes the Brooks' complex could draw interest as the only one available to private companies, especially those looking to develop aircraft that will someday fly people in space from a runway. There are about 20 different companies in the aerospace industry studying ways of getting people into space. Training and medical testing are crucial for civilians hoping to fly, he added, yet it simply doesn't exist here. (12/27)

NASA is Now a Costly Flight of Fancy (Stamford Advocate)
The United States has never fully subscribed to the Roman policy of providing its citizens with bread and circuses. Circuses distract attention from governmental disorders that voters might not be so thrilled with. Say, wars, or ruining the environment, or corporate boondoggles. And the greatest of these circuses has been NASA. It began in response to the embarrassment of the Soviet Union putting up the first satellite. From there the agency went ballistic. We needed our own satellites, of course; we needed people out there in space; we needed rockets to the moon, to Mars, to Venus, to Mercury, to Jupiter, etc. Then we needed to get human explorers to the moon (and back).

In pursuing these goals, NASA has been a brilliant, if costly, technological triumph of entertainment. It has been worth its weight in public relations to all administrations many times over. Astronauts have morphed into folk heroes (or martyrs), and the Kennedy Space Center has grown into a serious tourist mecca. We love watching the pyrotechnic launches on TV and the suspense-laden re-entries with lost heat-shield tiles. Yes, space was great theater for awhile, but the public has at last grown jaded. It's hard to excite fantasies with images of astronauts repairing toilets or chasing lost grease guns. We might thrill, alternatively, at the Mars Rover driving seven miles to reach a giant crater, but that trip will last at least two years. This takes a little of the edge off the intoxication. (12/28)

Editorial: Spaceport May be Jolt Our Economy Needs (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
Last week, I offered a word in defense of the Rail Runner. This week, I turn my attention to the second of Gov. Bill Richardson's most derided projects — Spaceport America. I concede from the start that the spaceport is a riskier endeavor than the Rail Runner. The train will likely never be profitable, but it will help reduce congestion on I-25 between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. There will always be a need for people to travel between those two cities, and the Rail Runner will, at the very least, provide an alternative for those who can't — or don't want to — drive.

The spaceport won't be as utilitarian, at least not from the start. While there will eventually be a number of companies using the facility for a number of purposes, the anchor tenant, Virgin Galactic, envisions a new kind of tourism where people will pay for the experience of being launched into suborbit...I was wrong before on the spaceport, and I may be wrong now. But I believe our local economy is in dire need of something new and something big. And, I can think of few other ventures that would potentially bring the same kind of high-paying, high-skill jobs as the spaceport. (12/28)