July 2 News Items

NASA's New Outreach Plan (Source: Space Review)
In an effort to make the space agency more relevant to the general public, NASA has rolled out a new strategic communications plan. Jeff Foust examines the plan and the importance of raising NASA's public profile. Visit http://www.thespacereview.com/article/899/1 to view the article.

Astronaut Running for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire (Source: NASA Watch)
Former NASA Payload Specialist Jay Buckey, M.D., a veteran of one Space Shuttle mission, is running for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat. "I love this country, and I believe in our future - but right now we are on the wrong track. The country I was born in could send people to the Moon. Today, like so many Americans, I'm deeply concerned that we can't respond adequately to a disaster in one of our own cities, and that we started a war without a clear understanding of what it would take to finish it."

The Amateur Future of Space Travel (Source: New York Times)
The NY Times looks at NASA's Centennial Challenges program..."One of the reasons Congress was telling us they weren't giving us any more money," Ken Davidian, the NASA administrator of the challenges, told me, "was because we had not awarded any money." Davidian is a small compact man with a bit of a Dudley Do-Right chin and a swift, busy manner. At any of the contests, he can be found setting up his traveling triptych (actually five panels, a pentatych) of promotional material. "I wasn't disappointed we weren't giving money away," he said, "because we had good company, and it shows that the prizes were hard to win." Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/magazine/01nasa-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&ref=magazine to view the article.

The NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) is Closing (Source: SpaceRef.com)
Since 1998, NIAC has set new targets for man's future in space by seeking out and funding proposals for revolutionary aeronautics and space concepts. NIAC has provided a highly visible, recognizable, and high-level entry point for new voices in advanced concepts research and development. While NIAC sought advanced concept proposals that stretch the imagination, these concepts were based on sound scientific principles and attainable within a 10 to 40-year time frame. NASA, faced with the constraints of achieving the Vision for Space Exploration, has made the difficult decision to terminate NIAC. Effective August 31, 2007, the NIAC will cease operations.

No Speeding Tickets at KSC (Source: Florida Today)
Deputized Kennedy Space Center security officers have been ordered not to issue state traffic tickets to drivers caught speeding on the government compound. About 22 deputized security officers, employed by contractor Space Gateway Support, were told they could only give speeding motorists a less-severe KSC ticket. Those tickets must be signed by the worker's supervisor and returned, but carry no fine or other penalties. "It's an authority issue. We're not here to enforce state law," space center director of external relations Lisa Malone said of the private security force, some of whom have been deputized by the county sheriff as law enforcement officers. "They should pay attention to protecting NASA assets."

KSC's chief counsel, Jerald Stubbs, believes the contracted security force is not legally allowed to issue Florida Uniform Traffic Citations on the federal compound, even though they have been doing so for 42 years. The majority of the tickets were issued on roads outside the KSC security gates but still on federal government property. Stubbs believes KSC officers were enforcing state statue without authorization. If the local sheriff undeputizes the security officers, they will maintain the ability to detain individuals and hold them until they are picked up by sheriff's deputies.

Shuttle Atlantis Headed Back to Florida (Source: AP)
A jumbo jet carrying the space shuttle Atlantis took off Sunday on a return trip to the shuttle's launch site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A modified Boeing 747 with the shuttle mounted on its back left from the Mojave Desert air base. The jet made a planned stop at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Neb., Sunday afternoon for refueling and to check the connection between it and the shuttle, NASA spokeswoman Jennifer Tharpe said. NASA officials were monitoring the weather in Nebraska and in Florida and will not take off until Monday morning at the earliest. Atlantis could still make it to Cape Canaveral on Monday.

Is Space Tourism the Next Big Thing? (Source: TIME)
Just a few years ago, the idea of bankrolling starry-eyed ventures to fly ordinary people into space was laughed off as science fiction. Now some investors are betting on space tourism as the next big thing. The infant industry got a boost in June when a Boston-area investment group backed a private rocket company developing a spaceship that will take off and land like an airplane. The deal between Boston Harbor Angels and XCOR Aerospace, believed to be the first investment by a group of angel investors in a commercial launch company, raised hopes that others will follow. "This industry is going to explode or fizzle," said John Hallal of the Boston group. "If it's successful, people will look back and say, `These Boston Harbor investors are smart guys.' If not, it's not the end of the world."