September 3, 2017

Trump’s Choice for NASA Chief is Likely to Boost Moonshots (Source: GeekWire)
The White House has confirmed long-running rumors that President Donald Trump’s pick for NASA administrator is U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-OK, an advocate for commercial spaceflight and missions to the moon. Bridenstine would be the first member of Congress to go on to NASA’s top post, and the fact that a politician could be in charge of the space agency already has sparked controversy.

If Bridenstine follows through on his past record, that’s good news for ventures ranging from Moon Express to Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. But the news might not be so good for the advocates of dramatic policy initiatives to respond to global climate change. (9/2)

Bridenstine in 2013: U.S. Spends 30 Times as Much on Climate Change Research as on Weather Forecasting (Source: Politifact)
Freshman Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-OK, attracted some attention for a House floor speech on June 11, 2013, in which he said he’s ready to accept President Barack Obama’s "apology" for spending too much on climate change research. In his one-minute speech, Bridenstine -- whose state has been hard-hit by severe tornadoes in recent weeks -- expressed skepticism that human activity has historically caused either global warming or cooling.

Bridenstine said that Obama "spent more on "weather forecasting and warning," not "weather forecasting and warning research." That’s just one word, but it makes a big difference, because the National Weather Service spends a whole lot more on operations -- "forecasting and warning" -- than it does on research.

Obama’s National Weather Service budget request for 2014 was $1.05 billion, split about 90 percent for operations and research and 10 percent for construction and acquisition. That means the ratio between climate research and "forecasting and warning" would be about 2.7 to 1 -- far less than the 30-to-1 ratio Bridenstine cited. He gets a "Mostly False" rating on the Truth-O-Meter. (07/2013)

Peggy Whitson Ends Record-Breaking Space Mission with Smooth Landing (Source: Space.com)
Three space travelers safely returned to Earth from the International Space Station as their Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft touched down on the steppes of Kazakhstan, ending a record-shattering mission for one American crewmember. NASA's record-breaking astronaut Peggy Whitson returned home on the Soyuz from an extended 288-day mission to the ISS. During her stay, she set a new record for the most cumulative time in space by an American with 665 days accrued. (9/2)

How Boeing's Starliner Will Rocket the US Back Into Human Spaceflight (Source: The National)
Today OPF-3, scrubbed and swept clean like an operating theater, is a quiet hive of activity as teams work on what will be a fleet of three Starliners, each designed to make up to ten flights to the ISS. This month saw a milestone, as the top and bottom of the first capsule were joined together. This is the first Spaceliner; it will go into space unmanned. The first manned mission is projected for next summer, with the first mission to the ISS in December, riding on an Atlas V rocket, another Boeing collaboration with Lockheed Martin. Click here. (9/2)