moonman

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• Commented on The Long Confusing Path Toward Space Station Utilization

  Not all experiments are intended to produce saleable products. Given the fragile (really nonexistent) state of logistics to carry raw material up and product down, at this point there is nothing in place to allow the production of anything. In...

• Commented on The Long Confusing Path Toward Space Station Utilization

  I've wondered whether the people responsible for utilization have actually gone to any of the potential users to try and market use of the ISS? Have they identified potential users? I've gone to a couple "ISS customer conferences" now and...

• Commented on Clay Anderson: Too Honest for NASA?

  JUST DO IT!!!...

• Commented on New York's Deceptive Shuttle Bid

  Enterprise was originally intended to be refit for orbital flight. Its the same basic structure as the other Orbiters. It was just that, when it was time for the refitting to begin, 099 (Challenger) was cheaper to upgrade so they...

• Commented on NASA's Perception of Size and Commerce

  He is a very sharp guy. But he's not previously led a successful major development effort. He, more than anyone, did have the potential and the ears of the appropriate politicians to stop the premature shut down of Shuttle, but...

• Commented on Hutchison et al Wants NASA's SLS Design - Now

  Its about time that someone brought up the argument of maintaining human capital and avoiding layoffs. The argument should have been made two and more years ago and especially once the financial crisis hit. In a situation where they were...

• Commented on WATCH LIVE: Bolden Speaks at NASA Future Forum

  newpapyrus - A few years ago I was invited to tour the control center for a provincial lottery. Talk about a control center; NASA could have learned a few lessons. ASFalcon13 - Actually, if I were Bolden I would not...

• Commented on Mary Lynne Dittmar Asks - Where are we, and how did we get here?

  You make excellent points on the Visions that were articulated by both Bush's. Particularly, the second Bush Vision speech really gave NASA carte blanche to begin planning the future. NASA as the nation's leader in civil space, are the right...

• Commented on Mike Griffin was against the Space Shuttle before he was for it

  Dragons and HL-20s are not Shuttle replacements. A real Orion is five years away at least. Some people are showing what they would like people to believe is an Orion. Its like an Apollo CSM mock-up in 1962. The real...

• Commented on NASA's "Notional" Capability Driven Exploration

  Its a logical progression but it leaves out a lot of critical things. No signs of depots. No signs of ISRU. This appears to be a flags and footprints roadmap. So to start this appears to be the program for...

• Commented on MPCV Is The New Way To Say Orion

  It is Orion. Nothing more, nothing less. A larger but simpler version of an Apollo command module. It is suitable for Apollo-like missions to the moon, but at per mission costs of a $billion or more, its unsustainable. Unless we...

• Commented on What Will Charlie Bolden Say This Time?

  This whole subject of what should the Administrator say, is the heart of NASA's problem. NASA over the last several years decided not to take a technical position or to establish a rational technical plan; instead NASA tried to take...

• Commented on Congressional Skepticism

  I watch the blogs and NASA announcements pretty closely. A little over a year ago we heard something about going to asteroids and eventually to Mars. I hear discussions about HLV or not,113t or not, Orion or not, ISRU on...

• Commented on NASA CTO for IT Chris Kemp Is Leaving The Agency

  How unfortunate for NASA. Chris was exactly the kind of dedicated member of the next generation that NASA has been trying to attract and to see him leave means NASA very simply is not getting it right. Disillusionment for all...

• Commented on Software and Risk

  Wayne makes the statement that: "The RCC experts were unanimous in the opinion “That RCC is tough". I believe I remember that discussion from the accident investigation board that preceded the official Gehman board, when the Shuttle program was initially...

• Commented on NASA's Contingent at SXSW: Lessons Learned - For The Rest of Us?

  For public affairs talks, NASA has a Speaker's Bureau and dozens, maybe hundreds of NASA people go out to schools, museums, civic groups and events every year. On occasion the Public Affairs Office, which runs the Speaker's Bureau, has suggested...

• Commented on Exploration Park Groundbreaking at KSC

  Probably not needed for another quarter or half century for genuine technical reasons; no one is going to the moon for at least that long. But it might be good to bring in tourists. Anything for a buck....

• Commented on The Potential of Commercial Crew Transport

  One comment made in the editorial was that cost for Shuttle operations increased as a result of the two accidents. Is this accurate? If NASA is ever going to go back to doing what it should be doing in human...

• Commented on Discarding The Shuttle

  Excellent article by Dr. Spudis (as usual). I'm glad someone captured that meeting. I liked his description of Bob Thompson. Thompson is really one of the unsung pioneers of the space program. He established the ocean recovery process and DOD...

• Commented on ISS National Lab CAN Provides Old, Incomplete Documents

  The program has evolved considerably since this document was issued and some of the terminology is no longer up to date. This was pointed out to the individual who wrote the document years ago, but that person has moved on...

• Commented on First Orion Shipped From Michoud to Denver

  I guess this is only the pressurized compartment, but all of the other systems are missing?...

• Commented on Constellation Breakfast Flight Update

  "The fault with the program lies with bad management at the top, not with rank and file workers." I think most of the people flying on this airplane were/are the management that has been at the top since the inception...

• Commented on NASA: A Fly Trapped In Bureaucratic Amber

  I think NASA possesses far more control than they let on. Yes-they have to get Congressional endorsement but first they have to have a workable plan. Having worked numerous human space programs, Shuttle, ISS, Spacehab, Mir, I know there are...

• Commented on NASA: A Fly Trapped In Bureaucratic Amber

  Change is hard. NASA is full of a lot of really smart people. NASA needs to figure out how it needs to fundamentally change in order to take control of its future, rather than complaining that they cannot do the...

• Commented on NASA to Congress: HLV Will Cost More, Take Longer, Look The Same

  This is not quite Ares 5. Ares 5 had a larger diameter first stage, which required totally new tooling, design and construction techniques, vs this one which is based on the existing Shuttle ET. It begs the question of, now...

• Commented on Bill Nelson, Rocket Scientist

  If, as Wayne Hale says, its a systemic problem and the other ET's may suffer the same problems with cracks forming during tanking, and if NASA cannot assure themselves that they have fixed the structure in a safe manner, then...

• Commented on Misplaced and Misinformed Concerns by Rep. Ruppersberger

  I completely agree with your points. Is $11.5B all that has been spent on Constellation to date? I thought they were still spending at a pretty good rate and the $9B point was passed about 18 months ago during the...

• Commented on What Would Elon Do?

  Does anyone think that it is somewhat ironic (or maybe comical) that the same guy who has overseen Constellation and Orion for 5 years, Mark Geyer, is now going to try and do it "the right way" by spending less...

• Commented on What did Neil and Buzz REALLY do on their EVA?

  The quality of the representations of the spacecraft, spacesuits and astronauts are first rate. Maybe they had some help from Tom Hanks' people who did From the Earth to the Moon. At least that side is very realistic. Some of...

• Commented on The Moon Is Full of Useful Stuff - Let's Go Use It

  Easier said than done. Lock a bunch of planetary scientists (including lunar) into a room and tell them to work out a prioritized series of goals for what they'd like to do in the unmanned and manned programs. Then lock...