ISSvet

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• Commented on Rep. Hall Comes Out The Gate Swinging

  teddyballgame, that wasn't what the Augustine Committee said. They asked what impact an additional $3 billion per year would have on several of the alternatives they studied. In the case of Constellation, they assessed that with the extra money, Lunar...

• Commented on Dave King: Old Ways Of Thinking Still Persist

  For a hint at what the true scope of commercial markets for human spaceflight might be, check out Bigelow's Leasing Information page: http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/leasing-information.php Note that individual travelers come in third on the list....

• Commented on Boeing and Space Adventures Strike Marketing Deal

  Nearly everyone in the aerospace industry is way too spooked about the possibility of accidents. Let me point out several things. First, as space gets busy with diverse activities, there will be accidents and some fatalities. There were plenty of...

• Commented on Senate Prepares To Throw Road Block At NASA Policy

  If this "compromise" does what it is apparently intended to do, which is retain thousands of Shuttle-derived jobs in Utah, Texas, and Alabama, it would also by that fact doom NASA human spaceflight to be unsustainable. It would probably doom...

• Commented on Falcon 9 Nails Orbit - First Stage Slams Hard into Atlantic

  Current Falcon 9 pricing is not dependent on recovering the first stage and reusing it. Their first goal is to accelerate their learning curve by studying the post-flight condition. Regarding the Russian prediction of 10 years to man rate Falcon...

• Commented on SpaceX Preps for Falcon 9 Launch

  Space4US: SpaceX is doing an engineering test, not a publicity stunt. The only people they need to satisfy are themselves and their current and potential customers. Unless you or I are in one of those groups, we are in no...

• Commented on SpaceX Preps for Falcon 9 Launch

  Space4US and CesnaDriver, this was posted yesterday on Spaceflight Now: Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, says the company is not releasing the exact times of countdown and launch events to keep the information out of the hands of competitors....

• Commented on Joint Statement From Closed Space Group Meeting

  @Frank Agencies don't get dissolved, but programs get terminated. If the opponents of the FY2011 budget manage to block the new program and continue Constellation, it would be vulnerable to a Future Combat Systems decision in the next budget cycle...

• Commented on Joint Statement From Closed Space Group Meeting

  Frank, you are not only correct, you manage to understate the accomplishment. People who have never tried to do anything constructive with such a diverse group of organizations just don't know how hard it is and sure don't know how...

• Commented on Buzz Aldrin: Guest Host on World Wrestling Entertainment "Raw"

  If you dare question Buzz's commitment to HSF exploration, you obviously don't know Buzz. I think he's just having fun by doing what he pleases. With his age and accomplishments (do you know how much he contributed to the ergonomics...

• Commented on Media Bias in Shuttle Coverage?

  "the US government spent 43 billion bucks in 2009 on DoD and NSA space programs" because they produce services of direct value to the country - intelligence, communications, weather data, global positioning, etc. They don't need to sell it to...

• Commented on NRC on NASA Labs: Not A Pretty Picture

  And now we see how big a pit NASA dug for itself. If CxP had been allowed to go on much longer, there would be nothing left of NASA worth saving. It would have been a hollow shell. NASA is...

• Commented on Moon Walkers Briefed On Internal NASA Study Results (Update)

  Your questions all have logical answers. - President Obama isn't terminating the Shuttle; President Bush and Mike Griffin did that four years ago. They systematically shut down the production of Shuttle parts, including the external tank. Trying to reopen the...

• Commented on Moon Walkers Briefed On Internal NASA Study Results (Update)

  This could be a courtesy to keep one of them from making a fool of himself in front of Congress. Jay Barbree of NBC News reported that Armstrong or Cernan may testify before one of Sen. Nelson's hearings next week....

• Commented on Presentations From The Closed Space Organization Meeting (Update)

  Moonstruck, if we limited ourselves to your cynicism, we would conclude that technological progress never happens. Perhaps, it never happens inside NASA-style mission-oriented programs where people start out trying to do too much with too little money and end up...

• Commented on Lunar and Asteroidal Water Enables Human Exploration

  Bravo! These are all arguable points and worthy of reasoned debate. We should, indeed, explore and develop the Moon as soon as we can get costs and budget to align, with the burden necessarily on getting costs down. In the...

• Commented on Lunar and Asteroidal Water Enables Human Exploration

  Marcel, Regardless of what anyone said in a sales pitch, the purpose of the international partnership in ISS was never to reduce costs. International relations were always the first purpose. With the original partners, an additional purpose was adding capability....

• Commented on Lunar and Asteroidal Water Enables Human Exploration

  Under Obama's plan, we'll go to an asteroid before Constellation would have a chance to go to the Moon, and now they've discovered water on an asteroid as well. That's water you don't have to mess with a big gravity...

• Commented on Using ISS Needs To Extend Shuttle - Update

  Libby, Obama never changed his mind on keeping ISS flying. Keeping it flying was always part of the new plan. The only thing that could be called a change of mind might be keeping the Orion as a CRV, and...

• Commented on Bolden's Take on The Media

  Thank you, jkugler. I think you nailed it. I am reassured that our future is in your hands and those of the many thousands who think like you, but do not take the time to reply to online flames....

• Commented on Blunt Talk in Houston

  Bolden is doing NASA employees a favor by telling them this change is real and they would be well advised to figure out how they can contribute to it. Sure, they can wait to be told, as many commenters here...

• Commented on Congress 1; Bolden 0

  After reading the Washington Post article, I guess I'll have to join the Planetary Society. They seem to have taken the lead in the space movement....

• Commented on Story Musgrave Thinks That The ISS is "an ungodly sin"

  jkugler provided an important service by porting some actual facts to this thread. Go and look at the links he posted. As you peruse the long list of publications, remember that very little research could be done until the full...

• Commented on Diversifying Human Space Flight

  ex_navy, I don't see anything dismissive of your experience, knowledge, or skills. (As a personal note, I've worked with MOD folk and respect them.) However, some of the experience is with an obsolete and unaffordable architecture, namely the Shuttle and...

• Commented on Video: Remarks of President Obama at KSC

  After a night to think about it, I'm even more with Frank and warp. All you nay sayers, take a vacation from your funk, and look at some possibilities. First, if ULA enters the market, successful commercial transport to LEO...

• Commented on Video: Remarks of President Obama at KSC

  Frank, I'm with you. I'm tired of the whining and temper tantrums. But we're getting much more than Mars. We're getting a commitment of support for commercial space development far beyond COTS. We're getting the possibility of an open frontier,...

• Commented on Apollo Veterans (And Mike Griffin) Plead Their Case

  It's sad that so many people who should know better seem to have drunk the Constellation Kool-Aid. Then again, the old NASA is all they know. Their premise statements are all false, so everything that follows is unsupported. ... America...

• Commented on New Roles for NASA Centers

  As I read it, COTS Cargo is staying at JSC, while COTS Crew is a joint effort between JSC and KSC, which makes sense. Yes, this could be seen as a win for the state with one Democratic senator over...

• Commented on Is A Human Space Flight Compromise Emerging?

  Any "compromise" that continues the Shuttle infrastructure will kill NASA's future unless it is funded completely with additional budget money. That means at least an additional $3 billion per year plus whatever development money is needed for Shuttle-C, etc. The...

• Commented on Mike Griffin Update

  So, if an opinion poll showed that the American public's top priority for NASA is "Dancing With the Stars" performed on the ISS with new contestants every week, MC'd by former Apollo astronauts, and broadcast live to Earth, then you'd...