rkoenn

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• Commented on NASA Offers Buyouts To Employees

  It looks like KSC's buyout approvals came through yesterday. I know mine did and a 3 or 4 friends of mine but I don't know how many were finally approved out of the 147. You can also still decline to...

• Commented on NASA Offers Buyouts To Employees

  At KSC they had 147 express interest for the 150 slots. There are some areas that went over allotment and some that were under so that is being worked. A fair amount of the applicants are from engineering. Everyone is...

• Commented on Hearing on China, OSTP & NASA (Political Theater Synopsis)

  China is going to make progress in space. However the paranoids in congress will take anything China does, amplify it, and try to scare everyone in the country. This to them is the same as mom and apple pie. I...

• Commented on Statements & Testimony From Today's House Hearing

  Very good synopsis Stargazer. I have to agree on the Kennedy factoid. I remember well when Kennedy gave speeches and to me he was excellent at it, much better then the great communicator, Reagan, in my opinion. But I also...

• Commented on NASA Statement on Armstrong & Cernan's Testimony

  While I can understand the cynicism in your remarks based on NASA's track record for manned spaceflight for post-shuttle programs, you had better deal with the reality rather than a gee-whiz-bang program or nothing will come to fruition. I was...

• Commented on Last Minute Plea To Not Retire Shuttle Fleet

  There is definitely some reasonable logic in this letter but at this point in time the idea is definitely late to the table. The problem is we have gone so far here at KSC and across the country in terminating...

• Commented on Constellation Program Officially Comes to an End

  It is absurd to blame it on Obama. He took the recommendations of a very intelligent group of space and industry experts that either you give NASA a huge boost in financing or this program will not succeed, at least...

• Commented on Constellation Program Officially Comes to an End

  It is absurd to blame it on Obama. He took the recommendations of a very intelligent group of space and industry experts that either you give NASA a huge boost in financing or this program will not succeed, at least...

• Commented on Apollo Vets Are Not Happy Today (White House Responds)

  WE can no longer be dreamy eyed, and believe me I was, about what the country has in the way of financial resources to give to NASA. There simply is not the money available to do what we might like...

• Commented on Orion: Trying To Get A Straight Answer

  What is quite interesting is that if they let a contract to SpaceX they would spend a significant part of the money in Texas testing the Falcon, in California building the rocket and spacecraft, and in Florida launching it. So...

• Commented on Today's Senate Hearing on NASA

  More of the same. Congress's primary concern is getting money to each Senator's state and not much more. They don't really care how quickly or how much it costs to get US astronauts into orbit and only on how much...

• Commented on Reid to Obama on NASA Budget

  A reasonable letter but with the new Tea Party congressmen and the overall budget cutting psyche I wonder if NASA is going to be exempt? I also wonder if NASA should be exempt? What NASA itself needs to do is...

• Commented on Nelson & Hutchison Cite Federal Legal Precedents to NASA

  Ah so that is why the government has failed so often. But now we know how to succeed, we will legislate success. That ought to work perfectly. And we will have congressmen legislate rocket design. I didn't know we had...

• Commented on Speculation Mounts as White House Mulls Bolden Replacement

  I'm not sure what's up at the moment but we just received a notice that the administrator is going to do a NASA wide announcement at 4:30 PM today. It will be broadcast live but I will have already left...

• Commented on All Hands with JSC Director Mike Coats This Morning

  You would have to look at the business case. Determine if leasing a facility for your payload processing and launch is less expensive than building a new facility and pad. Or you could ship the payload here already processed saving...

• Commented on All Hands with JSC Director Mike Coats This Morning

  The directors briefing at KSC just ended. Basically nothing new to report other than confirmation of what we knew. We will work on the new HLV, build a generic pad and control center to lease, support new technologies, upgrade KSC...

• Commented on Shocking News: Rep. Giffords Uncovers Rocket Designing by Congress

  Giffords is possibly the most blatant of all though. I would bet her husband believed strongly in Constellation and was hoping for a moon flight in the future. Many people, and some very smart, out there want to continue Constellation...

• Commented on Mike Griffin Is Against Congressional Compromise

  I had a fair amount of respect for Griffin initially. However I think he has become/was arrogant and decided his way was always the best way which continues to this day. The biggest problem was although the plan was doable,...

• Commented on House Dems Give Up - Agree To Support "Flawed Bill"

  Do we have any DC experts here who can answer this? If the House approves this tomorrow does that mean it is good to go then? The president still has to sign off on it, right? When would that happen?...

• Commented on Concerns Raised Over House NASA Authorization Bill

  I find the letter very realistic and honest. The house space appropriations bill guts R&D and commercial space and the reason why is to keep the status quo and keep the money flowing to the current space states. It also...

• Commented on Should Congress Design the Next Big Booster?

  The way the budget is being implemented by congress is a huge problem for a realistic space program. I would dare say that only 10% of the congress really has much interest in space. And of course those that do...

• Commented on Bill Lenoir

  I wonder if he was wearing a helmet? I got hit about 3 years ago while riding my road bike on a rural road near my home in Merritt Island that has almost no traffic on it at all. The...

• Commented on Should Congress Design the Next Big Booster?

  I've posted about this in the past. This is a design my congressional districts. SRBs to get the Utah senator's vote, shuttle derived to make Texas and Alabama happy, a big tank (one will be needed of course) to keep...

• Commented on Congressional Staffer Ken Monroe Thinks That NASA Is "Run By Idiots"

  I knew Ken Monroe when he was a NASA engineer out at KSC. We had/have many NASA engineers who really don't want to do engineering, they want to become "managers" or delve into politics and things like that. A certain...

• Commented on What is the Space Shuttle's True Legacy?

  I am in a somewhat unique position to answer this. I started my NASA career as a co-op student during ASTP and returned full time to NASA in 1979. I have therefor spent my entire career in shuttle engineering at...

• Commented on STS-135 Is Almost A Certainty

  That is a very good high level perspective on HSF. I am also a space geek and 20 years ago I would have called it hogwash. But time and its' maturity have taught me there is much more involved than...

• Commented on NASA Authorization Bill Works Its Way Through Appropriators

  Translation: The bill we approved today feeds lots of money to Alabama because we need it here and funding a commercial, and much less expensive, manned launch system to LEO takes money away from Alabama. We therefor voted to send...

• Commented on Letter: Armstrong, Cernan, and Lovell Support NASA Authorization

  The problem with these ex-astronauts, a very smart and accomplished group of individuals, who try to sway political actions is that they are living in a different age under much different circumstances than their glory days. I personally would love...

• Commented on White House/ Senate Compromise Reaction

  I can sympathize with this reality as well. Yes NASA puts more effort into building bureaucracies than developing hardware these days. To a certain extent simply using engineers in operations has been a big part of this problem. And I...

• Commented on White House/ Senate Compromise Reaction

  Well here we go again. Rocket design by congress people! Everyone gets some pork so everyone is happy, or as happy as they can be. Utah continues to produce solids, Alabama is the chief design center, Louisiana continues to build...