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• Commented on Expedition XXX: Some Times Things Go Unnoticed. Oops.

  This reminds me a youngster saw license plate of his grandmother's car which had letters "WTF" along with numbers. He laughed and said, "hey you got WTF!" Grandma had no idea what her grandson was talking about until after a...

• Commented on Newt Skywalker

  I question if his policies will improve "infrastructure" necessary for a strong space program. STEM is great but if education budgets have to compete with military budgets, education will lose. If more and more design, development, manufacturing sent outside this...

• Commented on Neil Tyson: Misquoted or Missing The Point?

  > Perhaps some of that antiquated hardware is worth a second look > and can still teach us a few lessons today. Well yes but what we are doing right now is extremely expensive. Yes, it is true NASA is...

• Commented on John Grunsfeld - New SMD AA?

  Is that binder label, "Going Boldly For Dummies" your photoshop or the real deal?...

• Commented on Retro NASA Watch

  How about 8mm "video" clips? Here is a youtube clip showing the last launch of the Saturn super rocket at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pm4fXeplUg Cameraman also shows various people at the VIP launch site (I think that is McCall himself doing a painting)...

• Commented on Large NASA Programs: Located In Florida = "Jobs", Out of State = "Boondoggle, Pork"

  I was just thinking of us arguing over Orion, Dragon, Soyuz, etc. and yet struggling on "getting back on track" for HSF.... kind of like companies such as Ampex debating about development of a VCR in 1970, and Richard Elkus...

• Commented on SpaceX's Secret Sauce

  I think this country is fortunate Musk moved here instead of another country. Whether SpaceX succeeds or not, it has raised questions such as was Shuttle a Ferrari to the n-th degree and issues of copying by China. Is your...

• Commented on YouTube Fail - Blocks NASA Video

  Oh boy, these content management systems... reminds me of a recent slashdot.org discussion on "Warner Brothers: Automated Takedown Notices Hit Files That Weren't Ours." When I encounter such videos on youtube, I use hidemyass.com however this video still cannot be...

• Commented on Unprecedented View of the Sun

  This may be a misnomer but you must admit, this is a cool picture!...

• Commented on Apollo on Steroids Redux: Big Rockets Are The Only Answer

  I have to admit I have not studied heavy lift vs. medium lift. What stands out in my mind is when Dennis Wingo said heavy lift (i.e. Saturn V class vehicle) is a non-starter. Congress will never approve such funding...

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

  <rant> What gets me steamed is this cry we gotta stop the Chinese from stealing our secrets, we can't let them beat us in the space race, etc., etc,. etc,. Hey! Why don't we stop exporting ***all*** of our manufacturing...

• Commented on No, Bob, The White House Is Not Going to "terminate NASA's planetary exploration program"

  Not sure about other NASAWatch readers but I don't take what Bob Zubrin says that seriously, I know others get really turned off when he gets on the microphone or on a keyboard. However, planetary exploration could be significantly reduced...

• Commented on NASA IG Sends Cops in Flack Vests After 74 Year Old, 4'11" Grandmother

  Seems like going after grannys trying to sell a speck of moon dust collected 40 years ago, arguing over what city gets a 35 year old orbiter test flight vehicle, debating of using foreign spacecraft used since the 1960s to...

• Commented on X-37 Variant To Launch Crews?

  > U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, toting top-secret payloads into Earth orbit. This seems similar to requirements set by USAF for Shuttle design phase 1 (or 2) studies way back when. Back to the future! Maybe this can lead...

• Commented on Students Provide Neil Armstrong With Some Advice For His Hearing

  I was at Titusville SVP to view STS135 launch, I was talking with some college students about space (what else?). I asked them what they think of the Space Shuttle that made its first launch before any of them were...

• Commented on SLS Design Unveiled

  Timing is interesting considering elections coming up..... I just watched the 2005 MIT lecture by John Logsdon on "The Decision to Build the Shuttle" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOAyzURugaw After about four years of studies on reusable space vehicles while NASA budgets were being...

• Commented on Alabama Vs Florida Food Fight Over SLS Funds

  I was talking with someone that worked on the civilian space exploration team (CSXT) rocket engine, I asked does he follows SLS news, "why should I? That's Shelby's thing."...

• Commented on Russia Is Bored With U.S.-Subsidized Russian Human Space Flight

  Maybe Russians like Americans are getting bored going around in circles. When or if when someone goes beyond LEO, it will be like Apollo 8 when one of the guys in MOCR said, "Finally, we get to go someplace!"...

• Commented on SpaceX - Becoming a Market Leader?

  One thing SpaceX has going for it is owner's name is commonly known unlike Boeing, Lockmart, ATK, etc. If something goes really technically bad or unflattering political fallout, then everyone will point to Elon. So maybe that sense of ownership...

• Commented on Pushing for Solids, SSME etc. for SLS

  Marc, thanks for posting link to PDF of this letter so we can read it ourselves. Regarding TIS, the organization makes me cringe but they at least posted this letter. Unless it is someplace else (most likely but hard to...

• Commented on DIRECTV Charges for (Free) NASA TV

  You can receive NASA TV direct but that's C-band (who in the heck has those anyway?) Besides DirectTV shows only the Public channel, sometimes there is stuff on Media channel only. But then many watch it online so maybe it's...

• Commented on MRO News Conference: Water Flowing on Mars

  >Charles Bolden said, "and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination >for human exploration." I say don't even think about human exploration. It's too far, too expensive, and pushes chemical propulsion technology to the limits. I agree a geologist...

• Commented on Boeing Announces Commercial Crew Rocket Selection

  Very interesting, looks much like Orion but maybe mating to an existing launcher that doesn't scream through max Q like Ares 1 can provide more payload (people) and keep launch costs below Shuttle or Ares 1. I wonder what motivated...

• Commented on Senate Issues Subpoena to NASA for SLS Materials (Update)

  I found a collection of downloadable videos and PDF files from MIT's OpenCourseWare, one is "Engineering Apollo: The Moon Project as a Complex System." I found interesting is some of the lecture notes regarding the US and USSR moon programs:...

• Commented on Video: The Future of NASA with Neil deGrasse Tyson

  "How much would you pay for the Universe?" Maybe why NASA budget is only 1/2 cent on the dollar because national policy and public are generally "flatlanders." Either looking down or horizontally but not looking up and out. How to...

• Commented on Rejoice Comrades! Glorious Era of Soyuz Begins (Update)

  I read in a forum someplace which writer warned against the theme "the Russians got us over a barrel" and he wrote it is really the other way around. His discussion elaborated on essential funding NASA provides to the Russians...

• Commented on Mike Griffin is Still Unhappy

  Maybe the reason why SLS is not moving forward is because for the past 40 years, every proposal formal and informal for a heavy lift vehicle has been rejected (i.e. Shuttle-C, AresV). Maybe something different needs to be considered (Dennis...

• Commented on McMoon's Gets a Special Visitor

  Nice to see both of you on good terms, maybe due to spin-off of "Barry's magic?" Was Goldin aware you had the WormWatch section or perhaps that's all in the past and now time to move forward (with expection of...

• Commented on Orion, oops I mean NASA's MPCV Does Tour

  It seems whatever you call it, it still doesn't look cool like the orbiter was when it went on "tours." http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/RR009753/space-shuttle-moving-through-town/?ext=1 http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1q6aYYYpm_w/TdRqkI2EIRI/AAAAAAAACCQ/XOBGNa7wix0/s1600/ReidTroySpaceShuttleEndeavor.jpg http://samhumphries.tumblr.com/post/5141647182/march-8-1979-the-space-shuttle-columbia-creeps...

• Commented on SLS: A Rocket NASA Doesn't Need and Can't (Won't) Build?

  I heard the real driver is to maintain ATK's ability to build large SRBs. Since there are no more Shuttle SRBs to build or maintain, and there are less Minuteman missiles, the SLS is to maintain that manufacturing ability so...