Keith Cowing

Recent Actions

• Posted A Less Than Perfect Rollout to NASA Watch

  British astronaut Nicholas Patrick prepares for Nasa space launch, The Telegraph "The head of Nasa, Major General Charlie Bolden, admitted last night that the task of breaking the news of Constellation's proposed cancellation to staff at the space agency's 10...

• Posted GAO Hits NASA on Project Management to NASA Watch

  GAO: NASA Assessments of Selected Large-Scale Projects "Many of the projects GAO reviewed experienced challenges in developing new or retrofitting older technologies, stabilizing engineering designs, managing the performance of their contractors and development partners, as well as funding and launch...

• Posted Morning After Reaction To NASA Budget to NASA Watch

  - Obama ends moon program, endorses private spaceflight, CNet - NASA reboots, focuses on cheaper, sustainable exploration, Arc Technica - Private Spacefligth Goes Public, MSNBC - NASA budget kills Constellation program, shifts work to private space contractors, Huntsville Times -...

• Posted Preview of Official NASA Budget/Policy Events - 2nd Update to NASA Watch

  Keith's note: Places where you can expect to hear Charlie Bolden, Lori Garver, and others spell out what NASA's budget means - and what the agency will and will not be doing with that budget: Keith's update: Late Sunday...

• Posted Going In Circles Again: America Will Abandon Human Lunar Exploration - And Much More to NASA Watch

  Report: Obama Budget to Scrub Moon Mission, CBS News "Instead of blasting off to the moon, NASA's hopes for a manned mission there have been blasted to pieces, sources in the White House, Congress and NASA tell the Orlando Sentinel."...

• Posted The Ares 1 Cancellation Backlash Begins - Before It Is Even Announced to NASA Watch

  Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee - Hearing: Key Issues and Challenges Facing NASA: Views of the Agency's Watchdogs 3 Feb 2010 Witnesses: - Hon. Paul K. Martin, Inspector General, National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Ms. Cristina T. Chaplain, Director, Acquisition...

• Posted NASA: Time To Do More With Less, Do Less, or Do Things Differently? to NASA Watch

  Budget Freeze Is Proposed, Wall Street Journal "President Barack Obama intends to propose a three-year freeze in spending that accounts for one-sixth of the federal budget--a move meant to quell rising concern over the deficit but whose practical impact will...

• Posted NASA: Less Money, New Direction? to NASA Watch

  No $1B Budget Increase for NASA; Fate of Ares 1 Rocket Still Unclear, Space News "NASA will not be getting the $1 billion budget boost civil space advocates had hoped to see when President Barack Obama sends his 2011 spending...

• Posted Paradigm Shift Ahead for Human Space Flight to NASA Watch

  White House Decides to Outsource NASA Work, Wall Street Journal "The White House has decided to begin funding private companies to carry NASA astronauts into space, but the proposal faces major political and budget hurdles, according to people familiar with...

• Posted Video of Suborbital Scientist Centrifuge Training at NASTAR to NASA Watch

  Keith's note: Archived streaming video of suborbital scientists undergoing centrifuge training at NASTAR is now online here. Higher quality video will be posted shortly....

• Posted The Moon rocks were not lost - we just could not find them to NASA Watch

  Moon rocks from first and last Apollo missions turn up in locked cabinet in Hawaii, AP "Lenny Klompus, a spokesman for Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, says the rocks were never actually missing. He says state employees knew the rocks were...

• Posted LaRC Management Wants To Know Why People Show Up for Work to NASA Watch

  NASA LaRC Internal Memo: Let Your Voice Be Heard "Over 500 of you responded to the Langley Story survey and we will shortly have some preliminary results. The next step is a series of focus groups to further define what...

• Posted Stadd In Court Part II to NASA Watch

  Ex-top NASA official charged in Mississippi, Houston Chronicle "A former high-ranking NASA official pleaded not guilty Monday to nine federal charges accusing him of steering a $600,000 contract to Mississippi State University, a client of his consulting firm. Courtney A....

• Posted Garver To Speak at Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference to NASA Watch

  NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver Announced as Keynote Speaker for the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in February "NASA's Deputy Administrator, Lori Garver, will be the opening keynote speaker at the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference on February 18-20, 2010, at which...

• Posted Video: Bolden's Speech to the AAS to NASA Watch

  "NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden gave the keynote address at the 215th American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting held in Washington, DC. With some 3,500 in attendance and more than 2,200 scientific presentations this is the largest astronomy meeting in history....

• Posted This Week in Space With Miles O'Brien to NASA Watch

  Keith's note: This Week in Space With Miles O'Brien is now online. Leroy Chiao, Ken Bowersox, and Mike Griffin are guests....

• Posted Jumping The Gun to NASA Watch

  Report that Obama decided on space policy may be premature , Orlando Sentinel "A report by a respected science publication that said President Barack Obama has decided on a new space policy for NASA may be premature, according to Write...

• Posted Flying Air NASA to NASA Watch

  Conflict of interest? Congresswoman staunchly backs Constellation -- and is wed to astronaut, Orlando Sentinel "On Memorial Day weekend in 2007, Kelly flew to Indiana to watch the Indy 500 with Giffords, his then-fiancée. Kelly listed the purpose of the...

• Posted Wall Street Journal on Commercial Space and Obama to NASA Watch

  New Course for Space Exploration Promotes Private Firms, WS Journal "The Obama administration appears set to chart a new course for U.S. space exploration by promoting the use of private companies to ferry astronauts into orbit, according to people familiar...

• Posted Too Close to NASA For Comfort? to NASA Watch

  Conflict of interest? Congresswoman staunchly backs Constellation -- and is wed to astronaut , Orlando Sentinel "We know it's personal to her," said Dean Acosta, a spokesman for the Boeing Co. and for the Coalition for Space Exploration, which represents...

• Posted Ed Lu on Launch Vehicles to NASA Watch

  Faster, NASA, Faster, Op Ed, Ed Lu, NY Times "To maintain a vibrant, innovative program, NASA needs to step up the rate of rocket launchings. It should set a requirement that any new launching system fly once a week, then...

• Posted Avatar to NASA Watch

  Keith's note: I just saw "Avatar" in IMAX 3D. It is simply stunning, utterly convincing, and profoundly immersive. You must see it. This is not a "movie". It is something much more - a paradigm shifter to be certain....

• Posted <strike>10</Strike> 9% of the 21st Century Has Been Used Up to NASA Watch

  Keith's note: In a few short days we will have used up 10 9% of the 21st Century (10 years starting with"200_"). When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, this was supposed to be a magical...

• Posted Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation to NASA Watch

  Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation Public Meeting, FAA "New COE for Commercial Space Transportation Public Meeting - February 9, 2010 The FAA Administrator has concurred with the request to establish a new Center of Excellence (COE) for Commercial...

• Posted Laurie Leshin Is The New ESMD Deputy AA to NASA Watch

  NASA Names New Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration "Laurie Leshin has been named the new deputy associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, effective in January. Leshin previously served as the deputy center director for science...

• Posted Pandora Could Exist to NASA Watch

  Avatar's Moon Pandora Could Be Real, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics "In the new blockbuster Avatar, humans visit the habitable - and inhabited - alien moon called Pandora. Life-bearing moons like Pandora or the Star Wars forest moon of Endor are...

• Posted Waterworld Found to NASA Watch

  Waterworld Discovered Transiting a Nearby Star, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics "Astronomers have announced that they have discovered a "super-Earth" orbiting a red dwarf star only 40 light-years from Earth. They found this nearby planet with a small fleet of ground-based...

• Posted Lakes and Fog on Titan to NASA Watch

  Sun's Glint Reveals Lakes on Titan, JPL "NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan, confirming the presence of liquid on the part of the moon dotted with many large,...

• Posted Why Your NASA Computer May Not Work Properly to NASA Watch

  NASA Internal Email: Agency Planned IT Outage Starts December 18 "Benefits: Enhanced network management, accessibility, and system performance Services Affected: This notification covers the NASA Data Center Network Upgrade and activities performed by the NEACC."...

• Posted Parker Griffith AT MSFC Today to NASA Watch

  Rep. Parker Griffith to speak with Marshall Space Flight Center employees Friday, Huntsville Times "Rep. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville, is slated to discuss NASA's future Friday in an "all-hands" meeting to be held at Marshall Space Flight Center's auditorium in the...