* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: NASA Plans

Blobrana · L

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced the administration's fiscal year 2011 budget request Monday by calling for change and a new era of innovation in America's approach to science and space exploration. On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the associate administrators of the mission directorates will hold teleconferences to discuss the budget's impact on their specific areas.
Read more

Blobrana · L

NASA will hold news conferences on Monday, Feb. 1, and Tuesday, Feb. 2, to discuss the fiscal year 2011 budget request and announce bold new developments in the nation's civil space effort.
On Monday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Chief Financial Officer Beth Robinson will brief reporters about the agency's fiscal year 2011 budget during a teleconference at 12:30 p.m. EST.

Source NASA

Blobrana · L

Flat budget, limited goals may be in NASA's future

Far from getting the $3 billion more each year that experts suggest NASA needs for meaningful human spaceflight, President Barack Obama is expected to offer little new money to the space agency when his budget is released Monday.
Although there's no official word from the White House or NASA, space policy analysts and legislators say it's likely the space agency's budget will remain "flat" for the coming year, potentially leaving humans stuck in near-Earth orbit for the foreseeable future.
Read more

Ed ~ There are, of course, other countries that can potentially take humans beyond near-Earth orbit.

Blobrana · L

State of the Union Address by the President Obama - Full Text

Read more

Ed ~ No mention of funding for NASA or the constellation plan.

Blobrana · L

Panel Calls Program of NASA Unfeasible
A blue-ribbon panel said Tuesday that a lack of financing has left NASA's current space program on an "unsustainable trajectory" and that the Obama administration should consider using private companies to launch people into low-Earth orbit.

Read more

A summary of the report from the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee was provided to the Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and NASA Administrator on Tuesday, September 8. The summary's text is consistent with presentations made during the committee's final public meeting on Aug. 12. The summary has been posted on this website for the public.

Transmittal Letter for Summary Report (pdf, 32K)
Download a copy of the Summary Report. (pdf, 152K)

Source

Blobrana · L

The presidential panel working on a proposal for the U.S. manned space program is looking at some hard choices: Should the shuttle program be extended? Should NASA stick with the rocket chosen for Constellation, the next manned program? Should Constellation go to the moon first or concentrate on getting to Mars?
But there's at least one choice that doesn't call for a rocket scientist: Should NASA keep operating the international space station beyond the 2016 cutoff called for under the agency's current budget plan?

Read more

Blobrana · L

NASA Wont Buy Russian Cargo Vessels
NASA will not acquire more Russian Progress cargo spacecraft after 2011, agency representative David Steitz told the website space.com. NASA will use American commercial craft after that date. Steitz stated that the decision was motivated by the desire not to spend money abroad. The decision to buy Soyuz spacecraft remains in effect. The last flight of the space shuttle is due to take place in 2010. After that, the only way for American astronauts to reach the International Space Station will be by the Russian Soyuz.

Read more

Blobrana · L

A dramatic showdown that threatened to remove the US and its partners from the International Space Station (ISS) appears to be over, as lawmakers eased a trade ban that prevents Nasa from buying Russian space transportation services.
The United States is giving up its own fleet of spaceships in 2010 due to safety and cost issues.

Read more

Blobrana · L

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has clashed repeatedly with the White House in recent months -- a rift that escalated when budget officials heavily edited a statement he was submitting to Congress about China's space ambitions and spilled into the open last week in a leaked e-mail that accused the budget office of doing "everything possible" to walk away from the $100 billion international space station.

Read more