Space policies, NASA, and the next administrator

The new President's space policies will have huge ramifications for US space exploration and development efforts for decades to come. I hope that the demands from all the economic and foreign policy issues do not prevent sound decisions from being made regarding space : On Heels Of Campaign Promises Obama Faces Big NASA Decisions - Space News - Nov.8.08.

The Bush administration pretty much left all decisions on NASA up to Mr. Griffin (though I've heard there was pressure from high up to get the COTS program off the ground). I expect that after the initial polices are set with regard to the Shuttle retirement, this administration, which will be focused on other matters, will also give its NASA chief great leeway with the running of the agency. So the selection of the administrator is obviously very important. The above article ends with this passage :

Whether Griffin would be asked to stay given the number of other people said to be interested in the job this time around remains to be seen.

I certainly hope that he is replaced and that the new administrator would review the whole Ares I/V/Orion architecture, which I believe is a horrendous waste of resources. It's unlikely that the Ares I and Orion projects will be canceled (though, as mentioned earlier, a successful Falcon 9/Dragon flight would help), at least there is a slight possibility of it happening with a NASA chief that is not so deeply invested in them.

Unfortunately, Senator Nelson from Florida is urging Mr. Obama to keep Griffin in place: Goodie - Transterrestrial Musings.

[Update Nov.8.08: See also Nelson: Keep Griffin, for now - Space Politics - Nov.7.08.]

Posted 11/08/08 | 00:37:38 by TopSpacer | Filed under: Space policy

Comments

Please write about new space to Obama at

http://change.gov/page/s/of...

Posted by Miklos at 11/08/08 07:57:50

It's the next best thing to shutting down the space program; keep Griffin in place, keep spending money on junk but make sure nothing gets accomplished but Another Damn SRB-boosted capsule.

Posted by Phil at 11/08/08 09:20:28

Thanks for pointing out aboue change.gov website. I entered my pro-COTS ideas. If enough of us entered that info, maybe they might take notice as another idea to simulate the economy(well, long-term).

Is it me or that every time that private space is about to take off the economy starts to go down??

Posted by Anonymous Coward at 11/09/08 08:45:09

Lori Garver...Main reason I opt'd out of the NSS.

Posted by Doug at 11/09/08 15:17:25

"Is it me or that every time that private space is about to take off the economy starts to go down??"

It's manipulation by the Vulcans. They don't want us off planet, or so I've been told. ;)

It seems a bit spooky:

1987: PacAm was trying to raise money, so also AMROC.

1998: Rotary's Series C private placement went on the street the same month as the satellite financing market collapsed.

2000+ Rotary and others trying to raise new funding. Dot com crash begins.

2008: Everybody trying to find funding.

Of course, since everyone is trying to raise money all the time, fund raising is bound to coincide with market downturns. So the reality is, there is probably no correlation.

Posted by Gary C Hudson at 11/09/08 16:51:26

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