Former NASA space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale spoke at the von Braun Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama this week : Keynote speaker at von Braun Symposium says NASA needs to ‘try new strategies’ –  al.com

Unfortunately, due to the govt shutdown, there were no NASA officials there to hear him say this:

“The current plan is fragile in the political and financial maelstrom that is Washington,” Hale said. “Planning to fly large rockets once every three or four years does not make a viable program. It is not sustainable.

“Continuing to develop programs in the same old ways, from my observations, will certainly lead to cancellation as government budgets are stretched thin. It is time to try new strategies.”

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More space policy links:

• American Space Exploration Depends Too Much on Russia – World Report (usnews.com) – I posted a comment to this article
• NASA Keeps Chinese Away From Aliens – Bloomberg
• An urgent national threat — from space – The Hill’s Congress Blog
• NASA’s Texas Contractors Face Steep Drop-Off – Aviation Week
• Tight Budgets Slow Exploration Development – Aviation Week
• Industry Touts Maturity of Space Fence Technology – SpaceNews.com