New Mars Forums

It won't happen, with Griffen in charge. And to use the term "Vision" together with GWB is an oxymoron. The times they are a'changing, I do believe....

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld … ?track=rss
...One bureaucrat who felt McCain's wrath was former NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, who was summoned by McCain in 1999, not long after a $125-million probe crashed on Mars because of confusion over the use of English and metric units. McCain's Senate Commerce Committee had oversight over NASA.

"McCain went ballistic the moment Goldin walked into McCain's office," said a participant in the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because he still worked in the government arena. "He was shouting and using profanity, saying he was sick of NASA's screw-ups. It went on for a few minutes, and then he kicked Goldin out of the office."

Goldin started walking down the hallway but was called back to the senator's office by a McCain aide. "When he came back in, McCain started yelling at Goldin all over again. And then McCain kicked Goldin out a second time before he ever said a word," the source said.

Ares I won't fly,  John Young is saying

Ares I will fly, it's John Young that won't.

Yep. When people stop doing what you want them to do and it damages your fragile yet megalomanical ego? What is the proper response? To get even of course. How do you do that? Feed rumors of doom to the NASA-hating media, which has an absolute blood lust for ways to stick it to GW Bush.

How is this hard to understand?

At least Musk actually spent money on real Launch Vehicle hardware. I respect that.

I however, cannot stand Tumlinson--who hasn't launched ANYTHING, or that Tax cheat Anderson who trys to take credit for 'private' space tourists atop Soviet era boosters. Space Adventures and the Branson-ites seem more interested in "spaceports" (resorts I call them). Even with the failure--I still rank Musk ahead of Rutan & Co. in crediblility.

I wonder if Musk (if he could get some others to help) could obtain plans for the Saturn IB. It used a cluster of Redstones of about the same size as the current Falson, and would actually be tiny compared to the Stick and carry about as much. But the rumor has it he is already rolling metal on Falcoln V/IX.

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?Cont … da7de39824
Roger Crouch Has Logged Over 471 Hours In Orbit

When you're seeking to advance space exploration, it helps to have someone who knows the territory on your side. The Coalition for Space Exploration told Aero-News Monday it has named former NASA astronaut Roger Crouch to its board of advisors.

The Coalition is a national collaboration of space industry businesses and advocacy groups whose mission is to educate and inform the public on the value and benefits of space exploration. As a board member, Crouch will provide insight and recommendations regarding the organization’s public outreach efforts designed to showcase the importance of America's investment in a robust space exploration program.

It is a telling sign of the times that also during that same week, Elon Musk's SpaceX, an emerging low-cost launch company, test-launched their Falcon-1 rocket. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin filed plans with the FAA for another round of launch and landing tests. Sir Branson's Virgin Galactic has booked 200 people for spaceflights planned to begin in 2009. New Mexico is getting ready to vote on building a spaceport to accommodate these commercial ventures. And there are others. This progress is just 3 years after Burt Rutan won the Ansari X Prize for the first private spaceflight. In step with the classic scenario, these upstarts are doing what the incumbent can't. This is likely to become the venue of future human spaceflight.