Dennis Overbye of the New York Times offers his lament about the end of the shuttle program with no clear path forward.

“… But America still has no vision at all for its space program, no plan for where to go next or how.

“I can’t blame NASA for that. NASA works for the president, and the president can do only what Congress will give him or her the money for. And Congress answers to the people – that is to say, its campaign contributors. They’ve all just been doing what they think they have to do, but an astronomer I know who grew up with the same science fiction dreams and expectations as I did once described himself as a member of the ‘cheated generation.'”

“I no longer expect to see boot prints on Mars during my lifetime, nor do I expect that whoever eventually makes those boot prints will be drawing a paycheck from NASA, or even speaking English.”

A Pew Research Center poll released today shows that a majority of the American people — 58 percent — think that it is “essential” for the United States to be a world leader in space exploration.

The poll also showed that 38 percent do not think it is essential. The remaining 4 percent did not know or did not answer. In addition, 55 percent think the space shuttle program has been a good investment, while 36 percent think it has not (the remainder did not know or did not answer).

The poll asked a number of questions about how Americans view the space program and the results are broken down by political party and demographic data. Republicans and Independents believe U.S. leadership is essential more than Democrats do. Those who earn more than $75,000 and those who earn less than $30,000 think it is essential more than those who earn between those amounts, but it’s close in the latter two categories.

The poll was conducted by telephone between June 15-19, 2011 and has a sampling error of 3.5 percentage points. Except for the question about the space shuttle, the questions were about the space program in general; they did not differentiate between human and robotic missions.

The countdown for the final space shuttle launch is underway, but the weather may not cooperate on Friday.

NASA reported today that there is a 60 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms at launch time on Friday (11:26 am). Apart from that, everything appears “go”.

Hope that everyone is enjoying the July 4 holiday! This is a slow week for space policy related events, despite the fact that both the House and Senate will be in session. The House had its break last week and the Senate planned to be off this week, but after President Obama criticized Congress for leaving town while the debt limit talks were still underway, the Senate changed its mind.

During the Week

The BIG EVENT this week, of course, is the final launch of the space shuttle. Atlantis is scheduled to lift off at 11:26 am ET from Kennedy Space Center, FL. We will be there covering the event live. Follow us on Twitter: @spcplcyonline

Also important is the House Appropriations subcommittee markup of the appropriations bill that includes NASA and NOAA, and the separate appropriations bill that includes the U.S. Geological Survey, on Thursday. That will be the first official congressional action on the FY2012 budget requests for those agencies.

Wednesday-Friday, July 6-8

• National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Assessment of NASA’s Earth Science Program, Seattle, WA. The only open sessions of the meeting are on July 6 from 1:00-4:00 pm PDT.

Thursday, July 7

• House Appropriations Committee Interior-Environment subcommittee markup of the Interior-Environment bill, which includes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which operates the Landsat satellites and is proposing to take over the entire Landsat program from NASA, 9:00 am EDT, B-308 Rayburn.
• House Appropriations Committee Commerce-Science-Justice subcommittee markup of the CJS bill, which includes NASA and NOAA, 10:15 am EDT, H-140 Capitol.

Friday, July 8

• Final launch of the space shuttle program. Atlantis launch scheduled for 11:26 am EDT from Kennedy Space Center, FL.

Eric Sterner, a fellow at the George C. Marshall Institute, a former congressional staffer and a former NASA official, has an interesting op-ed piece in the Washington Post today dispelling “five myths” about NASA.

The Washington Post also has an article by Joel Achenbach today entitled “Final NASA shuttle mission clouded in rancor” that exposes the deep rift between current NASA leadership and some of the most iconic members of the space community over the future of the human spaceflight program.

Here are just two notable quotes from the article:

• “We have a program. We have a budget. We have bipartisan support. We have a destination,” NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said. “We are just putting finer points on the rocket design.”
• Here’s Bob Crippen, who was the pilot of the first shuttle mission, STS-1, back in 1981: “I’ve never seen NASA so screwed up as it is right now. ._._. They don’t know where they’re going.”

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden shared the podium with astronaut Mark Kelly at the National Press Club this afternoon. Both were upbeat about the future of the U.S. human spaceflight program and Kelly humorously refuted speculation that he might run for political office.

For space aficionados, there was nothing new in Bolden’s speech. Bolden insisted that the end of the shuttle program is not the end of U.S. preeminence in human spaceflight. Reiterating themes he has used many times, he emphasized the need for new ways of doing business, especially turning crew transportation to low Earth orbit over to the commercial sector. He repeatedly praised the commercial companies.

Questions had to be submitted in advance and were asked by the moderator. One asked about the safety of the commercial crew systems and whether Bolden himself would ride on one. Bolden replied that many of his former astronaut colleagues now work for the companies building the commercial systems so he is confident about their safety. As to whether he would fly on one – “in a heartbeat,” he said, adding jokingly “don’t tell my wife.” He also said that he would not be standing there promoting a system that he did not personally believe would be safe.

He imparted no news on the most controversial issue at NASA today – choosing the design of the new Space Launch System. — saying only that they were “nearing a decision” and “will announce it soon.” On June 16, NASASpaceflight.com quoted from a memo that was said to reflect decisions made by Bolden about the design, but no official announcement has been forthcoming.

Bolden also touched on NASA’s other mission areas, science and aeronautics, and focused on the need to get kids interested in science and math.

It is the human spaceflight program that is on everyone’s mind, however, as the final space shuttle launch draws near. Bolden vowed that “I’m not about to let human spaceflight go away on my watch” or “let it flounder” because the program is unsustainable.

Astronaut Mark Kelly also spoke briefly, admitting that he will be sad after the last shuttle flight lands. A new chapter is opening up, however, and the space program will continue to be “a great investment for the American people,” he said. Thanking everyone for the “outpouring of support” for his wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), who is recovering from an assassination attempt in January, Kelly responded to rumors that he might be considering a run for office himself. Some of the speculation, fueled by his decision to retire from NASA, is that if Giffords is not able to run, he would take her place. Kelly joked that it must be a “slow summer” for the press to be speculating about that and he has no such plans. His wife “is the politician in the family; I’m the space guy, and I see no reason to change that.”

NASA Admininistrator Charlie Bolden will speak at the National Press Club in about an hour.

According to the Press Club, Bolden will be joined at the head table by Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and astronaut Mark Kelly. Bolden will discuss “America’s continued commitment to leadership in human spaceflight, Bolden will also speak about NASA’s plans to extend human presence beyond low-Earth orbit.”

The event will be webcast on the Press Club’s website, which currently states that the webcast will begin at 12:50 pm EDT, though elsewhere it says that Bolden’s comments begin at 1:00. It also will be carried on NASA TV and C-Span.

NASA has released a “what’s next” message from NASA Administrator Bolden to NASA employees that presages what he is going to tell the National Press Club shortly.

MESSAGE FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR

What’s Next for NASA

In just a couple of hours, I am delivering an address at the National Press Club to talk about NASA’s future, and before I do so, I wanted to share with you what I’m going to be discussing. You can also watch the speech at 1:00 p.m. EDT on NASA TV or the Web, or if you are at Headquarters, in the James Webb Auditorium.

Next week, NASA will launch its final Space Shuttle mission, turning the page on a remarkable period in America’s history in space, while beginning the next chapter in our nation’s extraordinary story of exploration. From the early exploits of Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark and Robert Peary to the breakthrough journeys of Alan Shepard and John Glenn, Americans have always been a curious people — bold enough to imagine new worlds, ingenious enough to chart a course to them and courageous enough to go for it. And the gifts of knowledge and innovation that we have brought back from the unknown have played their part in the building of our more perfect union.

Some say that our final shuttle mission will mark the end of America’s 50 years of dominance in human spaceflight. As a former astronaut and the current NASA Administrator, I want to tell you that American leadership in space will continue for at least the next half-century because we have laid the foundation for success — and here at NASA failure is not an option.

President Obama has given us a Mission with a capital “M” — to focus again on the big picture of exploration and the crucial research and development that will be required for us to move beyond low Earth orbit. He’s charged us with carrying out the inspiring missions that only NASA can do, which will take us farther than we’ve ever been — to orbit Mars and eventually land on it. He’s asked us to start planning a mission to an asteroid, and right now our Dawn spacecraft is approaching one of the biggest in the solar system, Vesta. What it finds out could help inform such a mission.

The President is asking us to harness that American spirit of innovation, the drive to solve problems and create capabilities that is so embedded in our story and has led us to the Moon, to great observatories, and to humans living and working in space, possibly indefinitely. That American ingenuity is alive and well, and it will fire up our economy and help us create and win the future now.

So when I hear people say — or listen to media reports — that the final shuttle flight marks the end of U.S. human spaceflight, I have to say . . . these folks must be living on another planet. We are not ending human spaceflight, we are recommitting ourselves to it and taking the necessary — and difficult — steps today to ensure America’s pre-eminence in human spaceflight for years to come.

I spent 14 years at NASA before leaving and then returning to head the agency. Some of the people I respect most in the world are my fellow astronauts. Some of my best friends died flying on the shuttle. I’m not about to let human spaceflight go away on my watch. And I’m not going to let it flounder because we pursued a path that we couldn’t sustain.

We have to get out of the business of owning and operating low Earth orbit transportation systems and hand that off to the private sector, with sufficient oversight to ensure the safety of our astronauts. American companies and their spacecraft should send our astronauts to the ISS, rather than continuing to outsource this work to foreign governments. That is what I am committed to and that is what we are going to do.

Along with supporting the ISS and commercial crew transportation, NASA will pursue two critical building blocks for our deep space exploration future — a deep space crew vehicle and an evolvable heavy-lift rocket. As you know, we have made a decision to base the new multi-purpose crew vehicle, or MPCV — our deep space crew module — on the original work we’ve done on the Orion capsule. We’re nearing a decision on the heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, and will announce that decision soon.

Our destinations for humans beyond Earth remain ambitious. They include: the Moon, asteroids, and Mars. The debate is not if we will explore, but how we’ll do it. The International Space Station is the centerpiece of our human spaceflight for the coming decade. Every research investigation and all of the systems that keep the ISS operational help us figure out how to explore farther from our planet and improve life here.

And we have a huge number of amazing science missions coming up. We’ll advance aeronautics research to create a safer, more environmentally friendly and efficient air travel network.

NASA is moving forward and making change because the status quo is no longer acceptable. President Obama has outlined an urgent national need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build our competitors and create new capabilities that will take us farther into the solar system and help us learn even more about our place in it. NASA is ready for this grand challenge.

As we go into this Independence Day holiday weekend, my thoughts are on what it means to be an American and this great responsibility we have to our country. For those of us in public service, it is a commitment to serve our country. Thank you for your work and your dedication;_ we would not have this amazing, American space program if it were not for people like you. Have a wonderful and safe holiday and may God bless America!

Charlie B.

UPDATE: It’s OFF! And I saw it! First ever launch I’ve seen from my own front yard (just outside Washington, DC).

UPDATE: Launch remains on track for 11:09 liftoff.

UPDATE: The current planned launch time is 11:09 pm tonight.

UPDATE: They are going to try to launch tonight at the end of the launch window, which closes at 11:28 pm.

UPDATE: They are trying again to switch to internal power as part of their troubleshooting.

UPDATE: The launch is on hold because of a problem switching internal power on and external power off for the flight termination system. The length of the hold is being determined.

ORIGINAL STORY

The view of the ORS-1 launch should be even better since it was postponed until 10:05 pm — about 10 minutes from now. Follow the countdown at Wallops’s website and if you’re on the mid-Atlantic coast, look up!