The Marshall Institute and the Space Enterprise Council/TechAmerica will hold a third seminar in their series “A Day Without Space” on July 28 from 8:30-12:00 at TechAmerica, 601 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., North Building, Suite 600, Washington, D.C. RSVP required. See the agenda for further details and RSVP information.

The Marshall Institute website has transcripts of the prior Day Without Space meetings:
A Day Without Space: Economic and National Security Ramifications
A Day without Space: National Security Ramifications

For anyone who missed the BIG EVENT at the National Air and Space Museum last night featuring the Apollo 11 crew — Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Mike Collins — you can view the webcast here.

The astronauts’ talks really are worth a listen. For those who don’t have time to watch the entire hour and a half webcast, Buzz begins at minute 38:50, Mike at 54:45, and Neil at 1:08:40. .

President Obama met with the Apollo 11 astronauts, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver this afternoon. According to CNN, he hailed the Apollo 11 crew as “three American heroes” and with regard to the future:

“We expect that there is, as we speak, another generation of kids out there who are looking up at the sky and are going to be the next Armstrongs, Collinses and Aldrins,” Obama said. “We want to make sure that NASA is going to be there for them when they want to take their journey.”

Also, there was this exchange about the future of the space program during the daily White House press briefing by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

Q I want to briefly change the subject to the manned space program. I know the President is going to be talking about this momentarily, but from a budgetary standpoint, does the President think that America can afford to go back to the Moon or to Mars? I know it’s under review, but in the larger sense is he not worried about the cost?

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, as I said to the most — two previous questions, you’re always worried on any expenditure about cost. I know that the administration is committed to human space exploration. We’ve said that throughout the campaign. And as you mentioned, there is a committee set up through NASA to evaluate this and come back with recommendations as to NASA’s policy going forward I think later in August. And the President looks forward to seeing those commission recommendations, and I have no doubt that the President will get an opportunity to listen to astronauts that walked on the Moon 40 years ago — listen to their perspective and get a sense of what those missions did for scientific discovery and how that will impact the future.

Q It’s been estimated that in today’s dollars the Moon project would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Is it conceivable that that kind of money could be spent in this environment?

MR. GIBBS: Well, I think, without looking at that study, my assumption is that if you have no space program and start a space program, there are significant start-up costs, development costs, R&D costs that I think, factoring 40-year-ago dollars into current decisions, may not extrapolate quite as perfectly as one might presume. But again, the President looks forward to the commission’s recommendations.

Marcia Bartusiak has written a very entertaining and thought provoking op-ed for today’s Washington Post (July 19, 2009). She reminds us not just how big the universe is — and what a tiny part of it we are in — but that it may not be a UNiverse at all. Maybe we are in a MULTIverse of many parallel universes. Sound outrageous? Sure, but so was Copernicus’ idea that the Earth was not, in fact, the center of the universe. Science is full of surprises. That’s what makes it so cool.

The Washington Post has devoted most of its Sunday Outlook section today, July 19, 2009, to the future of the space program. Mike Griffin, Howard McCurdy, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Marcia Bartusiak are among the opiners. Here are a few excerpts from Mike Griffin’s “Let’s Reach for the Stars Again”:

Op-ed by Mike Griffin in the Washington Post, July 19: Let’s Reach for the Stars Again

“Only in human spaceflight do we celebrate the anniversary of an achievement that seems more difficult to repeat than to accomplish the first time. Only in human spaceflight can we find in museums things that most of us in the space business wish we still had today.”

“You either believe that expanding the range of human action and thereby creating options for the future is a noble endeavor, worthy of the cost and risk, or you do not. No lesser justification is acceptable, and no greater justification is needed.”

“No one can wrest leadership in space from the United States. But we can certainly cede it, and that is the path we are on.”

Via Twitter, NASA has announced that Charlie Bolden and Lori Garver have been sworn in as NASA Administrator and Deputy Administrator, respectively. Here’s the tweet, with a link to a photo.

NASART @nasahqphoto Lori B. Garver and Charles F. Bolden Jr. Pose for a photo together http://flic.kr/p/6FB97D

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter now in orbit around the Moon has taken images of several of the Apollo landing sites, including Apollo 11. See the images in NASA’s press release .

Bill Harwood of CBS News’ Space Place reports that “an as-yet-unknown mechanism” caused foam to peel away from the intertank area during the STS-127 launch yesterday. He quotes space shuttle program manager John Shannon as saying “There is nothing that we have seen on the orbiter that causes us any concern” but “Of course, since this looks like a new mechanism of shedding foam off the intertank, we need to understand that. It did not hurt us, apparently, on this flight, because it came off so late. But we’ll need to understand that before the next flight.”

The following events may be of interest next week. Dates, times and witnesses for congressional hearings and markups are subject to change; check with the relevant committee for up-to-date information.

Special Event: Apollo 11 40^th Anniversary

July 20 is the 40^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon. Congratulations once more to Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and the entire Apollo team! On July 19-20, celebrations will take place in many locations across the United States. NASA has a list of NASA-sponsored events.

Other Events (in Washington, D.C. unless otherwise noted)

On the Senate Floor

The Senate is expected to continue debate on the FY2010 DOD authorization bill (S. 1390), which was not completed during the week of July 13 due to two controversial amendments that slowed debate: one to remove funding added in committee for seven more F-22s than the Administration (and many others) wanted, and another expanding the definition of hate crimes.

Congressional Hearings and Other Events

July 21

8:00 am House Armed Services Defense Acquisition Panel Hearing on Shaping a Workforce for Today’s Acquisition Environment that Can Meet Defense Department Needs 2118 Rayburn

10:00 am House Science and Technology Subcommittee Hearing on Encouraging Participation of Female Students in STEM Fields 2318 Rayburn

July 22

9:00 am House Appropriations Committee markup of FY2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill 2359 Rayburn

July 23 — Pasadena, CA

10:00 am PDT Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Quarterly Meeting JPL Von Karman Auditorium

Gallup released a new poll today of what Americans think about the space program. Overall, they appear quite supportive, with 58% saying that the space program has brought enough benefits to justify its costs. As for NASA funding, 46% think the current level is right, and 14% would like to see it increased. Also, 45% think NASA is doing a good job, and another 13% think it is doing an excellent job. The poll was taken July 10-12, 2009.