SpaceX tried again this morning, Saturday, to conduct a static fire test of the Falcon 9 rocket in advance of a scheduled orbital launch next week. The first attempt was aborted yesterday at T-1.1 seconds because of high chamber pressure in one of the nine Merlin engines that power Falcon 9. The test this morning was aborted at 9:30 am; SpaceX engineers are troubleshooting the problem and may try again later today according to SpaceflightNow.com, which is covering the test live. The window is open until 3:00 pm.

The orbital launch, scheduled for December 7, is part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to assist SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp develop launch vehicles and spacecraft to service the International Space Station (ISS). NASA has a pre-launch press conference scheduled for Monday at 1:30 pm EST that will be carried on NASATV.

A static fire test of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle was scrubbed today; another attempt may be tried tomorrow. Spaceflightnow.com has a detailed chronology of today’s attempt.

President Obama’s deficit commission released its final report today. Entitled “The Moment of Truth,” one change from the draft released several weeks ago is that it does not call for cancelling funding for NASA’s commercial crew program. In fact, NASA is not specifically mentioned at all, though the commission does recommend significant cuts to discretionary spending of which NASA is a part.

Co-chaired by former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, the 18-member bipartisan commission is tasked with making recommendations to bring the budget into “primary balance” by 2015 and to “meaningfully improve the long-run fiscal outlook.” For discretionary spending, it offers “over $50 billion in immediate cuts to lead by example,” and providea “$200 billion in illustrative 2015 savings.”

“Every aspect of the discretionary budget must be scrutinized, no agency can be off limits, and no program that spends too much or achieves too little can be spared,” it says. The commission also recommends creation of a “Cut-and-Invest” committee that each year would identify 2 percent of the discretionary budget that should be cut and where half of those savings should be reinvested. Expanding research and development in “energy and other critical areas” is cited as an example of potential investments.

The commission did not vote on the report today. Under its bylaws, at least 14 of the commissioners must vote in favor of the report for it to be forwarded to Congress for consideration. A vote is currently scheduled for Friday.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) granted the first commercial reentry license to SpaceX, which plans to use its Dragon spacecraft not only to take cargo and crew to the International Space Station, but back to Earth as well. A test to demonstrate that capability is planned for next month.

The FAA was given regulatory authority over commercial reentry, in addition to its existing authority to regulate launches, in the 1998 Commercial Space Act (P.L. 105-303) At the time, Lockheed Martin was developing a commercial single-stage-to-orbit vehicle called Venturestar as a successor to the space shuttle. NASA partnered with Lockheed Martin on the program, agreeing to invest about $1 billion in research and development (the NASA program was designated X-33). Technical hurdles proved difficult to overcome and Lockheed Martin declined to contine funding the program on its own once the NASA cap was reached. The exact amount Lockheed Martin paid into the program is unclear.

Now, a decade later, another company is attempting to achieve the same fundamental goal — commercial transportation of people to and from orbit — but with more traditional technology, a rocket and a capsule. SpaceX plans to use its Falcon 9 rocket, which succeeded in its first test launch last summer. A second launch is scheduled for December. That launch will test the launch and reentry of the Dragon capsule. It is expected to land in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA issued a press release praising the action by the FAA. The agency is anxious for SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. to succeed in their attempts to develop commercial cargo services for the ISS. Russia’s Progress spacecraft and the space shuttle have been the mainstays of cargo delivery to ISS throughout its lifetime. With the shuttle program ending in 2011, the commercial cargo program is critical to ISS operations.

In addition to Russia’s Progress, Europe and Japan have spacecraft, ATV and HTV respectively, that can take cargo to the ISS. None of those three can survive reentry, however. To date, the space shuttle has been the only way to bring cargo back to Earth, except for a very small amount that can be accommodated in Russia’s Soyuz capsule when it brings crews home.

The Space Show’s interview with SpacePolicyOnline.com correspondent Laura M. Delgado is now available on the Space Show’s website.

For those of you who couldn’t listen live yesterday, here is your chance to hear this really interesting discussion about how corporations are portrayed in science fiction movies and whether that could influence public perception of space commercialization efforts. On that home page, scroll down to the list of shows and select the one for November 19. It takes a while to download — please be patient.

President Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission released a draft of its report today. One of the areas of federal spending it recommends cutting is the government’s proposed subsidy of commercial crew.

That recommendation is the only one out of 54 examples of “illustrative savings” the commission identified in its draft document that directly impacts space activities. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is due to make its final recommendations on December 1.

The Commercial Spaceflight Federation issued a statement criticizing the draft recommendation. Federation President Brett Alexander said the cut would have “disastrous consequences for NASA and the nation.”

The State Department has a posting open for a GS-14 to work in the Office of Space and Advanced Technology in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. The individual will serve as “an authority in analyzing the foreign policy implications of, and recommending policies concerning, space and advanced technologies.” Applications can be submitted through November 5. See the posting for more details.

SpacePolicyOnline.com correspondent Laura M. Delgado has a really interesting piece about space commercialization on Space News’ guest blog. “A Pop-corn Bred Perspective on Space Commercialization” talks about the “gap” not between the end of the space shuttle and whatever succeeds it, but the gap between the space policy community and the public on the role of the private sector in the future of the space program because their exposure to the topic is through science fiction movies. Take a look!

The record-breaking attempt by Felix Baumgartner to become the first human to break the speed of sound in free-fall has been halted by a lawsuit, Universe Today reported yesterday. According to the article, promoter Daniel Hogan has filed suit against the Red Bull Stratos Initiative team claiming he originally pitched the idea in 2004 and that, after a year of conversations where important details were discussed, Red Bull told him they were not interested. Hogan was then surprised when Red Bull announced the project last January without acknowledging his idea or seeking permission to use the confidential information he provided.

As quoted in the article, Red Bull issued the following statement:

“Despite the fact that many other people over the past 50 years have tried to break Colonel (Ret.) Joe Kittinger’s record, and that other individuals have sought to work with Red Bull in an attempt to break his record, Mr. Hogan claims to own certain rights to the project and filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit earlier this year in a Californian court. Red Bull has acted appropriately in its prior dealings with Mr. Hogan, and will demonstrate this as the case progresses . Due to the lawsuit, we have decided to stop the project until this case has been resolved.”

Hogan had allegedly already assembled a team to carry out the stunt, which would have been made from 130,000 feet. Under the Red Bull Stratos Initiative, Baumgartner is to make the jump from a balloon at a slightly lower altitude – 120,000 feet – somewhere in New Mexico as announced last May.

For anyone interested in working in commercial spaceflight in New Mexico, see this press release.