Category: Commercial

Space Policy Events for the Week of November 11-17, 2013

Space Policy Events for the Week of November 11-17, 2013

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 10, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 11, 2013 8:40 am ET

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead.  Once again we are defining the “week” to last through next Sunday since there are MAVEN-related activities that day before our next edition of this series is out.   The House and Senate are in session beginning Tuesday (Monday is a federal holiday–Veterans Day).

During the Week

The list of events this week is so long and chock full of interesting activities that it’s tough to choose just one or two to highlight.  

Our top picks include Tuesday’s “Beyond Earth: Removing Barriers to Deep Space Exploration” panel of officials from NASA and its major contractors, coupled with Friday’s “Space Exploration: How and Why?” with a panel of former NASA and “New Space” folks.   The Friday panel includes former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver (now General Manager of the Air Line Pilots Association), former NASA Comptroller and former NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Steve Isakowtiz (now President of Virgin Galactic), another former NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Laurie Leshin (now Dean of Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), and former astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria (now President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation).    Should be interesting to compare the different perspectives.  Both panels are being held in Washington, DC.  Tuesday’s is at the Newseum; Friday’s at the National Press Club.  Click on the links below for more details.

Another interesting event is Wednesday evening’s Earth from Space at the U.S. Naval Memorial in Washington, D.C.,  sponsored by the American Astronautical Society.  Former astronaut Piers Sellers, now at Goddard Space Flight Center, will introduce a condensed version of NOVA’s film Earth from Space.  After the film, Sellers and other experts in earth observation from space will participate in a panel discussion.  Unlike many evening business events in D.C., this time the reception is AFTER the film and panel discussion.  The film starts at 6:00 pm ET and doors open at 5:30 so you can be in your seats on time!

The National Research Council is kicking off a NASA-sponsored study this week on “A Framework for Analyzing the Needs for Continuity of NASA-Sustained Remote Sensing Observations of the Earth from Space.”  That’s quite a mouthful so we just call it “Continuity of Remote Sensing from Space.”  On Tuesday afternoon, agency reps (NASA, NOAA, USGS) and possibly Peter Collohan from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (listed as “invited”) will tell the committee what they want the study to focus on. 

Also on the space-based earth observation front, former astronaut Kathy Sullivan’s nomination to be Administrator of NOAA is rescheduled for action before the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday.   It had been scheduled for October 3, but was postponed because of the government shutdown.  Sullivan is currently acting NOAA Administrator.

Lots and lots of other interesting events on tap, though.  Pick YOUR favorites!

Monday-Friday, November 11-15

Tuesday, November 12

Tuesday-Wednesday, November 12-13

Tuesday-Thursday, November 12-14

Wednesday, November 13

  • NASA News Bfg on Success of COTS Program, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 11:30 am ET
  • Earth from Space (American Astronautical Society), U.S. Navy Memorial, 701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC, 6:00-8:30 pm ET (doors open at 5:30 pm; film begins at 6:00 pm; panel at 6:30 pm; reception at 7:30 pm)

Wednesday-Thursday, November 13-14

Thursday, November 14

Friday, November 15

Sunday, November 17

Last Updated: Nov 11, 2013 8:40 am ET
Senate Intelligence Committee Recommends Relaxing Commercial Satellite Imagery Limits – UPDATE

Senate Intelligence Committee Recommends Relaxing Commercial Satellite Imagery Limits – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 7, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 15, 2013 5:03 pm ET

UPDATE, November 15, 2013:  The report (S. Rept. 113-120) to accompany the bill (S. 1681) is now available.  The committee “encourages” the GEOINT functional manager and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to “promptly review” a licensing request by “a commercial data provider” (i.e. DigitalGlobe) to collect and sell imagery with 0.25 meter resolution instead of 0.5 meter as currently allowed.  It also “directs” the DNI and Secretary of Defense to conduct an analysis of which national and military intelligence missions can be met with commerclal imagery, whether long-term (10 years or more) agreements with commercial providers is more cost effective than future government owned systems, and a risk/benefit analysis of commercial imagery.

ORIGINAL STORY, November 7, 2013:  The Senate Intelligence Committee marked up its FY2014 Intelligence Authorization bill on Tuesday.  In the report accompanying the bill, the committee recommends relaxation of restrictions on the resolution of satellite imagery sold by U.S. companies.

A committee press release states that it also calls for a review “to determine the appropriate role of commercial satellite imagery in fulfilling intelligence requirements.”

Details of precisely what the language recommends will not be known publicly until the report is released next week according to a spokesman for committee chairwoman Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).  Brian Weiss, reached by email today, said “There is language in the unclassified report to accompany the bill,” which should be posted on the committee’s website “early next week.”  The bill itself is already posted there, but does not mention commercial satellite imagery.

The bill authorizes funding for U.S. intelligence agencies; commercial satellite imagery is a small part of its scope.  The committee agreed to the bill by a vote of 13-2.

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) had contracts with two companies, GeoEye and DigitalGlobe, over a decade to provide commercial satellite imagery to the government.  The most recent contract is called EnhancedView.   Last year, NGA decided it could not support two companies any longer and chose DigitalGlobe to continue receiving payments under EnhancedView.   DigitalGlobe later bought GeoEye.

Commercial satellite imagery with better than 0.5 meter resolution currently cannot be sold, even though the satellites may obtain imagery with higher resolution.  DigitalGlobe has been trying to obtain permission to sell imagery with resolution as good as 0.25 meter.  NOAA is responsible for regulating commercial satellite imagery companies.

Last Updated: Nov 15, 2013 5:03 pm ET
Space Policy Events for the Week of November 4-10, 2013

Space Policy Events for the Week of November 4-10, 2013

By Marcia Smith | Posted: November 3, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: November 7, 2013 4:07 pm ET

The following events may be of interest in the week ahead (plus a bit, this week’s list goes through Sunday, November 10).  The House is not in session this week; the Senate is in session.

During the Week

The Kepler Science Conference II takes place this week at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA.   The conference was always expected to produce fireworks in terms of its exoplanet discoveries, but this one also created quite a furor when Chinese scientists were not allowed to attend because of NASA/Ames’ interpretation of restrictions on Chinese visitors to NASA facilities.   It said no Chinese were allowed because of a law sponsored by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Wolf publicly rebuked the agency in the middle of the government shutdown saying it was not because of the law, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden — one of the few NASA employees who was still allowed to work (because he’s a political appointee) said he’d review the situation when the government reopened, and subsequently the decision was made that the Chinese scientists could reapply to attend.   It will be interesting to see how many were able to get through the approval process and obtain visas in order to be there.

Another notable event this week is the launch of the Soyuz TMA-11M crew (Mastracchio, Wakata, Tyurin).  They will bring the Olympic torch with them to the International Space Station.  When they dock on Thursday morning, there will be three three-person crews aboard the ISS — a total of nine people instead of the usual six.   On Saturday, two Russian cosmonauts (Kotov, Ryazanskiy) will do a spacewalk and take the torch with them to the outside of the ISS and on Sunday the Soyuz TMA-09M crew (Nyberg, Parmitano, Yurchikhin) will return to Earth with the torch and it will continue its journey to the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Those and the other events we know of as of Sunday afternoon (November 3) are listed below.

Monday, November 4

Monday-Friday, November 4-8

Monday-Tuesday, November 4-5

Tuesday, November 5

Tuesday-Wednesday, November 5-6

Wednesday-Thursday, November 6-7

Thursday, November 7

Thursday-Friday, November 7-8

Thursday-Sunday, November 7-10

Saturday, November 9

Sunday, November 10

 

Correction:  An earlier version of this article mistakenly stated that the Space Studies Board meeting November 7-8 was at the NRC’s Beckman Center in Irvine, CA.  It is in Washington, DC at the National Academy of Sciences building on Constitution Avenue.

Last Updated: Nov 07, 2013 4:07 pm ET
Senate Confirms FCC Nominees After Holds Are Lifted

Senate Confirms FCC Nominees After Holds Are Lifted

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 29, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 29, 2013 10:26 pm ET

Today the Senate confirmed the nominations of two new members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including a new chairman, after two Senators lifted their holds.

Thomas Wheeler was confirmed to be the new FCC chairman, filling a Democratic slot, while Michael O’Rielly was confirmed to fill a Republican slot.  With their confirmations, the FCC leadership is now back to full strength.   The FCC has five commissioners, three from the party of the President and two from the other party.

The Hill newspaper reports that the votes to confirm the nominations today were unanimous.

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was blocking Wheeler’s confirmation because he does not want the FCC to increase requirements to identify sponsors of political ads.  In a statement this afternoon, Cruz said that Wheeler conveyed that “he had heard the unambiguous message” that trying to impose such additional requirements required congressional action and was not a decision for the FCC to make unilaterally.

Separately, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) vowed yesterday that he would block all nominations until the Obama Administration released more information about the survivors of the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi last year.   He allowed the vote today reportedly because the nominations predated his hold.

A single Senator can block the confirmation of any nominee by placing a hold on the nomination for any reason.

The FCC regulates use of the electromagnetic spectrum by the private sector, including for commercial communications satellites, as well as orbital slots for those satellites in geostationary orbit.

Last Updated: Oct 29, 2013 10:26 pm ET
Piers Sellers, Mike Freilich Headline AAS "Earth from Space" Event November 13

Piers Sellers, Mike Freilich Headline AAS "Earth from Space" Event November 13

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 28, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 28, 2013 12:56 pm ET

Former astronaut Piers Sellers and Mike Freilich, head of NASA’s earth science program, will headline an event on “Earth from Space” held by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) on November 13, 2013.

Sellers, who is currently Deputy Director of the Science and Exploration Directorate at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, will introduce a condensed version of NOVA’s “Earth from Space” film.  Freilich then will moderate a panel discussion among Sellers, Jon Malay of Lockheed Martin, Jeff Puschell of Raytheon, and Paula Wamsley of Ball Aerospace.   Malay is a past president of AAS and a past president of the American Meteorological Society (AMS).

The event will be held at the U.S. Navy Memorial (Naval Heritage Center), 701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC.   Doors open at 5:30 pm ET, with the film beginning at 6:00 pm and the panel discussion from 6:30-7:30 pm, followed by a reception at 7:30 pm.  RSVP by November 6 to dthompson@astronautical.org.

Sellers has a lot of personal experience viewing the Earth from space.   He flew to the International Space Station (ISS) three times, in 2002, 2006 and 2010, and made six spacewalks.

Last Updated: Oct 28, 2013 12:56 pm ET
Space Policy Events for the Week of October 28 – November 1, 2013 – UPDATE

Space Policy Events for the Week of October 28 – November 1, 2013 – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 27, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 28, 2013 10:11 am ET

UPDATE, October 28:  We’ve added David Grinspoon’s lecture on Thursday.

The following space policy-related events may be of interest in the week ahead.  The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

Though space programs are only a small part of what they’ll be discussing, perhaps the most important event this week for the government’s space program is the first formal meeting of the conference committee on the budget.   The House passed a 10-year budget on March 21 and the Senate passed its version on March 23.  They deal with the federal budget on a broad scale, not with specific agencies or programs, but the budget totals they set are used to determine how much each of the 12 appropriations subcommittees can spend on the agencies and programs within their purviews.  

The House and Senate budget plans are extremely different and the two sides had not scheduled a conference committee to try and negotiate a compromise version until now.   The establishment of the conference committee was part of the deal to reopen the government, which calls for the committee’s work to be completed by December 13.

The conference committee is chaired by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Chairman of the House Budget Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.   The first formal meeting is on Wednesday at 10:00 am ET in room HC-5 of the Capitol.   As Politico said at the time, it is not that the House and Senate budget bills are like apples and oranges, but “more like apples and bicycles.”  Their titles hint at those differences.  The House plan is called “The Path to Prosperity:  A Responsible, Balanced Budget.”  The Senate plan is entitled “Foundation for Growth:  Restoring the Promise of Opportunity.”

Here’s what else is coming up this week that we know about as of Sunday afternoon.

Monday, October 28

Tuesday, October 29

Tuesday-Wednesday, October 29-30

Wednesday, October 30

Thursday, October 31

 

 

Last Updated: Oct 28, 2013 10:11 am ET
Dream Chaser Has Good Test Flight — Until the End

Dream Chaser Has Good Test Flight — Until the End

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 26, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 26, 2013 10:55 pm ET

Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser spacecraft had a good test flight today until the very end when a problem with its left landing gear marred the event.

Dream Chaser is one of three competitors in NASA’s commercial crew program.   It looks like a small space shuttle and successfully achieved two captive-carry tests when tethered to a helicopter.  Today was the first time it was released from the helicopter and left to land on its own.  Everything went well at first.   As Sierra Nevada said in a press statement, Dream Chaser “adhered to the design flight trajectory throughout the flight profile” and “smoothly flared and touched down” on the runway at Edwards Air Force Base.   At that point, however, there was “an anomaly with the left landing gear deployment.”

NASASpaceflight.com phrased it less delicately, saying that the vehicle flipped over on the runway.

NASA is funding “2 1/2” companies to develop crew space transportation systems to take crews back and forth to the International Space Station.  Sierra Nevada is the “1/2,” receiving half the funds it requested under NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capabilities (CCiCAP) program.  Sierra Nevada’s plan is to launch the Dream Chaser to orbit using an Atlas V rocket.  SpaceX and Boeing are the “2” that received full funding under CCiCAP.  Their designs are capsules reminiscent of an Apollo spacecraft.   Boeing also would use the Atlas V for launches of its CST-100 spacecraft.  SpaceX would use its own Falcon rocket to launch a version of the Dragon spacecraft outfitted for human crews rather than cargo as it already is doing under NASA’s commercial cargo program.

Dream Chaser during captive carry test, May 2012.  Photo credit:  Sierra Nevada

What impact the imperfect landing will have on the Dream Chaser program is unknown at this time.  Sierra Nevada said simply that “As with any space flight test program, there will be anomalies that we can learn from, allowing us to improve our vehicle and accelerate our rate of progress.”

Last Updated: Oct 26, 2013 10:55 pm ET
Bolden Cites Business, Science As Reasons to Extend ISS; SLS Design Is NASA's

Bolden Cites Business, Science As Reasons to Extend ISS; SLS Design Is NASA's

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 24, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 25, 2013 10:59 pm ET

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden told a National Research Council (NRC) committee this week that there are two main reasons for extending the lifetime of the International Space Station (ISS) beyond 2020:  business and science.   He also said that the Space Launch System is actually a NASA design.

Bolden spoke to the NRC’s Committee on Human Spaceflight.  The committee was set up in response to a provision in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act that directed NASA to contract with the NRC in FY2012 for a study on the future of the human spaceflight program.  NASA provided the funding to the NRC late in FY2012 and the committee began meeting last December.   It heard from Bolden at that time.  This week’s meeting was an opportunity for him to update the committee and respond to questions that emerged in the  past 10 months.  It also was the first time committee co-chair Mitch Daniels heard from him.  Daniels, a former Republican Indiana Governor and now the President of Purdue University, replaced former defense secretary Bill Perry as co-chair this spring.   Jonathan Lunine, a Cornell space scientist, is the other co-chair.  The committee’s task is to articulate the value proposition for human spaceflight — what does the nation get for the money it expends. 

Under current plans, the ISS partners (the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada) will keep the space station operating until 2020.  NASA, however, is making the case for extending it to 2028, a year that will mark the 30th anniversary of the launches of the first two ISS modules.  The modules have a 15 year design life, but NASA is confident they can operate for twice that.

The burning question is whether there is sufficient value to justify eight more years of spending.  NASA’s budget for the ISS is about $3 billion a year, not including the costs for developing the commercial crew systems or purchasing services once they become available.   Commercial crew development is expected to be completed around 2017 and presumably the price for U.S. commercial crew flights will not exceed what NASA currently pays the Russians for such services, so that may not add much to the annual operating costs post-2020.  Nonetheless, $3 billion a year is a lot especially as NASA’s budget is increasingly constrained and trade-offs inevitably will have to be made between maintaining today’s programs versus future space exploration.

Bolden’s business argument is that the companies who are investing their own funds in commercial crew need to be assured of recouping those costs and the longer NASA needs those services, the more revenue they will make.   NASA is hoping that commercial crew will become available in 2017.  Though one goal of commercial crew is for the companies to find non-NASA users, the NASA business is a staple.   If ISS is terminated in 2020, NASA business will represent a very small market, however.  If ISS is extended to 2028, the market looks somewhat better.   NASA is paying a large percentage of the development costs and how much the companies are investing of their own money is proprietary, so it is not possible to know how much revenue they need to achieve a decent Return on Investment (RoI), but it is obvious that the longer time frame is more advantageous.

As for science, Bolden argues that scientists need 5-10 years to come up with ideas for experiments and implement them.  They need to know that the ISS will be available for more than just a few years or they are not likely to utilize it.  The ISS is a scientific laboratory and while a great many experiments have been conducted over the past 13 years of permanent human occupancy, to date none has been a “killer app” that unambiguously demonstrates the value of performing research in a microgravity environment. Committee member Pascale Ehrenfreund made the same point, noting that she has several ISS experiments but is wondering whether to propose any more since the future of the ISS is uncertain.

Ehrenfreund wanted to know when a decision would be made.  Bolden exclaimed that ISS is a steppingstone to the universe, but that if we are not going to move foward in exploring space, there is no point in continuing ISS.   One decision point will be when the NRC committee makes its report, he said, because it all gets back to the value proposition that the committee is expected to articulate.

Bolden also defended the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) and, in response to a question, remarked that the design of the Space Launch System (SLS) originated at NASA.  SLS is new rocket being developed by NASA to enable space exploration beyond low Earth orbit, including the ARM and eventually human trips to Mars.

In February 2010, as part of the FY2011 budget request, President Obama terminated the Constellation Moon/Mars program initiated under the George W. Bush Administration and proposed that the United States spend 5 years developing “game changing” space technologies before deciding what rocket to build and where to go.  Congress disagreed and in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act directed NASA to build SLS with an initial capability of 70 tons to low Earth orbit, growing to 130 tons.  Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) were seen as instrumental in insisting on NASA developing a new rocket immediately, not in 5 years, and including those specifications in the law.  Detractors of the rocket sometimes derisively refer to it as the Senate Launch System — one designed not by NASA but by Senators.

Bolden, however, made clear that SLS is a NASA design.   A committee member referred to SLS as being “old technology”  and wanted to know why Congress told NASA to pursue “the old stuff.”   Bolden replied that “Congress didn’t pick the vehicle, we did.  We picked it based on many decades of going over and over and over…what we need.”  He described SLS as an open architecture that can incorporate new game-changing propulsion technology if it emerges, with nuclear propulsion as an example. 

A proposed alternative — to rely on rockets developed by the commercial sector that would be refueled in orbit at fuel depots — is not realistic in his view.  Turning the nation’s deep space human exploration program over to the commercial sector is “a risk that I don’t think I am willing to undertake for the nation. To say that we’re going to turn the nation’s exploration program over to private enterprise.   I’m not ready for that yet.”

He also eschewed the notion of a five-year hiatus before picking what launch vehicle to build, as the Administration proposed in 2010.  He said industry’s response was that when NASA came back in five years, it might well find an empty room.  Human space exploration “is not something from which you can take a break,” Bolden emphasized.

 

 

Last Updated: Oct 25, 2013 10:59 pm ET
Holds Placed on Robinson, Wheeler Nominations; Ayotte Releases Hold on James

Holds Placed on Robinson, Wheeler Nominations; Ayotte Releases Hold on James

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 24, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 24, 2013 12:54 pm ET

Yesterday, Senator David Vitter (R-LA) placed a hold on Beth Robinson’s nomination to become Under Secretary of Energy; she currently is NASA’s Chief Financial Officer. Vitter is the third Senator in recent weeks to block action on the nominations of individuals for space-related positions in the Obama Administration, although one was subsequenlty released. 

A single Senator can prevent a nomination from being considered by the Senate by placing such a hold.

Vitter claims that NASA is “stalling on a job-creating project at the Michoud Assembly Facility” near New Orleans.  His press release asserts that NASA has failed to approve contracts for the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft that would put “approximately 300 to 600 Louisianans back to work.” In his letter to Robinson, attached to the press release, he says “I think it is important to conduct a thorough review of your job performance in your current position.”   Vitter was the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Science and Space when the 2010 NASA Authorization Act was written. That Act directed NASA to build SLS and Orion.

The first space-related hold was against the nomination of Deborah Lee James to be Secretary of the Air Force.  Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) placed the hold because she wanted assurances that, if confirmed, James would not eliminate the A-10 aircraft before a replacement (the next generation F-35) is available.    The Huffington Post noted that Ayotte’s husband is a former A-10 pilot.  Ayotte apparently received sufficient assurances because she subsequently released the hold.   Politico reports that the answer to Ayotte’s question was that the Air Force could save $3.5 billion over four years by retiring the A-10, but that no decision has been made to do that.  James has not yet been confirmed.

Last week, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) placed a hold on the nomination of Thomas Wheeler to be Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  The Hill newspaper reports that Cruz wants Wheeler to clarify whether, if confirmed, he would require increased disclosure of who is funding political TV ads.  Cruz does not want additional disclosures.   Wheeler’s nomination was on a fast track for approval along with that of Michael O’Rielly to be an FCC Commissioner.  The FCC regulates use of the electromagnetic spectrum by the private sector and has five commissioners — three from the same party as the President and two from the other party.   At the moment there is one Democratic and one Republican vacancy and typically the Senate votes on such nominations as a pair.   Wheeler is nominated for the Democratic slot, which is also the chairman’s position; O’Rielly is the Republican.   The FCC will have to continue to operate with only three commissioners until the two nominations are approved.   Wheeler’s nomination is for a 5-year term.  O’Rielly is under consideration to fill a term that ends on June 30, 2014.

Last Updated: Oct 24, 2013 12:54 pm ET
WIA Honors Scholarship Winners, Fundraises By Selling Limited Edition Shuttle Pins

WIA Honors Scholarship Winners, Fundraises By Selling Limited Edition Shuttle Pins

By Marcia Smith | Posted: October 23, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: October 23, 2013 9:47 pm ET

Women in Aerospace (WIA) will hold its awards dinner next week to honor women selected for its awards as well as the winners of two college scholarships sponsored by the Women in Aerospace Foundation.  The Foundation is raising money for its scholarship fund by selling unique jewelry — limited edition pins designed by Ann Hand to commemorate space shuttle missions.

The winners of this year’s WIA Foundation scholarships are Erin M. Kirchmeier and Samantha B. Rawlins.   Each receives a $2,000 scholarship for the 2013-2014 academic year.  Kirchmeier is studying aerospace engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology.  Rawlins is studying mechanical engineering at the University of California-Los Angeles.   The Foundation awards two scholarships each year to encourage young women who are interested in a career in the aerospace field to pursue higher education degrees in engineering, science or math.  It is accepting applications for the 2014 awards from now through February 3, 2014.

The Foundation is raising funds through sales of pins by renowned jewelry designer Ann Hand.   She made one pin for each of the 135 space shuttle flights.  WIA says that all proceeds from the sale of the pins benefit the WIA Foundation and part of the purchase price is tax deductible.  An order form and a photograph of the pin is available on WIA’s website. 

Kirchmeier and Rawlins will be honored along with the winners of seven awards at the WIA awards dinner on October 29, 2013 at the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City in Arlington, VA.  The WIA award winners this year are:

  • Aerospace Awareness Award:  Michelle Thaller, Assistant Director of Science for Communications, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
  • Outstanding Achievement Award: Molly Brown, AST, Earth Science Remote Sensing, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
  • Aerospace Educator Award: Julie Burr, Coordinator for Work Based Learning and Career Readiness, Aviation High School. Burlen, Washington
  • Initiative, Inspiration, Impact Award:  Kristin Rozier, Research Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center
  • Leadership Award:  Catherine Steele, Vice President, Strategic Space Operations, the Aerospace Corporation
  • Lifetime Achievement Award:  Jean Chamberlain, Vice President of Program Management, Boeing Defense, Space & Security
  • Outstanding Member Award:  Sandy Coleman, Director, NASA Exploration Program, ATK Washington Operations
Last Updated: Oct 23, 2013 9:47 pm ET

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