Chris Kraft No Fan of SLS — "The Beast"
Chris Kraft, the iconic former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC), is no fan of the Space Launch System (SLS) being built by NASA at the direction of Congress. In …
Embezzlement Charges Filed Against Three Russian GLONASS Managers
A Russian investigative committee is charging three senior managers with embezzling $3.2 million from Russia’s GLONASS navigation satellite program, RIA Novosti reports tonight. George Kovkov, Deputy Director General of TsNIMash, Alexander …
Space Policy Events for the Week of September 2-6, 2013
Officially Congress does not return until September 9, but at least one committee (Senate Foreign Relations) reportedly is planning a hearing on the situation in Syria this week and others …
NOAA Signs New Cooperative Agreement with EUMETSAT
NOAA and its European counterpart, EUMETSAT, signed a new agreement this week extending their cooperative activities in weather, ocean, and climate observations. The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites …
JWST, Commercial Crew Spared Cuts in NASA FY2013 Operating Plan
With only six weeks left in FY2013, Congress and the Obama Administration finally reached agreement on NASA’s FY2013 operating plan that details how the agency will spend the money appropriated …
Logsdon and Pace Criticize Lack of White House Leadership on NASA, Say Agency is Adrift
George Washington University (GWU) space policy experts John Logsdon and Scott Pace agree NASA is adrift today, particularly with regard to the human spaceflight program, and blame the White House …
FAA Grants Safety Waiver to SpaceX for West Coast Launch
The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) has granted SpaceX a waiver related to one of three safety factors for its first west coast launch next month. SpaceX plans …
ISS Crew Recreates Spacesuit Leak, Cause Still a Mystery
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recreated the spacesuit leak that endangered European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano last month, but the root cause of the leak remains undetermined. As …
Russian News Source Claims Russia Reconsidering Exports of RD-180 Engines to US
Russia Today (RT) is reporting that Russia’s Security Council is reconsidering exports of Russian RD-180 rocket engines to the United States. RD-180s are used for the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Atlas V rocket. …
Japan Set for Inaugural Launch of New Epsilon Rocket – Update 2
UPDATE 2, 7:30 am August 27 EDT: JAXA issued a press release saying that the launch was aborted when “an automatic stop alarm was issued as an attitude abnormality was …