Congress Faces NASA’s Shaky Future

A great (and nearly blow-by-blow) description of the Augustine Commission at the House Committee on Science and Technology.

BTW, Wired reveals that Rep. Giffords is married to an astronaut.

Hey, if you have a vision, all it takes is time and money.

Strategy? Strategy?! We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Strategy

Author Gaetano Marano says the Augustine Commission only provided options that were already well known and that what’s missing is a clear strategy for the future of U.S. manned spaceflight.

What can I say?  When the man’s right, he’s right.

Lawmakers Criticize Obama Space Panel

The Augustine Commission, the group of government and industry space-experienced folks who have been studying America’s manned space flight plans and found them lacking, have come under Congressional criticism.

The commission feels NASA can’t get to the moon by 2020 with their shuttle replacement rocket, and that other plans need to be pursued. NASA is out of airspeed, altitude, ideas, and is short on cash. The Commission says they need another $3 billion per year to fulfill their charter. However, there are few-to-no shovel-ready ideas immediately available.

Representative Gabrielle Giffords said the options the commission provided were cartoon-like.

Panel chair Norm Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed-Martin shot back with the line of the day to Giffords, saying “I respect your feelings; I must question your facts.”