CEV "Constellation" и лунная программа НАСА

[Salo]

Orlando Sentinel: Griffin, NASA launch unprecedented lobbying effort to keep his job

Dec 31, 2008 4:23:55 PM

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer
    WASHINGTON (AP) — Late on Christmas Eve, one last wish was sent, by e-mail: Please let NASA Administrator Michael Griffin keep his job. It was from his wife.
    Rebecca Griffin, who works in marketing, sent her message with the subject line "Campaign for Mike" to friends and family. It asked them to sign an online petition to President-elect Barack Obama "to consider keeping Mike Griffin on as NASA Administrator."
    She wrote, "Yes, once again I am embarrassing my husband by reaching out to our friends and 'imposing' on them.... And if this is inappropriate, I'm sorry."
    The petition drive, which said the President George W. Bush appointee "has brought a sense of order and purpose to the U.S. space agency," was organized by Scott "Doc" Horowitz of Park City, Utah, an ex-astronaut and former NASA associate administrator.
    A cash-strapped NASA last week also sent — by priority mail costing $6.75 a package — copies of a new NASA book called "Leadership in Space: Selected Speeches of NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, May 2005-October 2008."
    And just before the presidential election, Griffin sent a letter to Obama saying, "I am deeply grateful to you, personally, for your leadership" on the vote to allow NASA to use Russian spaceships.
    Efforts by those close to Griffin lobbying on his behalf are unusually bold, even for ego-heavy Washington. Past efforts on behalf of job hopefuls have been more behind-the-scenes so plausible deniability can be maintained.
    "It sounds like the only thing left is to stencil Mike Griffin on the side of shuttle," joked Paul Light, a professor of public policy and a presidential transition expert at New York University. "I've never heard of a campaign to keep one's job that goes beyond the edge of private discussion. ... Maybe he should be texting next."
    David Goldston, a former chief of staff for the House Science Committee and a lecturer on science policy at Harvard University, said, "This kind of public campaigning to keep a job is unusual and usually tends to backfire in new administrations."
    Griffin's press secretary, David Mould, said that Griffin is not campaigning to keep his job and figures that Obama will name a new NASA chief. However, Griffin would be "honored" to be asked to stay on the job.
    "A lot of people seem to like and support Mike and think he's doing a good job," Mould said. He said he couldn't speak for the administrator's wife and she did not answer an e-mail from The Associated Press.
    As for Griffin's book of speeches, it was a natural for the NASA history office and coincides with the end of the presidential term, Mould said. NASA printed 2,500 books at a cost of $57,000 with the ability to produce more, NASA spokeswoman Sonja Alexander said.
    NASA did not publish a book of collected speeches for Griffin's two predecessors, said spokeswoman Ashley Edwards. The agency did produce a compact disk of speeches by Dan Goldin, NASA's longest-serving boss, just before he left in 2001.
    Griffin, a rocket scientist who holds seven degrees, has been on the job since 2005. His background is strikingly different from his predecessor Sean O'Keefe, a former budget office official. Griffin oversaw the successful return to space flight two years after the 2003 Columbia tragedy when seven astronauts were killed.
    He's used his scientific smarts in making hands-on crucial decisions about shuttle flights, but he's ruffled feathers with some of his choices involving the design of next-generation spacecraft for a return to the moon. Some engineers both inside and outside of NASA question the whole concept of the new spacecraft, which Griffin calls "Apollo on steroids."
    Petition-drive organizer Horowitz, who used to be in charge of NASA's return-to-the-moon program that is Griffin's signature project, said Griffin had nothing to do with the petition effort.
    "This is other people campaigning for him," Horowitz said. "There's a lot of things people should change, but the NASA administrator isn't one of them."
    Several hundred people have signed the online petition, including astronaut Mike Fincke who e-mailed his signature from the international space station. Some of the signatures are false names and some are anonymous. Horowitz said he has removed the names of people who added comments saying Griffin should NOT be kept on.
    Horowitz's effort also spurred a "remove Mike Griffin" counter-petition, which has just a few dozen signatures, mostly anonymous and personal, including some nasty comments. A few criticized the new space vehicle design.
    Only a few weeks ago, Griffin had a public disagreement with Obama's NASA transition chief, Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator, about the transition team's efforts to get more information. The dispute wasn't too heated and voices weren't raised, said Smithsonian scholar John Logsdon, who was holding a book signing for his latest volume on space history when Griffin and Garver had their spat.
    That conversation led some in the tight-knit space community to speculate that Griffin figured he would not be kept on. Garver has not been available for comment, and Griffin's spokesmen say he is not available until after the new year.
    Former NASA Deputy Administrator Hans Mark, who recommended Griffin to the Bush administration, said Griffin and his friends are handling this wrong.
    "Mike ought to play it the way (retained Defense Secretary) Bob Gates is playing it, which is to shut up," Mark said.

На ту же тему:

02.01.2008 / 00:05    Жена директора НАСА просит Обаму не увольнять её мужа

     Жена директора НАСА Ребекка Гиффин (Rebecca Griffin) отправила всем друзьям, знакомым и родственникам письмо с просьбой подписать «онлайн» петицию, которую она направит Бараку Обаме (Barack Obama), с просьбой оставить её мужа Майка Гиффина (Mike Griffin) на прежней должности, сообщает сайт "Новости Америки".
     Она пишет: «Я снова смущаю своего мужа тем, что пишу нашим друзьям. Я знаю, что так не делают. Извините меня».
     Написание петиции было организовано бывшим астронавтом Скоттом Хоровицем (Scott "Doc" Horowitz). В петиции сказано, что Майк Гиффин, назначенный Джорджем Бушем (George W. Bush), навел порядок в космическом агентстве.
     Некоторые специалисты, работающие в космической области, заявляют, что такие действия не помогут, и даже навредят Майку Гиффину, приводя пример Министра обороны Роберта Гейтса (Robert Gates), который сохранил свою должность, в первую очередь благодаря тому, что держался в тени и не делал громких заявлений.

     - К.И.

[ronatu]

Obama Moves to Counter China With Pentagon-NASA Link (Update1)

.....Obama has said the Pentagon's space program -- which spent about $22 billion in fiscal year 2008, almost a third more than NASA's budget -- could be tapped to speed the civilian agency toward its goals as the recession pressures federal spending. .......

.......At the Pentagon, there may be support for combining launch vehicles. While NASA hasn't recently approached the Pentagon about using its Delta IV and Atlas V rockets, building them for manned missions could allow for cost sharing, said Steven Huybrechts, the director of space programs and policy in the office of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is staying on into the new administration.  The Delta IV and Atlas V are built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp., and typically are used to carry satellites.........

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aOvrNO0OJ41g&refer=japan

[ronatu]

Report: Atlas, Delta rockets to save money

......U.S. military rockets can send astronauts safely to the moon sooner and for billions of dollars less than NASA's troubled Ares I rocket, documents suggest......

http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Report_Atlas_Delta_rockets_to_save_money_999.html

[Чебурашка]

А тем временем на Pad 39B достроили гигантский молнееотвод.
Сейчас всё это выглядит вот так:


А в будущем вот так  :wink: :

[frigate]

The Future of Human Spaceflight
White Paper released December 15, 2008

Статья Джеймса Оберга на The Space Review:   
The problems with "The Future of Human Spaceflight"
by James Oberg, Monday, January 5, 2009

[GALIN]

NASA Moves On Moon-Rocket Procurement[/size]

Potential contractors on NASA's heavy-lift Ares V moon rocket will have until Feb. 9 to submit bids on the first procurement package of the huge launch vehicle, under a request for proposals issued Jan. 5.

The RFP came as the 111th Congress prepared to hold its first session today, with President-elect Obama's inauguration still two weeks in the future. Neither of the newly elected branches of the federal government has made its position clear on whether to continue with the Bush administration's "Moon, Mars and Beyond" space program, which will require the Ares V to move humans beyond low-Earth orbit.

"This was always the plan, to put out this Ares V [RFP]," an agency spokesman said. "We are still working according to the direction we have been given. The new Congress and the new administration will give us their guidance, and we will follow it as we always do. In the meanwhile we'll continue to work on the direction we've been working on for the past several years."

The RFP sets out five work packages, with 18-month base periods and two one-year options. All are designed to advance NASA's internal concept for a Saturn V-class rocket able to lift a minimum of 413,888 pounds to an orbit of at least 240.8-kilometers (149.6 miles).

That concept includes a core stage powered by six RS-68 engines, boosted by two five-and-a-half-segment versions of the five-segment solid-fuel first stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle. The extra half-segment on the strap-on boosters will allow structural headroom in the core stage for a larger liquid hydrogen tank to meet the performance criteria.

Work packages will cover the core stage; the strap-on solids; the Earth Departure Stage (EDS) that would take the Orion crew exploration vehicle and the four-seat Altair lunar lander on to lunar orbit; the fairing that would shelter the Altair during launch and ascent, and the avionics and software that will be needed for the complex lunar-launch flight profiles, which will include the need for launch-vehicle power in orbit while an Ares I delivers the crew in an Orion capsule.

Among the questions NASA wants its contractors to answer during the Phase I procurement, designed to take the project through system requirements and system definitions reviews, are what it would take to human-rate the Ares V, the layout of the RS-68 engines and related plumbing, and evaluation of large composite dry structures for the core stage and other elements of the Constellation Program.

Final contractor selections on the five work packages are planned for "the spring of 2009," NASA said. Like the Ares I development, the Ares V procurement will be managed by Marshall Space Flight Center. While the five study packages would set the stage, current plans call for the full-up Ares V development to use funding freed up after 2010 when the space shuttle fleet is retired.

[Salo]

http://cybersecurity.ru/space/62013.html

Директор НАСА Майкл Гриффин подает в отставку
 
(15:28) 07.01.2009
Директор американского космического агентства НАСА Майкл Гриффин намерен 20 января освободить свой пост и покинуть ведомство. День 20 января был выбран неслучайно, именно тогда состоится инаугурация нового Президента США Барака Обамы, которому и предстоит решать, кто именно сменит Гриффина.

Майкл Гриффин, ветеран ракетно-космической отрасли США, говорит, что его объявление оставить пост - это не простая формальность и при Бараке Обаме руководить космическим ведомством США будет уже кто-то другой. Кто именно займет кресло руководителя НАСА пока неизвестно, хотя шорт-лист кандидатур имеется и персоналии, входящие туда, известны.

Сам Гриффин говорит, что он является типичным представителем команды уходящего Президента США Джорджа Буша и также как и все остальные федеральные ставленники старой Администрации, он подал письмо с прошением об отставке. Интересно отметить, что в семье Гриффина отставку не поддерживают и буквально несколько дней назад Associated Press сообщило о письме супруги Майкла Гриффина, в котором она просит оставить ее мужа в НАСА. Однако источники в Администрации Обамы говорят, что новый директор НАСА все-таки будет объявлен довольно скоро.

Американские политики говорят, что новый глава НАСА будет назначен до конца января, а до этого срока в ведомстве не будет приниматься никаких важных решений, как по программе шаттлов, так и по всем остальным направлениям работы НАСА.

Газета Florida Today сегодня сообщает, что наиболее вероятный кандидат на должность нового директора космического агентства США - это Чарльз Болден. Болден четыре раза летал в космос и большую часть жизни отдал космической отрасли. Именно от летал на шаттле, который в 1991 году доставил на орбиту телескоп Хаббл, еще раньше в 1986 году он летал в космос с Биллом Нельсоном, нынешним губернатором Флориды.

Газета говорит, что именно Нельсон в нужный момент скажет свое ключевое "да", когда дело дойдет до выбора кандидатур. Впрочем, пока Нельсон от любых заявлений по данному поводу отказывается.

Однако, на пост директора НАСА есть и другие кандидатуры: Салли Райд (первая американка, слетавшая в космос в 1983 году), Алан Стерн (заместитель Гриффина по научным вопросам), Уэсли Хантресс (экс-руководитель ряда научных проектов НАСА, в том числе проектов по отправке миссий на Венеру и Юпитер), а также Скотт Хаббард (директор исследовательского центра НАСА им Годдарда).

[Bell]

мда... ждем ревизии сабжа?

[Dude]

мда... ждем ревизии сабжа?

В смысле "очередной ревизии"...

[Ну-и-ну]

Вообще-то, если дважды за пятилетку менять концепцию "что делать с ПК", то ничего в результате не будет. Вообще.

Шаттл по факту загнётся года через три-четыре и останутся бумажки с надписями Venture Star-CRV-OSP-CEV-... и красивые CGI-картинки в википедиии. Ах да, и Союз

[Salo]

Полетят на Dragon'ах! :roll:

[Bell]

мда... ждем ревизии сабжа?

В смысле "очередной ревизии"...

В смысле - окончательной...

[zyxman]

Полетят на Dragon'ах! :roll:

Или на Бионах :lol:

[Salo]

Мы на Бионах, они на Dragon'ax. :lol:

[Salo]

А что я говорил?  :roll:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/volusia/orl-musk0809jan08,0,2651518.story

A new idea for rocket launches?
Kevin Spear | Sentinel Staff Writer
January 8, 2009
Sometime this year, a multimillionaire entrepreneur will try to launch from Cape Canaveral what he describes as the next generation of rockets.

It will be much cheaper, safer and more reusable than anything shot into space so far, said Elon Musk, whose 6 1/2 -year-old company has contracted with NASA to make a dozen cargo deliveries to the international space station.

Musk is founder and CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, which hopes to operate its 180-foot-tall rockets more like passenger airplanes and less like the enormously complex space-shuttle fleet.

They will be assembled in a hanger and then, within a 60-minute window, rolled to a pad, fueled and shot into orbit. Plans are for most, if not all, parts of the spacecraft to be recovered and reused.

"The really great goal we should have for space is to establish life on another planet," said Musk, speaking Wednesday at a meeting of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in south Orange County.

"The key to that is a truly reusable spacecraft system," Musk said. "I think we are potentially at the dawn of such an era."
***
After his speech to the aerospace group, Musk said he hopes that NASA under a Barack Obama presidency will pursue using SpaceX rockets for ferrying astronauts into space.

The craft have been designed from the start to meet NASA's specifications for human space flight.

With the space shuttle set for retirement next year and NASA's intended replacement still in early development, the nation could be left for several years without a craft to carry astronauts.

"We can make sure the U.S. is able to carry people into orbit with almost no gap -- one or two years at the most," said Musk, 37, who expects to fly on one of his rockets

[Космос-3794]

Однако, на пост директора НАСА есть и другие кандидатуры: Салли Райд (первая американка, слетавшая в космос в 1983 году), Алан Стерн (заместитель Гриффина по научным вопросам), Уэсли Хантресс (экс-руководитель ряда научных проектов НАСА, в том числе проектов по отправке миссий на Венеру и Юпитер), а также Скотт Хаббард (директор исследовательского центра НАСА им Годдарда).

Я за Алана Стерна, побольше АМС - хороших и разных!
А на луну можно и в павильонах "поприлуняться". Безопаснее, экономнее, да и для Вадима богатая пища для разоблачений.

[Alex_II]

Я за Алана Стерна, побольше АМС - хороших и разных!
А на луну можно и в павильонах "поприлуняться". Безопаснее, экономнее, да и для Вадима богатая пища для разоблачений.

Ну ё! Уж сколько раз твердили людям - что от пилотируемой космонавтики отнимется - к АМС не прибавится... Если вообще на космос пойдет - то скорее на военку... Так что зря вы так...

[Чебурашка]

Картинки из презентации посвященной Small Pressurized Rover Concept (3,7 МБ)

[KBOB]

Какой-то странный скафандр в презентации - с дверью на спине.

[Bell]

Какой-то странный скафандр в презентации - с дверью на спине.

Что странного? Давно уже такой рисуют. Про Орлан вообще молчу.