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Astronaut’s wife to chair space subcommittee

By Jeff Foust on 2009 January 22 at 9:33 pm ET

The Democratic leadership of the House Science and Technology Committee announced its subcommittee assignments Thursday. Picked to chair the space and aeronautics subcommittee is Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). Entering her second term in Congress, Giffords is probably best known in space circles not for her legislative work—she was on the science committee, but not the […]

Congressman claims JSC employees support shutdown

By Jeff Foust on 2013 October 8 at 7:14 am ET

While the Johnson Space Center (JSC) had the most employees excepted from furlough of any NASA center, most NASA employees there still have been furloughed: about 95%, according to a memo detailing NASA’s shutdown plans issued in late September. Nonetheless, the congressman whose district includes the center claims that most JSC employees that have contacted […]

Is Bolden’s number up?

By Jeff Foust on 2012 November 28 at 8:08 pm ET

On Wednesday, NASA administrator Charles Bolden visited the United Launch Alliance (ULA) factory in Decatur, Alabama, where the company assembles Atlas and Delta rockets. During his visit, local media quizzed him on a variety of topics, from the looming threat of sequestration to rumored discoveries by the Mars Science Laboratory Rover to even whether he […]

Former astronaut a convert to the administration’s space policy

By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 26 at 12:40 pm ET

Former astronaut Mark Kelly—perhaps best known as the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords—reveals in an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel that he initially was not a suporter of the Obama Administration’s change in direction for NASA. “I was not a fan at first of canceling the Constellation rocket program. I worried about what it […]

Gingrich ends his campaign, but not his interest in space

By Jeff Foust on 2012 May 3 at 7:13 am ET

On Wednesday, a little over three months after he briefly, if somewhat bizarrely, catapulted space policy to the front lines of the Republican presidential campaign, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich formally suspended his campaign for the White House. In a speech lasting over 20 minutes in a Washington, DC-area hotel, Gingrich suggested […]

Growing budget deficits may have scuttled an “inspiring” Obama space program

By Jeff Foust on 2012 January 23 at 8:35 pm ET

Tuesday night President Obama will give his State of the Union speech before a joint session of Congress. Some have wondered if he might sneak a brief mention of space into the speech because the administration disclosed today that former astronaut Mark Kelly will be at the speech, sitting in the First Lady’s box. Of […]

Still waiting on an SLS

By Jeff Foust on 2011 July 2 at 11:08 am ET

Going into Friday afternoon’s speech at the National Press Club, there was little expectation that NASA administrator Charles Bolden would make any major announcements, including on the agency’s plans for the Space Launch System (SLS). And that’s how it turned out: his speech was focused on the agency’s general plans for life after the space […]

Brief updates: Congress and shuttle, Eisele’s election, and China commentary

By Jeff Foust on 2011 May 18 at 7:19 am ET

Another member of Congress has added his voice to the limited Congressional reaction to Endeavour’s launch on Monday. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee with oversight of NASA, issed a statement Tuesday cheering NASA on the successful launch. Fattah noted that he and Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter called NASA administrator […]

Congressional reaction to Endeavour’s final launch

By Jeff Foust on 2011 May 17 at 11:54 am ET

Only a handful of members of Congress made it down to Florida for Monday’s launch of the shuttle Endeavour: five members, including local congresswoman Rep. Sandy Adams (R-FL) and Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX), were included on lists of VIPs attending the launch provided by NASA (a sixth, of course, was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), the […]

New Years roundup

By Jeff Foust on 2009 January 2 at 8:24 am ET

You might think that the New Years holiday might be a quiet period for space policy, but there are a few items of note this morning:

As you’ve likely already heard, the lobbying effort by supporters of current NASA administrator Mike Griffin has gone to new heights (or new depths, depending on your point of […]

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