As indicated by the side bar references on the Iss and of the shuttle. I am growing very concerned in that if we do not get a better source for resupply rocket by the US other than the soyuz's for the bringing of repair items and of replacement staffing soon that all will be lost in the ISS due to the shuttle grounding.

Celestial Policymaking and Exploration of Venus, Mars, and Saturn Mark the Month
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By: My Wise County
http://www.mywisecounty.com/news/060704-4.htm

Moon-to-Mars Report
Jun 14???

Go to spacepolitics for the latest info on Nasa, the budget,an so much more.

Todays postings include:

O'Keefe and the VSE
NASA announced Tuesday afternoon that administrator Sean O'Keefe will be the luncheon speaker Wednesday at a meeting of the US Chamber of Commerce's board of directors in Washington. O'Keefe will present the administration's Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). The VSE will accelerate advances in robotics, autonomous and fault tolerant systems, human-machine interface, novel applications of nanotechnology and micro-devices that will lead to new products and services.

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We all wanted to go"
NPR's Morning Edition had a segment Monday about the status of the Vision for Space Exploration, focusing on the lackluster support it seems to have garnered to date. There's not much new in the report, and much of it was based on interviews and testimony from the Aldridge Commission's final public hearing a month ago in New York. However, the report did include some comments by DARPA Director Tony Tether, one of the witnesses at that hearing, who had some interesting insights regarding why the public hasn't really rallied behind the plan:

What NASA seemed to forget is that we all wanted to go. We all wanted to go, and somehow we lost that. And until we get that excitement back, nothing much is going to change. Somehow, you all need to figure out a way that we all at least get to go the baby step, which is the Moon, or just into space.

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Reagan and the Aldridge Commission
An acquaintance pointed out at dinner last night that the public release of the Aldridge Commission's final report will take place as preparations for the late President Reagan's funeral approach their climax, and thus is in danger of being ignored.

Tony Tether is exactly right, it is about all of us going, not just a handful of people!

I don't understand why we are not doing more to fast track projects like ESA's ATV and Japan's H-II transfer vehical. These are supposed to be our partners in the ISS why can't we do technology transfers and open our facilities that could help get these needed devices up sooner?
Also, why isn't NASA looking into the possibility of launching a MPLM like Leonardo with an EELV to the ISS? Just one of these can hold all the parts, (new spacesuits, gyros, replacement equiptment, etc..) normaly carried up by the shuttle.
NASA worries about the lack of interest in space flight; give the public something to to be interested in! Show some imagenation! The public want's to see some of the "can do" spirit shown durring the early days. Show the congress and the American people that you can work through adversity and you'll be supprised by the support you'll recive!
America and the rest of the world are anxouis to support the next great adventure into space but first NASA has to prove they are are worthy of our support.

Same problem as the Russians currently have when providing the soyuz, We can not give money to our once upon a time enemies or non-friendly nations of the cold war era by law.

I agree we need to tare down the remaining walls between the partnership nations.

As far as resupply of the ISS this could also be done by the delta 4 or atlas 5 rockets and by others as well. It is a matter of automated docking and cargo area conversion from satelite use.

I for one am anxouis to read the final report thou 60 pages will take a while to digest.

Harold, ESA and Japan are not restricted by the tech transfer embargos like the Russians are. We could help them but choose not to. My biggest disappointment lack of imagination and blinders that NASA has put on since the shuttle era. Apollo 13 fit a square peg in a round hole to get the astronauts home safely. NASA engineers found a Skylab rescue plan in 30 days after a disastrous launch. The pieces are there to resupply the ISS with American equipment if we have the will and the guts to do it! Docking is not necessary, only rendezvous is. The station manipulator arm is capable of doing the docking. NASA has to stop finding excuses why something can't be done and finding ways to get things done with the resources at its disposal!

Earl,

I think most everyone see's that NASA has to change. I don't mean to be rude, but how is supporting Tech transfers and coming up with innovative ways to resupply the ISS away to capture the peoples imagination? I really believe the main issue is that people, during the apollo years, believed that space travel was in there future, that kids could grow up with a good chance to go to the moon themselves. Now 45 years later space is still off limits except for a handful of people. I think what will really garner support and interest is programs such as the X Prize, where people actually can participate in going into space.

The x-prise is a good first step but if it cost more than a typical airplane flight it will still only garner the rich and will die off quickly.

Sammy;
You're right. Tech transfers and resupply of the ISS is not going to fill a young persons mind with visions of space travel. But the fact that NASA wrings its hands over this mundane stuff inspires very little confidence in its ablity to even finish the space station much less mount a new mission of exploration. As a boy watching Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon in 1969 I thought the park service would have tours of the site by this time, now I doubt that my children will ever get see another moon landing much less participate in one themselves.
The one bright spot has been the X-Prize. I think much of the world will be watching, not just the competition but what happens after, with great anticipation. I can't help but feel that we have been here before.

Earl,

Sadly enough I agree. It seems to me that NASA has become both the gateway and major road block in our expansion into space. Maybe we should start thinking of getting rid of NASA ?

Harold,

If companies can make a profit, then it will last and as the technology matures, the cost's should come down. It would be a bootstrapping proccess.

I too watched in awe the moon landings and saturn V launches as well as the splash downs from the 60's into the 70's. Joyed in skylab and watched such shows on tv as Star trek, space 1999 and others that have since followed wonder if I in my lifetime would ever get the chance....

Now stuck in LEO for the last 20 I feel Nasa will never even be allowed to start this grand vision due to budgetary rangling in congress over funding.

The Nasa of old has lost its ingiunety as it were to put a square peg in a round hole. It has lost the ability to make something from what it has. It conmtuinually creates all anew when something is needed rather than improving on what it has.

The boeings and lockheed have the finacial footing due to military contractual base but see no benifit for investing in a commercial market.

This said they will not develope until they have a contract in hand any conceptual ideas they may have for the CEV let alone a lonely capsule for safe return of the ISS crew from orbit or to give a temporary to orbit vehicle to be used on existing rockets.

Harold,
Air travel was only for "the rich" when it first started. The point is that as long as someone is willing to pay you can create cash flow that allows you to incrementally reduce prices due to economies of scale. Its those rich guys paying the equivalent of hundreds of thousands back in the 20s that made it possible for you to fly across the country for $200. You can't build new industries like commercial passenger airlines from scratch....

http://web.mit.edu/spacearchitects/1689report.htm

The trouble with that is Nasa is not in the business of making money from exploration or for rides to the ISS let alone anywhere else. Nasa at this time is geared only to spend what it gets for a budget, not to save or cut cost of doing what Nasa does best.
Airlines saw that if they could have more people fly at one time that it could make a bigger profit hence the jumbo jets of today. Cost of flights were only lowered due to increase use lessoning the need for raking in the publics hard earned cash. Which escalated into todays fares per flight.
Also with the need to build more planes less and less hand building was also part of the natural evolution of manufacturing which was another cost lowering factor.

http://rasc.larc.nasa.gov/rasc_new/forum/Modular_Exploration.pdf

I get into some of the above discussion in a rebuttal to Jame's "What the Moon-Mars Commission's Report Should Say..." article. Here's the URL for the article:
http://www.rocketforge.org/modules.php?op=modload&name;=News&file;=article&sid;=248&mode;=flatℴ=0&thold;=0

Thanks Kevin for the reference material

The Moon-to-Mars report is now due to be released June 16th (ex space.com) ...

Just great ... I'll be on a bloody plane for 18 hours flying to the outback then ... :/

Iss Raccoon: http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4023&n;=1&bypass;=1

Although NASA has been unable to determine how the animal got on board, lab analysis of the beast's droppings suggests that it's the same raccoon that caused hell and tarnation on the ISS during Expedition 7 in 2025.

A pesky stowaway that has been there for a while it seems. I think the next shuttle trip should include an animal officer for it's capture.

http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/neep533/SPRING2004/lecture32.pdf

Kevin: Thanks for the Rocket design info.

The need to recycle while aboard the ISS.

Not Your Backyard Compost Heap

"Yuck!"

If that's how you feel when your garbage can overflows, imagine what it's like for astronauts when they find themselves with a lot of garbage and only a little room to store it.

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/science/f_compost.html

New Space Shuttle Processing Status Report update for june 9 04

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/jun/HQ_s0415_shuttle_rpt0609.html

unch ServicesOverview to COMSTACBoeing
http://ast.faa.gov/COMSTAC/May2003/Schnaars-BoeingLaunchServices.pdf

Launch Vehicle Options for Exploration
http://www.spacecongress.org/2004/Panel-4/2Collins.pdf

Expendable Launch Systems
http://westernregion.npma.org/files/TRAFTON_Presentation.pdf

Thanks Kevin: Great stuff on Boeings capabilities at this time. But where is Boeing on Manned rocket developement, just the shuttle co jointly done with Lockheed and others. Has there been much work done by Lockheed towards the SVE.

Renouveler l’esprit de découverte’’ - Les
Etats-Unis, G.W. Bush, la Lune et Mars :
Une formidable opportunité ?
L’ISS : Spleen en orbite
http://nssfrance.free.fr/lettre/LP7.pdf

Past Is Prologue: A look at the history and future of the Shuttle-C
http://spacearium.aresinstitute.org/special/shuttle-c/