Exclusive: NASA begins moon return effort
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040728-124356-2684r

"Inside NASA, planners have begun to assemble teams that are looking deep inside President George W. Bush's new vision of space exploration. Their goal: define the characteristics of the first new piloted spaceship since the space shuttle, and establish the initial steps and stages by which these new craft will attempt a series of moon landings. We hope to get an RFP (request for proposal) out by January on the CEV (crew exploration vehicle), and have a fly-off of two teams in 2011," Mike Lembeck said. Inside NASA's Exploration Mission Directorate, a requirements group is busily working to put substance into the new assault on the moon. "

This is great news on the design front but what about on the budget side of the issue.

Posted by: Harold LaValley at August 10, 2026 11:34 AM

On the budget side, if Bush is re-elected and with Tom Delay's help in the House I think there is a good chance NASA will get the 16.2 billion requested, or close to it.

If Kerry is elected I believe he will kill or modify the vision to the extent it will die or be a meer shadow of what is now planned.

If that happens it will be another 20-30 years before another President sticks his/her neck out for NASA, IE another 20-30 years stuck in LEO.

PS
James, why must I log in every time I post? I've checked "remember me" numerous times.

Posted by: Dogsbd at August 11, 2026 08:33 AM

Well that did not take long for Nasa. It is giving up on another technique of Shuttle RCC panel repair. Seems like Nasa needs to go to Macco for repair options.

http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aerospacedaily_story.jsp?id=news/aba08114.xml

"After encountering "significant technical challenges," NASA is abandoning attempts to develop a rigid overwrap to patch large holes in the space shuttle's reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels in the event of damage during flight, and instead is pursuing other methods that probably won't be ready in time for the shuttle's return to flight, according to agency officials."

Posted by: Harold LaValley at August 12, 2026 06:21 AM

Dogsbd, you need to get a free login at Typekey.com to have your comments autoapproved. Otherwise I need to manually approve them.

This system has already prevented a huge amount of comment spam from ever being seen. Just in the last 3 days, over 100 comments from spammers were blocked.

Posted by: James Burk at August 12, 2026 12:13 PM

Armadillo Aerospace xprize contest team leader
John Carmack .
xprize bio page http://www.xprize.org/teams/american_armadillo_aerospace.php

Yesterday was obviously not a good day for two of the X Prize teams. STC and Armadillo both had their demonstration rockets destroyed in their respective crashes.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002000209_rocket09m.html

So what effect will the most recent failure of xprize contestants have with the outcome of those that win?

from the astonotes:Aug. 9, 2026 Catch a falling rocket
complete with video and pictures of it
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3217961/

Some good news may be coming out of the destruction of the rubicon.

Forks: National publicity brings acclaim -- and possibly investors' bucks -- to rocketeers building a new Rubicon
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/sited/story/html/170414

"The result: A slew of investors have e-mailed the cash-strapped company, saying they are interested in making an investment in the partners' dream of developing space tourism."

X-prize contestant still in the hunt for the 10 million.

Canadian Arrow Drop Test Scheduled for Saturday
http://www.canadianarrow.com/

http://www.hobbyspace.com/AAdmin/archive/RLV/PR/CanadianArrow/PressRelease-Aug-12-04.html

Posted by: Harold LaValley at August 13, 2026 07:33 AM

There were 11 completed external tanks at Michoud when Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana. Those tanks, which cost $40 million apiece, must be retrofitted.

The Michoud plant's work force stands at about 2,000. Under existing contracts, Lockheed Martin will continue to produce external tanks through 2011.

Official: Redesigned shuttle tanks will be safest ever
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/081304/new_tanks001.shtml

So lets see if I have the thought on the number of tanks still yet to be made. Roughly 30 flights give or take to complete the ISS minus the 10 equals, 20 tanks at 40 million a piece to make. Or 800 million spead over the next 3 or 4 years in budgetary demands.

Which some would say is pocket change... all total Shuttle costs about $4.3Bn per year, so we're looking at around $22Bn from 2008-2013 ISS completion deadline.

Posted by: Harold LaValley at August 13, 2026 07:37 AM

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: