China Will Propose That NASA Use Shenzhou for International Space Station Duty

Mengxin Sun, First Secretary for Science and Technology at the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC has said that he intends to brief the new NASA Administrator (as soon as that announcement is made) about a proposal for U.S. use of China's Shenzhou spacecraft series as a crew/cargo carrier for the ISS program.

Editor's Note: This is according to Keith Cowing, so as always take it with a grain (or block) of salt.

+ Read Article (SpaceRef.com)

Who should be the next NASA Administrator?

Now that Sean O'Keefe has resigned, who do you think will be the next NASA Administrator?

* Gen. Pete Worden (Clementine & Delta Clipper -- this would be my pick)

* Gen. Ronald Kadish (missile defense guy & the establishment candidate -- sounds to me like a potential disaster)

* Adm. Craig Steidle (current Exploration Systems director -- he's been impressive so far)

* Frank Culbertson (former astronaut, Shuttle-Mir program mgr -- might be a good pick)

* Charles Elachi (JPL Director -- might be a good pick)

* Pete Aldridge (Moon-Mars Commission chair, fmr Air Force secretary -- not a big fan of his, he seemed somewhat out of touch during the Commission. Plus hasn't done squat to make sure the recs are going to be followed.)

* Rep. Bob Walker (Moon-Mars Commission member -- would be an ok pick, but he's not enthusiastic)

* Gen. Charles F. Bolden (former shuttle commander)

* Bob Crippen (first shuttle pilot, former NASA deputy)

* Ron Sega (former astronaut, DoD technologist)

Anybody else you have in mind?

NASA Scientist: Bush Stifles Global Warming Evidence

The Bush administration is trying to stifle scientific evidence of the dangers of global warming in an effort to keep the public uninformed, a NASA scientist said Tuesday night.

"In my more than three decades in government, I have never seen anything approaching the degree to which information flow from scientists to the public has been screened and controlled as it is now," James E. Hansen told a University of Iowa audience.

+ Read Article (Space.com)

China reiterates Moon mission plans

"A Chinese space official has refuted a Western press report from 10 days ago that alleged that financial considerations had forced China to abandon plans to land astronauts on the Moon. That Reuters report from Beijing was widely circulated in the West as evidence that new NASA plans for American astronauts to fly back to the Moon would not be justified as part of some new ‘Space Race’, this time between the U.S. and China."

+ Read Article (MSNBC)

Editor's Note: This is in the rumors category because I consider everything that Chinese officials say as rumor. (I'm also not a big fan of the self-serving Oberg.) The Chinese frequently contradict each other about the goals & timelines of their space program, as this story further evidences. Personally, I would never write anything off about the Chinese going back to the Moon and onto Mars, nor would I write off Russia, Japan, India, Brazil, or Europe. This is a new century with many nations full of dreams for the future, and if America is not able to maintain the current momentum of exploring the solar system, others will surely claim the lead.

Report: China to Launch Moon Rover in 2013

China's state media reported on plans to launch the first Chinese moon rover in 2013. The rover would scout locations for a future manned base.

+ AP Article
+ Xinhua Article

CEV Fly off in 2009?

"Word has it that Code T AA Craig Steidle is working on a plan whereby there would be a fly-off of two competing CEV designs sometime in CY 2009. No word yet as to when the RFP for such a program would be released but one would assume that having hardware in 2009 would require some swift procurement activity starting ... yesterday."

This is another unconfirmed report from the NASA Watch website.

NASA Requiring OSP Contractors To Complete Design Reviews

One of my sources inside the aerospace industry has alerted me to the following (unconfirmed) news: Prior to closeout of the Orbital Space Plane program, NASA is requiring the contractors to complete their Critical Design Reviews (CDRs) on the cancelled designs, so that NASA can apply the knowledge learned to future CEV work.

As might be expected, the workers in the cancelled OSP projects aren't very happy about this--NASA's requirement to complete design reviews on vehicles that will never be built (at least in their present forms.) The motivation to actually do this work at one large firm is described as "quite low".