congress

Guest: Open Lines. Topics: North Korea, Iran & SCUD Missiles, private space contractors, Flagships, return to the Moon, Kool Aid. Tonight was an Open Lines discussion covering several topics with listeners both through email and phone calls. I outlined some topics for possible discussion including what constitutes Kool Aid in the space world (based on an experience I had via email with a friend earlier in the day), the Augustine Panel presentations coming up, Direct 3.0, a possible new focus for NASA which included developing low cost space access for civil use, and more.

Guest: Rand Simberg was the guest for today's Space Show program. Our discussion started by mentioning that Richardson had withdrawn his name from consideration for Secretary of Commerce in the Obama administration. We talked about this for a few minutes as there were some possible space ramifications to his appointment and now with his withdrawal. We then moved on to the issue of comparing COTS and Shuttle as was done on the RocketsandSuch blog and copied over to the Space Cynics site per our discussion last week.

Guest: Jim Muncy returned for this Space Show program to discuss space policy in 2008 and its transition to 2009. We talked about the current Administrator Dr. Griffin and his efforts to remain at NASA plus what this would mean for continuing with the VSE and Aries as planned. Jim also mentioned some important public sector 2008 milestones, including the Zero G contract, the recent Cargo Resupply Services Contract, and improvements in DOD and Space Command.

Guest: Ross Tierney was the guest for this in-person taped interview conducted here in Cocoa Beach on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008. This was a very hard-hitting interview with Ross about Direct 2, its technology, its likelihood of being adopted by NASA as an alternative to Ares 1, and more. I asked Ross why we should have confidence in Direct 2 when it was basically a PowerPoint presentation given that it has not yet undergone any metal bending, any development or testing. I asked why there would not be design problems with it as there are with Ares and the NASA selected hardware.

Guest: Dr. David Livingston. On this Space Show program, I provided listeners with a comprehensive report on how to see a Space Shuttle flight, why see one, what they are like in person, where to see the launch from, what wildlife is in the area including birds and alligators, and much more. If you have any questions about seeing a Space Shuttle launch, what to expect, how to prepare for one, or if you have comments or questions, let me hear from you at drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guest: Robert (Bob) Scaringe was the guest for this Space Show program to discuss the long-term goals which are needed for the public support of our space policy. Bob has defined the type of both short-term and long-term goals needed to create more grassroots support of our space policy. Referencing several studies from the public, he shows that such grass roots support is currently not there to take the NASA budget to a 1% of the federal budget, which would allow for research and the types of programs and goals that he talks about in his AIAA paper and presentation.

Guest: Open Lines was the basis for this two hour Sunday Space Show program. Many topics were discussed with callers, those on chat, and through email, including the economic problems and the impact on space, Space Cynics and the recent set of posts regarding Masten Space Systems (http://spacecynic.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/in-space-can-anybody-smell-t…), Space Solar Power (SSP), the NASA Administrator, and more.

Guest: Dr. Nader Elhefnawy had his debut appearance on The Space Show today in order to discuss his recent Space Review articles. Please check out http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1220/1 and http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1199/1. Our discussion was wide-ranging with excellent listener questions challenging our guest and his theories/perceptions or, in some cases, agreeing with our guest.

Guests: Andrea Seastrand and Janice Dunn with Matt Everingham of the California Space Authority (CSA), followed by Ken Davidian of NASA, followed by Jim Buenrostro of the team Technology Ranch at the NASA Lunar Regolith Challenge at Cal Poly were our guests for this set of taped interviews. We start this set of interviews with a message from me, your host of the Space Show, regarding the Falcon 1 launch attempt and my comments about it. As you will hear, I relate these comments and events to the Challenge which took place at Cal Poly this weekend.

Guests: Dennis Wingo for the first hour followed by Donald Beattie for the second hour. ________________________________________________________ Guest : Dennis Wingo was our guest for this session of the Space Show TV program. We started the interview with a discussion on lunar commerce and why Dennis and others believe we need to develop the Moon for the benefit of us all here on Earth. We also discussed extending he life of the ISS. Dennis repeated the need for frequent access to space and the ISS, identifying some important potential markets.