heavy lift

Guest: Henry Vanderbilt. Topic: Space Access Society upcoming conference and agenda. Henry Vanderbilt, founder of the Space Access Society and the Space Access Conference was our guest for this show to discuss the upcoming SA Conference in Phoenix, Arizona from April 8-10, 2010. For more information, please visit www.space-access.org.

Guest: Jim McDade. Topics: space polls, Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, Constellation, Direct. Jim McDade was our guest for this Space Show program, discussing a wide variety of topics from recent Rasmussen space polls, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), and much more. In segment one, we jumped right into the Rasmussen poll showing 50% of Americans favor a cut in NASA spending.

Guest: Ross Tierney. Topics. Direct 3.0, Constellation, NASA, political process. Ross Tierney returned for this two hour program to update us with Direct 3.0 in light of the Augustine report and the upcoming announcements regarding U.S. Civil Space Policy. In our first segment, Ross brought us current with Direct 3.0 and the Augustine Commission. This is a comprehensive discussion. We also talked about work force issues and job losses in the space industry as a result of potential space policy changes.

Guest: Taylor Dinerman. Topics: NASA and commercial space; Climategate, China, SSP, space policy. Taylor Dinerman returned for the first program of 2010 which went almost two hours. In segment one, Mr. Dinerman talked about the coming NASA space policy announcement and programs. He suggested there might be a coming "train wreck." Listen to his analysis in this important discussion. Taylor talked about Constellation, politics, the coming 2010 congressional elections, and possible budget fights.

Guest: Dr. Robert Zubrin. Topics: Goals and vision for space program, Augustine Commission. Dr. Robert Zubrin returned for this Space Show program to provide us with his assessment of the Augustine Commission's report and to put in context his goals and vision for our space program. In our first segment, Dr. Zubrin said that the Augustine Commission failed by not presenting a plan of action . Our entire segment was devoted to this discussion as was much of our program. Heavy lift was brought up and he said we would go nowhere in space without it.

Guest: Dr. Erik Seedhouse. Topics: risk aversion, lunar development, leadership, space with a vision, bio ethical issues. Dr. Erik Seedhouse was our guest today to discuss his book, "Lunar Outpost: The Challenges of Establishing a Human Settlement on the Moon." As we started the program, we asked Dr. Seedhouse about Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger's parachute jump from the edge of space given that Dr. Seedhouse was with the legendary 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, the world's most elite airborne regiment.

Guest: Robert Zimmerman. Topics: Lunar water, Augustine Commission, space policy, climate change and sunspots. Robert Zimmerman returned to The Space Show as our guest for this program. We started the first segment with questions for Robert regarding the recently announced lunar water, Indian Space Agency (ISRO) and MIP reports of lunar water, the IndiaDaily.com article and how all this might impact U.S. space policy in light of the Augustine Commission report.

Guest: Dr. James Dewar. Topic: nuclear rocket, breaking the taboo, private space development and industrialization. Dr. James Dewar was our guest to discuss his new Apogee published book, "The Nuclear Rocket: Making Our Plane Green, Peaceful and Prosperous." This book and his earlier book, "To The End Of The Solar System: The Story of the Nuclear Rocket," will soon be on the One Giant Leap Foundation book page as an Amazon partner. Buying these books from the One Giant Leap Amazon link allows Amazon to financially support The Space Show.

Guest: Ross Tierney. Topics: Direct 3.0, heavy lift, Ares 1, Ares V. Ross Tierney was our guest to update us on progress with the Direct alternative to the costly Ares 1 and Ares V launchers. We referenced several websites during this program and here are the web links to what we mentioned. First, for the DIRECT discussion thread at the nasaspaceflight forum, please use http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17295.msg415258;topics….

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.