NASA Administrator

Guest: Rand Simberg, who blogs at Transterrestrial Musings (www.transterrestrial.com/), was the guest on the show. Rand recently wrote an article about the possible space policies from each of the three leading American presidential candidates and we wanted him to talk about his views on this subject right here on The Space Show. This was a comprehensive discussion on space policy, not just the possible policy of each of our presidential candidates, and you will find this information most valuable.

Guest: Dr. Madhu Thangavelu. Key Topics: Altair, Cislunar system, CEV, NASA, teleoperations, time delay, ISRU, education, medical problems. Dr. Madhu Thangavelu returned to The Space Show to discuss the creative problem-solving evidenced by his recent December 2008 USC class, "Return to the Moon: Looking Glass 204 Team Project." Dr. Thangavelu explained the focus of the class and then went through some of the student team solutions to problems we face in returning to the Moon.

Jim McDade returned to The Space Show to provide us with space news updates and interesting perspective on the top space news stories of the day. We began the discussion with an extensive review of the Space Shuttle and how Jim sees the future for the return to flight program. He believes that Shuttle will need to fly for several more years as he thinks it will have to remain in service until a CEV is available or at least within 18 months of being ready for flight.

Dr. Eligar Sadeh returned for this Space Show program. Our discussion focused on the management content implemented at NASA with the NASA Administrator, Dr. Mike Griffin. Dr. Sadeh is concerned that the management being implemented at NASA contains within it some very destructive elements and he discusses these elements on the show. We also discussed private and public partnerships for space development, including the space advocate community side by side with the large aerospace industry and NASA. In our discussions regarding NASA management and Dr.

Jim Muncy of PoliSpace was the guest for the first hour with the remaining half-hour dedicated to open lines. Mr. Muncy started out his discussion by talking about the new NASA Administrator, Dr. Michael Griffin. Mr. Muncy went into some detail to point out the favorable characteristics and plans that Dr. Griffin brings with him and the positive steps he has taken so far regarding NASA, the implementation of the President's vision, and how to make is sustainable and a commercial space enabler. Mr.

Tom Olson returned to The Space Show to update us on what has been happening within the entrepreneurial space industry for the first half of the year. Since his last visit on the program at the end of 2004, the industry has continued to move forward with hopes placed on the new NASA Administrator Dr. Mike Griffin as well as on the momentum from events in late 2004. Mr. Olson talked about the Administrator and NASA, he spoke about the continuing impact of Space Ship One, and the many likely entries in the space tourism vehicle market.

Robert Zimmerman returned to The Space Show to update listeners on the happenings within the space community. We discussed return to flight with the upcoming Discovery shuttle flight, the new NASA Administrator Dr. Mike Griffin, Hubble, the Voyager program, and more. Bob pointed out the difference in NASA this year in its open support of many alternative and advocate space conferences, including ISDC among others. Zimmerman was also quick to point out some of the rough spots that are still plaguing NASA, including possible truthfulness, numbers, and more.

Dr. Alan Binder returned to the The Space Show last night to discuss his new book, Lunar Prospector: Against All Odds. He began the interview by telling us the Lunar Prospector story, the challenges he faced technically as well as from NASA, Lockheed, and individuals. This story includes interesting reflections regarding the upcoming NASA Administrator, Dr. Mike Griffin as Dr. Binder did not have very good experiences with him when he was the AA of NASA and working with him on Lunar Prospector. In response to a listener call, Dr. Binder discussed the possibility of water on the Moon.

Sy Liebergot returned to The Space Show for this program to discuss his book, "Apollo EECom: Journey of a Lifetime" as well as timely topics regarding space development. Among the topics discussed was the International Space Station (ISS), the Space Exploration Vision program, the new NASA Administrator, Congress, budgets, and the NASA culture. Return to flight was discussed as was the CEV, heavy lift, and the time table for getting back to the Moon and going on to Mars. Mr. Liebergot was not optimistic about realizing the new vision and you will want to hear his reasoning.