8 - February 26, 2010

The NASA Administrator hits some Congressional turbulence over NASA's new budget, shuttles Endeavour and Discovery are on the move, new pics of ice geysers on one of Saturn's moons, Orbital Sciences says its safety first for its new commercial spaceship, astro-immigrants are spotted in the Milky Way, and our own Miles O'Brien testifies to the Senate on NASA's future.

Category:

• Science & Tech
• News

Tags:

• rocket
• launch
• space shuttle
• shuttle
• astronaut
• space station
• international space station
• Orbital
• Orbital Sciences Corportation
• budget hearing
• Charlie Bolden
• NASA administrator
• Spaceflight Now

[DukeNukemIsHere3]

great episode

[sbergman27]

Vitter asks what these changes have to do with anything laid out by the Augustine commission. He wants to be pointed to a page. Apparently, literacy is not a requirement for the post of Republican Senator for Louisiana these days, since the first two sentences in the summary report are these:

"The U.S. human spaceflight program appears to be on an unsustainable trajectory. It is perpetuating the perilous practice of pursuing goals that do not match allocated resources."

[chernobylFarms]

...like the commercial says, we've been to the moon and learned it wasn't made of cheese. And we haven't been back since.

the space stateion or an equivalent is essential to launching a mothercraft, carrying extra fuel and resources, over to Mars's orbit.

[ioanpena]

The ideea of this webcast is very good but we need more information and facts presented as they are and less nerdy filtred information becouse not everyone who is interested in space is a nerd. Why american politicians think that they have to explain everything to the rest of the world like they think we are monkeys. Mr. Bolden what moon are you talking about ? Earth's moon ? I thought that the moon was the goal of J.F.K. ; anyway i wish to congratulate you for your new job at McDonald's !!!

[Iamnotaparakeet]

I think the commercialization of space is a good thing, especially if tourism is a possible option. Making it safe is certainly necessary though, as the high risk may be discouraging to most potential customers. NASA seems to not want to give up their control over the industry, and that seems to be a frustration to at least the Space-X CEO. It's sort of like the movie Astronaut Farmer. I think the commercialization of space will be good, unless Wal-Mart gets involved.

[GETitYAdig42]

i like this show, though it would be more enjoyable in HD.

[lobosolo0333]

Paul Shawcross from NASA's Office of Inspector General states that the Saturn blueprints are on microfiche.

Even then, it would be better to have the blueprints AND an actual piece of equipment. Then you can update it or just take to a manufacturer and have them make it for you. That is why there are people out looking for actual parts.

[ubuibiok]

@lobosolo0333 , Keep on Dreaming , go read The New York Times-"For Old Parts, NASA Boldly Goes . . . on eBay" and the. PBS ORG. What is a "space junkyard?" VIDEOS HERE ON YouTube....

[lobosolo0333]

An overview of the infrastructure still available to support production of a 1990s Saturn V and how that vehicle might be used to support First Lunar Outpost missions can be found in the December 1993 issue of _Spaceflight_, published by the British Interplanetary Society."

[lobosolo0333]

The upper stage of the Constellation is a souped up J-2. The had the plans for it! Several AIAA papers delivered in recent years discuss reviving the Saturn V. For example, AIAA paper 92-1546, "Launch Vehicles for the Space Exploration Initiative". This paper concluded that a revived Saturn V was actually cheaper than the NLS vehicle.

[lobosolo0333]

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SATURN V PLANS?

Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, the Saturn V blueprints have not been lost. They are kept at Marshall Space Flight Center on microfilm. The Federal "Archives in East Point, GA also has 2,900 cubic feet of Saturn documents. Rocketdyne has in its archives dozens of volumes from its Knowledge Retention Program. This effort was initiated in the late '60s to document every facet of F-1 and J-2 engine production to assist in any future re-start.