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This page is all about the latest news on the subject of space exploration
and the enormous price tags that come with those projects. The obsolescense
and pointlessness of NASA's manned space flight program is covered on
this page, but
NASA's other make-work projects are highlighted below. In addition, there are links
to other articles with derogatory commentary about NASA's pointless goals and colossal cost. These space exploration projects have very few tangible end products — certainly nothing that benefits the average taxpayer. The exploration of other planets (or any other space flight) is not authorized by the Constitution and is not the proper role of government. The exception would be military projects in support of our national defense, but the Pentagon has its own aerospace facilities. Yes, I know NASA's projects are the highest of high tech. I'm not saying space flight research isn't cool, but spending taxpayers' money on it is illegal. The Constitution defines the limits of our government, and NASA operates outside those limits. The work being done by NASA should (according to the 10th Amendment) be conducted by private industries, and of course no private company could afford to spend billions of dollars per year on pointless experiments in zero-g. As the shuttle Atlantis landed in Florida recently I noticed that NASA called the flight a "mission to expand the global village of space." Look at the numbers: NASA's Budget Appropriations for 2007 and Projections for 2008 to 2012. Who needs space travel when we can spend money on Muslim appeasement instead? NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world. Though international diplomacy would seem well outside NASA's orbit, Bolden said in an interview with Al Jazeera that strengthening those ties was among the top tasks President Obama assigned him. He said better interaction with the Muslim world would ultimately advance space travel. Obama's new mission for NASA: Reach out to Muslim world. In a far-reaching restatement of goals for the nation's space agency, NASA administrator Charles Bolden says President Obama has ordered him to pursue three new objectives: to "re-inspire children" to study science and math, to "expand our international relationships," and to "reach out to the Muslim world." ... "NASA is not only a space exploration agency," Bolden concluded, "but also an earth improvement agency." The Editor says... Oh! An "earth improvement agency." Who could possibly oppose that? Sure, that's worth $20 billion a year, easily. Obama tasks NASA with building Muslim self-esteem. In the video below, Charles Bolden, head of NASA, tells Al Jazeera that the "foremost" task President Obama has given him is "to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with predominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering." Thus, NASA's primary mission is no longer to enhance American science and engineering or to explore space, but to boost the self-esteem of "predominantly Muslim nations." Former NASA Director Says Muslim Outreach Push 'Deeply Flawed'. The former head of NASA on Tuesday described as "deeply flawed" the idea that the space exploration agency's priority should be outreach to Muslim countries, after current Administrator Charles Bolden made that assertion in an interview last month. ... Bolden created a firestorm after telling Al Jazeera last month that President Obama told him before he took the job that he wanted him to do three things: inspire children to learn math and science, expand international relationships and "perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering." White House, NASA, Defend Comments About NASA Outreach to Muslim World. The White House and NASA today defended comments by National Aeronautic Space Administration administrator Charles Bolden about reaching out to the Muslim world — comments that conservatives criticized as undermining NASA's mission. Former NASA chief: Muslim outreach is 'perversion' of NASA's mission. Michael Griffin, who headed NASA during the last four years of the Bush administration, says the space agency's new goal to improve relations with the Islamic world and boost Muslim self-esteem is a "perversion" of NASA's original mission to explore space. NASA's new mission: Building ties to Muslim world. You'd be hard-pressed to find an American who doesn't know that the "S" in NASA stands for "Space." Since the race to the moon in the 1960s, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been one of the most storied agencies in the U.S. government. Now, under President Obama, its mission is changing — and space isn't part of the story. NASA's Mission to the Muslims. NASA was the direct result of the Cold War scare when the Russians put Sputnik into orbit over the Earth in October 1957, thereby demonstrating they had missiles powerful enough to launch a nuclear attack on the nation. It galvanized the U.S. government into passing the National Defense Education Act in order to get more young Americans to go into the fields of science and math, and it prompted the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for the purpose of demonstrating American scientists and engineers could create bigger and better missiles. Muslims had nothing to do with it then and nothing to do with it now. Obama's "Fly Me to the Crescent Moon" Policy. [Scroll down] We can find something else interesting in this loony story: Where are the atheizers and arch-separationists on this one? Do they support "separation of church and state" but go suddenly silent when the issue is "separation of mosque and state"? Clarice's Pieces. I might suggest to Bolden and his boss that if you want to inspire children to get into science and math, get us back into space. If you want to expand our international relationships, do what NASA once did — be a shining example of American creativity and ingenuity. If you want to make the Muslim nations feel good, find another job, because it is preposterous to link it to yours. Video: Charles Krauthammer didn't think much of Bolden's remarks, either. "This is a new height in fatuousness[.] ... NASA was established to get America into space and to keep us there. This idea to feel good about their past and to make achievements is the worst combination of group therapy, psychobabble, imperial condescension and adolescent diplomacy." Does the 'S' In NASA Suddenly Stand for 'Stupid'? The latest example of the brainless void in the Obama administration (no, not Joe Biden this time) comes directly from the head of NASA. The space agency's Administrator Charles Bolden said recently that the "foremost" mission of our space agency was to make Muslims feel good about stuff they did hundreds of years ago. It's not an accident. Bolden had been in Cairo promoting this stupidity, following up on Obama's speech a year ago catering to the Muslim world. NASA's Muslim outreach: Al Jazeera was told first. Lawmakers across Capitol Hill, both Democrats and Republicans, were surprised to learn recently that the Obama administration has made reaching out to Muslim nations a top priority for the space agency NASA. They will probably be more surprised to learn that administration officials told the Middle East news organization Al Jazeera about it before they told Congress. President Dogbert. Set aside whatever you are thinking now about making Muslim nations feel good. If this was the new NASA administrator's "mission," how is it discernible from, say, a mission that could be assigned to the Secretary of Education? Couldn't General Bolden accomplish his mission without even having to put anything or any person into space ever again? This "mission" has the earmarks of the bad mission statements I recall from my tenure as a cubicle-dweller: It is a "save the world" (and its children and Muslims) mission, and it has nothing specific to do with NASA itself. It could apply equally to the Dept. of Education, the Dept. of Energy, or the Dept. of Agriculture. Farewell to Space. Just when you thought Barack Obama's toadying to Islam could not get any worse, now comes this: The President directed the new administrator of NASA, retired Marine Major General Charles Bolden, as "perhaps [his] foremost" charge to "find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage more dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science... and math and engineering." One Giant Leap (Backward). "Waste anything but time." That was the motto of the teams behind NASA's Apollo missions. That spirit has long since evaporated. Today's NASA is pulled by a million missions, from improving education and spinning off more products like Tang to its latest call of duty: telling Muslims how good they are at math. ... We've gone from "waste anything but time" to "waste everything, especially time" in about a generation. The NASA-Muslim Outreach Story 'Has Not Made the Cut'. Total words about the NASA Muslim outreach program in the New York Times: 0. • Total words about the NASA Muslim outreach program in the Washington Post: 0. • Total words about the NASA Muslim outreach program on NBC Nightly News: 0. • Total words about the NASA Muslim outreach program on ABC World News: 0. • Total words about the NASA Muslim outreach program on CBS Evening News: 0. The Distance NASA Travelled Over 48 Years. [Scroll down] One listens to this interview and remembering this is the United States of America we are talking about, one is tempted to say the piece is an absolutely nutty story, one wants to say it is ridiculous, even bizarre, a fraud. Then one realizes it is real, it is where we have traveled in the last 48 years, and one shudders. Allah's final frontier. What's unclear is what Mr. Bolden believes the United States has to gain by reaching out to a part of the world that has been technologically stagnant for centuries. The Muslim world has nothing to offer the United States as a space-faring nation. If anything, America should be discouraging Middle East space programs. Iran has the most advanced space initiative in the region and claimed to have launched a satellite in February. It's a short step from putting satellites in space to being able to do the same with warheads. U.S. Space Program Bows To Mecca. At a time when the only missile programs in the Arab world, namely in Syria and Iran, are aimed at hitting Israel with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, NASA administrator Charles Bolden goes on Al Jazeera to tell the Muslim world his "foremost" goal was to make them feel good about their achievements in math, science and engineering. Citing the International Space Station as an example, Bolden described space travel as an international collaboration of which Muslim nations must be a part. Obama Making Carter Years look Like Paradise. The United States government and some in media seem obsessed with appeasing anybody and anything Islamic. Only the latest example is the decree from NASA that its "foremost" mission is to recognize and appreciate the contributions of Muslims to science. The Right Stuff Goes Wrong. The president and Bolden think it will improve relations with the Muslim world if we praise them for their work in math and science many centuries ago, but what has the Muslim world done for humanity lately? Muslim pandering 'not good for the country'. A conservative media watchdog thinks the mainstream media has virtually ignored the NASA administrator's recent outlandish statement that the "foremost" mission of the space agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden made that announcement on the English language version of Al Jazeera, which Jeff Poor of the Media Research Center's Business and Media Institute believes was a questionable move in and of itself. The White House backpedals at full speed: Muslim Outreach Not the Job of NASA, White House Says. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday [7/12/2010] that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden must have misspoken when he told Al Jazeera last month that one of his top priorities is to reach out to Muslim countries. "That was not his task and that's not the task of NASA," Gibbs said. Bolden, though, said last month in the interview that it was President Obama who gave him that task. He made a similar claim in February. White House denies NASA remark on Muslim outreach. The White House is contradicting the NASA administrator's claim that President Barack Obama assigned him to reach out to Muslims on science matters. In Search of Islam's Contributions. NASA administrator Charles Bolden gave an interview in late June to Al Jazeera television and told the Arabic-language news network that before he took his new job, Obama told him that "perhaps" his "foremost" duty was "to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering." This is ludicrous. It is not our government's job to make foreigners feel good about themselves. Norm Augustine's Subversive Agenda. To commemorate the first anniversary of Barack Obama's Cairo speech, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, interviewed on al Jazeera TV, said that one of his foremost responsibilities was improving relations in the Muslim world by highlighting their contributions to math, science and engineering, thereby making them feel better. Notwithstanding that Muslims abroad learned of this outreach before the Americans who will fund it did, while your first instinct may be to focus on the emotional aspects of using taxpayer-funded NASA to enhance public relations with Muslims, a sizable majority of whom hate us, we must look at the totality of what Barack Obama is doing to America's military and space programs and how those actions are intertwined, before the national security implications become apparent. NASA's Final Frontier. Once upon a time, NASA led America's great ascent into the final frontier. But in a stunning case of misplaced priorities, the space agency now seems to be primarily concerned with raising Muslim self esteem. NASA Outreach Program 'Confirmed' Despite White House Denial, Rep Says. The White House is disavowing a plan to have NASA conduct outreach to Muslim countries, but a congressman who talked to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden about that plan last month said the initiative was very real until somebody slammed the brakes on it. Rep. Pete Olson, ranking Republican on the Space and Aeronautics House Subcommittee, told FoxNews.com that Bolden described the outreach program as part of the administration's space plan during a conversation they had in June. What Muslim Scientific Achievements? [Scroll down] Walid Phares, an author and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted that the U.S. shouldn't "be in the business of bringing religion, Islam or other to space development." ... "This is a ridiculous concept. Those who enter a spaceship are humans not members of religious sects. I think what lays behind this medieval perception of space technology is a policy of partnership with Islamist regimes, most of which are oppressive of their own people." More about Obama and the Muslims. Now that global warming has fizzled, let's move on to the next crisis. Climate Alarmism Takes Off in a New Direction. NASA has just voiced its concern over the threat that our modern technological society is now facing from "solar storms." Now it's true of course, that our society has become quite dependent on new technology, such as satellite communications and GPS mapping, that is vulnerable to the effects of major solar storms, but NASA seems to be a bit too worried about how big the threat really is. One Giant Leap for Commercial Space. While the Obama administration shuts down the Shuttle and the Constellation programs, commercial space firms are stepping into the void. NASA's mission to nowhere. In a speech given at the Kennedy Space Center last month, President Obama reaffirmed his administration's decision to cancel Constellation, NASA's program to create new vehicles for human flights to the moon and Mars. If implemented, this decision will guarantee a decade of non-achievement by NASA's human spaceflight program, at a cost of more than $100 billion. NASA accused of 'Climategate' stalling. The man battling NASA for access to potential "Climategate" e-mails says the agency is still withholding documents and that NASA may be trying to stall long enough to avoid hurting an upcoming Senate debate on global warming. Did someone mention ClimateGate? CEI's NASA global warming lawsuit. In case you missed this item on Thursday [5/27/2010], the Competitive Enterprise Institute is suing NASA over its failure to respond to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act going back to 2007. Obama Space. [Scroll down] Why are they doing this? I haven't a clue. The real disappointment is that they choose to decentralize and privatize manned space flight while doing everything humanly possible to take over and control the rest of the American economy. My guess is that the $19-billion NASA budget is not large enough to warrant their interest and that most of the manned space flight activities are conducted in "Red States." U.S. military launch space plane on maiden voyage. A top secret space plane developed by the US military has blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its maiden voyage. Billed as a small shuttle, the unmanned X-37B heralds the next generation of space exploration. It will be the first craft to carry out an autonomous re-entry in the history of the US programme. But its mission — and its cost — remain shrouded in secrecy. A weapon that can strike anywhere on Earth in 30 minutes. Call it a reusable space vehicle. Call it a space plane. But whatever you do, just don't call it a space weapon. That's the message from the Air Force after last week's launch of its X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, which can stay on orbit up to 270 days. The Air Force won't say what, exactly, the robotic space plane will be doing there, how long it will linger this time, or even how much it costs. The Editor says... All that secrecy can only mean one thing: It's a weapon. Nasa: Evidence of life on Mars. NASA scientists last night unveiled compelling evidence of life on Mars. A special mission to the Red Planet has revealed the likely presence of a form of pond scum — the building blocks of life as we know it. The Editor says... I wonder why we're only hearing about this "discovery" in a British tabloid. And what exactly is a "special mission"? Losing it in space. Rather than reaching toward the stars, America's premier scientific organization has settled its sights on studying shrimp schools beneath the Antarctic ice cap and sticky accelerators on Toyotas. Hiding NASA Decline. The agency that put Americans on the moon can't tell you the temperature that day. It isn't returning to the moon, but it will fix the brakes on your car. Two senators want to know what's going on. NASA chief vows help for Florida employees. NASA chief Charles Bolden on Wednesday [2/24/2010] outlined plans to help the Kennedy Space Center and Florida's aerospace workers through the cancellation of the back-to-the-moon program — without mentioning comparable assistance for Houston's Johnson Space Center. Turning NASA into a Global Alarmism and Scares Administration: The president's budget gives the National Aeronautics and Space Administration a hefty $6 billion budget increase over the next five years, with nearly $2.5 billion dedicated to research on global climate change. ... It is activism, not science, that the Obama administration's vast new funding will encourage. To Boldly Go Nowhere: NASA Foregoes Moon, Concentrates on 'Global Warming'. [Scroll down] The President of the United States, according to [a] story in the Orlando Sentinel, doesn't seem to share that sense of wonder or to understand the educational, societal and economic value that comes along with indulging natural human curiosity about the universe we live in. If he has his way, Obama will replace the sonorous call to "boldly go where no man has gone before" with a mere murmur, to blandly study what everyone has been studying for years. The Atheist-Dominated National Academy of Sciences. It is important for us to understand the mindset of the hierarchy of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) because they are the ones whose alleged expertise on "global warming" will justify the Democrats' cap-and-tax legislation. Over the last 50 years, the NAS hierarchy has become one of the most poisonous organizations in America, a nest of atheists who base their pseudo-scientific dogma on the arbitrary rejection of God, and not upon empirical evidence and the scientific method. NASA chief: Mars is our mission. NASA's emerging exploration plan will call for safely sending humans to Mars, possibly by the 2030s, and de-emphasize exploration of the moon, the agency's leader said Tuesday [2/9/2010]. Panel Says NASA Needs To Privatize. A blue-ribbon panel said Tuesday [9/8/2009] that a lack of financing has left NASA's current space program on an "unsustainable trajectory" and that the Obama administration should consider using private companies to launch people into low-Earth orbit. The panel, convened in May in response to a request by President Obama, delivered an executive summary of its report to the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The full report is expected later this month. This report is dubious at best: India's lunar mission finds evidence of water on the Moon. Dreams of establishing a manned Moon base could become reality within two decades after India's first lunar mission found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface. Data from Chandrayaan-1 also suggests that water is still being formed on the Moon. Scientists said the breakthrough — to be announced by Nasa at a press conference today [9/24/2009] — would change the face of lunar exploration. The Editor asks... Large quantities of water, really? If you paid any attention in high school, you may remember that the moon has no atmosphere, so if there is a puddle of water, it sits in a vacuum, and must endure an average daytime temperature of about 107°C. (Remember what happens at 100°C.?) A pond or a lake would last about half an hour under those conditions. If there are large quantities of water on the moon, why has no probe detected them until now, and why are there no clouds around the moon? And really, "water is still being formed on the Moon"? It is being formed out of what? Could this report be any more absurd? 40 years later, the moon landings have unintended consequences. Plan to Combat Global Warming? Pie in the Sky. Whenever you hear a politician start a sentence with, "If we can put a man on the moon...," grab your wallet. For years, Democrats, enthralled by the cargo cult of the Kennedy presidency, have used the moon landing as proof that no big government ambition is beyond our reach. ... The problem with the "if we can put a man on the moon, we can certainly spend trillions on this or that" formulation is that it sees political and scientific accomplishments as interchangeable. NASA's mission to bomb the Moon. The LCROSS mission will blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a missile that will blast a hole in the lunar surface at twice the speed of a bullet. The missile, a Centaur rocket, will be steered by a shepherding spacecraft that will guide it towards its target — a crater close to the Moon's south pole. Scientists expect the blast to be so powerful that a huge plume of debris will be ejected. The Editor says... In all likelihood this explosive long-distance exploration will probably accomplish little or nothing. How many billions of dollars will be thrown away on fireworks shows of this kind, before the general public complains about the waste of their money? Wanted: A Space Program with a Vision. In 1993, when the space station was on the verge of being canceled, it was saved by only one vote in Congress, and then only because the Clinton administration converted it to a foreign-aid program for the Russians. This explains much of the quandary in which we remain today; in which we are dependent on them for a lifeboat to get us to the Space Station and for actual access to it after the Shuttle retires next year, if current policy follows through. Earth bears scars of human destruction: astronaut. [In July 2009, the Endeavour] astronauts delivered a Japanese-built experiment platform, installed new batteries for the station's solar power system and stashed spare parts to keep the station operational after shuttles are retired next year after seven more flights. The $100 billion station, a project of 16 nations, is nearing completion after more than a decade of work. Astronaut's underwear an endeavor of its own. In what might embarrass less adventurous souls, astronaut Koichi Wakata is returning to Earth with the pairs of underwear he wore for a solid month during his space station stay so that scientists can check them out. They are experimental high-tech undies, designed in Japan to be odor free. The Editor says... Was it necessary for this man to be in orbit to test his underwear? Is this going to be called a beneficial by-product of space travel, even though it could have been accomplished on the ground? Are experiments of this sort really worth 18 billion dollars a year? NASA employee speaks out on 'Pride Month'. A NASA employee is voicing concern over a recent email and memo from her supervisors. The controversial memo was sent out by NASA officials to employees and encouraged them to celebrate "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month," in accordance with a presidential proclamation. NASA officials not only encouraged employees to celebrate the pro-homosexual observance, but also encouraged them to participate in pride events in their communities. If there was no such event in their community, employees were encouraged to start one. NASA chief tells employees to celebrate gay pride month. The Catholic News Agency reported this morning [6/12/2009] that National Aeronautics and Space Administration's acting Chief Christopher J. Scolese sent an internal communication to all employees at the space agency directing them to organize and participate in Gay Pride Month celebrations. Family Advocates Baffled as NASA Celebrates Homosexual "Pride" Month. Pro-family advocates are charging The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with having gone "completely-off mission" with its decision to officially promote homosexual rights. ... "LGBT Pride Month is a reflection of NASA's commitment to inclusiveness across the broad spectrum of our workforce," said NASA's Acting Administrator Christopher J. Scolese. NASA goes 'completely off-mission' with LGBT Pride Month, critic charges. [Scroll down] John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, said [Christopher J.] Scolese's announcement was "stunning" and charged that it promoted activities which "'celebrate' aberrant forms of sexual conduct." He called the action "completely off-mission" and counterproductive to the best interests of children, families and "the common good of society." ... He said the action breeds "bad internal morale" and disrespects the consciences of "tens of thousands, if not the vast majority, of NASA's own 300,000 employees" who object to "the promotion of sexual activism." NASA: A Scientific Organization or a Political One? NASA is wasting time, energy and taxpayer dollars promoting an immoral, unnatural and unhealthy sexual behavior, something that -- if they really wanted to do a public service -- they would discourage along with other self-destructive unhealthy behaviors. NASA is launching a telescope to find Earth-like planets. The universe may be filled with Earth-like planets — worlds where extraterrestrials might flourish. But these planets were once considered too small to spot, even with the latest in space technology. Now, many astronomers believe NASA's $600 million Kepler telescope, which is scheduled to shoot into space this week, will help to clear up the mystery. NASA Satellites Get 'Counterfeit' Parts; Taxpayers Pay. Maybe it was something he didn't mean to say. Or maybe NASA has a problem. At a House subcommittee hearing on NASA's cost overruns, the agency's acting administrator, Christopher Scolese, was asked why it is that so many space projects fail to stick to their budgets. He listed a variety of reasons, including management mistakes, bad planning or the sheer complexity of missions that have never been tried before. And then he said, as one extra point, that some spacecraft are built with parts that turn out to be "counterfeit." Bolden Is Tapped to Run NASA. President Barack Obama picked former astronaut and retired Marine Corps Gen. Charles Bolden Jr. to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but controversy over his background and NASA's future direction could complicate his job. Obama offers extra $1.4B for lunar missions. Efforts to return to the moon are supported by the Obama White House, and NASA will receive $1.4 billion extra next fiscal year for a variety of lunar missions, a preview of the new administration's first federal budget showed Thursday. The White House released a bare outline for the $3.55 trillion federal spending plan that includes a recommendation of $18.7 billion for NASA. On the other hand... NASA may abandon plans for moon base. NASA will probably not build an outpost on the moon as originally planned, the agency's acting administrator, Chris Scolese, told lawmakers on Wednesday [4/29/2009]. His comments also hinted that the agency is open to putting more emphasis on human missions to destinations like Mars or a near-Earth asteroid. H.R.1: The House's Pig Pen. [Excerpt from NASA's requests:] $400,000,000 — Science (not less than $250,000,000 "shall be solely for accelerating the development of the tier 1 set of Earth science climate research missions); $150,000,000 — Aeronautics; $50,000,000 — Cross Agency Support Programs (restoration and mitigation of NASA infrastructure and facilities damaged during 2008 disasters). The Editor says... It sounds like NASA is moving away from space exploration and turning into an employment agency for environmentalists. Martian Methane Suggest Solar-Induced Global Warming. A group associated with NASA`s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, using NASA`s Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii discovered plumes of methane in the Martian atmosphere over several seasons of observations. Methane is a gas normally produced by biological or volcanic processes-something not believed possible on Mars, which is considered both biologically and geologically dead. The Editor says... If Mars is considered dead, why are we spending billions to send probes there? Nasa rocket crash is big setback to knowledge of climate change. The satellite, which was the first Nasa had dedicated to measuring the greenhouse gas from space, was expected to transform science's grasp of the "carbon sinks" in soil, forests and oceans that absorb CO2 and keep much of it out of the atmosphere. Its observations were considered crucial both to predicting future carbon dioxide levels and to developing strategies for protecting the sinks that hold back its damaging effects. Nasa's £190m 'global warming' satellite crashes. Nasa scientists were left red-faced today after a £190 million rocket carrying a global warming satellite crashed into the ocean near Antarctica. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory was the agency's first attempt to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide from space and was designed make climate change models more accurate. Professor, Wife Accused of Defrauding NASA of Hundreds of Thousands of Taxpayer Dollars. The FBI and NASA are investigating a University of Florida professor and his wife for allegedly defrauding NASA out of hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars for their own personal use. Iranian-born Samim Anghaie, 59, is the Director of the Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute at the University of Florida. His wife, 55-year-old Sousan Anghaie, is president of New Era Technology Inc. (NETECH) in Gainesville, Fla. Conspiracy theorists spot 'timber plank' on Mars. An image sent back from the Red Planet has revealed an object bearing an uncanny resemblance to a wooden log. It was captured by the Mars Rover near the Endurance Crater. ... [However], there is no scientific evidence of any macroscopic plant life on Mars and the vista in the image is one of a vast and desolate desert. What are the chances? U.S. And Russian Satellites Collide. In an unprecedented space collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a defunct Russian satellite ran into each other Tuesday [2/10/2009] above northern Siberia, creating a cloud of wreckage, officials said today. The international space station does not appear to be threatened by the debris, they said, but it's not yet clear whether it poses a risk to any other military or civilian satellites. Big Communication Satellites Crash 500 Miles Above Siberia. Scientists are keeping a close eye on orbital debris created when two communications satellites — one American, the other Russian — smashed into each other hundreds of miles above the Earth. NASA said it will take weeks to determine the full magnitude of the unprecedented crash and whether any other satellites or even the Hubble Space Telescope are threatened. Thousands of fragments spread from satellite wreck. A high-speed collision between American and Russian satellites in one of the most congested regions of space was bound to happen and has significantly increased the floating pools of debris above the Earth, experts said Thursday. "The debris cloud created by this collision is like a shotgun blast," said David Wright, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security Program. Space Laws: Space is governed by laws, too. Today in Popular Mechanics, Glenn Reynolds gives an overview about space laws — what he calls "rules of the road" for space. But he also explains how certain "standards of practice" have not yet been written, most having to do with space debris. When the laws governing space were written forty years ago, who would have every thought there would be so many satellites roaming overhead? The Law of Space Collisions: International Rule Above the Earth. When two satellites collided on Wednesday nearly 500 miles over Siberia, the first thought for NASA scientists was to assess the effects space debris would have on the International Space Station. Now that the ISS has been deemed out of harm's way, damages are being assessed. The question now turns to who pays for damages in space. Astronauts vow remaining tool bag won't drift away. Astronauts vowed to double-check, even triple-check, to make sure a bag of tools is properly tied down during a spacewalk Thursday [11/20/2008] so it doesn't float away like one did earlier this week. ... The bag was one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalking astronaut, and NASA guessed it cost about $100,000. Update: Tool Bag Lost In Space Meets Fiery End. A tool bag lost by a spacewalking astronaut last year met its fiery demise in Earth's atmosphere Monday [8/3/2009] after months circling ever closer to the planet. The $100,000 tool bag plunged toward Earth and burned up as it re-entered the atmosphere, according to the U.S. Air Force's Joint Space Operations Center tracking it and more than 19,000 other pieces of space junk in orbit today from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Space station's remodeling will fix water supply — but don't ask. Time for a remodeling job for the International Space Station. At 10 years old, it needs more bedrooms, another kitchen and bathroom and a more reliable water supply — though one that might make most folks squirm a bit. Top priority for the Endeavour crew, poised to lift off Friday night from Florida for a 15-day mission: installing hardware designed to recycle urine into drinking water. New NASA capsule Orion resembles Apollo. The agency unveils the test module for structural testing at Edwards Air Force Base. The capsule, designed to carry humans to the moon, looks a lot like the one that first did so four decades ago. NASA can't reach Mars lander, ends mission. NASA scientists said on Monday they could no longer communicate with the Phoenix Mars Lander and were calling an effective end to its five-month-plus mission on the Red Planet. Mission engineers last received a signal from the lander on November 2, the space agency said. NASA's Ares V may crush Kennedy crawlerway. The budget for NASA's Constellation programme — comprising the Orion and Ares vehicles — looks like it may have run to a few billion cubic metres of road surfacing after the agency admitted the Kennedy Space Center crawlerway over which spacecraft are trundled to their launchpads could collapse under the weight of the Ares V heavy lifter. This is tabloid journalism at its most doubtful. Life on Mars. Alien microbes living just below the Martian soil are responsible for a haze of methane around the Red Planet, Nasa scientists believe. The gas, belched in vast quantities in our world by cows, was detected by orbiting spacecraft and from Earth using giant telescopes. The Editor says... If that is proof of life on Mars, it also proves there is life on nearly every other planet as well.* Computer viruses make it to orbit. A computer virus is alive and well on the International Space Station (ISS). Nasa has confirmed that laptops carried to the ISS in July were infected with a virus known as Gammima.AG. The worm was first detected on Earth in August 2007 and lurks on infected machines waiting to steal login names for popular online games. Frustrated NASA chief vents about agency's fate. In congressional testimony and speeches across the country, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has presented the Bush administration's space policy as under pressure but on track to returning humans to the moon by 2020. His public face has been steadfast. But privately, the agency chief is far less certain. In a remarkably candid internal e-mail to top advisers obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Griffin lashed out last month at the White House for what he called a "jihad" to shut down the space shuttle, expressed frustration at the lack of funding for a new moon rocket — and despaired about the future of America's human-spaceflight program. The Editor asks... Is it really a "jihad" when taxpayers want to stop throwing money down the drain? Discord With Russia a Worry for NASA. NASA's ability to send its astronauts to the $100 billion international space station is in danger of becoming a costly casualty of the Russia-Georgia war. ... NASA wants to negotiate a contract this year to have Russia's Soyuz spacecraft transport all astronauts traveling to and from the station during the gap. But first, Congress has to pass a waiver to a 2000 law forbidding government contracts with nations that help Iran and North Korea with their nuclear programs, as Russia has done. Ambitious NASA Probe to Fly Through Sun's Fringe. Spurred to action by Congress, NASA is finally moving out on an ambitious mission to send a spacecraft closer to the sun than any has ever gone before. NASA directed the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) to begin preliminary work on a proposed $750 million Solar Probe mission last month, with plans to launch around 2015 to fly through the sun's corona and study the stream of charged particles it regularly blasts into space. 1.5 billion dollars down the drain. The Device NASA Is Leaving Behind: The instrument, which would detect and measure cosmic rays in a new way, took 500 physicists from around the world 12 years to build. But with room on the 10 remaining shuttle missions to the space station in short supply, many fear that it will remain forever warehoused on Earth, becoming the most sophisticated and costly white elephant of the space era. Phoenix Mars Lander Prepares For Final Countdown. [Scroll down] It will be for the first time when a Mars mission reaches so far north, with the clear purpose of determining whether the Red Planet is a setting for past or future forms of life. The Mars Lander will examine the soil in place at the surface, at the icy layer and in between, and will take samples for analysis. [No mention of the price tag.] Mars Phoenix to try shake-and-bake once more. In a series of maneuvers that sounds more like cooking class than research on Mars, scientists said Monday [6/9/2008] they would try one more time to shake bits of the clumpy Martian soil into a test oven on NASA's Phoenix lander before switching to a backup strategy that called for dribbling the soil into the oven. ... The Martian soil is proving to be much clumpier — cemented, in scientific terms — than expected. Alkaline Soil Sample From Mars Reveals Presence of Nutrients. Stick an asparagus plant in a pot full of Martian soil, and the asparagus might grow happily, scientists announced Thursday [6/26/2008]. An experiment on the Phoenix Mars lander showed the dirt on the planet's northern arctic plains to be alkaline, though not strongly alkaline, and full of the mineral nutrients that a plant would need. Mars Phoenix lander finds soil similar to that in backyards on Earth. The Phoenix lander's first taste test of soil near Mars' north pole reveals a briny environment similar to what can be found in backyards on Earth, [emphasis added] scientists said today in Los Angeles. The finding raises hope that the Martian arctic plains could have conditions favorable for primitive life. The Editor says... "Similar?" I don't think so. The soil in my back yard is full of last year's grass and a bunch of spiders, ants, snails, worms, and the decaying excrement of every dog that has ever lived here. It could very well be that all the scientists have found — after spending billions of our tax dollars — is slightly alkaline dirt (or dust) and sterile water. Update: Mars soil may not be so good for life. New results from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander suggest that the surface layers of the Martian arctic region may not be as friendly to life as initial results suggested, NASA said Monday [8/4/2008]. Two samples analyzed within the last month … suggest that the Martian dirt may contain perchlorate, a highly oxidizing substance, which would create a harsh environment for any potential life. Martian soil may not have life after all. Weeks after being billed as fit for growing asparagus, it now seems the red soil of Mars may not be quite so friendly after all. After days of growing speculation about an important discovery, NASA finally revealed a secret yesterday. Its Phoenix lander, which touched down in May, has found not the chemistry of life, but perchlorate — a toxic, highly corrosive compound used in household cleaners, explosives and rocket fuel that can destroy organic matter. At last! Proof of life on Mars! WRONG! Mars Craft Detects Falling Snow. Icy snow falls from high in Mars's atmosphere and may even reach the planet's surface, scientists working with NASA's Phoenix lander reported yesterday. Laser instruments aboard the lander detected the snow in clouds about 2½ miles above the surface and followed the precipitation as it fell more than a mile. The Editor says... If snow is found on Mars, that is not proof of life on Mars. Snow is not life. Will NASA Ever Find Life on Mars? NASA has long taken an incremental approach to searching for biology, with "follow the water" as a driving strategy. That means, perhaps to the frustration of some, that the current Phoenix lander mission and the twin rovers on Mars are not even designed to detect Martian life. The Editor says... Why the "incremental approach"? Money, obviously. Once NASA finds Clue #1 and Clue #2, it just has to send another billion-dollar probe to find Clue #3. Court nixes NASA background checks. A federal appeals court ruled Friday [1/11/2008] that NASA should be blocked from conducting background checks on low-risk employees at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory, saying the practice threatens workers' constitutional rights. NASA Wary of Relying on Russia. The launch of the Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) … highlights a stark reality: In 2½ years, just as the station gets fully assembled, the United States will no longer have any spacecraft of its own capable of carrying astronauts and cargo to the station, in which roughly $100 billion is being invested. The Editor says... The logic behind NASA's concern escapes me. Apparently the justification for squandering more money is the fact that We have invested $100 billion in the space station already. That's like finding out that you're on a dead end road and refusing to turn around because you've gone so far already. First View of Mercury's "Other Face". The first of many planned images from NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is showing astronomers a side of Mercury no one's ever seen before. Mercury is tough to view from Earth, since it's so close to the sun. And when the Mariner 10 probe flew past the innermost planet in 1974 and 1975, only one side of the body was facing sunlight. [The article includes no mention of the price tag for these pictures, nor any explanation of how these new pictures benefit the taxpayers.] Nasa investigates virtual space. The US space agency is exploring the possibility of developing a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. The virtual world would be aimed at students and would "simulate real Nasa engineering and science missions". At last — something important! Boomerangs come back in space, Japanese astronaut finds. Japanese astronaut Takao Doi has thrown a boomerang in space and found, to the surprise of many, that it does come back. The 53-year-old conducted an experiment aboard the International Space Station on Tuesday [3/18/2008], Japanese time, to see whether boomerangs fly back in space. Scientists aim for origami space flight. Japanese scientists and origami masters hope to launch a paper airplane from space and learn from its trip back to Earth. It's no joke. A prototype passed a durability test in a wind tunnel this month, Japan's space agency adopted it Wednesday [3/26/2008] for feasibility studies, and a well-known astronaut is interested in participating. The Editor says... It is comical and somewhat surreal to see well-educated men undertake these studies as if the answers were urgently needed. Let's go to Mars, says Nicolas Sarkozy. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has called for the world to unite to explore Mars. Speaking during a visit to French Guaiana, Mr Sarkozy called for a coalition of the willing from Europe, America, Russia and beyond to explore the red planet. The Editor says... The Socialist Sarkozy is merely looking for a handout from the U.S. In other words, if there is to be a trillion dollars spent on a trip to Mars, he wants France to climb aboard the gravy train. Secrets of 1957 Sputnik launch revealed. 50 years later, it emerges that the momentous launch was far from being part of a well-planned strategy to demonstrate communist superiority over the West. Instead, the first artificial satellite in space was a spur-of-the-moment gamble driven by the dream of one scientist, whose team scrounged a rocket, slapped together a satellite and persuaded a dubious Kremlin to open the space age. 
World magazine, September 22, 2007. NASA Awards $1.8 Billion for Moon Mission Motor. NASA has awarded defense contractor Alliant Techsystems Inc. $1.8 billion to develop a motor for the Orion capsule, which will replace the space shuttle and be able to reach the moon and Mars, the company said. NASA Presents Details of Plans for Moon Base. NASA announced new details yesterday [9/20/2007] about its plans for a Moon base that included a pair of small, pressurized rovers with a range of nearly 600 miles. The space agency plans to return astronauts to the Moon around 2020. Agency officials first described proposals last December for a polar lunar base powered by near constant sunlight on solar panels. How many probes must we send to Mars to prove a negative? NASA Sends Robotic Lander In Search Of Water And Life On Mars. A US space probe embarked Saturday [8/4/2007] on a 10 month journey to Mars, where it will dig through Martian soil in a search for signs of life in a frigid region of the Red Planet. We can't all go to the moon, but our names can. NASA has established a free "Send Your Name to the Moon" Web site that "enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the moon for years to come," according to the space agency. Phoenix lander blasts off to Mars. NASA's Phoenix Mars lander blasted off on Saturday on a mission to determine whether icy ground near the planet's north pole could ever have supported life. The mission launched at 0526 EDT (0926 GMT) on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US. [The article includes no mention of the price.] Where are the PETA people? NASA, Russia To Study Effects Of Spaceflight On Small Lizards, Snails. According to NASA, the Russian Foton-M3 mission will launch from Kazakhstan this Friday [9/14/2007], sending an automated Vostok spacecraft — a heavily modified version of the same basic spaceship that carried Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961 — into low Earth orbit for 12 days. Instead of a human astronaut, however, the small craft will hold several geckos, newts, and snails. [And again, the article includes no mention of the pricetag.] Just another government cover-up... NASA won't disclose survey of pilots on air safety. An unprecedented national survey of pilots by the U.S. government has found that safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than previously recognized. But the government is withholding the information, fearful it would upset air travelers and hurt airline profits. NASA won't disclose air safety survey. NASA gathered the information under an $8.5 million safety project, through telephone interviews with roughly 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots over nearly four years. Since ending the interviews at the beginning of 2005 and shutting down the project completely more than one year ago, the space agency has refused to divulge the results publicly. NASA Won't Disclose Air Safety Survey. Among other results, the pilots reported at least twice as many bird strikes, near mid-air collisions and runway incursions as other government monitoring systems show, according to a person familiar with the results who was not authorized to discuss them publicly. The survey also revealed higher-than-expected numbers of pilots who experienced "in-close approach changes" — potentially dangerous, last-minute instructions to alter landing plans. [Since when is NASA in charge of airline safety? Isn't that the function of the FAA?] Update: NASA reluctantly releases airline safety study. NASA begrudgingly released some results today from an $11.3 million federal air safety study it previously withheld from the public over concerns it would upset travelers and hurt airline profits. It published the findings in a format that made it cumbersome for any thorough analysis by outsiders. [If you wanted to avoid news media coverage, what better time to release such a study than New Year's Eve?] NASA again postpones the launch of Atlantis. NASA was forced to postpone the scheduled Jan. 10 launch of shuttle Atlantis so flight engineers can fix the problematic fuel tank sensor system on the shuttle. ... Even though the shuttle launch is indefinitely delayed, NASA declined to comment on possible future launch dates. NASA'S Luxury, At Your Expense. [Scroll down] The awards are to honor workers who've contributed to flight safety. But it's not just a low-key dinner for a handful of the best and brightest. Try five days and four nights at a luxury Florida hotel for 300 honorees and their guest. (sic) Fancy receptions and front-row tickets to the most exciting show in the space business, the shuttle launch. All paid for by your tax dollars. NASA gives Google founders a coveted parking place for their private jet. [NASA] confirmed earlier this week that H211, a limited liability company that counts Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, as one of its principals, had secured rights to operate a refurbished wide-body Boeing 767-200 out of Moffett Field, an airport that is run by NASA and is generally closed to private aircraft. Drunk astronauts allowed to fly, admits panel. A panel has found that astronauts were allowed to fly on at least two occasions despite warnings they were so drunk they posed a flight risk, Aviation Week reported today on its website. The publication said the panel set up by NASA to study astronaut health issues reported "heavy use of alcohol" within 12 hours of launch. It said flight surgeons and other astronauts warned that the drunken astronauts posed a flight risk when they flew on the two known occasions. NASA's hangover won't easily go away. NASA plans to overhaul the way it monitors the behavioral and mental health of its astronauts following findings that shuttle astronauts in at least two instances were launched into space despite warnings that they posed a safety risk by being intoxicated. Update: NASA to begin drug testing for astronauts. After finding no evidence of astronauts drinking before launching into space, NASA said Wednesday [8/29/2007] it is considering limited alcohol testing of its employees, including astronauts. Russia Denies Report Astronauts Flew on Space Shuttle Drunk. Russia's space agency denied Saturday that an astronaut could have flown drunk aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from its Baikonur cosmodrome, reacting to allegations reported by the chairman of an independent U.S. panel on astronaut health. Amid NASA turbulence, Congress stays on board. With NASA pushing ahead with plans for exploring the moon and Mars, administrator Michael Griffin acknowledged last week that scandals and reports of astronaut misconduct have "shaken public confidence" in his agency. Congress, however, is standing by NASA, ignoring a veto threat in an attempt to fund space endeavors with more money than President Bush's $17.3 billion request for the 2008 fiscal year. NASA Reports Sabotage of Flight Computer. A space program worker deliberately damaged a computer that is supposed to fly aboard shuttle Endeavour in less than two weeks, an act of sabotage that was caught before the equipment was loaded onto the spaceship, NASA said Thursday [7/26/2007]. Muslim astronaut given guidelines. Malaysia's first astronaut will blast off into space next month armed with guidelines from Muslim authorities on how to pray, wash and even be buried in space. Guidebook issued for Muslims in space. Malaysia has come up with the world's first comprehensive guidebook for Muslims in space as its first astronaut prepares to go into orbit next week. The book, Guidelines for Performing Islamic Rites at the International Space Station, teaches the Muslim astronaut how to perform ablutions, determine the location of Mecca when praying, prayer times, and how to fast in space, the Star newspaper reported. NASA Buys $19 Million Toilet System. NASA has agreed to pay $19 million for a Russian-built toilet system for the international space station. The figure may sound astronomical for a toilet in space, but NASA officials said it was cheaper than building their own. "It's akin to building a municipal treatment center on Earth," NASA spokeswoman Lynnette Madison said Thursday, explaining the cost of the new toilet system. The Editor says... Yes, "it's akin to building a municipal treatment center" for the exclusive use of four or five people. Spacecraft to examine massive asteroids. The US spacecraft Dawn, due to launch on Sunday [7/8/2007], will take a close look at two massive asteroids to try to penetrate the mystery of our solar system's origins 4.6 billion years ago. By examining the two celestial bodies Ceres and Vesta in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, scientists hope the unmanned Dawn probe will shed light on the earliest moments in the birth of the solar system. NASA set to launch "Dawn" asteroid spacecraft. NASA is ready to launch this weekend a spacecraft that will search for clues about the solar system while traveling to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter for a rendezvous with two of its largest asteroids. … Dawn is set to blast off Sunday afternoon from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a Delta II rocket. The launch caps a tumultuous effort in which the $344 million mission was killed last year because of cost overruns and technical problems, then brought back online after NASA appeals. This is no longer news, but it is instructive... Shuttle return may be delayed. Russian computers that control the international space station's orientation and supply of oxygen and water have failed, potentially extending the space shuttle's mission — or cutting it short. Russian engineers are not sure why the computers stopped working. A failure of this type has never occurred before on the space station. Last try for space station computer reboot. Space officials said it was so-called secondary power sources that had failed, rather than the German-built computers themselves or the Russian software that they run on. The Editor says... With all the billions of American taxpayer dollars that have been poured into the Space Station, why is it held in place with German computers running Russian software? Update: Internal NASA Reports Explain Origins of June Computer Crisis. The technological — and diplomatic — lessons of that crisis need to be fully understood and appreciated. Because if the failure had occurred on the way to Mars, say, it probably would have been fatal, and it will likely be the same international partnership that builds the hardware for a future Mars mission. NASA paid $26.6M to Columbia families. NASA paid $26.6 million to the families of seven astronauts who died aboard space shuttle Columbia — a settlement that has been kept secret for more than 2½ years. The space agency recruited former FBI Director William Webster, also a former federal judge, to act as a mediator and adviser in negotiating the out-of-court settlements, according to documents released to the Orlando Sentinel through a federal Freedom of Information Act request. Columbia's Sacrifice: On February 1, 2003 the Space Shuttle OV-102 Columbia broke apart during reentry and took with it the lives of seven astronauts. The resulting debris field spread across several states and possibly a portion of the Pacific Ocean as well. This tragedy left not only an extended debris field and grieving families, but also left many questions in the minds of those who witnessed it in person as well as on TV. As a mechanical engineer with an aerospace background, I believe that there are aspects of the events that took place between 8:45 and 9:00 a.m. EST on February 1st that do not appear to fit the theories NASA is currently making public. Neither damaged tiles, missing tiles, or a breach of the shuttles wing itself adequately explain the chain of events that led to the final catastrophic breakup of the orbiter. As far as why the Columbia was destroyed any analysis or comments regarding politics is outside the scope of this website and anything written here is pure conjecture. It is very difficult to believe that anyone in our government would willingly give an order to murder seven astronauts and destroy a space shuttle. It would be far easier to believe that Columbia's destruction was simply a terrible accident. Either a test of the HAARP transmitter was being conducted without the knowledge that a Space Shuttle was reentering the atmosphere or the Columbia was part of a test that went terribly wrong. … The reason for the cover-up is probably to keep the capabilities of the HAARP system secret.* NASA Ponders Death, Sex On Mars Mission. With NASA planning to land on Mars 30 years from now, and with the recent discovery of the most "Earth-like" planet ever seen outside the solar system, the space agency has begun to ponder some of the thorny practical and ethical questions posed by deep space exploration. Rover discovery supports idea life was possible on Mars: NASA. A soil analysis by the Mars rover Spirit strongly suggests that the Red Planet was once wet, providing evidence of conditions that might have supported life, NASA scientists said Monday. Spirit found soil that is rich in silica, and "the processes that could have produced such a concentrated deposit of silica require the presence of water," it said in a release. US achieves autonomous docking in space. Two free-flying satellites performed the first autonomous separation and docking for the US on 5 and 6 May. The test was done without any human intervention as the craft flew nearly 500 kilometres above the planet, and could one day lead to robotic spacecraft that are able to repair damaged satellites. On to Mars! The current American space program has clearly reached a dead end. The construction and maintenance of a space station, and its regular resupply by space shuttles, have been remarkable achievements, albeit costly ones in both lives and treasure. But the landing of men on the moon in 1969 and a few subsequent years were the last really historic steps that NASA took, and the experiments recently devised by high-school students to occupy the time of astronauts in the space shuttles are little more than insults to the human intelligence. US military wants $10m space-weapon funding. The US Missile Defense Agency wants $10 million to investigate space-based weapons over the next year. As Pentagon budgets go, it is small change, but it is also a red flag for critics who worry that such plans could turn space into a shooting gallery. Satellite to probe mysterious glowing clouds. NASA is about to launch a spacecraft to study mysterious invaders lurking above Earth's poles -- not UFOs, but the shimmering, high-altitude apparitions known as noctilucent clouds. NASA Releases 3D Images of Sun. NASA released the first three-dimensional images of the sun Monday [4/23/2007], saying the photos taken from twin spacecraft may lead to better predictions of solar eruptions that can affect communications and power lines on Earth. [Better predictions? Will it make any difference if we get another 24 hours notice of such an event? There's still nothing we can do about solar eruptions when they happen. NASA is one of the few places where people never weigh the cost of new projects versus the benefits, because the greatest benefit is NASA's continued existence.] Russians accuse US of sabotaging satellite during missile tests. According to one unnamed space official quoted by the Russian Interfax news agency, communications were lost with the Russian satellite on 9 March just as the US was carrying out missile experiments. A second Russian specialist, also unnamed, gave a different rationale, arguing it was affected by ground-based tests to knock out spacecraft through wave experiments. As if the US owns the moon... The Moon opens for business. The first private Moon landing has finally been given the green light by the US government. NASA: China could be next to go to the moon. China's surging space program could launch explorers on the moon before Americans make a lunar return, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told a congressional oversight panel Thursday. … That prompted a round of questions from Rep Ken Calvert, R-Calif., on whether the United States might lose its lead in space to China. "How good is their space program? … Do you think they have an opportunity to get to the moon before we do?" Calvert asked. [Why should we care if China goes to the moon? Is there any justification for a space race in the absence of a Cold War?] NASA being shortchanged, congressman charges. The chairman of the U.S. House science committee said Thursday [3/15/2007] that NASA is headed for "a train wreck" if the space agency isn't better funded to finish building the international space station and develop the next-generation spacecraft. [They act as if there is some grave danger to us all if the space station is not maintained and expanded.] A waste of space. [The International Space Station is] little more than an updated MIR where scientists can float around and study the effects of zero gravity. Its major reason for existing seems to be to give the shuttle fleet a destination. And, in a nice circle of reasoning, the shuttles exist to service an international space station. How convenient. Cosmonaut to Hit Golf Ball Into Orbit. A Russian cosmonaut will whack a golf ball from the international space station in a publicity stunt on Thanksgiving Day, NASA officials said Tuesday [8/22/2006]. Russian flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin will show off his swing to promote a Canadian golf club manufacturer during a spacewalk on November 23. [At last we know what the Space Station is good for.] Lockheed Martin wins NASA moon contract. NASA on Thursday [8/31/2006] gave a multibillion-dollar contract to build a manned lunar spaceship to Lockheed Martin Corp., the aerospace leader that usually builds unmanned rockets. The nation's space agency plans to use the Orion crew exploration vehicle to replace the space shuttle fleet, take astronauts to the moon and perhaps to Mars. Unlike Apollo and earlier spacecraft perched atop rockets, it will be reusable. NASA estimated the cost at $7.5 billion through 2019 for likely eight separate spaceships. Nasa looks to a new frontier by building telescope on the Moon. The most powerful radiotelescope yet devised is to be built on the Moon, under plans being put together by Nasa for its 2018 lunar mission. Mike Griffin, the head of the US space agency, said the construction of a telescope is being "factored into" the mission. [What is the end product? More research into the origins of the universe, no doubt. No mention of the price tag, as usual. NASA is pretty obviously struggling to come up with new ways to spend the taxpayers' money.] NASA crushes lunar real estate industry. NASA has confirmed its moon base will not illegally occupy other people's land. The news deals a crushing blow to the dreams of thousands of idiots, who coughed the cash for their very own patch of dusty countryside on the moon. NASA announced earlier this week it would start building a permanent lunar outpost in 2020. NASA to review process of screening astronauts. NASA said today [2/7/2007] it would review its psychological screening process in light of an astronaut's arrest on charges she tried to murder a woman she believed was her romantic rival for the affection of Discovery astronaut William Oefelein. Spacecraft will hunt for planets. [William Borucki's] proposal was rejected four times by NASA. Then other delays and budget cuts threatened to scuttle the $500 million effort before it reached the launch pad. But persistence is paying off for Borucki, 68. The Kepler space telescope is under construction at Ball Aerospace & Technologies in Boulder, with launch set for November 2008. NASA Studies Manned Asteroid Mission. NASA is appraising a human mission to a near-Earth asteroid-gauging the scientific merit of the endeavor while testing out spacecraft gear, as well as mastering techniques that could prove useful if a space rock ever took aim for our planet. NASA's Goals Delete Mention of Home Planet. From 2002 until this year, NASA's mission statement, prominently featured in its budget and planning documents, read: "To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers … as only NASA can." In early February, the statement was quietly altered, with the phrase "to understand and protect our home planet" deleted. For $35M, You Too Can Walk in Space. You don't have to be an astronaut anymore to experience walking in space. All you need is $35 million and the willingness to risk your life. A private Virginia firm that already has sent three super-rich men to the international space station for $20 million each announced Friday [7/22/2006] it would offer an even rarer adventure: A stroll outside the space station for an extra $15 million. Nixon was ready to report NASA deaths. The US was so eager to beat the Soviet Union in the race to the moon that it launched its 1969 mission before it was ready, and president Richard Nixon even prepared an address to announce the deaths of the astronauts aboard, a new documentary says. It's time to go beyond the shuttle. The hesitance about the coming launch among members of the NASA team responsible for mission safety is alarming. So was the apparent "reassignment" of one such NASA official who was a bit too public in expressing his misgivings about mission safety. And the billion-dollar price tag that American taxpayers have picked up since the last tragic loss of shuttle and crew raises the biggest issue of all. Ohio, Ala. to Play Bigger Roles for NASA. Space centers in Ohio and Alabama will get added work as NASA shifts direction from flying circles around the Earth in a shuttle to zooming to the moon again in a brand new space vehicle. NASA's DART spacecraft smashes into satellite. NASA's 800-pound Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft was supposed to circle a defunct orbiting Pentagon satellite. NASA orbiter arrives at Mars. A NASA spacecraft successfully slipped into orbit around Mars yesterday [3/10/2006], joining a trio of orbiters already circling the Red Planet. … The $720 million mission is managed by the JPL in Pasadena, Calif. [There were three probes orbiting Mars already? How many of these do we really need, at $720 million each?] Missions to the moon and Mars: The US House of Representatives yesterday [7/22/2005] overwhelmingly endorsed President Bush's plans to go to the moon and Mars. But the House also insisted that NASA concentrate on space research and on repairing the Hubble orbiting telescope. The Hubble, along with science programs and aeronautics research, are popular in Congress – partly because the contracts generate thousands of jobs, injecting millions into the economies of many lawmakers' districts. There could be no clearer example of pork barrel spending! Scientists find new clue to life on Mars. A vast, dust-covered ocean of ice is the most likely place to discover life on Mars, according to a team of British scientists. The frozen ocean was captured by cameras aboard the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe, which revealed an expanse of pack ice just north of the Martian equator, in Elysium, a region strewn with dormant volcanoes. If the European Space Agency is sending probes to Mars, why are we duplicating the effort? Scientists object to Bush's moon-Mars missions. They say the president's two-year-old Vision for Space Exploration program is gobbling up billions of dollars that they think could be better used for less expensive projects, including new telescopes and unmanned robots such as the twin rovers on Mars. [This assumes that the billions of dollars must be spent somewhere.] NASA to unveil plan for moon mission in 2018. NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday [9/14/2005] on its plan to spend $100 billion and the next 12 years building the spacecraft and rockets it needs to put humans back on the Moon by 2018. NASA to unveil plans for 2018 moon mission. NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle is expected to cost $5.5 billion to develop, according to government and industry sources, and the Crew Launch Vehicle another $4.5 billion. The heavy-lift launcher, which would be capable of lofting 125 metric tons of payload, is expected to cost more than $5 billion but less than $10 billion to develop, according to these sources. NASA Wants Astronauts Back on Moon by 2018 ...at a cost of $104,000,000,000. NASA Planning Moon Launch for 2018. It will cost $104 billion over the next decade to send astronauts back to the moon, NASA's chief said Monday [9/19/2005], defending the price tag as an investment the nation can afford despite the expense of Hurricane Katrina. Described as "Apollo on steroids," the new moon exploration plan unveiled by the space agency will use beefed-up shuttle and Apollo parts and aims to put people on the moon by 2018. [Suppose NASA lands on the moon again in 2018. What will that accomplish? What is there to learn about moon rocks that hasn't already been learned?] Space: The Ultimate Prize. Recently asked [November 1999] what it would take to return to the moon, NASA responded by stating, “20 years.” Those old enough, recall in the 1960s that the task took only 10 years when there was no experience and no technology to achieve it. NASA has evolved into a bureaucracy. Has a New Era of Space Venture Arrived? The 1967 UN Treaty on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which the U.S. government signed, prohibits claims of national sovereignty on any extraterrestrial body. Moreover, the 1979 Moon Treaty disallows any private ownership on the moon. The commission reported that the United States "has not ratified the 1979 Moon Treaty, but at the same time, has not challenged its basic premises or assumptions." As a result, "the legal status of a hypothetical private company engaged in making products from space resources is uncertain." NASA administrator says space shuttle was a mistake. The space shuttle and International Space Station — nearly the whole of the U.S. manned space program for the past three decades — were mistakes, NASA chief Michael Griffin said Tuesday [9/27/2005]. … The shuttle has cost the lives of 14 astronauts since the first flight in 1982. Roger Pielke Jr., a space policy expert at the University of Colorado, estimates that NASA has spent about $150 billion on the program since its inception in 1971. NASA Eager to Fix the Problem, But Some Have Doubts. Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union … called it "ridiculous" that American taxpayers continue to "pour billions" into the shuttle program as well as the international space station — based on the "circular logic" that we need to send people into space to see how they act in space. House backs Bush on space quest. The House on Friday overwhelmingly endorsed President Bush's vision to send astronauts back to the moon and eventually on to Mars as it passed a bill to set NASA policy for the next two years. No inspiration in space-based socialism. NASA will cost taxpayers $16.2 billion in fiscal 2005, up $822 million from 2004. That is an astronomical sum, considering not only the less-than-stellar returns NASA has yielded Americans recently, but also this year's projected deficit of $348 billion (to be piled atop a $7.4 trillion national debt). Our Future in Space. A truly bold vision of the future of space exploration for America would place private space entrepreneurs at the forefront. Like other industries (e.g. semiconductors, biotech, and the internet), the federal government played a significant early role in demonstrating key technologies. But these industries flourished when entrepreneurs stepped in and took the reins. We are now at that point with the exploration of space. Computer will tell Muslim astronaut how to pray in space. Malaysian scientists and religious scholars are trying to determine how Muslims should behave in space, as the predominantly Islamic country prepares to dispatch its first astronaut next year. [Perhaps Muslims shouldn't be in space at all. How would you know if you're really bowing toward Mecca in a zero-g environment, where the floor is the same as the ceiling? How would you know, at any given moment, that you weren't also bowing toward Jerusalem, or New York, or Hell itself?] Cutting Out HUD, NASA and Other Losers. The civilian space program is a 21st century version of Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA) program, a boondoggle that provides employment on useless projects. It is nothing more than high-class welfare for scientists and engineers and the domestic aerospace industry. Editor's Note: The article above is just one of several excellent articles by Jim Grichar in which he lists dozens of federal agencies that should be trimmed or eliminated. Pork Hamstrings NASA'S Mission. Originally, the shuttle was expected to be a cheap way to transport people back and forth into space. At just $5 million per launch, it would supposedly open space up to all sorts of possibilities. However, the space shuttle program has not exactly lived up to our original expectations. To begin with, the cost per launch is actually 100 times higher than originally projected — at $500 million per trip. Nickels and dimes add up: NASA Employs a Performance Artist with a $20,000 Taxpayer-Funded Stipend. For two years, NASA paid Laurie Anderson as the agency's "artist in residence." The performing artist was commissioned to perform a theatrical story-telling piece in theaters across the nation, as part of a NASA outreach effort. The artist in residence position was not specifically authorized by Congress. … Her job Description: Create and tour a theatrical piece, educating theater-goers about NASA; and "…to produce a film on the moons of the solar system" for the 2005 World Expo. Why Do We Have A MANNED Space Program? As Poul Anderson put it in a 1984 lecture, Space: Promises and Problems, "The average man is not dumb; he's perfectly able to see that sending men to the moon is a rather roundabout and expensive way of producing a teflon frying pan, especially considering that teflon was already in existence." There are too many worthy research programs, such as on aircraft icing, that are notoriously underfunded, and too much of the manned space budget goes for repetitive "operations" that have little to do with technology development. Moon and Mars Missions are Not a Priority for Taxpayers. The President's initiative was left for dead in the summer of 2004 after a lukewarm reception from the public and deep skepticism from prominent scientists. But funding for the initiative was included at the last minute in the fiscal 2005 omnibus bill. For fiscal 2006, House appropriators have marked up NASA's budget at $16.5 billion including $3.1 billion for the moon/Mars initiative which is $275 million above fiscal 2005 levels and $15 million above the President's budget request. Scrap The Shuttle Program. The shuttle is far more expensive than expendable rockets used for the Apollo program the 1960s. The orbiter and solid rocket boosters are recovered for reuse, but an army of engineers must inspect and rebuild them for the next mission. As a result, plans for 100 shuttle missions a year have fallen to around four, costing $550 million each and employing 30,000 people. Don't Lavish Funds on NASA. After NASA sold the nation on the space shuttle as an inexpensive, reusable lifter, the cost of hefting a pound of payload into space, accepting NASA's accounting, soared from $3,800 in the 1960s Apollo program to $6,000 (in constant dollars). When Alex Rowland of Duke University included the development and capital costs of the shuttle, the cost rocketed to $35,000 per pound. NASA's costs went up when the cost of just about everything else — megabytes of computer memory, airline tickets, shipping a barrel of oil — were falling in real dollars. The difference between NASA's rising costs and the falling costs elsewhere is that computer makers, airlines, and oil shippers are in competitive markets. Time to Privatize NASA. The inflation-adjusted cost of commercial air travel has dropped by about 30 percent since the late 1970s, when airline deregulation began. And the cost of shipping oil has dropped by as much as 80 percent in a little over two decades. But the government's reusable shuttle has actually made spaceflight more expensive. Interesting web site: Space Projects dot com: "A bilingual, international directory of nearly everything space-related, including constructive reform proposals [by ex-NASA personnel] focused on making space access far more affordable." Somewhat related article: Scuttle the shuttle program. After Columbia clearly had disintegrated, NASA briefers characterized the occurrence as "a contingency." This mirrored the language of football coaches characterizing ruptured spleens and broken limbs as "bumps and bruises." Then followed suggestions to media that budget cuts inflicted by White House and Congress might have compromised shuttle safety. This crass, self-serving reaction was quickly replaced, however, by another football coach-like reaction: NASA would have to get the shuttles back into space again, as the dead astronauts would have wanted it. This just in: Probe finds a frozen orange world. The Huygens probe, part of a $3 billion joint mission involving NASA and the European and Italian space agencies, made its pioneering descent to Titan on Friday [1/14/2005], sending back readings on the moon's atmosphere, composition and landscape. … Scientists believe a study of the icy moon could yield clues about how life developed on Earth. Editor's Note: As I was saying at the top of this page, NASA's only remaining mission is the never-ending search for theories about the origin of the universe. Any theory will do, as long as it disagrees with the first chapter of the Bible. There is no end to this sort of theorization. Worrisome news in NASA survey. More than a year after the loss of space shuttle Columbia, NASA workers are still afraid to speak up about safety concerns, according to a survey released Monday [4/12/2004] that places much of the blame on the agency's leadership. Auditor quits with NASA finances in chaos. As NASA sets course for the moon and Mars, the space agency's finances are in disarray, with significant errors in its last financial statements and inadequate documentation for $565 billion posted to its accounts, its former auditor reported. NASA's Last Days? NASA is still mired in the old "throw money away" method of space travel. Testing such expensive equipment [as the X-43A] and throwing it away is wasteful, as if millions of dollars that went into it were nothing, and the jet itself, after the test, was of no more value than a model airplane. What Troubles NASA: A 248-page report issued by a 13 member board on the Columbia space shuttle accident makes 29 important recommendations to ensure the safe return of the shuttle for use in America's space program. However, there is nothing new in this report. Space Station May Have to Be Abandoned. If crew members have to leave the station they would do so aboard a Russian-made Soyuz vehicle that is left docked to the station as a lifeboat. China [is trying] to buy the moon. A company has set up operations in China to sell land on the moon for 289 yuan ($45) an acre, cashing in on renewed interest in space travel after the successful five-day voyage of Shenzhou VI. Privatize the Space Program. Phase out government involvement in space exploration, and the free market will work to produce whatever there is demand for. NASA's Unhappy Birthday: While space is indeed challenging, there's no excuse for many of the management mistakes that have given us near-sighted telescopes, misguided space probes, the fiery loss of billions of dollars of hardware with its crews, and most tragically, the squandering of billions of dollars, and irreplaceable years, on mismanaged and misbegotten programs that were ostensibly to reduce the cost of space flight, but instead ended up lining the pockets of contractors while delivering, at best, hangar queens. The space shuttle is a major polluter. The Shuttle is the largest of the solid fuel rockets, with twin 45 meter boosters. All solid fuel rockets release large amounts of hydrochloric acid in their exhaust, each Shuttle flight injecting about 75 tons of ozone destroying chlorine into the stratosphere. Those launched since 1992 inject even more ozone-destroying chlorine, about 187 tons, into the stratosphere (which contains the ozone layer). Scrap NASA. Throughout its existence, the most rewarding aspect of the space program has been sticking it to the Russians. With the ending of the Cold War, this motivation no longer applies. What then are we getting out of the program which will consume $86 billion dollars over the next five years? Tragically it seems these days that the only time the space program is grabbing top headlines is when disasters occur. [We just can't stop the manned space program at that point. When astronauts get killed in the line of duty, we must press on, because "that's what they would have wanted." This is an example of decision making based upon emotion rather than reason.] NASA Hopes to Spur Commercial Space Growth. The U.S. space agency is sponsoring a competition in which winning companies will get $500 million in seed money to develop space vehicles that NASA will never design, build or own. Like a U-Haul truck rental, NASA instead will merely lease them on a per-trip basis for sending cargo and eventually crew to the international space station. $500 million in "seed money"? Sounds like an enormous SBA loan. Maybe NASA's should be called the Large Business Administration. This still sounds like pork barrel politics and a busy-work project for rocket scientists, because there still is no end product in sight, other than support of the space station. Deep Impact probe hits comet. At a cost of $330 million, Deep Impact is the eighth mission in NASA's Discovery Program, which supports low-budget science missions. $333 million is the price of a low-budget mission! Deep Impact: NASA hopes the core of the Tempel 1 comet may hold cosmic clues to how the sun and planets formed. Permit me to reiterate: Every NASA mission — whether it's the Mars lander looking desperately for water, Deep Impact hitting a comet, or just flying around in circles for several days at a time — has as its goal something having to do with gathering clues about the origins of the solar system. After decades of these projects, what new clues are there? Does NASA have any tangible end product? Some estimate the cost of Deep Impact at $333 million. [1] [2] [3] [4] Others, perhaps rounding down, say $330 million. [5] [6] Update: NASA Announces Another Comet Mission. The University of Maryland-led team that produced the spectacular Deep Impact mission, which smashed an impactor into Comet Tempel 1 in July, 2005, hopes new information gathered from Comet Boethin will help coalesce the vast array of new cometary information into solid ideas about the nature of comets, how they formed and evolved and if they have played a role in the emergence of life on Earth. Comet dust capsule lands in desert. The mission, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, cost $212 million. Comet Dust Capsule Lands In Utah. The mission, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, cost $212 million. Stardust's return to Earth was the reverse of the ill-fated Genesis mission that carried solar wind particles. Stardust of yesterday. Scientists believe comets are icy, rocky debris left over from the beginning of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. … They expect that analysis of the Stardust samples will help them better understand how the planets formed and evolved. NASA's Comet Tale Draws to a Successful Close in Utah Desert. NASA's Stardust sample return mission returned safely to Earth [1/15/2006]. … Scientists believe these precious samples will help provide answers to fundamental questions about comets and the origins of the solar system. Capsule Brings First Comet Dust to Earth. After a seven-year journey, a NASA space capsule returned safely to Earth on Sunday [1/15/2006] with the first dust ever fetched from a comet, a cosmic bounty that scientists hope will yield clues to how the solar system formed. And now, on to the next frivolous project: Super Fast Spacecraft Zooms Toward Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft blasted off aboard an Atlas V rocket Thursday afternoon [1/19/2006] in a spectacular start to the $700 million mission. Despite the speed – it can reach 36,000 mph – it will take 9½ years to reach Pluto and the frozen, sunless reaches of the solar system. The Long Road to Pluto and Why We're Going. ... and the price tag for this boondoggle is $700 million. [1] [2] [3] Satellite could open door on extra dimension. An exotic theory, which attempts to unify the laws of physics by proposing the existence of an extra fourth spatial dimension, could be tested using a satellite to be launched in 2007. Such theories are notoriously difficult to test. But a new study suggests that such hidden dimensions could give rise to thousands of mini-black holes within our own solar system — and the theory could be tested within Pluto's orbit in just a few years. The official GLAST web pages at NASA, Stanford University, and General Dynamics can tell you everything there is to know about this project, except the cost. How many people care so much about black holes? Let them pay for this kind of research from their own pockets! Special subsection about the Genesis probe Capsule from Genesis Space Probe Crashes in Utah Desert. Scientists will soon begin trying to recover as much data as they can from the damaged Genesis canister in an attempt to salvage the $264 million mission. Crash of Genesis disappoints. Genesis held hundreds of fragile silicon wafers embedded with microscopic bits of the sun's surface. They were precious cargo, collected during the spacecraft's three-year, $264 million mission to unlock mysteries of the solar system's formation. NASA Board To Investigate Crash Of Spacecraft. One of the men who got an up close look at the Genesis space probe that crashed Wednesday in Utah said the outer shell and the canister with solar particles opened when it hit the desert. A drogue parachute and a parafoil that were supposed to allow helicopters to capture the delicate samples apparently did not fire, allowing the 500-pound craft to smash into the desert. Chute failure turns space probe descent into a crash landing. A NASA capsule carrying pieces of the sun hurtled out of control before smashing into Utah's west desert Wednesday, an almost-200-mph crash landing that could reverberate through the nation's troubled space agency. There goes another $264 million down the drain in an attempt to gather information to support a new theory about the origin of the universe. Is there no one at NASA or in the US Congress who can (or will) veto an idea like this before any money is spent on it? How many more missions of this sort are already underway? Update: Genesis slammed to Earth after parachutes failed. A report released Tuesday [6/13/2006] blamed a design flaw for the 2004 crash of a NASA space probe carrying solar wind atoms back to Earth and criticized engineers for failing to detect the error. The 231-page document prepared by independent investigators found that gravity switches on the Genesis probe designed to trigger the deployment of its parachutes were installed backward. [At first you might ask, "Doesn't somebody check things like that during construction? A better question would be, "How many people were fired as a result of this?" I would guess the answer would be a maximum of two people. The actual number will probably be closer to zero.] Again I say, it is time to pull the plug on NASA and privatize or terminate everything NASA does. It was the coolest science project of the 1960's, and it was a peaceful way to show the other superpowers that we had big rockets and fast computers, but the Cold War is over, and there is no reason — other than shameless pork barrel spending — to keep NASA around forever. Top Ten NASA Contractors for Fiscal Year 2005: $2,041,608,378 to United Space Alliance $1,516,216,915 to California Institute of Technology $1,337,979,568 to Lockheed Martin Corp. $1,300,155,000 to Boeing $ 428,771,225 to Science Applications International Corp. $ 384,582,105 to Alliant Techsystems, Inc. $ 322,390,911 to Space Gateway Support $ 315,459,867 to Honeywell, Inc. $ 297,369,749 to Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. $ 283,567,087 to Northrop Grumman Corporation Also of interest: A number of huge grants to companies that the average taxpayer has never heard of, as well as grants that are somewhat counterintuitive. $ 61,391,592 to West Virginia High Tech Consortium $ 12,144,530 to United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation $ 9,674,997 to American Museum of Natural History $ 9,200,297 to SETI Institute $ 4,097,810 to National Science Teachers Association $ 3,033,269 to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Total federal contracts awarded by NASA for Fiscal Year 2005: $14,548,190,252. 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