Presidential Space Visit Update

Gee, one has to wonder if any of the NASA or contractor employees will be allowed to attend Bolden's conference, especially since no KSC personnel will allowed anywhere near the O & C building tomorrow, with the exception of security, some PAO flack's and Bob Cabana(KSC Center Director).
Political theater at its finest!!!

sigh.......

but it needs to be stated:

The self-proclaimed touchy, feely new OSTP admin has demonstrated a serious lack of knowledge, understanding of, or empathy for the KSC Shuttle workforce community.

The've apparently forgotten and/or never bothered to know that Obama's poll numbers were low in Florida until he changed his stance on HSF and promised all Shuttle workers full retention on camera, period.

So, trash talking the "old ways" of Shuttle in favor of theoretically cheaper-better-faster outsourcing to other countries and/or private companies, is just _______________ (try thinking for a change-like hmmmmmm, are you worth your salary???)

Although the Shuttle workforce tends to be a-political in public forums, they do have strong opines in private with family, friends, extended family & friends and their friends, etc.etc. and do express their opine at the ballot box.

Nothing like having your Hopes built up.
What a disappointment this group has been.

The've apparently forgotten and/or never bothered to know that Obama's poll numbers were low in Florida until he changed his stance on HSF and promised all Shuttle workers full retention on camera, period...

no. there is no data to support that analysis. Obama's margin of victory in FL and where and how he won are on their face repudiation of that statement

Robert G. Oler

I would really like to know what is going on behind the scenes, espeically in the heads of Administrator Bolden, Deputy Administrator Garver & Dr. Holden.

Could it be that they were genuinely surprised by the response to the plan and are now looking for a form of words to back down? Or, are they simply hoping to tie up all the naysayers in a committee until the sheer force of events (closing production lines and destroying infrastructure) makes the whole matter moot and makes the Obama plan the only one that can actually be carried out?

Just think of all the wondrous things that will come out of this conference in 1 hour and 15 minutes.

I don't understand all the bellyaching from the shuttle workforce. They've known for at least 5 years the end of the program was coming. It seems that now the time is near, it's a big surprise. How is that?

Sorry, but rank and file (by definition) are rarely consulted on strategy - that's set aside for leadership (or management if you prefer that nuance). This is true in the corporate world, government, and military and HSF is no different.

I appreciate the arguments for keeping the workforce so as not to lose tacit knowledge - we keep building one or two submarines a year for similar reasons. I object to the short-term political view informing a long-term program and goal.

I'm sorry if you are going to lose your job. I've been laid off twice due to major upheavals in my industry and have had to adjust. It's exactly this focus on personal self-interest which excludes the rank and file because the impacts of change are disproportionately large.

"we're going to crash this party!"
"hey, they're not letting us in!"

Seriously - the opposition to the new plan went way beyond sticking to the facts of the matter, and was fanned by political hot wind, and the consequences, regrettably, are unavoidable.

I'm sorry. Why are we a bit surprised? We knew the agenda before the election and we know it now. In black and white even. So, why does anyone in a policy position care about OUR opinion on what should/could/need to be done. They haven't in the past and aren't now.
Since their decisions are impacting thousands, it is more comforting for them to ignore us than to listen.
Our government is screwed up; yet, we just keep taking it. They need to understand the best way out of our deficit and to strengthen this country is through an increased manufacturing base, improving and advancing technologies while maintaining our current footholds. Without visible and touted technology programs, our kids aren't going to be interested in going that direction. Our universities are already just surviving due to foreign student enrollment and I hear that foreign students are more readily accepted to graduate programs just because they show better credentials and undergraduate performance.
Come on, WE NEED TO WAKE UP!

Politically I don't see an upside to an open format. He lost the space coast vote, he'll lose it again. He's speaking to the state and nation.

Bush never went to KSC. What would he do? Listen to people complain about CxP funding?

"They've known for at least 5 years the end of the program was coming. It seems that now the time is near, it's a big surprise. How is that?"

Some of them expected to be working on Constellation, but that was canceled. To make matters worse, there was no plan in place on what would replace it just some ideas. At least part of that plan is starting to be formed (Orion Lite), but it's still early and I suspect it will change since it seems to not have been fully explored.

Then there's this proposed commercial replacement. Those promoting it say it's the greatest thing, but those with experience know that there will be big delays and it may not be ready until 2020. Orion Lite is supposed to be a hedge against those possible delays, but unless it can be launched manned it may not be acceptable.

So how are they going to test Orion Lite? Draw straws on the ISS?

Very funny. No, I think it is a case of "you know things are okay when you don't use it".

That said, the capsules might be used for down-mass. The Orion has shuttle-type lockers to allow experimental return from the US segment of the ISS and it can return some items that the Soyuz cannot. That doesn't mean that anyone will fly on it, but it will mean that they have tested that the re-entry and recovery systems work.

JFK "We choose to go to the moon!"

BHO "We choose to.. uh, build an escape pod."

And remember kids, it's "bold" and "exciting".

> BHO "We choose to.. uh, build an escape pod."

> And remember kids, it's "bold" and "exciting".

Particularly if a hole in the ISS forces you to fly the escape pod to the EML2 spacestation.

The NASA camera man is zoomed out to show the teleprompters. That is no coincidence. Some genius is trying to make a point. Typical of a bunch of dumb hicks.

Columbus, Magellen, Lewis and Clark, Captain Cook...

No escape pods.

They didn't wait for better tech start exploring.

We learn by doing.

We learn by going back to the moon to learn how to live and work on other worlds.

250K miles away and it has water, helium 3 and mysteries yet to be discovered, and lessons that will be taught only by doing.

Doing. Not talk about doing later, someday.
Doing now.

And Obama turns his back on it.

"Frankly, we've been to the moon before ..."

Yes, and the other day a friend gave me a ticket to a Baseball game. It was great, I saw one inning and a guy from our side hit a homerun. I left then, since now I know all about baseball. Turns out that our team lost after all. Now when I asked my neighbor about going to the superbowl he looked at me kind of funny. Now he gives sports tickets to the young family down the street.

From NASA TV, they better put these on youtube, because I can't watch all four at once. Suffice it to say they're all dense with excellence.

http://mfile.akamai.com/77131/live/reflector:55832.asx?bkup=56948 Expanding Our Reach

http://mfile.akamai.com/77131/live/reflector:55845.asx?bkup=56009 International Space Station

http://mfile.akamai.com/77131/live/reflector:40295.asx?bkup=40837 Jumpstarting New Technologies

http://mfile.akamai.com/77131/live/reflector:47892.asx?bkup=47893 Economic Opportunity

Speaking of You Tube---here's an apropos video song to the Constellation situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILj28Lvm47Q

The lyrics are below the screen. Yeah, I know, it shows pix of ISS not CxP but mox nix!

His comments about "weve been there" are on point for one reason. It didnt inspire him, just as CxP has failed to garner much notice from most Americans over the past five years. Miles O'Brian made this exact point.

Will going to places we've never been interest people? I don't know.

Not only can someone fly on the Orion-lite CRV but (here's the clever part of the New Plan) it may go up (unmanned) on an EELV and/or a Falcon-9 or whatever (with a little re-design might even go in a Shuttle payload bay---one more reason to extend the shuttle!)but it will have to have automated RPODU capability and, then, who's to say we couldn't later man-rate one of those boosters, slap a LAS on it, and, voila! the US has a (small, limited, true) crewed vehicle for LEO missions! And, since it's being developed in paralell by LM (a la NASA) it's not in direct "competition" with Dragon-X, Rutan, etc.!!--in case they run into troubles! Could have it flying in that mode in 5 yrs or less! Meanwhile, to get to that ridiculous 2015 "decision" date for THE HLV, why not kick-off in 2011 (with Congress's blessing and funding) a two (or more)design-off competition between Shuttle-Derived (Sidemount or Direct) and ARES V-Lite or whatever, so we might actually have a flying HLV by,say, 2017---if they go SDHLV they could make 2014---and keep 90% of those shuttle-types working at KSC,JSC & MSFC! Too logical? NIH? Or too "expensive"? Not if it's done wisely! Just quit sending half the "savings" to the Russians and put those "technology R&D" $$B's to good use!
Maybe I'm giving BHO and Bolden too much credit---but that's what I'm "reading between" the teleprompter lines!