ISU Space & Media Panel, KSC VIP Tour Report, Friday, 7-6-12 July 6, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: alternative media, Bill Harwood, commercial space, Endeavour, Florida Institute of Technology, Florida Space Coast, International Space University, Irene Klotz, Jim Lewis, Kennedy Space Center, Leonard David, NASA control rooms, new media., Pad 39A, Rubber Room, SLS, Space and Media Panel, space journalism, space news reporting, Space Shuttle, space workforce, Vehicle Assembly Building
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ISU Space & Media Panel, KSC VIP Tour Report, Friday, 7-6-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1808-BWB-2012-07-06.mp3
Guests: Dr. David Livingston; Jim Lewis & Bill Allen in the second segment. Topics: ISU Space & Media Panel, KSC special VIP tour report. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. During the first segment of this program, I talked about my recent experience as moderator of the International Space University (ISU) Summer Session Space and Media Panel. I would also like to refer you to an article on the panel with pictures at www.americaspace.org?p=22002. Panel members were Irene Klotz, Bill Harwood, Leonard David, & Jim Lewis. We talked about various journalistic, media, alternative and new media issues, science and space reporting issues for 90 minutes, then took questions from the ISU students &visitors for half an hour. I highlighted many of the questions asked of the panel, some of the discussion topics, & student questions.
In the second segment, I was joined by Jim Lewis & Bill Allen. Jim commented on the earlier media panel discussion, but we focused on the KSC tour. We described what we saw on Pad 39 A, the shuttle control room, and in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) with the crawler, the mobile launcher, & the shuttle bays. We went inside Endeavour where astronaut Nicole Stott kindly showed us around, answered our questions, explained the crew cabin & taught us Space Shuttle 101. We commented on just how tight the living conditions were in the shuttle & how hard it was to sit in the command & pilot seats. Doing so in a space suit & with the shuttle in the vertical position for launch seemed an impossible task. Much of the equipment had been removed on both decks, especially the seats (other than the command & pilot seats) plus the galley was gone, so we actually saw Endeavour with room to spare than when outfitted for flight & seven crew members. We walked around Endeavour, inspected the tiles, the payload bay, the SMEs (they had been removed) & I must say that despite seeing shuttle launches in person & on television, seeing it in person as we did gave us all a different perspective on current HSF policy issues. Jim, Bill & I talked about the human cost because winding down this program did & still does have a human cost & face to it. We also talked about the capacity shuttle gave us that we have given up since none of the new space vehicles can compare to what shuttle was able to do. I commented on the engineering marvel of much of the HSF infrastructure I saw & stood on, in the VAB, Pad 39A, the escape chutes to the Rubber Room & more. We saw the brand new Constellation control room which was finished, & is now in stand down mode pending possible modifications for commercial opportunities. We saw the shuttle & Apollo control rooms of which the latter is being remodeled for the changing program. An amazing NASA workforce team showed us around. We were all very impressed by this space workforce, making it even more difficult to think about so many exceptional people who have lost their jobs & more. While I know many of you will disagree with some of my shuttle & space workforce comments, seeing it in person & talking to the people involved, well, its very different from hearing about it on TV, reading an article, an op-ed, or hearing people talk about it at a space conference.
Post your comments/questions on the blog. If you want to email Jim, Bill, or anyone from our media panel, send the note to me & I’ll forward it on your behalf.
Open Lines, Sunday, 7-1-12 July 1, 2012
Posted by The Space Show in Uncategorized.Tags: " SpaceX, Air, and Space Law, Apollo 12 Precision Lunar Landing, Ares I, Commercial Crew, Constellation, Cots, Dragon, Falcon 9. , human spaceflight, human spaceflight infrastructure, International Space University (ISU) Summer Session, ISU Space and Media Panel., Kennedy Space Center, N-Prize, NASA, NASA budget, NASA legacy, NASA Nanosat Challenge, National Center for Remote Sensing, Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston, SLS, Space Shuttle Endeavour
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Open Lines, Sunday, 7-1-12
http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/1805-BWB-2012-07-01.mp3
Guest: Open Lines with Dr. David Livingston. Topics: A wide range of space related topics over a 2.5 hour Space Show program. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. Our initial discussion topic during our hour long first segment was with Charles Pooley who called in to talk about the NASA Nanosat Challenge and the website, http://challenge.gov/NASA/49-nano-satellite-launch-challenge. Charles was hoping listeners might have more information about this program. If you do, please post your comments on the blog. We also talked about the N-Prize and Charles described the basics of this program. Peter Platzer of Do It Yourself Space called in from Mtn. View, CA to talk about Do It Yourself Space, Nanosatisfi and their Kickstarter project. Websites to visit to learn more about what Peter shared with us include http://diyinspace.com and www.nanosatisfi.com. If you want to contact Peter about this project, you can email him at peter@nanosatisfi.com. As you will hear, this is an innovative build your own satellite venture designed to engage everyone in space activities. Our next caller was Frank Van Rensselaer, author of the recent Space News op-ed, What Will Be This Administration’s Legacy for NASA?, http://spacenews.com/commentaries/120618-administration-legacy-nasa.html. Frank talked about the NASA legacy, I tied in my KSC tour and what I saw in terms of the take down of so much of our HSF infrastructure, the shuttles, etc. I asked Frank about NASA budget and funding issues, the role of Congress, OMB and the OSTP. We also talked about commercial space, its importance moving forward for the future and robust civil and commercial space programs. I questioned Frank on differing views as to what our space policy should be, including perspectives contrary to his own. I believe this is a most interesting 20 plus minute conversation.
In the second segment, we led off with a call from John in Atlanta who talked about SLS as a placeholder program, the ISS, Commercial Crew, and human rating the Delta and possibly the Atlas. After John’s call, Kelly called in to talk about SpaceX from his perspective which is different than the perspective most of us have regarding SpaceX, the Falcon 9 and Dragon. See what you think of what Kelly had to say and post your comments on The Space Show blog. I’m sure many of you will want to challenge or disagree with Kelly. Have at it but please, keep it civil. While Kelly was talking, Jim sent in an email saying “Wow! Kelly seems to be living in a different dimension than the rest of us. I wonder what Kelly thinks about the Falcon Heavy?” Later, Terry emailed us about Sen. Hutchinson, her retirement, and the SLS. He also asked about the possibility of life for the ISS after 2020. Toward the end of the program, Terry called to address his concerns. Since we talked about economic issues and good programs being cut when an economy is weak, I read a sad announcement about the funding & program cancellation for the outstanding Center for Remote Sensing, Air, and Space Law at Ole Miss Law School. I hope to address the quality of this excellent Center in a future Space Show program. As the show ended, I went over the upcoming week’s schedule and that I would be discussing my Florida Space Coast trip in some detail on this week’s Friday morning program.
If you have comments/questions, post them on the blog. If you want to email one of the callers, send your note to me and I will forward it to the person of your choice.
