Back in 2008 Obama and McCain sent pretty high falootin reps to Boulder for a debate on Space Policy.  I did the YouTube edit for the Mars Society and knew from the mixing sessions that there was no banking on either side.

Through their reps and from their own mouths nether had any real intention of standing up for their Space related campaign schpeels, but probably McCain would have done more to at least keep Humans in the mix, whereas Obama made it clear as a bell all along that "Health Care Is This Generation's Apollo." 

But what about this time?  Pretty much I firmly believe that every single one of the options on both sides are liars.  Flat out and about everything every time they open their mouths.  Well, except for one...

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Last week's Space News Profile was on Elon Musk.  In case you don't read Space News, the Profile is the last page of the edition where a bunch of one-liner questions are fired at the target. 

SpaceX is the golden company and the olden companies (and thus the major money to Space News) are not very happy.  There was snide in the questions... but the angle was clear to readers in the very first intro sentence. 

It being a Profile segment, it had restrictions on the "guest".

I was wondering though, well before the end of the piece, when Musk would take the next correct step.  This evening it came to all SpaceX email subscribers...

[This is the 1st Amazon Review for the Nov 2010 book "Reopening the Space Frontier" by John Hickman]

If you personally have emotions over Space, specifically *Human* Spaceflight, then read this and take some time off to let it sink in before you do the next assault on Washington.

It will slap you directly in the face. The slaps will hurt.

The book takes every single positive that has ever been used as a bulletpoint for Human Spaceflight and rips each one apart.

Still looking for detailed information on the results of the MARIE experiment, called recently in BIS Spaceflight the "first experiment sent to Mars specifically to prepare for human missions".

The other night I finished reading the 2002 NRC "Assessment of Mars Science and Mission Priorities", 105 pages with 12 chapters detailing in our standard "turning gold into lead" style all of the things we have done and all of the things we will do in our "Mars Exploration Program".

In all of that, there was one (1, O-N-E) sentence on Odyssey's MARIE.  And if you think that was a low number... guess the count in the entire text of the word "Human".  I'll give you a hint:...

http://www.space-tourists-film.com/en/home.php

This has been listed on Netflix for a long while but remains unavailable to citizens of the United States. 

It is only available in PAL/Region2 so most likely your US/Japanese dvd player wont play it.  But an up to date computer drive and operating system should have no trouble (Win7 Media Player allows you to switch your default region for a certain number of plays before it "locks you in" but by just using VLC you can avoid that - and VLC seems to play everything smoother anyway so I just use VLC as my default now).

Why exactly does the Science Channel run Firefly when they know that there are top-notch documentaries like this out there?  I think Greg Klerkx would have an idea ;-)

Did you watch the final Discovery launch?  I had tivo tracking CNN, Fox and MSNBC to compare attitudes, which is alway fun, and something about the post-launch conversation on Fox struck me.

It was Astronaut Tom Jones who did what few in the corp do publically, he mentioned that he thinks "we have no goals right now, it's a failure of National Leadership."

And this image popped in my mind:

What is your story of today?

My son had the day off from school so we killed the day at Disney.  Just as the SpaceX Dragon was successfully splashing down we were starting down the internal "space station" stairs in Space Mountain.  I was streaming the news and got about 20 messages all at once.

I squatted down and looked the six year old in the eye and said "When I was your age I was sure that when I grew up places like this - in Space - would be real.  You remember this moment, Zaner, because right now a few hundred miles from here that Elon Musk guy did what the big fat slow companies couldn't do in 40 years with billions and billions of dollars.  When you are my age, your world will be different.  Real Space for regular people is finally happening."

A few days ago SpaceX became the first ever commercial company allowed by the FAA to return a craft from space.

A few minutes ago came the tweet: "Beautiful launch! Dragon is in orbit"

COTS... may the old guard be guarded from creating any odd "accidents" for this important program.

Right or wrong, with its rights and its wrongs, it is done.  Sort of. The House is adjourned till after the elections and the Senate version of HR5781, S3729, has been approved.

Wall Street Journal report states:

"for the first time it endorses broad policy goals for private crew transportation to the international space station, as well as accelerated development by NASA of separate, heavy-lift family of rockets intended to take astronauts deeper into space."

At least there is some hope of giving Commercial Crew & Cargo some rampup capital, here's praying that Commercial doesn't squander a second or a dime of this important and tenuous opportunity.

[updated September 30th 2010 to include a few of the best related links, including the direct location of the debate video on CSPAN and the NYTimes page on who voted and how]

This just hit SpaceNews.com:

"Amy Klamper - WASHINGTON — After months of bipartisan wrangling on Capitol Hill over the future of NASA’s manned spaceflight program, the agency’s top two officials urged support for the Senate version of a three-year NASA authorization bill headed for a vote in the U.S. House this evening, even as a group of House lawmakers voiced strong opposition to the measure.."

Read the latest here... it is still a nail biter right up to the finish line.  Fighters are playing the emotional card with STEM K-12 and minority outreach program funding cut laments.

Hey, I grew up in a poor family.  K-6 was the 6 room schoolhouse on the farm and factory side of town. Watching Space actually happen got me excited and got me reading and studying.  Get the money into the work and the kids will WANT to learn how they can do it too.