Our Policy Voice

Note to Congress – Answer “Why Space?” Before You Open Our Pocket Book

February 17, 2012

With a budget increase in the Senate Launch System of $28.2 million, the various congressional reactions to the proposed NASA budget have provided a teachable moment for all of us

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Mitt Romney would have fired Mike Griffin

January 27, 2012

Governor Romney’s space policy group includes someone he said he would have fired

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Former Speaker Newt Gingrich Proposes Space Settlement as National Goal

January 26, 2012

On January 25, at a campaign stop in Florida, speaker Gingrich laid out a vision of space settlement. Something that should excite all space supporters, and all Foundation advocates.

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Commercial Crew Development Defies Death by Sticking to Space Act Agreements.

December 17, 2011

The Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) congratulates NASA on the smart decision to continue to utilize Space Act Agreements (SAA) over the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). Many feared that the pressure to use the restrictive FAR contracts would be the death of the Commercial Crew Development program (CCDev). With this victory the program, and America’s ability to reach the ISS, gets a second chance. This positive evolution of how NASA works with vehicle contractors will boost the competitive development of multiple launch providers and the NewSpace economy. The goal of achieving low cost, reliable access to space is simply better for it.

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Mars Science Laboratory – Product vs. Process

December 7, 2011

Dear Mars Science Laboratory team,
Thank you!

In the middle of a completely absurd debate about how much U.S. taxpayer money should be put into the pockets of congressional donors in the name of not building government rockets that will not support the opening of space in any way, you are going exploring.

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Newt Gingrich Calls Space Launch System “Disgraceful” Pork

October 21, 2011

While at a Town Hall in Dallas Texas, Speaker Newt Gingrich talked about pork and the Senate Launch System

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Space Frontier Foundation Backs Congressional Letter Calling Foul on Space Launch System Contracts

September 27, 2011

The Foundation voiced its strong support for a U.S. Congressional letter sent last week asking the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate possible violations of the Competition in Contracting Act (CICA) in NASA’s plans for buying a new super-heavy lift launch vehicle. The Foundation urged the GAO to issue a “stay” on the project to prevent implementation of any contact modifications, extensions, or other actions …..

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Monster Rocket Will Eat America’s Space Program

September 15, 2011

The Foundation is certain that much like Constellation before it, the Senate Launch System will never stay within its budget or schedule, and in the end will be cancelled. SLS will become the most cannibalistic program in NASA’s history, consuming innovative programs attempting to lower costs by using commercial firms to fly astronauts into space, new technologies that would make exploration more affordable, and of course the payloads the new rocket is supposed to carry.

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Hutchison and Shelby are Right!

August 25, 2011

Study Endorses Senate Launch System as Affordable Near-Term Pork The Space Frontier Foundation today agreed with U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and Richard Shelby in their claim that Booz Allen Hamilton’s “Independent Cost Assessment (ICA)” of the Space Launch System shows that SLS “can be initiated within our currently constrained fiscal limitations” and therefore “halt [...]

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End of Shuttle is the Beginning of NewSpace Age

July 18, 2011

The final flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis does not mean the end of manned spaceflight for America. It heralds the beginning of the NewSpace Age, an era of more access to space for many more people at much lower cost.

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