Aviation and Space Blog

Gordon, Miller, Nelson Move Toward Hearings on NASA IG Investigation

“According to press reports today however, President Bush has determined that NASA’s recommendation that Mr. Cobb develop ‘an individual leadership/management plan’ while attending a resident course at the Federal Executive Institute is sufficient to address these findings,” stated the Members in their letter to OMB. “We respectfully disagree.  As a result, we are preparing for possible hearings to investigate Mr. Cobb’s conduct as Inspector General.”

Editor’s update: “According to press reports today however, President Bush has determined …” You are basing this official Congressional activity on “press reports” of what the White House is possibly going to do? Have you folks even bothered to ask the White House for an answer on this matter? Also, this report hasn’t been released yet. So why are you folks (and your staff) talking about the report’s contents? Why are you revealing only portions of what is in it? There certainly seems to be a lapse of professional ethics on your collective part in condoning that sort of behavior.

Let’s Hang The IG From The Nearest Tree, earlier post

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Tags: airspace shuttle planetary technology space astronomy

Asteroid and Galaxy
Credit: Robert Long

Explanation: Apollo class asteroid 2006 VV2 flashed past planet Earth in late March, approaching to within 3.4 million kilometers or about 8.8 times the Earth-Moon distance. Due to the proximity of its orbit to Earth and its estimated diameter of over 1 kilometer, 2006 VV2 is classified as a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid. Telescopes large and small were trained on the much anticipated flyby, the closest for a known asteroid of comparable size until the year 2036. This composite telescopic view is from a series of images recorded over a period of about an hour on Mar. 28 from Vado, New Mexico. The asteroid begins near the center of the field and tracks down and to the left, apparently passing very near galaxy M81. Of course, along with its companion galaxy M82 on the right, M81 is really 12 million light years away, compared to the asteroid’s range of a mere 15 light seconds.
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Tags: NASA science shuttle aerospace space astronomy

NASA has selected 18 Small Business Technology Transfer research proposals for Phase 2 contract negotiations. The selected STTR projects have a total value of approximately $11 million.
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Tags: airspace Space Shuttle shuttle technology space agency