] Historically, the funding requested for NASA from
] multiple Administrations, and provided to NASA by
] Congress, has not demonstrated an appropriate level of
] commitment to an agency that is so important to the
] future of our nation. According to the report of the
] Columbia Accident Investigation Board, between 1993 and
] 2002, the federal government's discretionary spending
] grew in purchasing power by more than 25 percent. In
] contrast, NASA's budget went from $14.31 billion in
] Fiscal Year 1993, to a low of $13.6 billion in Fiscal
] Year 2000, and increasing to $14.87 billion in Fiscal
] Year 2002. This funding profile represented a loss of 13
] percent in purchasing power over the decade. We
] enthusiastically write to you today to clearly and
] unambiguously express our strong interest in
] reinvigorating NASA and turning this funding trend
] around.

Letter from U.S. House to President Bush Urging Support for NASA | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

] Kohl, the principal investigator for an instrument aboard
] NASA's sun-watching SOHO spacecraft, said the probability
] of two huge flares aimed directly at Earth coming so
] close together, as they have this week, "unprecedented
] ... so low that it is a statistical anomaly."

HoustonChronicle.com - Second space storm smacks into Earth

inignoct wrote:
] House Science Committee wants to put the space plane on hold.
]
] IF we're going to keep up manned spaceflight, the shuttle
] needs to be retired. I'm not sure what I think about
] arguments that we give up on manned spaceflight -- if we don't
] keep at it, how will it ever get faster/cheaper/safer?

Personally, I think that the House Committee is losing sight of the reason the OSP is being fast-tracked - crew and supply transfer to ISS without being dependent upon the Shuttle (aging and complex) or the Soyuz/Progress combo (Political-financial issues with Russia).

The OSP will still be required to perform these tasks, even if/when the program receives a new, overriding goal... It makes absolutely no sense to abandon Alpha (baby and bathwater, anyone?) when it is capable of playing a major infrastructure role in next-gen manned space exploration.

Let's remember Dr. Von Braun's ORIGINAL initiative - the moon was only the first stop, a goal set due to Cold War one-upmanship that was a satisfactory technological proving ground. After the moon, Von Braun wanted space stations to provide LEO staging areas to more permanent moon bases. These would be two further technological development programs leading to missions to Mars and beyond.

We finally have a station - only to find that we have a weak link in our infrastructure due to the dependance upon the Shuttle to actually maintain it. The Shuttle has years in it yet as a manned heavy-lift vehicle; the problem actually lies in the "eggs many, basket=1" situation we've found ourselves in.

This is one of the reasons I DON'T like the Shuttle-type proposals for OSP... If we're talking about having a vehicle that needs to ferry 3-7 people to LEO and then stay on station for 6-8 months, why get cute with a lifting-body, add wings design? Don't think of OSP as a Shuttle replacement - think of it as a Soyuz replacement.

However, we do need Shuttle2, in the not-too-distant future. Certainly, our heavy-lift requirements ARE bound to change, should the country be presented with a new oppotunity and new direction - but this is exactly the reason why you purpose-build in a mission-oriented environment.

RE: Not So Fast, Lawmakers Say of Plans for a Space Plane

] As of late October, sources indicate that a central
] recommendation is likely, but not certainly to be
] resumption of manned lunar flights to develop advanced
] technologies that can support U.S. astronauts working
] beyond Earth orbit to not only the Moon, but eventually
] on near-Earth asteroids and Mars.

Holy shit... to be delivered on 17Dec, the Centennial of Flight?

I'm not going to get into anything about Bush space policy right now, but I'm interested to see how the political fires burn around this, if indeed this is the announcement made.

Presidential review on space policy heading to closure | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

Rattle wrote:

] From Decius:
] ] This is very overdue. Logickal is a regular MemeStreams
] ] poster. I obtained this from him back in July, but for some
] ] reason it never found its way into my CD player. That was
] ] a mistake. When I got this from him he described it as very
] ] experimental and unlikely to be comfortable to listen to. I
] ] totally disagree. This is good ambient machine music. Its
] ] tracy. For some reason it reminds me of Download. You can
] ] focus on it or you can fade it into the background and let
] it
] ] offer context. Its good to code to. Get it.
]
] I was just listening to the excerpts on the webpage. Reminds
] me of Download also..
]
] Logickal, I ordered one of your CDs.. :)

Thank you guys for yr kind words and support... I mean, seriously. Decius, I'm going to have to quote you on being good to code to. :)

Anyone at Phreaknic who is interested in checking the stuff out, chatting about electronic music and the tools/techniques used to create it, or how selling CDs has now become as much of a statement as downloading them for free should definately try to track me down, or at least check my set out Friday night, 00-01:00.

Oh, and Rattle, yr CD is coming to you monday morning. You're awesome - thanks for picking it up.

RE: day by daydream - Logickal

] Shenzhou, a wonderful vehicle shuttling between the Earth
] and space
] From 1999 to 2003, China successfully launched five space
] ships, four unmanned and one manned, and achieved
] breakthrough in 13 key technologies including reentry
] lift control of manned spacecraft, emergency rescue, soft
] landing, GNC malfunction diagnosis, module separation and
] heat prevention. As a cross-century project of China in
] the hi-tech field, "Shenzhou" is of a superior general
] performance, which reaches the world advanced level in
] the 1990s.

An unintentionally hysterical description of China's "Magical Vessel."

The People's Daily needs to hire better translators.

Expert on technological advantages of 'Shenzhou' spacecraft, 'Long-March' carrier rocket

] Writing in the journal Science, Lieberman and Eisenberger
] said the brains of the volunteers lit up when they were
] rejected in virtually the same way as a person
] experiencing physical pain.
]
]
]
] "It would be odd if social pain looked like the exact
] same thing as someone-breaking-your-arm pain," Lieberman
] said. "What it does look like is visceral pain."
]
]
]
] In other words -- like being punched in the stomach.

Yahoo! News - Images Show a Snub Really Is Like Kick in the Gut

] "Communities are built around sharing," Brassil says.
] "Getting validation and support from your peers is
] important. So what if no one else cares that this group
] of people is from the buckle of the Bible Belt? They
] do--this is where they've chosen to work and play, and so
] have some other kindred spirits, and if every once in a
] while, they want to pull out the horse and buggy and
] raise a barn together, so be it. As Tip O'Neill put it,
] 'All politics is local politics'--and all music is local
] music. It's just a question of defining the locus. 'I can
] see my house from here' is a good start."

New compilation CD and upcoming live show survey Nashville's electronic musical underground

] BEIJING -- The launch could happen as early as this
] weekend from a remote base in the Gobi Desert. China's
] first manned space flight would carry one "taikonaut" --
] or as many as three. It could last from hours to several
] days.
]
] Other than that, the Chinese government isn't really
] saying.

HoustonChronicle.com - China mum prior to space launch

] [T]he White House medievalists aren't just shading the
] facts. In actively denying or changing them, they are
] changing the basis on which government has traditionally
] been conducted: rationality. There is no respect for
] facts because there is no respect for empiricism.

some interesting comments and facts here...

Daily Kos: Bush Leads a Medieval Presidency