(May 24, 2012) -- NASA and SpaceX news briefing following the flyby by the Dragon resupply craft of the International Space Station an hour earlier.
This aerospace reporter's questions with NASA Lead Flight Director Holly Ridings and SpaceX John Couluris are asked beginning at (12:04) in this NASA video.
(ATLANTA, Ga.) -- A six time space shuttle astronaut spoke out on the way NASA is operating today and shared his personal feelings on commercial space travel's involvement.
"The whole thing is chaos and a cop out. The whole thing is a Washington failure," former NASA astronaut Dr. Story Musgrave said in a firm voice during a on-on-one interview at the Tellus Science Museum near Atlanta over the weekend.
"When I say Washington, I mean administration, the legislation, congress and NASA, that's what I call Washington," Dr. Musgrave continued. "It's in total failure when it comes to a space program of which COTS is apart of that failure."
The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services or COTS program is an agreement with several U.S. companies to build and launch spacecraft for earth orbital voyages, including to the International Space Station.
"COTS is a default program which spun out of failure," he added.
COTS program member Space X is moving toward a Saturday launch of their Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft atop bound for earth orbit. Two days later, Dragon is expected to rendezvous with the space station 245 miles above earth.
The station's robotic arm will then snag the cargo craft and dock it to earth's orbital outpost in space. It will become the first private spacecraft to dock with a government craft.
Musgrave, now 76, was selected by NASA in 1967 as America's Apollo moon program began. He and fellow astronauts and engineers looked toward leaders within NASA such as rocket pioneer Dr. Wernher Von Braun to lead the space program through a series of goals for landing on the moon before 1970.
Musgrave feels the space agency has no true goals or focus today.
This aerospace reporter asked what is the vision of NASA over the next decade.
"What is the space vision today? Where is the visionary? We're not going anywhere... there is no where, there is no what, and there is no when," Musgrave began. "Tell me where... there is no where."
He then firmly stated NASA has no official human moon program nor a Mars program in place for the near future.
Dr. Musgrave also wants to see a great project management team in place to make true goals for returning America back to the moon and later Mars.
"Sir, there is no Mars program, none. There is also no moon program. There is no asteroid program," Dr. Musgrave firmly stated. "There's no what we're gonna do and no when we're gonna do it. I want a what, a when and a where, and then I want a project management and make that what, when and where happen -- on cost, on schedule and meet the performance you laid down."
Musgrave said that NASA had a series of goals with the construction of the Hubble Space Telescope.
He spent eighteen years helping to design and prepare Hubble for it's launch in 1990. He then flew up to the great observatory to fix a design flaw with it's optical lens and repair twelve other issues three years later.
My Examiner.com story: Legendary astronaut criticizes NASA
Legendary NASA astronaut Story Musgrave talks with aerospace journalist Charles Atkeison about his adventure during his sixth and last space shuttle landing, STS-80, in December 1996.
As shuttle Columbia reentered eath's atmosphere, Dr. Musgrave held on riding the orbiter all the way down from space. Hear his own words on how he truly "added value to the flight".
Recorded on May 11, 2012
My indepth interview with NASA astronaut and lead Hubble Servicing Mission 1 payload commander Story Musgrave on May 11, 2012.
We sat down at the Tellus Science Museum for a one hour one-on-one interview to talk NASA's future and vision; Hubble's repair; the Big Bang and just what happened as he returned home to earth during STS-80.
My Examiner.com related news story: Legendary astronaut criticizes NASA
(All Images: C Atkeison)
(MARIETTA, Ga.) -- A Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, the final one off the assembly line, was delivered to the U.S. Air Force on May 2 during a midday ceremony attended by myself and nearly four hundred employees and dignitaries.
Raptor model 10-4195 was handed over from Lockheed Martin vice president Jeff Babione to General Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff of the Air Force at 11:31 am EDT, with the passing of a one-foot long glass key in the shape of the Raptor's logo.
General Schwartz then handed over the glass key to F-22 test pilot Lt. Col. Paul "Max" Moga near the end of the forty-five minute Delivery Ceremony. Moga will fly Raptor 4195 out of nearby Dobins, ARB on May 5 to a joint base at Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska.
(UPDATE May 6: Lt. Col. Moga flew the F-22 non-stop from Marietta to her new home at Elmendorf-Richardson today. The eight hour flight included a second F-22 as chase and experienced two mid-air refuelings. Moga stated post flight that the jet "handled superbly".)
Moga ceremonial handed the key to Staff Sgt. Damon Crawford who now holds the job as crew chief for the 4195.
“I want to pay tribute to the line workers and engineers whose technical expertise, your remarkable efforts will make very, very important contributions to our national security for many, many years to come,” said General Schwartz.
In addition to the guests on hand, Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson made a brief address to the crowd inside the very same assembly plant which built most of the Raptors.
My images above show the Raptor outside the massive production facility which supports the construction of the C-130J series and the wings for the P-3 Orion plane.
There were seven C-130J's under construction inside the plant with four forward sections (Models 5707, 5708, 5709, 5710) waiting in the wings behind six tail-to-tail J aircraft.
I also witnessed the core wing assembly area for the new F-35 aircraft. The J475 section is mated to the J480 section to form the J470 core wing. This is then shipped via tractor trailer to the Ft. Worth plant.
(All Images: C Atkeison)
(ROBINS, AFB, Ga.) -- Middle Georgia was the launching pad for a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor which made two demonstration flights on April 28 and 29.
This aerospace reporter captured some great images (above) of the Raptor as she soared across the blue skies on a hot afternoon on April 29. The flight began at 3:05 pm EDT.
Based at Langley AFB, Virginia, the F-22A carried a tail number of "FF 079", and was one of two which flew into Robins, AFB on Wednesday and flew out late Sunday afternoon.
The 21st century fighter aircraft flew a 20 minute performance each day.
Near the conclusion of the show, the Raptor joined for a close formation with a P-51 Mustang on the Heritage Flight.
The two aircraft made three passes over Robins runway 15/33 to honor those veterans who have served to protect America over the decades.
They were both a beautiful sight.
A writer and broadcaster of our world space programs for 19 years, I am a science & technology contributor for 11Alive.com (NBC Atlanta), Examiner.com, and contributor for CNN.
Apr 25: I soared aboard the U.S. Navy's Blue Angel's F/A-18 Hornet over Georgia.
May 2: I attended Lockheed Martin Aeronautics delivery of their final F-22 Raptor.
I learned to fly Cessna 152 and 172 planes with my Dad in my early years. My pilot's log book is a prized keep sake.
I attended over thirty space shuttle launches and a lot of unmanned rocket launches.
Twitter: @AbsolutSpaceGuy
- A member of STS-132 Atlantis JSC NASA Tweetup (2010) and STS-135 Atlantis JSC NASA Tweetup (2011)
- I Parasail often at 1,200+ feet over the Gulf of Mexico
- I launched & landed as Flight Engineer in the real Space Shuttle motion SIM at Johnson Space Ctr. All 135 space shuttle crews trained in the same SIM.
- A former trainer and graduate of Space Camp Fla & Ala.
- A graduate of Aviation Challenge in Huntsville (2011) and member of their third Social Meetup.
