Space/Rocket news - All of NASA HSF needs your help now

Betruger · Post by **Betruger** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:03 pm

Just passing on the info if anyone missed it elsewhere. Read the short and long of it here:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index. ... #msg641423

It's very time critical, and only requires you to make a phone call to your critter.

Betruger · Post by **Betruger** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 4:05 pm

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index. ... #msg641710

kraisee wrote: TIPS FOR YOUR PHONE CALLS TODAY

Once you are connected to your Congressman's office, you'll have about 90 seconds to convey the following messages:
1. "S.3729 is a bipartisan bill that was written by key members of both parties (Senator Hutchison, Republican from Texas, and Senator Nelson, Democrat from Florida). S.3729 also has bipartisan support in the House."
2. "If the bill fails, NASA will be left adrift for months to come, and thousands of families could lose jobs. We could lose priceless high-tech expertise as workers are laid off."
3. "Please support S.3729 in today's vote."

If you are calling a Republican, it's possible that the staffer may ask your opinion on whether the bill is "fiscally responsible" and whether it's "being rushed through at the last minute." Here are answers to both of those criticisms:
4. "The bill is fiscally responsible - it cuts wasteful spending and uses existing resources and assets."
5. "This bill is not being rushed - it is the product of months of deliberations in the House and Senate. But if we are to avoid massive layoffs at NASA, we can't keep dawdling."

OTHER TIPS
- Don't get into details about rocket design - the person answering your phone call is probably not an aerospace engineer!
- If your Congressman has no connection to the space program, you should STILL CALL them! This is because we need a 2/3 majority, so every vote counts.

Ross.

93143 · Post by **93143** » Wed Sep 29, 2010 9:51 pm

This is not just DIRECT. If this doesn't pass, NASA doesn't get to do anything but CxP, which it has been shutting down. No commercial. No HLV, obviously. Nothing else proposed for FY2011, no improvements elsewhere in the budget, will appear either. NASA HSF will be left in limbo for months, having mostly destroyed what it was doing and being unable to start anything new. Thousands of experienced personnel will be let go.

I'm not American, so I have no Representatives to call. I hope somebody here does...

EricF · Post by **EricF** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:16 am

Being from Alabama, this one hits kinda close to home....

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/pigs-in-sp ... pace-pork/

93143 · Post by **93143** » Thu Sep 30, 2010 4:27 am

The Senate's compromise bill (S. 3729) has passed in the House, 304 to 118. Very bipartisan; the contrast to the previous bills in the voting session was hilarious...

The Senate passed the same bill unanimously earlier this year, along with a matching Appropriations bill. If I'm not much mistaken, it has support from the White House, the NASA Administrator and Deputy Administrator, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, ATK (right hand or left hand; not sure), Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin (!) as well as (IIRC) Lovell and Cernan, Elon Musk... a good part of MSFC is apparently quite eager to get to work on a rocket that actually makes sense for a change, after relearning rocket design in the school of hard knocks that was the Ares program... as far as I can tell, basically everyone who matters is on board except Gabrielle Giffords and ATK's other hand (I'd add Mike Griffin, but thankfully he doesn't matter any more). Unless Obama randomly decides not to sign it, we're good to go.

The clean CR creates a bit of difficulty, but at least NASA now knows what they're being directed to do.