MAIN ARTICLE: President Obama names new NASA Administrator.
Page 2: This Week in Space: Memorial Day Edition
Poll Results: An average turnout for yesterday's poll but a first in polling.
Star Trek: In the News. Film Review: Star Trek
Yesterday's Comments: "Right. And the UPS stuff that I get which is already busted upon arrival will be crunched to the density of a mini-black hole" - Meteor Blades
Today's Poll: Bolden NASA Chief, Lori Garver as deputy - Good/Bad picks?
LET THE GAMES BEGIN:
Well it looks like the hand wringing is over EXCEPT for Senate confirmation. Charles Bolden is in (see "Has Obama ended the fight over a new NASA Chief?", 'Americans in Space', May 15, 2009) along with Lori Garver as deputy.
Obama nominates Bolden to be NASA chief
President Barack Obama today nominated former astronaut Charles Bolden to be named the next NASA administrator.
Obama nominated Lori Garver to be the deputy.
"These talented individuals will help put NASA on course to boldly push the boundaries of science, aeronautics and exploration in the 21st century and ensure the long-term vibrancy of America's space program," Obama said.
If approved by the Senate, Bolden would become the first African-American to lead the space agency. Bolden could not immediately be reached for comment on his Houston home or on his cell phone.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat who flew with Bolden on a 1986 shuttle mission, was one of the former astronaut's biggest backers. Nelson described Bolden as the right pick to take on the hurdles facing NASA, particularly budget restrictions and the impending retirement of the shuttle. "Charlie is the kind of dynamic leader I believe the president was looking for and I know he'll meet these challenges head on," he said.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, called the nomination "a positive sign for the future of our human spaceflight program."
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For more background on Bolden (see "NASA: Griffin out Boldin in?", 'Americans in Space', Jan 07, 2009).
PAGE 2:
This Week in Space: Memorial Day Edition
"Finally! President Obama has nominated Charles Bolden Jr. to be NASA Administrator with Lori Garver as deputy Administrator. Yeah! (Insert some arm pumping and cheers) Check the latest edition of This Week in Space."
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POLL RESULTS:
Film Review: Star Trek
"In interviews, J.J. Abrams has frequently referred to his mega-budgeted update of Star Trek as a "ride," and that's the best descriptor for this fast-paced, hugely enjoyable re-imagining of one of science fiction's premier franchises. From the opening set-piece to the grand finale, the movie hurtles along at maximum warp speed, generating plenty of laughs, thrills and cheers along the way.
What distinguishes Star Trek from other would-be summer rides like the first Transformers or the current X-Men Origins: Wolverine—which offer a series of chaotic action sequences loosely tied together by an equally chaotic narrative—is the director's command of pace and story structure. As he demonstrated on his debut feature Mission: Impossible III as well as his extensive work in television (most notably the "Lost" pilot and the first two seasons of "Alias"), Abrams understands how to drop his characters into an explosive situation and then keep ratcheting up the stakes in believable ways, with a minimum of cheap plot twists. And while his stories do occasionally suffer from lapses in logic, he tells them with such confidence and enthusiasm, it's only in hindsight that plot holes star to appear. More than anything, he wants audiences of all backgrounds to have fun watching one of his movies and that's what Star Trek provides. Put it this way: If this version of Trek doesn't become a four-quadrant hit, than Paramount might as well stop trying."
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YESTERDAY'S COMMENTS:
"Inefficient. A rocket launched upward needs to fight gravity and the frictional force of the atmosphere. A rocket going up a ramp has to deal with the frictional force of the atmosphere and the conversion of energy from kinetic form into heat occasioned by the spinning of whatever is carrying the rocket upward.
Let's say that our mountain is 5 km high and the track going up it is at a 45 degree angle to the Earth's surface, ignoring the Earth's curvature. That gives us about 7 km of track.
Setting the x axis at the Earth's surface and the y axis pointing straight up. Let acceleration be constant.
y = sqrt(v*v/2d) = 1.186 (m/s)/s, which is not particularly fast at the beginning. The astronaut, accelerating in x and y, would only feel an acceleration of about 1.35g, which is within human tolerance.
The limiting factor is overcoming atmospheric resistance. When the Columbia blew up, it was travelling well below escape velocity and well above the troposphere. By the time our rocket reached the top of the mountain, it would have been burnt to a crisp.
Ignoring that little inconvenience, a rocket rising has to deal with its momentum getting converted into heat energy by atmospheric friction. Put it on a track, and the rocket's momentum gets converted into heat energy where the wheels hit the track for the length of the track." - Yamaneko2
"Ack. I do not want a Thiokol lobbyist heading NASA. What a huge conflict of interest.
And unlike most people here, I'd rather see more money flow into A) unmanned spaceflight, to keep the data feed coming in where it's most cost-efficient; and B) getting launch costs down. I think it's incredibly wasteful to fund so much human spaceflight right now at these costs; I want to see costs get down to where humans in space can be more than just a novelty. And money is a precious commodity; it can't go everywhere at once. Money going to human spaceflight is money not going to launch cost reduction (or at least not as effectively as it could be)." - Rei
TODAY'S POLL:
The Saturday in Space, weekly tracking poll will be conducted tomorrow instead of today.
Read other NASA and Space diaries on DKOS.