9/24/12 news

Please don’t forget John Lee’s memorial service this morning at 11am Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Nassau Bay.    Thanks to Doug Drewry for sharing a story on the origin of the bugle call known as “Taps” that fits well with the passing of our colleague and friend – John Lee.   According to Snopes however, the true story is a bit different.   http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/taps.asp     Monday, September 24, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            ISS Update: Z1 Spacesuit and Suitport Testing 2.            JSC Early Morning Shuttle Van Service To Be Discontinued 3.            Job Opportunities 4.            JSC Annual Holiday Bazaar - Vendor Applications Due Friday 5.            Co-op Housing Committee Seeks New Rental Property Submissions 6.            Wellness Walks Start Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. 7.            Disrupting the Status Quo: Tools to Reach the Next Frontier 8.            The Do's and Don'ts of Relating With People ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.”   -- Ernest Hemingway ________________________________________ 1.            ISS Update: Z1 Spacesuit and Suitport Testing Catch an interview with Cristina Anchondo, Z1 spacesuit test director, about the Z1 spacesuit and some of the suitport tests they are performing in the Building 32 vacuum chamber at Johnson Space Center.   The new Z1 spacesuit design incorporates a suitport, which is an interface between the interior of a space vehicle and the spacesuit that is mounted on the exterior of a space vehicle. This allows the wearer to quickly get into the spacesuit from the interior of a spacecraft then detach it from the suitport and begin exploring on the exterior.   Anchondo says that they are testing the spacesuit and suitport in the vacuum chamber to help simulate space, which is important to make sure that the hardware will survive and perform well in that environment.   Click here to watch the interview: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=152621481   JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top] 2.            JSC Early Morning Shuttle Van Service To Be Discontinued Effective Oct. 1, the Center Operations Directorate will discontinue the early morning shuttle van service route. This route runs between JSC and the Houston Metro pickup/drop-off point located at 1150 Gemini. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but the limited usage does not justify the cost of continuing this service.   Marty Cassens, JB7/Transportation and Support Services Branch x36503   [top] 3.            Job Opportunities Where do I find job opportunities?   Both internal Competitive Placement Plan and external JSC job announcements are posted on both the HR Portal and USAJOBS website at http://www.usajobs.gov Through the HR portal, civil servants can view summaries of all the agency jobs that are currently open at https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/employees_home/239/job_opportu...   To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop down menu and select JSC HR. The "Jobs link" will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply online. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies, please call your Human Resources Representative.   Lisa Pesak x30476   [top] 4.            JSC Annual Holiday Bazaar - Vendor Applications Due Friday The Starport JSC Holiday Bazaar at the Gilruth Center will be Nov. 3, and we are now taking applications for vendors. If you have special arts and crafts, jewelry, candles, holiday décor, baked goods, etc. that would be a great addition to our event, submit your application by Sept. 28 for consideration. Application and more information can be found on our website: http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Events/   Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 5.            Co-op Housing Committee Seeks New Rental Property Submissions Do you have a rental property or an extra room in your house that you would be willing to rent to a co-op or intern? Need a roommate? Need a house sitter for an extended period of time? Co-ops and Interns at JSC rely on the housing committee to provide quality, affordable housing during their work tours at JSC. If you would like to submit your property for the housing board, please e-mail jsccoophousing@gmail.com with the location, rent and your phone number. Please note that property eligibility will be determined by the housing committee.   Portia Keyes x36630 http://www.jsccoophousing.com/   [top] 6.            Wellness Walks Start Sept. 25 at 11 a.m. Want to improve your health? Join us for a leisurely stroll or a power walk around the JSC mall. We will meet every Tuesday and Thursday outside Building 11 Gift Shop at 11 a.m. until Dec. 6.   Greta Ayers x30302   [top] 7.            Disrupting the Status Quo: Tools to Reach the Next Frontier The SA Human Systems Academy is pleased to offer "Disrupting the Status Quo: Tools and Methodologies to Reach the Next Frontier." This is the second course in the series, "Collaborative and Open Innovation: Techniques to Increase Your Productivity." In the first course, participants focused on the philosophy that spurs innovation and self-assessment activities to determine where they stood. In this second course, participants will take a deeper dive into specific methodologies and tools that support and foster innovative activities within the organization. Special attention will be devoted to analyzing case study examples to further the knowledge and understanding of the value and impact of evolving business models and strategies at NASA. Completion of "Opening Up Your Organization to Innovative Tools" is a requirement for taking this course. This course will be held Friday, Sept. 28, at 1 p.m. in Building 1, Conference Room 720.   For registration, please go to: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...   Cynthia Rando 281-461-2620 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 8.            The Do's and Don'ts of Relating With People Do you ever wish that we could all just get along? Would you like to learn about interactive styles and how to best approach others whose interpersonal style may differ from your own? Join Gay Yarbrough, LCSW of the JSC Employee Assistance Program, for a presentation on "The Do's and Don'ts of Relating With People."   Date: Today, Sept. 24 Time: Noon to 1 p.m. Place: Building 30 Auditorium   Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Serives Branch x36130   [top]   ________________________________________ JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.         Human Spaceflight News Monday – September 24, 2012   HEADLINES AND LEADS   NASA wants to send astronauts beyond the moon   Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel   Top NASA officials have picked a leading candidate for the agency's next major mission: construction of a new outpost that would send astronauts farther from Earth than at any time in history. The so-called "gateway spacecraft" would hover in orbit on the far side of the moon, support a small astronaut crew and function as a staging area for future missions to the moon and Mars. At 277,000 miles from Earth, the outpost would be far more remote than the current space station, which orbits a little more than 200 miles above Earth. The distance raises complex questions of how to protect astronauts from the radiation of deep space — and rescue them if something goes wrong.   NASA picks 26 research proposals for super-sizing Space Launch System   Lee Roop - Huntsville Times   NASA picked 26 research proposals from industry and academia Friday to develop ways to grow its new heavy-lift rocket from its initial 70-metric-ton lift capacity to a 130-metric-ton booster capable of sending humans deep into space. The winning proposals included one from Alabama's Auburn University. NASA asked competitors to help it develop systems including propulsion, materials, manufacturing, avionics and software for what it is calling the Space Launch System (SLS).   Avionics box to blame for delay in next crew's launch   Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com   The replacement of a balky avionics box on a Russian Soyuz capsule will push back the October launch of the International Space Station's next three-man crew by about one week, Russian and NASA officials said. During standard preflight testing, Russian engineers discovered a problem with an avionics unit which controls the Soyuz descent module during re-entry and landing. Officials opted to remove and replace the suspect part on the Soyuz capsule assigned to deliver three new residents to the space station in October. The Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft and its Soyuz FG launch vehicle are being prepared for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The flight had been set to lift off Oct. 15, but space station managers expect the launch will now occur around Oct. 22 or Oct. 23.   Crowds cheer at NASA Langley test   Tara Bozick - Hampton Roads Daily-Press   After a 15-second countdown and final call of "release," the full-sized model spacecraft dropped 25 feet with a loud "sploosh" as water flew and spectators cheered. Attendees of NASA's Langley Research Center open house on Saturday witnessed a vertical drop test of a model of the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle that NASA is designing as a safer way to send humans beyond low-Earth orbit. Orion is reminiscent of Apollo spacecraft, but with more technological advancements, according to the NASA website. "It's pretty impressive to see it in person," astronaut Anna L. Fisher said about the test. Fisher, 63, spent eight days in space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1984.   Florida makes play for launch pad New KSC launch site would be independent of NASA   James Dean - Florida Today   The state wants to develop a commercial launch complex at Kennedy Space Center, a move that could persuade SpaceX not to pursue a similar site elsewhere in the country. In a letter sent Thursday to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll requested 150 undeveloped acres at the northern end of the space center, near the former citrus community of Shiloh. With Federal Aviation Administration approval, the site would operate outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Air Force’s Eastern Range, which provides safety and tracking for launches from KSC and Cape Canaveral.   Florida wants NASA land to develop commercial spaceport   Irene Klotz - Reuters   With an eye toward developing a commercial spaceport, Florida has asked NASA to transfer 150 acres of land north of the shuttle launch pads and the shuttle runway to Space Florida, the state's aerospace development agency. "Florida believes that the properties identified in this request are excess to the needs of the U.S. government," Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll, who is also chairwoman of Space Florida, wrote in letter to NASA chief Charles Bolden and Ray LaHood, secretary of Department of Transportation, which oversees commercial space transportation in the United States.   SpaceX is heading back to the space station next month   Alex Knapp - Forbes   NASA announced late Thursday that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft – the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station – will be making a return trip to the station next month. The ship is tentatively scheduled to launch on October 7. SpaceX’s successful launch and docking last May was a test flight – to see if the Dragon was going to be able to make the complex set of maneuvers involved in berthing with the ISS. That test was a complete success. For this trip, however, Dragon won’t have time to sight-see. It has a job. Namely, the Dragon will be transporting cargo to the station in the form of several scientific experiments.   Hoshide says space travel not far off   Kyodo News   Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, in a live radio broadcast Thursday from the International Space Station, told listeners in Japan that "the days when you will travel to space are not far away." "Space is nearer to you than you think," the 43-year-old astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said on Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.'s "All Night Nippon" program. "I'd like to look at the sky and feel familiar with space," Hoshide said.   Space shuttle Endeavour out of sight; fans told to stay away   Los Angeles Times   A crowd of excited space shuttle fans gathered near Los Angeles International Airport early Saturday to get one last glimpse of Endeavour before it was tucked away in a United Airlines cargo hangar. But with the shuttle now out of sight, airport officials are asking Endeavour fans to keep away. Space shuttle Endeavour has been removed," airport spokesman Marshall Lowe said. "Airport police are asking people to stay out of the area."   Race to Save Space History As Endeavour heads to retirement home, its nearby birthplace is being razed   Andy Pasztor & Tamara Audi - Wall Street Journal   The space shuttle Endeavour is set for a glitzy welcome in Los Angeles Friday as it heads to final retirement at a local museum. But less than 20 miles away, its birthplace is being demolished without ceremony. From the 1960s to the end of the Cold War, a sprawling industrial campus in this suburb east of Los Angeles served as the crucible for U.S.-manned space efforts. Nearly 30,000 engineers and technicians built the Apollo modules that eventually helped astronauts land on the moon. After each flight, crews returned to Downey to be cheered as heroes and leave their handprints in a cement slab—the aerospace equivalent of Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Gerald Blackburn stands at the site in Downey, Calif., where NASA spacecraft were built. The building is being torn down to make way for a mall.   Public records show local purchases for SpaceX   Emma Perez-Trevino - Brownsville Herald   SpaceX is investing more than research in Cameron County. It is now a property owner in the county. SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has been purchasing property in Cameron County since June, The Brownsville Herald found. However, local officials emphasized that this does not mean SpaceX has made the decision to settle here. “But it is a good sign,” Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos said.   SpaceX buys land in Texas near proposed launch pad   Associated Press   SpaceX is buying land in South Texas where the space tourism company is considering building a rocket launch facility, ramping up speculation that the company has chosen Texas over Florida and Puerto Rico for the project's home, a newspaper reported Sunday. The Brownsville Herald found that SpaceX purchased at least three lots in Cameron County under the name Dogleg Park LLC. Property records show the owner's address is listed as SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. The company did not respond to the newspaper's requests to comment on the land purchases.   Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill to help space industry in California   Patrick McGreevy - Los Angeles Times   Just minutes before the retired space shuttle Endeavour was flown over the state Capitol on its way to a Los Angeles museum, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Friday that he signed legislation to give a boost to the commercial space-travel industry in California. Brown signed AB 2243, which limits liability for spaceflight companies. "California aerospace pioneers like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and the Spaceship Company are blazing a path to the stars with commercial space travel," Brown said in a statement. "This bill allows commercial space-travel companies to innovate and explore without the worry of excessive liability."   Law will boost California's space travel industry   Associated Press   With the space shuttle Endeavour's final flight capturing the attention of Californians, Gov. Jerry Brown announced he had signed legislation intended to boost the fledgling private space travel industry. Brown said Friday he had signed the bill by Republican Assemblyman Steve Knight, which limits private space companies' liability from civil lawsuits.   Private Space Travel Gets a Big Boost in California   Leonard David - Space.com   As NASA's space shuttle Endeavour orbiter flew to its retirement home in sunny California Friday, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed legislation to bolster the commercial spaceflight sector in that state. The Assembly bill limits liability for private spaceflight companies. “California aerospace pioneers like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and the Spaceship Company are blazing a path to the stars with commercial space travel,” Brown said in a statement. “This bill allows commercial space-travel companies to innovate and explore without the worry of excessive liability.”   Development lags near Spaceport America   Jeri Clausing - Associated Press   New Mexico Tourism Secretary Monique Jacobson says it will be New Mexico’s Sydney Opera House. Virgin Galactic Chairman Richard Branson has hinted it will host the first of his new brand of lifestyle hotels. And the eclectic hot springs town of Truth or Consequences has been anxiously awaiting all the economic development the nearly quarter-of-a-billion-dollar project is supposed to bring to this largely rural part of Southern New Mexico. But as phase one of Spaceport America, the world’s first commercial port built specifically for sending tourists and payloads into space, is nearing completion, the only new hotel project that has been finalized is a Holiday Inn Express here in Truth or Consequences, about 25 miles away. And three key companies with millions of dollars in payroll have passed on developing operations in the state.   Ryan talks liberty, space plans at UCF campaign stop   Mike Schneider - Associated Press   Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Saturday derided President Obama’s space program and called his administration’s requirement that hospitals and universities, including Catholic ones, be required to offer contraception an “assault on religious liberty.” Obama in 2010 cancelled the Constellation program, which was launched under President Bush’s administration as a successor to the shuttle program. The goal of the Constellation program had been to send astronauts back to the Moon and eventually on to Mars. Obama’s space initiatives emphasize cooperation with private companies in sending supplies and astronauts to the international space station and beyond. “He has put the space program on a path where we’re conceding our position as the unequivocal leader in space,” Ryan said.   Obama campaign criticizes Ryan speech   SpacePolitics.com   On Saturday, coinciding with the release of the campaign’s space policy, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan mentioned space during a speech in Orlando. In the brief discussion of space, Ryan said that he and Mitt Romney “believe we need a mission for NASA” and criticized the “broken promises” of President Obama’s 2008 campaign. Obama’s Florida campaign has responded with a statement criticizing Ryan for his past votes and budget proposals. “Congressman Ryan has repeatedly voted against NASA funding, and the Romney-Ryan budget’s cuts – if applied across the board – would cut funding for space exploration programs by 19 percent,” campaign spokesman Danny Kanner said in the emailed statement.   SpaceX readies cargo trip to make history   Daytona Beach News-Journal (Editorial)   Cargo resupply is about to make the history books. On Oct. 7, the Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX, a private company, will be launched from NASA's Cape Canaveral complex. The mission will give new meaning and excitement to the task of hauling cargo. The unmanned private delivery will carry about 1,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station. And with that delivery will begin what should be a long, exciting and productive relationship between space exploration and the U.S. private sector.   NASA, space exploration deserve better from Senate   John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)   You need not look far beyond the empty chairs at a space policy hearing in the U.S. Senate to know what advocates of space exploration should be worried about most right now. A panel of NASA leaders, distinguished space scientists and leaders from companies involved in developing space exploration systems were called to appear before a Senate committee with influence over national space policy.   Obama’s brave reboot for NASA   Newt Gingrich & Robert Walker - Washington Times (Opinion)   (Former House Speaker Gingrich is on the board of governors of the National Space Society & Walker - former House Science and Technology Committee Chairman - was chairman of the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry.)   Despite the shrieks you might have heard from a few special interests, the Obama administration’s budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration deserves strong approval from Republicans. The 2011 spending plan for the space agency does what is obvious to anyone who cares about man’s future in space and what presidential commissions have been recommending for nearly a decade.   NASA needs bold presidential vision   Houston Chronicle (Editorial)   Mixed feelings abounded last week when the space shuttle Endeavour appeared twice in our skies, before and after its overnight pause at Ellington Field. We were thrilled to see the shuttle, but sad that Houston was little more than a layover in the piggyback plane trip to its retirement home, Los Angeles, a city that's hardly associated with space exploration. That space shuttle should have stopped here and stayed. Even worse than saying goodbye, though, was a nagging concern that Endeavour's fly-by symbolized a more troubling prospect: the end of Houston's reign as undisputed hub of space exploration. As NASA shrinks, it's passing the torch to private companies, only some of which are based here. Space exploration is losing its center. That's a problem, and not just for Houston. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   NASA wants to send astronauts beyond the moon   Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel   Top NASA officials have picked a leading candidate for the agency's next major mission: construction of a new outpost that would send astronauts farther from Earth than at any time in history.   The so-called "gateway spacecraft" would hover in orbit on the far side of the moon, support a small astronaut crew and function as a staging area for future missions to the moon and Mars.   At 277,000 miles from Earth, the outpost would be far more remote than the current space station, which orbits a little more than 200 miles above Earth. The distance raises complex questions of how to protect astronauts from the radiation of deep space — and rescue them if something goes wrong.   NASA Chief Charlie Bolden briefed the White House earlier this month on details of the proposal, but it's unclear whether it has the administration's support. Of critical importance is the price tag, which would certainly run into the billions of dollars.   Documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel show that NASA wants to build a small outpost — likely with parts left over from the $100 billion International Space Station — at what's known as the Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2, a spot about 38,000 miles from the moon and 277,000 miles from Earth.   At that location, the combined gravities of the Earth and moon reach equilibrium, making it possible to "stick" an outpost there with minimal power required to keep it in place.   To get there, NASA would use the massive rocket and space capsule that it is developing as a successor to the retired space shuttle. A first flight of that rocket is planned for 2017, and construction of the outpost would begin two years later, according to NASA planning documents.   Potential missions include the study of nearby asteroids or dispatching robotic trips to the moon that would gather moon rocks and bring them back to astronauts at the outpost. The outpost also would lay the groundwork for more-ambitious trips to Mars' moons and even Mars itself, about 140 million miles away on average.   Placing a "spacecraft at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point beyond the moon as a test area for human access to deep space is the best near-term option to develop required flight experience and mitigate risk," concluded the NASA report.   From NASA's perspective, the outpost solves several problems.   It gives purpose to the Orion space capsule and the Space Launch System rocket, which are being developed at a cost of about $3 billion annually. It involves NASA's international partners, as blueprints for the outpost suggest using a Russian-built module and components from Italy. And the outpost would represent a baby step toward NASA's ultimate goal: human footprints on Mars.   But how the idea — and cost — play with President Barack Obama, Congress and the public remains a major question. The price tag is never mentioned in the NASA report.   Spending is being slashed across the federal government in the name of deficit reduction; it's unlikely that NASA in coming years can get more than its current budget of $17.7 billion — if that.   NASA picks 26 research proposals for super-sizing Space Launch System   Lee Roop - Huntsville Times   NASA picked 26 research proposals from industry and academia Friday to develop ways to grow its new heavy-lift rocket from its initial 70-metric-ton lift capacity to a 130-metric-ton booster capable of sending humans deep into space. The winning proposals included one from Alabama's Auburn University.   NASA asked competitors to help it develop systems including propulsion, materials, manufacturing, avionics and software for what it is calling the Space Launch System (SLS). SLS includes a booster being developed at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center and upper stages including the Orion crew capsule. The space agency is partnering with the Air Force on funding part of this new research to save money on common propulsion solutions.   "Engaging with academia and industry gives us the opportunity to take advantage of the ingenuity and expertise beyond NASA," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It will help us optimize affordability while integrating mature technical upgrades into future vehicles."   "While we are moving out on the initial 70-metric-ton configuration of the vehicle, we will continue to examine concepts, designs and options that will advance the rocket to a 130-metric-ton vehicle, which is essential for deep space exploration," said Todd May, SLS program manager at Marshall in Huntsville. "Competitive opportunities like this research announcement ensure we deliver a safe, affordable, sustainable launch system."   NASA and the Air Force expect to spend up to a total of $48 million on the research. Awards this fiscal year are up to $8 million for industry and $2.5 million for educational institutions.   The winning proposal from Auburn is titled "High Electric Density Device for Aerospace Applications." The Huntsville branch of national aerospace company Ball Aerospace was also selected for work in advanced integrated networks. Other aerospace companies with Huntsville area presences are also in the selection pool, including ATK Space Systems, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and United Launch Alliance. A full list of winners is here.   Avionics box to blame for delay in next crew's launch   Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com   The replacement of a balky avionics box on a Russian Soyuz capsule will push back the October launch of the International Space Station's next three-man crew by about one week, Russian and NASA officials said.   During standard preflight testing, Russian engineers discovered a problem with an avionics unit which controls the Soyuz descent module during re-entry and landing. Officials opted to remove and replace the suspect part on the Soyuz capsule assigned to deliver three new residents to the space station in October.   The Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft and its Soyuz FG launch vehicle are being prepared for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.   The flight had been set to lift off Oct. 15, but space station managers expect the launch will now occur around Oct. 22 or Oct. 23.   NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin are slated to spend nearly five months on the space station as part of the Expedition 33 and Expedition 34 missions.   The Soyuz delay will give SpaceX more launch opportunities for its first operational cargo resupply flight to the space station, which is due to take off in as soon as Oct. 7, according to Vladimir Popovkin, head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.   Space station officials prefer to schedule the arrivals and departures of visiting spacecraft several days apart to avoid interference and overworking the lab's crew.   Another Soyuz crew launch set for December may also slip about two weeks from Dec. 5 to around Dec. 19, but a NASA manager said the schedule for that mission is still under discussion.   Veteran Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, commander of Expedition 35, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko are assigned to the December launch.   Crowds cheer at NASA Langley test Thousands of people explored NASA Langley Research Center in an open house for its 95th anniversary   Tara Bozick - Hampton Roads Daily-Press   After a 15-second countdown and final call of "release," the full-sized model spacecraft dropped 25 feet with a loud "sploosh" as water flew and spectators cheered.   Attendees of NASA's Langley Research Center open house on Saturday witnessed a vertical drop test of a model of the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle that NASA is designing as a safer way to send humans beyond low-Earth orbit. Orion is reminiscent of Apollo spacecraft, but with more technological advancements, according to the NASA website.   "It's pretty impressive to see it in person," astronaut Anna L. Fisher said about the test. Fisher, 63, spent eight days in space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1984.   The drop into the research center's "Hydro Impact Basin," or pool, simulated the spacecraft's return to Earth on calm seas and with one of three parachutes failing, said Michael Greenwood, SPLASH project chief engineer. Data picked up by sensors on the capsule will be used in computer models to do more tests in a virtual world where it's more efficient and less expensive, he said.   Fisher, who lives in Houston, is working on the displays for people to interact with or command the spacecraft. While she lamented the end of the shuttle program, she's excited about the future of space travel and foresees a day when low-orbit travel will become affordable.   "It's just so awesomely beautiful," Fisher said about space.   Many researchers hope Orion will eventually take astronauts to Mars. Greenwood would like a return to the moon. The testing site is where astronauts trained to walk on the moon.   Nicholas Caison, 16, of Hampton had been waiting months to see the test. He's always loved space and wanted to be an astronaut as a kid. The Virginia Air & Space Center summer volunteer was disappointed to see the end of the shuttle era but wondered if Orion could make it to Mars.   "It's history right here in the making," Caison said.   Lindsey Gnik, 12, and Katie Ferguson, 16, of Newport News said the test was their highlight of the open house, which marked NASA Langley's 95th anniversary. Ferguson, who wants to be a fighter pilot, came to learn about experiments and technology at NASA Langley. Of the 10,000 estimated in attendance, several youth said another favorite was the model test at the wind tunnel.   Gnik, who wants to be a marine biologist, noticed how the impact of the drop sent water gushing over audience members' feet.   "It was really cool," Gnik said.   By the numbers ·         15-second countdown ·         25-foot drop ·         About 20 mph ·         18,200 pounds ·         160 sensors ·         43-degree angle to "knife" the water ·         18,000 gallons displaced from 1 million-gallon pool   Florida makes play for launch pad New KSC launch site would be independent of NASA   James Dean - Florida Today   The state wants to develop a commercial launch complex at Kennedy Space Center, a move that could persuade SpaceX not to pursue a similar site elsewhere in the country.   In a letter sent Thursday to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll requested 150 undeveloped acres at the northern end of the space center, near the former citrus community of Shiloh.   With Federal Aviation Administration approval, the site would operate outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Air Force’s Eastern Range, which provides safety and tracking for launches from KSC and Cape Canaveral.   “The State proposes to develop and operate this site as a commercial launch complex independent of the neighboring federal range and spaceports,” Carroll wrote.   In addition to the launch site property bordering Brevard and Volusia counties, the state requested facilities and land at KSC’s shuttle runway, which NASA has said it intends to turn over to an outside operator.   The letter was sent a week after Space Florida’s board, chaired by Carroll, unanimously passed a resolution to acquire KSC property to support commercial space operations and to spend up to $2.3 million for environmental and other studies.   SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said he wants another pad exclusively for launches of commercial satellites that would complement the Hawthorne, Calif.-company’s existing complex at the Cape.   He anticipates launching 12 to 15 times a year within several years and wants more control over schedules, so commercial customers would not have to wait in line behind high-priority national security or science payloads.   SpaceX is already performing an environmental review of property on Texas’ coast near the Mexican border, and has reportedly explored other sites.   Carroll’s letter did not identify SpaceX as the intended user of the proposed launch complex, but Space Florida has said it is scouting for locations that would satisfy the company’s needs.   A SpaceX spokeswoman declined to comment on the company’s interest in the Florida proposal. NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.   KSC is currently modifying one of its two former shuttle launch pads for a planned deep space exploration rocket, and has said it intends to make the other shuttle pad available for commercial use.   In 2008, a NASA study of potential commercial launch complex sites, including one located in the northern part of KSC, drew opposition from residents concerned about wildlife and loss of refuge access.   Carroll’s letter requested cooperation from the Secretary of the Interior, acknowledging the sensitivity of the property within the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, but said the state believes its proposed activity “will pose no significant impacts to the environment.”   Carroll noted Florida’s longstanding support of the space program, including granting NASA the use of more than 56,000 acres and investing a half-billion dollars in infrastructure.   “Florida is experienced in space-related endeavors, and is well prepared to become a public steward of the requested assets,” she wrote.   Florida wants NASA land to develop commercial spaceport   Irene Klotz - Reuters   With an eye toward developing a commercial spaceport, Florida has asked NASA to transfer 150 acres of land north of the shuttle launch pads and the shuttle runway to Space Florida, the state's aerospace development agency.   "Florida believes that the properties identified in this request are excess to the needs of the U.S. government," Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll, who is also chairwoman of Space Florida, wrote in letter to NASA chief Charles Bolden and Ray LaHood, secretary of Department of Transportation, which oversees commercial space transportation in the United States.   The letter, dated September 20, was posted on the state's Sunburst public records website.   A week earlier, Space Florida agreed to spend $2.3 million for environmental studies, land surveys, title searches, appraisals and other activities to lay the groundwork for Cape Canaveral Spaceport, a proposed state-owned commercial complex that would be licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration and operated like an airport.   "If we want to be satisfied with 10 to 12 government launches a year, I don't have to do anything," Space Florida president and chief executive Frank DiBello told Reuters.   But he said those launches would likely end when commercial sites elsewhere are able to offer affordable rates.   "What has existed for decades has been good, but the marketplace has been largely governmental. What commercial market there was, we have essentially lost overseas. I'm not only anxious to bring some of that back, but I'm anxious for the next-generation of providers, both the launch companies and the satellite owner-operators, to have Florida be the place where they seek to do business," DiBello said.   Similar commercial spaceports have been set up in New Mexico, where Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, plans to fly a fleet of suborbital passenger spaceships, as well as Alaska, Virginia and California.   Commercial space launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida and from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, both of which can accommodate bigger rockets and more diverse payloads than the other sites, are subject to military oversight.   Florida's request comes as NASA is working to revamp the Kennedy Space Center following the end of the shuttle program last year. It also is timed to woo privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to build its third launch site in Florida.   The company, founded and run by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, currently flies its Falcon rockets from a refurbished and leased pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It is preparing to activate a second launch site at Vandenberg before the end of the year and is looking to build a third launch pad in a commercial zone.   Out of a backlog of 42 Falcon 9 flights, worth about $4 billion, 65 percent are for commercial and non-U.S. government customers, Brian Bjelde, SpaceX director of product and mission management, said at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in Pasadena, California, earlier this month.   An environmental study of a site in Brownsville, Texas, near the Mexican border, is under way. SpaceX also is looking at sites in Puerto Rico, Hawaii and other states, Bjelde said.   Shiloh revisited   In 1989, Florida proposed building a commercial launch pad north of the space shuttle complex in an area known as Shiloh, an old citrus-growing community that straddles Brevard County to the south and Volusia County to the north.   That initiative was hastily shut down by environmentalists' concerns over scrub jay habitats and other issues.   "This site is not exactly the same. We were going after a lot more land then," DiBello said.   "What we are seeking is a collaborative effort and we want to do that early on so they're all involved and all part of the dialog. This includes the Department of Interior and wildlife and refuge community," DiBello said.   Some of the requested land is believed to be owned by Florida, which lays claim to about 56,000 acres of the 140,000 acres that comprise the Kennedy Space Center and the surrounding Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.   The federal government was allowed use of the land for the national space program, with the caveat that it would revert back to the state if it was no longer needed for NASA's purposes.   NASA never developed the Shiloh site.   Space Florida already has an agreement with NASA to operate one of the three space shuttle processing hangars.   DiBello said cost estimates to develop a new launch site at Shiloh were not yet available. Though Space Florida is, in part, a special municipal district, with powers to tax and sell bonds, the agency is not looking at levying taxes for spaceport development, DiBello said.   "Right now we hope that we could keep SpaceX here, but there are others that will be coming into the marketplace, I'm convinced," he said.   SpaceX is heading back to the space station next month   Alex Knapp - Forbes   NASA announced late Thursday that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft – the first private spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station – will be making a return trip to the station next month. The ship is tentatively scheduled to launch on October 7.   SpaceX’s successful launch and docking last May was a test flight – to see if the Dragon was going to be able to make the complex set of maneuvers involved in berthing with the ISS. That test was a complete success. For this trip, however, Dragon won’t have time to sight-see. It has a job. Namely, the Dragon will be transporting cargo to the station in the form of several scientific experiments.   A successful journey for Dragon would mean that NASA will no longer be solely reliant on the Russian space program to transport cargo to the International Space Station. In addition to delivering cargo, the Dragon has been designed with human spaceflight in mind. Last month, NASA awarded the company $440 million to continue development of the craft. SpaceX hopes to send humans to the International Space Station by 2015.   In the meantime, after launching on October 7, Dragon is expected to dock with the International Space Station on October 10. Dragon will remain docked for the next few weeks as the cargo is unloaded. Dragon is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean in late October.   Hoshide says space travel not far off   Kyodo News   Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, in a live radio broadcast Thursday from the International Space Station, told listeners in Japan that "the days when you will travel to space are not far away."   "Space is nearer to you than you think," the 43-year-old astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said on Nippon Broadcasting System Inc.'s "All Night Nippon" program.   "I'd like to look at the sky and feel familiar with space," Hoshide said.   On the program, Exile vocalist Nesmith relayed questions from listeners, including how Hoshide felt when he made two spacewalks to fix a malfunctioning power unit in late August and early September.   Hoshide replied, "I did not feel any pressure and was really happy when I saw the smiling faces of my fellow astronauts after I completed the mission without trouble and returned to the vehicle."   The Earth, when observed from space, "looks inexplicably beautiful and I'd like you all to be able to observe it with your own eyes," he said.   Space shuttle Endeavour out of sight; fans told to stay away   Los Angeles Times   A crowd of excited space shuttle fans gathered near Los Angeles International Airport early Saturday to get one last glimpse of Endeavour before it was tucked away in a United Airlines cargo hangar.   But with the shuttle now out of sight, airport officials are asking Endeavour fans to keep away.   "Space shuttle Endeavour has been removed," airport spokesman Marshall Lowe said. "Airport police are asking people to stay out of the area."   KCBS-TV (Channel 2) said a crowd armed with binoculars and cameras had lined up Saturday morning on Imperial Highway to watch the shuttle slowly inch its way into the hangar and eventually disappear from public view.   By Saturday evening, only the Boeing 747 aircraft that ferried the shuttle to Los Angeles remained in sight, the station said. Police officers arrived later in the day asking people to leave, KCBS-TV reported.   Hours earlier, crews spent 12 hours performing the delicate task of plucking Endeavour from the back of the Boeing 747 aircraft that transported the space shuttle to Los Angeles from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.   Giant cranes supporting a yellow sling raised the shuttle high enough to allow the plane to back out, while a special transporter was wheeled in. The transporter will eventually carry the 78-ton shuttle to the California Science Center in Exposition Park.   Endeavour will remain at the airport for about three weeks, and on Oct. 12, it will begin a two-day journey across the streets of Inglewood and Los Angeles as it makes it way to its permanent retirement home at the science center's Samuel Oschin display pavilion.   The state-run museum plans to open the Endeavour exhibit to the public Oct. 30.   The California Science Center was only one of three museums nationwide to receive a retired space shuttle. The other winners are on the East Coast, with Atlantis staying at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Discovery delivered to a Smithsonian museum near Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.   The shuttle prototype Enterprise was delivered to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City.   The two-day event will be the only time that a space shuttle will be paraded through the heart of a city.   Race to Save Space History As Endeavour heads to retirement home, its nearby birthplace is being razed   Andy Pasztor & Tamara Audi - Wall Street Journal   The space shuttle Endeavour is set for a glitzy welcome in Los Angeles Friday as it heads to final retirement at a local museum. But less than 20 miles away, its birthplace is being demolished without ceremony.   From the 1960s to the end of the Cold War, a sprawling industrial campus in this suburb east of Los Angeles served as the crucible for U.S.-manned space efforts. Nearly 30,000 engineers and technicians built the Apollo modules that eventually helped astronauts land on the moon. After each flight, crews returned to Downey to be cheered as heroes and leave their handprints in a cement slab—the aerospace equivalent of Hollywood's Walk of Fame.   Gerald Blackburn stands at the site in Downey, Calif., where NASA spacecraft were built. The building is being torn down to make way for a mall.   .Later, a smaller army of engineers—self-described "space geeks"—designed and oversaw assembly of the entire shuttle fleet at the same complex. In its heyday, dignitaries such as President Ronald Reagan and Queen Elizabeth II came to tour a full-scale shuttle mockup and pay their respects to the workforce that gave Downey a central role in U.S. space accomplishments.   Now, however, abandoned buildings on what is left of the 160-acre facility once dubbed America's "Gateway to Space" are being leveled to make way for a mall whose name echoes the site's storied past: Tierra Luna Marketplace.   Some space aficionados are angered by what they see as a lack of respect for past glories. Many more worry the bulldozers are destroying not only structures, but also the best chance for future generations to appreciate Downey's significance.   "This is sacred ground," said Gerald Blackburn, a 67-year-old retired engineer who spent 35 years working at Downey. From an office on the site, he spends his days collecting and culling pieces of its history, even as bulldozers rumble outside. He fears that "the history of the aerospace industry here is being forgotten."   Mr. Blackburn said he hopes Endeavour, which landed at Edwards Air Force Base north of Los Angeles Thursday atop a Boeing 747 jet, will fly over Downey during its trip Friday.   City officials say the new development is expected to generate 2,740 permanent jobs and generate $3.5 million in annual tax revenue. Officials say they are also working to preserve the site's history through the nearby Columbia Memorial Space Center, a public education venue and museum the city is planning to expand to include a full-size shuttle mockup.   Officials say they spent years pursuing other options, such as solar-panel manufacturing, in an effort to preserve the buildings, but the plans fell through.   "I'm sad to see those buildings come down," said Mayor Roger Brossmer, but "dilapidated warehouses aren't the best way to respect what had gone on in this facility."   Dale Myers, who helped create both the Apollo and space-shuttle programs, has long fretted about the fate of the fleet's birthplace. He had a major role in shaping the shuttles' early design as a corporate executive and senior National Aeronautics and Space Administration official.   Even before the administration of President George W. Bush decided to ground the orbiters, "I knew the site was doomed" said Mr. Myers, 90. Without Downey, he asked, "how can the country still stimulate interest in big manned space programs?"   Downey's legacy stretches back to making World War II military aircraft and pioneering missiles in the 1950s. In the next two decades, it served as the hub for developing Apollo spacecraft.   With three shifts working round the clock, the center's operations resembled those of a small city. The site had its own newspaper and even clubs offering cha-cha lessons.   In the mid-1970s, focus shifted to the shuttles. Work dried up, however, after the last orbiter was delivered in 1992.   After Downey finally closed in 1999 as a space-program center, it served as a film studio. Posters for movies filmed there—including "Space Cowboys," about an aging group of astronauts—still hang on the walls.   The city bought and sold parts of the property starting in 1998, and some of the site has already been turned into a shopping and medical center. This year, Downey officials approved a plan to transform 77 more acres into another shopping center that will include a hotel and medical offices. Mr. Blackburn says he is working with developers to include elements in the design to acknowledge the site's history.   With the help of local government officials and former employees, Mr. Blackburn and his organization, the Aerospace Legacy Foundation, hope to create a museum and gathering place for former employees on the site.   Retired Rockwell International Corp. executive Patti Mancini, who worked at Downey for 30 years before leaving in 1991, said Downey is "a national treasure and so are the people who worked there." Overall, she added, "I would like to see them receive more credit."   For now, remnants of Downey's contribution are crammed into every corner of Mr. Blackburn's office: a drafting table, engineering tools and a cut-out of Snoopy dressed as an astronaut holding a sign saying, "Next Launch Date."   "What they created went way beyond Downey, Southern California or even the U.S.," recalled George Torres, who worked at Downey in the 1980s and later wrote books on the shuttle era. "It was a global achievement."   Howard McCurdy, an American University professor and NASA scholar, sees "the passing of an era that defined U.S. space ambitions" while the Soviet Union existed. "There's great symbolism in replacing the epitome of NASA's big manned programs" with a shopping center, he said.   But as the last few buildings disappear, many who loved the place struggle with bittersweet emotions. "We had confidence in what we did," Ms. Mancini recalled, adding the challenge and camaraderie often became "almost more important than your family." With stronger government support, she said, "we could have flown the shuttles for a long time."   But along with success, employees also experienced marathon work schedules, high divorce rates and health problems. Mr. Blackburn lost vision in his right eye in 1967 when glass on a pressure gauge he was using to test Apollo equipment exploded. "Was it worth it? You bet it was," he said.   For Mr. Blackburn, the biggest blow will be destruction of Building 290, the final "check-out" location for shuttles and Apollo space craft. There, engineers and designers could see the final result of their work before it was blasted into space.   During one of the last Apollo missions, Mr. Blackburn was leaving work late one night. He walked to his car through the main gate, and as he was reaching for his car keys, he turned and looked over his shoulder to see a full moon hanging over Building 290. "I said 'Oh my god, there are three men up there now and I had something to do with that. And I'm standing where it all started.' "   Public records show local purchases for SpaceX   Emma Perez-Trevino - Brownsville Herald   SpaceX is investing more than research in Cameron County. It is now a property owner in the county.   SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has been purchasing property in Cameron County since June, The Brownsville Herald found.   However, local officials emphasized that this does not mean SpaceX has made the decision to settle here. “But it is a good sign,” Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos said.   SpaceX did not respond to requests to comment on the options that the firm is said to have placed on tracts of land or on the land purchases that have been made in Cameron County.   The California-based space exploration firm with entrepreneur Elon Musk at its helm is considering a location near Boca Chica Beach for a rocket launch facility. Sites in Florida, Puerto Rico, and perhaps Georgia, also are being considered.   The site in Cameron County is said to be the lead contender.   The Federal Aviation Administration is conducting an environmental impact statement on the potential effects of SpaceX’s proposal to launch the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy orbital vertical launch vehicles from a site here.   The proposed launch site is located off State Highway 4, about a quarter-mile from Boca Chica Beach, and about 3 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The site is about 5 miles south of Port Isabel and South Padre Island.   Purchases   Other than the property that SpaceX is said to have placed options on, the firm this year has purchased at least three lots in the Spanish Dagger Subdivision under the name Dogleg Park LLC, The Herald found in public documents.   Spanish Dagger Subdivision is located on the southwest side of Laguna Madre Beach Subdivision; it is west of Hwy 4.   Public records also reflect that the company was registered in the state of Delaware in November last year.   Gilberto Salinas, vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council, said that BEDC is not privy to SpaceX’s internal real estate decisions.   “Though SpaceX’s purchase of real estate in the area is great news, in no way does it mean they have made Brownsville the lone finalist for a launch site,” Salinas said, adding, “It is not uncommon for major corporations to purchase real estate during the site selection process in different locations before their final decision.”   Salinas noted that SpaceX continues to regularly visit the area, meet with local leadership and conduct their due diligence of the potential site.   Property Owner   Dogleg Park LLC is now listed as a property owner in the Cameron County Tax Office and the Cameron Appraisal District rolls.   The purchase of the first property, consisting of a lot in the Spanish Dagger Subdivision was recorded June 6 in the Cameron County District Clerk’s Office.   The owner’s address is listed on the property tax deed as “1 Rocket Rd., Hawthorne, CA,” which is the address for SpaceX’s headquarters.   The same address is listed for the property in the Cameron County Tax Office. Dogleg Park LLC bought the lot, which measures 0.5739 of an acre for $2,500 from Cameron County and the Point Isabel Independent School District.   The appraised value of the property has been $3,450 since at least 2001, public records reflect. The lot measures 125 feet by 200 feet. It could not be immediately ascertained what the tax delinquency on this property had been, which resulted in its sale. The entities approved its sale after bids were not received for it at public auction.   And an auction of properties earlier this month brought SpaceX’s Director of Business Affairs Lauren Dreyer to the front steps of the Cameron County Judicial Building, where two other lots were purchased, public records show.   The two lots also in Spanish Dagger Subdivision were purchased at auction Sept. 4 for $6,400 and $15,000.   The lot bought for $6,400 had a tax delinquency of $4,307, which had been accruing since 1987, tax records show. Its value since at least 2001 has been $3,550. This lot measures 128.50 feet by 201.57 feet.   The lot bought for $15,000 had a tax delinquency of $4,537, accruing since at least 1987. Its value also has been $3,740 since at least 2001. The lot measures 134.30 feet by 228.52 feet.   Cameron County also continues to research the title to several lots that it believes it owns on Rio Grande Beach Subdivision, Unit 2 that could be conveyed by the county to SpaceX through sale or lease Cascos said.   “It’s encouraging that they are actively pursuing the acquisition of land,” Cascos said, noting that it doesn’t mean a determination has been made, but “certainly it indicates they are seriously looking at this location.”   The inspiration behind the company’s name Dogleg Park LLC could not be determined. But in space terms, NASA defines dogleg as a directional turn made in the launch trajectory to produce a more favorable orbit inclination.   Proposal   The FAA is conducting an environmental impact statement into the SpaceX proposal in Cameron County.   As FAA noted, under the proposed action, SpaceX would construct a vertical launch area and a control center area to support up to 12 commercial launches per year.   FAA pointed out that the vehicles to be launched include the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy—up to two per year—and a variety of smaller reusable suborbital launch vehicles. SpaceX would be required to apply for the appropriate launch licenses and/or experimental permits to be issued by the FAA.   FAA said Friday that the draft EIS has not been publicly released, but that the release is expected to be at the beginning of next year.   Three Decades of Private Space Exploration in Texas   The developments come during the month that marks the 30th anniversary of the first privately-funded rocket into space — and it took place in Texas, according to Gov. Rick Perry’s office.   In a summary of the anniversary, the governor’s office noted that on the morning of Sept. 9, 1982, Conestoga 1 soared into the skies over Matagorda Island, reaching a height of 160 miles before splashing down, as planned, in the Gulf of Mexico.   Furthermore, Conestoga 1 was the product of Houston-based Space Services, Inc., of America — headed up by Mercury 7 astronaut Donald “Deke” Slayton — and drew universal praise, including recognition from President Ronald Reagan.   The rocket launched from the ranch of legendary Dallas oilman Toddie Lee Wynne, who sadly passed away shortly before the launch, the summary also states.   The summary points out that Texas made a natural fit for the early days of space exploration due to determination, innovation and a drive to accomplish what had never been done before.   “Today, the dreams of visionaries like Deke Slayton and Toddie Lee Wynne live on in private space enterprises like SpaceX, XCOR and Blue Origin,” the governor’s summary states. “And, with XCOR expanding to Midland, Blue Origin in Van Horn, and SpaceX already in McGregor and looking at a possible commercial launch site in Brownsville, the legend of private space travel in Texas — while three decades old — is only beginning.”   SpaceX buys land in Texas near proposed launch pad   Associated Press   SpaceX is buying land in South Texas where the space tourism company is considering building a rocket launch facility, ramping up speculation that the company has chosen Texas over Florida and Puerto Rico for the project's home, a newspaper reported Sunday.   The Brownsville Herald found that SpaceX purchased at least three lots in Cameron County under the name Dogleg Park LLC. Property records show the owner's address is listed as SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. The company did not respond to the newspaper's requests to comment on the land purchases.   Brownsville officials emphasized that the purchases do not mean that SpaceX has made a decision.   "But it is a good sign," said Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos, the county's top elected official.   In June, SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk said the site near Brownsville was the leading candidate to become home to the company's latest spaceport. He has met with Gov. Rick Perry to discuss economic incentives to put a launch site for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy orbital vertical launch vehicles in Texas. It would also have a control center that could support up to 12 commercial launches a year.   The location would be about three miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border and about five miles south of South Padre Island.   According to property records found by the Herald, SpaceX purchased a half-acre lot in June for $2,500. The other two purchases were made at auctions earlier this month on the steps of the county's judicial building, where records show that SpaceX's director of business affairs bought one lot for $6,400 and another for $15,000.   The Federal Aviation Administration is conducting an environmental impact statement on SpaceX's proposal near Brownsville. The company already operates a rocket factory near Waco.   Formally named Space Exploration Technologies Corp., SpaceX is the first private business to send a cargo ship to the International Space Station. NASA has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in seed money to vying commercial spaceflight companies such as SpaceX, which are seen as the future of routine orbital flights.   Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill to help space industry in California   Patrick McGreevy - Los Angeles Times   Just minutes before the retired space shuttle Endeavour was flown over the state Capitol on its way to a Los Angeles museum, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Friday that he signed legislation to give a boost to the commercial space-travel industry in California.   Brown signed AB 2243, which limits liability for spaceflight companies.   "California aerospace pioneers like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and the Spaceship Company are blazing a path to the stars with commercial space travel," Brown said in a statement. "This bill allows commercial space-travel companies to innovate and explore without the worry of excessive liability."   The bill was authored by Assemblyman Stephen Knight (R-Palmdale), whose father, William J. "Pete" Knight, was a legislator and Air Force test pilot. The measure provides companies with qualified immunity from liability for injuries suffered by a spaceflight participant.   That will help companies including Virgin Galactic, which hopes to charge the public for brief flights into space.   "California has long been known as a place that breaks down barriers and fosters innovation -- from social movements like environmentalism to the start-up culture of Silicon Valley," Virgin Group founder Richard Branson said in a statement released by Brown's office. "The teams at Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company are forging entirely new paths in travel, science and exploration, and this legislation will ensure that California continues to be a place that looks forward -- and not back."   Law will boost California's space travel industry   Associated Press   With the space shuttle Endeavour's final flight capturing the attention of Californians, Gov. Jerry Brown announced he had signed legislation intended to boost the fledgling private space travel industry.   Brown said Friday he had signed the bill by Republican Assemblyman Steve Knight, which limits private space companies' liability from civil lawsuits.   Under AB2243, the companies cannot be held liable for the injury or death of customers because of the obvious risks associated with space travel. They still can be sued in cases of gross negligence or willful disregard for participants' safety.   The bill also does not limit the ability to sue parts manufacturers.   Brown said the legislation will allow companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and the Spaceship Company "to innovate and explore without the worry of excessive liability."   Private Space Travel Gets a Big Boost in California   Leonard David - Space.com   As NASA's space shuttle Endeavour orbiter flew to its retirement home in sunny California Friday, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed legislation to bolster the commercial spaceflight sector in that state.   The Assembly bill limits liability for private spaceflight companies.   “California aerospace pioneers like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and the Spaceship Company are blazing a path to the stars with commercial space travel,” Brown said in a statement. “This bill allows commercial space-travel companies to innovate and explore without the worry of excessive liability.”   A summary overview of Assembly Bill 2243 shows that it provides qualified immunity from liability to a spaceflight entity for injuries to a space flight participant, so long as a written warning statement is provided to the participant and the injury was not the result of spaceflight entity's gross negligence or intentional acts.   The bill requires a spaceflight entity to have each participant sign a “prescribed warning statement” acknowledging that the participant understands the “inherent risks associated with space flight activity, including death, and also acknowledging that the space flight entity has limited liability for injuries or damages sustained by a participant as a result of these inherent risks.”   High desert   Leading the measure that was targeted to an emerging industry in California was Assemblyman Steve Knight (R-Palmdale). Last August, the bill unanimously passed in both houses of the California State Legislature.   Knight also said in a statement that, until recently, human space travel was accomplished through government space agencies, with volunteer participants assuming liability for injury and damage. Assembly Bill 2243 provides limited liability for commercial space ventures to ensure innovators remain competitive in this promising marketplace.   “California, and specifically the High Desert, has a long tradition of pioneering aviation for a century, and human spaceflight since the Apollo era, and was the site of the first private human space flight event, which resulted in the winning of the Ansari X Prize in Mojave, California, in 2004,” Knight said.   History of spaceflight   Over the past few decades, Knight added, California has lost a significant slice of its human spaceflight industry development to other states, specifying Alabama, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas. The human spaceflight business in California, he said, continues to struggle due to the poor business climate in general, and the current litigious environment.   “The history of space flight and California are inseparable,” Knight said. “Providing the commercial space industry with a competitive advantage will ensure our state maintains and possibly gains jobs in this important market.”   The bill-signing was praised by Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, who called California a state that tears down barriers and cultivates innovation, from social movements like environmentalism to the start-up culture of Silicon Valley.   Branson called the bill a benefit to the teams at Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Co. at the Mojave Air and Space Port — the construction site of the WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo launch system.   “This legislation will ensure that California continues to be a place that looks forward … and not back,” Branson said.   For a complete look at the new legislation, visit: http://leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html and enter Assembly Bill 2243.   Development lags near Spaceport America   Jeri Clausing - Associated Press   New Mexico Tourism Secretary Monique Jacobson says it will be New Mexico’s Sydney Opera House. Virgin Galactic Chairman Richard Branson has hinted it will host the first of his new brand of lifestyle hotels. And the eclectic hot springs town of Truth or Consequences has been anxiously awaiting all the economic development the nearly quarter-of-a-billion-dollar project is supposed to bring to this largely rural part of Southern New Mexico.   But as phase one of Spaceport America, the world’s first commercial port built specifically for sending tourists and payloads into space, is nearing completion, the only new hotel project that has been finalized is a Holiday Inn Express here in Truth or Consequences, about 25 miles away. And three key companies with millions of dollars in payroll have passed on developing operations in the state.   The lagging development, along with competition from heavy hitters like Florida and Texas, is raising new questions about the viability of the $209 billion taxpayer-funded project — as well as the rush by so many states to grab a piece of the commercial spaceport pie. To date, nine spaceports are planned around the United States, mostly at existing airports, and another 10 have been proposed, according to a recent report from the New Mexico Spaceport Authority.   “Right now, the industry is not there to support it,” Alex Ignatiev, a University of Houston physics professor and adviser to space companies, said of the list of planned and proposed spaceports across America.   Andrew Nelson, COO of XCOR Aerospace, disagrees, saying “in the next couple to three years, there’s going to be a demonstrative reduction in the cost to launch stuff … so we are going to have a lot more people coming out of the woodwork.”   Currently, the spaceport can count on two rocket companies that send vertical payloads into space and Virgin Galactic, the Branson space tourism venture that says it has signed more than 500 wealthy adventurers for $200,000-per-person spaceflights. Other leaders in the race to commercialize the business and send tourists into space have been passing on New Mexico.   For example, XCOR Aerospace, which manufactures reusable rocket engines for major aerospace contractors and is designing a two-person space vehicle called the Lynx, has twice passed over New Mexico in favor of Texas and Florida. Most recently, it announced plans to locate its new Commercial Space Research and Development Center Headquarters in Midland, Texas.   Another company, RocketCrafters, Inc., passed over New Mexico for Titusville, Fla. And the space tourism company of SpaceX, is looking at basing a plant with $50 million in annual salaries to Brownsville, Texas.   Locally, officials blame the lack of new businesses on the Legislature’s refusal to pass laws that would exempt spacecraft suppliers from liability for passengers should the spacecraft crash or blow up. When New Mexico was developing the spaceport in partnership with Virgin Galactic, it passed a law to exempt the carrier through 2018, but not parts suppliers. Colorado, Florida, Texas and Virginia have adopted permanent liability exemption laws for both carriers and suppliers. The laws, called informed consent, are much like those that exempt ski areas from lawsuits by skiers, who waive their rights for claims when they buy a ski pass. Spaceport officials emphasize the carriers and suppliers would not be exempt from damage on the ground, or in cases of gross negligence.   “The issue is informed consent legislation,” said Truth or Consequences Mayor John Mulcahy. “We need to get that passed.”   Companies make no secret of the fact that the liability laws have played a role in their decision to go elsewhere. But they also cite Spaceport America’s remote location —45 miles from Las Cruces and 200 miles from Albuquerque — and a failure by the state to offer competitive incentives as factors.   “We worked with [former Gov. Bill] Richardson’s people as well as [Gov. Susana] Martinez,” Nelson said. “They are all fine. They have been great. But they couldn’t deliver the package that was necessary to get across the goal line.”   Spaceport’s success is tied largely to Virgin Galactic, which signed a 20-year lease to operate its commercial space tourism business from the site. Over the next two decades, the company’s lease payments and user fees are expected to generate $250 million and more. But the terms of the lease or what penalties might be imposed if Branson pulls out are not publicly known. And the facility was planned with the idea that at least one new major tenant would move in by 2016.   “We are so happy we have Virgin Galactic as anchors,” said Christine Anderson, executive director of the New Mexico Space Authority, which is lobbying lawmakers to approve informed consent. “But we want to attract more tenants. … I think this is really a critical piece of legislation that New Mexico has to have.”   Nelson says his company hasn’t ruled out one day flying his Lynx aircraft in New Mexico. But he says the legislature’s wavering on the liability exemptions “sends a message that we cannot expect a consistent response,” he said.   Meantime, Branson’s estimate for a first manned flight has been pushed back until late 2013 at the earliest. And questions remain about the facility’s tourism draw.   Tourism and spaceport officials have estimated as many as 200,000 people a year would visit the futuristic center. Branson told a national hotel conference in 2011 that he might put one of his still to be developed Virgin hotels in the area. But there has been no further word on that hotel, or others that have been rumored to cater to the space crowd.   Ignatiev estimates it will be 10 years before the commercial space business really takes off, “And I don’t know how many states or commercial entities can sit around for 10 years and wait for business to show up. They are going to have a problem staying viable.”   Ryan talks liberty, space plans at UCF campaign stop   Mike Schneider - Associated Press   Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan on Saturday derided President Obama’s space program and called his administration’s requirement that hospitals and universities, including Catholic ones, be required to offer contraception an “assault on religious liberty.”   Ryan promised at a town hall meeting in Orlando that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would reverse the contraception mandate on “Day 1” if he is elected president. The mandate requiring all insurance plans to include access to contraception was part of Obama’s health care overhaul.   Ryan’s comments came in a response to a woman’s question about whether he would ask Vice President Joe Biden in a debate how he reconciles his views as a Roman Catholic with the Democratic Party platform.   Both Ryan and Biden are Catholic.   “It will be gone. I can guarantee you that,” Ryan told the crowd of 2,200 supporters in an arena at the University of Central Florida.   Ryan answered a series of questions from supporters at the town hall meeting. He derided the Obama administration’s space program, a sensitive subject in central Florida where thousands of jobs have been lost since the end of the space shuttle program last year.   Obama in 2010 cancelled the Constellation program, which was launched under President Bush’s administration as a successor to the shuttle program. The goal of the Constellation program had been to send astronauts back to the Moon and eventually on to Mars. Obama’s space initiatives emphasize cooperation with private companies in sending supplies and astronauts to the international space station and beyond.   “He has put the space program on a path where we’re conceding our position as the unequivocal leader in space,” Ryan said.   The Obama campaign in Florida fired back immediately, sending out a statement just minutes after Ryan’s speech ended that accused Ryan of repeatedly voting against NASA funding.   “In the past, Mitt Romney has criticized Washington politicians for pandering to Florida voters by making empty promises about space,” the statement said. “After his event today, it’s probably time for Romney to have a talk with Paul Ryan.”   At a campaign stop in Miami earlier Saturday, Ryan courted Cuban-American voters with promises that a Romney administration would support pro-democracy groups in Cuba and “clamp down” on the island’s communist, Castro-led government with tougher policies than President Barack Obama has followed.   Florida is the biggest up-for-grabs state in the November election, and Ryan’s promises come just days after two polls of likely Florida voters, one by Fox News and one by NBC, showed Obama leading 49 percent to 44 percent. Such promises play well among Miami’s older, Cuban-American voters who can have an impact in competitive races.   Obama has eased restrictions to allow Americans to travel to Cuba and Cuban-Americans to send money to family on the island. But the president has stopped well short of discussing lifting the 50-year-old economic embargo, which is widely viewed in Latin America as a failure and has complicated U.S. relationships in the region. Obama’s call for democratic change in Cuba during April’s Summit of the Americas in Colombia drew criticism from the Castro government.   While campaigning Saturday morning in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, the Wisconsin congressman credited Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart and former Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart — all Miami-area Republicans who support the embargo and strengthened sanctions against Cuba — with teaching him “just how brutal the Castro regime is. Just how this president’s policy of appeasement is not working.”   Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Miami’s current and former Cuban-American members of Congress, and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s son Craig touted Ryan’s credentials in English and Spanish for the breakfast crowd at Versailles, an iconic Cuban restaurant that’s a regular stop for politicians seeking the support of Cuban-American voters.   Ryan also blamed Obama’s “failed leadership” for the country’s economic woes, and he said that he and Romney would help get Latinos back to work.   Ryan also touted the American dream of freedom and prosperity for immigrants. “The great thing about immigration in this country is people pick up and they go for a better life, and they come to this country which has the promise of a better life. In this country, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from or where or under what circumstances you were born. You can make the most of your life because we’ve had opportunity and upward mobility,” Ryan said.   Unlike other immigrant communities in Miami, Cubans benefit from the so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy that that provides those who reach U.S. soil with temporary visas and a path to legal citizenship. Cubans picked up at sea are generally returned to their Caribbean island.   Ryan said he and Romney have a plan to strengthen America’s middle class, and while he shared the goals with the audience, he was short on specifics as to how to reach them.   “We want people to go back to work. We want people to have more opportunity, higher take-home pay. We want people to know that they’re secure in their jobs and they actually have a chance at getting a better job, at having more promotions so that they can do more providing for their kids,” Ryan said.   Obama campaign criticizes Ryan speech   SpacePolitics.com   On Saturday, coinciding with the release of the campaign’s space policy, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan mentioned space during a speech in Orlando. In the brief discussion of space, Ryan said that he and Mitt Romney “believe we need a mission for NASA” and criticized the “broken promises” of President Obama’s 2008 campaign.   Obama’s Florida campaign has responded with a statement criticizing Ryan for his past votes and budget proposals. “Congressman Ryan has repeatedly voted against NASA funding, and the Romney-Ryan budget’s cuts – if applied across the board – would cut funding for space exploration programs by 19 percent,” campaign spokesman Danny Kanner said in the emailed statement.   The latter is a reference to proposals by the House Budget Committee, chaired by Ryan, that would cut non-defense discretionary spending by 19 percent by 2014, according to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.   The claim that Ryan “repeatedly voted against NASA funding” is a reference to votes cast by Ryan again NASA authorization acts in 2008 and 2010. These bills, though, were authorization bills, and did not directly providing funding for NASA, instead authorizing spending levels rarely met by later appropriations bills.   The statement also claims that the Romney campaign for being “mostly silent” on NASA, but does not mention the space policy document released yesterday by the campaign that contains the most detail to date on what a Romney Administration would do in space.   SpaceX readies cargo trip to make history   Daytona Beach News-Journal (Editorial)   Cargo resupply is about to make the history books. On Oct. 7, the Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX, a private company, will be launched from NASA's Cape Canaveral complex. The mission will give new meaning and excitement to the task of hauling cargo.   The unmanned private delivery will carry about 1,000 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station. And with that delivery will begin what should be a long, exciting and productive relationship between space exploration and the U.S. private sector.   As the economy recovers from the worst downturn since the Great Depression, NASA's budget and plans have been squeezed. The kind of national mobilization that followed in the wake of John F. Kennedy's promise to send a man to the moon within a decade is a distant memory for NASA and its supporters.   With Congress wrestling with a $16 trillion national debt, it's unlikely that the near future holds any major increases in federal funding for manned space exploration.   The end of the Space Shuttle program was a blow to NASA and the Space Coast. President Barack Obama canceled a replacement program for the manned space flight program and is now directing NASA to pursue a different plan for manned space flight.   For now, U.S. taxpayers reimburse the Russians about $63 million for each U.S. astronaut who tags along to the space station. This is a sad situation for the nation that sent men to the moon. The United States needs to get its manned space program up and running.   Fortunately, far-sighted entrepreneurs are giving the U.S. space program a needed boost.   SpaceX will be delivering cargo via its Dragon drone. In May, SpaceX finished a successful test flight to the space station. The October flight will be the first of 12 cargo flights Space X will perform for NASA, according to the Los Angeles Times.   And for that, SpaceX will get paid $1.6 billion.   The future holds much more promise for private-sector space exploration, and perhaps much of it won't need government contracts. Unmanned flights and perhaps manned flights, funded by private corporations, may soon explore the solar system and try to mine asteroids for their resources.   There is also the promise of "space tourism," which is already underway.   The private sector has a lot to offer space exploration and its potential is likely to be seen in the 21st century. That, in turn, will benefit the Space Coast — and Volusia County.   Private space flight will also add some energy that NASA and the federal government have lost. The government can't and won't be able to pay for everything we should do in space, after all.   With companies such as SpaceX rising, the taxpayers won't have to.   NASA, space exploration deserve better from Senate   John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)   You need not look far beyond the empty chairs at a space policy hearing in the U.S. Senate to know what advocates of space exploration should be worried about most right now.   A panel of NASA leaders, distinguished space scientists and leaders from companies involved in developing space exploration systems were called to appear before a Senate committee with influence over national space policy.   Why? Two senators showed up to hear what they had to say. Sen. Bill Nelson, the Democrat from Florida, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican from Texas.   The senators and the witnesses they asked to speak about Mars exploration and the future of U.S. space policy were there on the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s speech about the importance of space exploration to our leadership in the world. Taxpayers paid for the hearing expenses, and they’re paying billions of dollars each year for space exploration, enough to warrant some attention to be paid to the topic by their elected representatives.   The turnout of two senators for the hearing is indicative of the political climate facing the American space program. Interest and support are too narrowly centered around jobs in states with big aerospace hubs. There’s no shortage of political statements issued for big accomplishments like landing a rover on Mars. But an earnest, meaningful show of support for exploration seems limited.   To be fair, senators often serve on several committees at once and scheduling conflicts arise. Every day, they prioritize which events to attend and which to skip. Some probably had good reason to miss this particular hearing. It’s worrisome, however, to see senators de-prioritizing space exploration.   So, NASA goes on getting its $20 billion or so budget. It gets little attention from politicos, beyond the occasional grousing about how long it takes for projects to get completed. Of course, many senators and their colleagues in the House of Representatives make sure to pay attention enough that their personal pet projects get tagged to the NASA budget each year, like barnacles, projects that undoubtedly create dozens of jobs here or there across the country, but for work with sometimes questionable connections to space exploration. As former NASA chief Sean O’Keefe once said so well, just because something’s a good idea doesn’t mean it belongs in the NASA budget.   So the projects get added to the budget and the opportunities to grab media attention get gobbled up. But schedule a hearing to discuss the implications of a shrinking Mars exploration budget and we get what amounts to a political yawn — a bunch of no-show elected officials. It happens in the Senate and the House.   NASA and space exploration deserve better. They deserve respectful attention of the elected officials we send to Washington to set policy and watch over our tax dollars.   Kudos to Nelson and Hutchison for showing interest in an important national policy discussion, not just this year, but consistently over many years. Let’s hope they have better luck next time around getting their colleagues interested in doing their jobs.   Obama’s brave reboot for NASA   Newt Gingrich & Robert Walker - Washington Times (Opinion)   (Former House Speaker Gingrich is on the board of governors of the National Space Society & Walker - former House Science and Technology Committee Chairman - was chairman of the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry.)   Despite the shrieks you might have heard from a few special interests, the Obama administration’s budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration deserves strong approval from Republicans. The 2011 spending plan for the space agency does what is obvious to anyone who cares about man’s future in space and what presidential commissions have been recommending for nearly a decade.   The Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry in 2002 suggested that greater commercial activity in space was the proper way forward. The Aldridge Commission of 2004, headed by former Secretary of the Air Force Edward C. “Pete” Aldridge, made clear that the only way NASA could achieve success with President George W. Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration was to expand the space enterprise with greater use of commercial assets. Most recently, the Augustine Commission, headed by Norman R. Augustine, former chief executive of Lockheed Martin, made clear that commercial providers of space-launch services were a necessary part of maintaining space leadership for the United States.   NASA consistently ignored or rejected the advice provided to it by outside experts. The internal culture within the agency was actively hostile to commercial enterprise. A belief had grown from the days when the Apollo program landed humans on the moon that only NASA could do space well and therefore only NASA projects and programs were worthy. To his credit, former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin adopted a program to begin to access commercial companies for hauling cargo to the International Space Station. That program existed alongside the much larger effort to build a new generation of space vehicles designed to take us back to the moon. It has been under constant financial pressure because of the cost overruns in the moon mission, called Constellation.   With the new NASA budget, the leadership of the agency is attempting to refocus the manned space program along the lines that successive panels of experts have recommended. The space shuttle program, which was scheduled to end, largely for safety reasons, will be terminated as scheduled. The Constellation program also will be terminated, mostly because its ongoing costs cannot by absorbed within projected NASA budget limits. The International Space Station will have its life extended to at least 2020, thereby preserving a $100 billion laboratory asset that otherwise was due to be dumped in the Pacific Ocean by middecade. The budget also sets forth an aggressive program for having cargo and astronaut crews delivered to the space station by commercial providers.   The use of commercial launch companies to carry cargo and crews into low earth orbit will be controversial, but it should not be. The launch-vehicle portion of the Constellation program was so far behind schedule that the United States was not going to have independent access for humans into space for at least five years after the shutdown of the shuttle. We were going to rely upon the Russians to deliver our astronaut personnel to orbit. We have long had a cooperative arrangement with the Russians for space transportation but always have possessed our own capability. The use of commercial carriers in the years ahead will preserve that kind of independent American access.   Reliance on commercial launch services will provide many other benefits. It will open the doors to more people having the opportunity to go to space. It has the potential of creating thousands of new jobs, largely the kind of high-tech work to which our nation should aspire. In the same way the railroads opened the American West, commercial access can open vast new opportunities in space. All of this new activity will expand the space enterprise, and in doing so, will improve the economic competitiveness of our country.   Critics likely will raise the issue of safety and reliability. However, there already are rockets in the American inventory that are trusted by our government to launch billion-dollar satellites and have proved to be quite reliable. Those vehicles can be modified to carry human crews safely. New rockets under development have been designed from the outset with manned missions in mind, and with the assurance of NASA business, necessary large-scale development can be done so they can be added to the commercial inventory. The plan is to have both NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration provide licensing oversight, determine safety requirements and approve all launches.   But the ambition of the NASA leadership is much larger. Getting the agency out of the low-earth-orbit launch business frees up budget to do other exciting and valuable things. It permits development work to start in earnest on a heavy-lift launch vehicle capable of solar-system exploration. It enables expansion of the aeronautics budget, particularly in helping develop the next-generation air-traffic-control system, a technological goal that will pay huge dividends to the United States. It will permit new investments in robotic space missions and Earth science missions. In essence, the new spending plan takes NASA back to its roots of advanced technology development, experimentation and exploration.   Bipartisan cooperation has been difficult to achieve in Congress, but here is a chance. By looking forward, NASA has given us a way to move forward. It deserves broad support for daring to challenge the status quo. It has proposed the real change that Americans are seeking.   NASA needs bold presidential vision   Houston Chronicle (Editorial)   Mixed feelings abounded last week when the space shuttle Endeavour appeared twice in our skies, before and after its overnight pause at Ellington Field. We were thrilled to see the shuttle, but sad that Houston was little more than a layover in the piggyback plane trip to its retirement home, Los Angeles, a city that's hardly associated with space exploration. That space shuttle should have stopped here and stayed.   Even worse than saying goodbye, though, was a nagging concern that Endeavour's fly-by symbolized a more troubling prospect: the end of Houston's reign as undisputed hub of space exploration. As NASA shrinks, it's passing the torch to private companies, only some of which are based here. Space exploration is losing its center. That's a problem, and not just for Houston.   Industries work most efficiently when companies and people doing similar work are concentrated in one place, as in Hollywood or Silicon Valley. Think what London is to banking, New York is to publishing, or Houston is to energy. As Michael Porter once wrote in the Harvard Business Review, that kind of clustering "provides companies with special access, closer relationships, better information, powerful incentives and other advantages that are difficult to tap at a distance…. Competitive advantage lies increasingly in local things - knowledge, relationships and motivation - that distant rivals cannot replicate."   We're glad that Gov. Rick Perry has expressed interest in cultivating and attracting space enterprises. But so far, unlike Florida, Texas hasn't created a space department.   And too often, when Texas representatives do murmur encouragement to space industries, they describe the Enterprise Zone Program, designed to steer businesses to rural, economically challenged parts of the state - not to the Houston area, where the specialized work force is already present, where young engineers actually want to live, and where the industry would have the best chance to thrive. Texas needs to push harder to nurture that industry right here.   Of course, space exploration isn't just a state matter, or a matter of private industry. NASA remains one of the United States' proudest assets, and we think that the Space Leadership Preservation Act of 2012, pushed by Houston Republican Congressmen John Culberson and Pete Olson, is a step in the right direction: NASA's administrator ought to serve a 10-year term, and the agency ought to be less political, less vulnerable to changes in the White House.   Like Culberson, we're tired of NASA programs being canceled with the change of presidential administrations. But at the same time, we think it's time for a president to state a grand vision for NASA - a mission that would drive the agency forward for the decades that deeper space exploration will require. We hope that the winner of the presidential election, whoever he is, will propose a space policy as bold as the one that John F. Kennedy unveiled 50 years ago at Rice University - a policy that builds on Kennedy's, and that, like Kennedy's, puts Houston firmly at space exploration's center.   As Kennedy told the crowd at Rice Stadium: "This city of Houston, this state of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished and looked behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward - and so will space."   We felt a pang last week as the shuttle flew off to L.A. But that pang has passed. Now it is time, once again, to move forward. Starting with a bold presidential vision.   END