NASA

In a statement late Feb. 19, NASA announced that Associate Administrator Jim Free will retire from the agency, effective Feb. 22. Free had been associate administrator, the top civil-service position in the agency, since the retirement of Bob Cabana at the end of 2023.

Free was previously associate administrator for exploration systems development, a position NASA created in 2021 when it split the former Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate into two directorates, one overseeing exploration programs and the other the International Space Station and related operations. Earlier in his 30-year NASA career, he was director of the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Scott Manley tours the NASA Ames Vertical Gun Range.

I’ve got no clue how many people this will turn out to be, but I’ve heard a fair pile of corroboration.

I’ve wanted to work at NASA since I was six. That’s a common story at the agency - most folks have to work hard and make conscious decisions from high school on to get there. The folks I’ll be saying goodbye to on Tuesday are literally the best and brightest of their generation - people with brains and determination that chose to take worse pay and underfunded lab environments to serve their country and have arranged their whole lives to make that sacrifice possible.

I mourn for them, for the agency, and for the future they could have given us.

NASA announced Feb. 11 that it would use the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance for the upcoming Crew-10 mission to the ISS rather than a new Crew Dragon spacecraft as originally planned. Endurance, previously used for the Crew-3, -5 and -7 missions, had been slated to fly the Ax-4 private astronaut mission to the ISS for Axiom Space.

NASA awarded a contract to Canoo Technologies in 2022 for three Artemis Crew Transportation Vehicles, vans that the agency plans to use to ferry astronauts to the launch pad for Artemis missions. The vans, with a value of nearly $150,000 under the contract, were delivered to NASA in July 2023.

Canoo, however, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation Jan. 17, citing the inability to secure capital from a Department of Energy loan program or other sources.

NASA, for now, plans to continue using the vehicles. “Our vehicles are in working order for use during training activities and mission preparations,” a spokesperson for NASA Kennedy Space Center told SpaceNews. “NASA has worked with the manufacturer to train teams at Kennedy to operate and maintain many of the elements and the agency will review those plans as needed.”

I am really sad that those 800 people are feeling the same thing that the govvies are. The folks on the chopping block were not the ones responsible for the problem. In my opinion, plan should be to keep the engineers, lose the suits.

Can confirm.

The US space agency said Wednesday it will host a live Twitch stream from the International Space Station on February 12.

Petition granted.

Here’s the plan. For a period of two weeks, this post will be stickied. During that time, anyone who wants to can submit a banner or a community icon or both. Requirements are below. Submissions that are not compliant but are really cool may be granted a waiver at the discretion of the mod, but don’t test me.

I will not permit this to become a shitshow. I have not yet thought about what to do with someone that posts content with the intent to troll or make anyone uncomfortable. I would prefer not to have to think about it. My kids would tell you that statement is one of my most dire warnings.

Requirement - Banner Size: Banner proposals shall be in a resolution of 2040x500 with a maximum size of 100kb. Rationale - that’s the biggest number people are giving on the Internet best I can tell, so I can crop it if I need to.

Requirement - Icon Size: Icon proposals shall be in a resolution of 512x512 with a maximum size of 100kb. Rationale: Same as above.

Requirement - Standards Compliance: Use of official NASA logos or logotypes shall meet the intent of the relevant NASA guidance: Brand Guidelines Rationale: I’m capricious, I guess.

Requirement - Positive Vibes: Submissions shall be positive in nature and focus on contributions of the agency to the world. Rationale: Let’s not focus on the short-term nonsense. Overall, it’s a positive mission with positive benefits and some really cool outcomes so let’s try to keep the overall sense of things in line with that. As an example, anything specifically referencing the current personnel actions will not be accepted.

Requirement - A Good Effort: Submissions shall have a high level of graphic quality and composition as determined by the moderator. Rationale: No stupid MSPaint drawings, we’re better than that. Give me something I can use. If art just isn’t your thing, that’s okay - give it your best shot and explain what you’re doing. I’m actually pretty good at this kind of stuff and I’ll help if it’s a good concept.

Requirement - Broad Message: Banner submissions shall communicate the diversity of NASA’s mission. If any reference to a specific mission is made, references must be made to missions from multiple directorates. If any reference to a person is made, references must be made to a range of people that accurately indicate the makeup of the agency and of the population that agency efforts inspire. Rationale: Big agency, I’m sensitive to it being portrayed as all about Moon 2 Mars. Generic rocket launches (as long as they aren’t SLS) don’t count. The people thing I hope y’all understand. I will give exemptions for obvious reasons, but try to meet the intent.

Requirement - No Nazis: Submissions shall not reference the likeness, words, or results of work done by Nazis or Nazi sympathizers. Rationale: There was a time I wouldn’t have needed to say this. I know the troubled history of NASA’s beginnings, not sweeping it under the rug, but let’s focus forward for the banner shall we? I consider SpaceX to be run by Gwynne Shotwell, so SpaceX stuff is explicitly acceptable and I don’t want to hear any complaints about it. Specific reference to the CEO of SpaceX will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Please refer to the “positive vibes” requirement. Please refer to the “no shitshow” policy statement. Please don’t make me regret doing this.

Requirement - Top Level Submissions: All submissions shall be top-level comments to this post. Rationale: It’ll make my life easier. All top-level comments that are not submissions will be deleted. I will add a top-level comment to collect meta-discussion.

Requirement - Voting: The community moderator shall collect all compliant submissions and post them in a poll for community feedback. Rationale: I don’t want to have to interpolate from upvotes. Too much work. I’ll post a poll for voting when the submission period ends.

Ok. Let’s see what you’ve got. :)

Also would be cool to have a cool banner picture.

Two separate stories: One on Bennu, and one on the recently discovered Asteroid 2024 YR4.

Bennu is not about to hit us :)

IYKYK. We’re under a continuing resolution, so it’s not like there’s any money for buyouts, it’s not possible to pay what they’re proposing. It’s not severance, nothing about you getting to stop working but still getting paid. Be very thoughtful, talk to your union reps if you’re in a bargaining unit. Nobody be rash.

Edit: Link for interested folks - Reuters article

So… things are getting strange and unpleasant and unpredictable. I’m excited about discussion in the sub, good with disagreement, I think I’ve deleted like 2 comments in the whole time I’ve been here. Say what you want, by and large. But… I’m going to ask folks to assume positive intent and refrain from personally attacking folks. Not usually a problem here, honestly it’s pretty quiet, but I’m getting the feeling that quiet isn’t in the cards for the next few years.

Same rules that (usually) apply at the agency - you can disagree passionately, but ultimately we’re all on the same team and working towards a common goal.

Every once in a while the name in the news post is someone I know that’s being put in a really shitty position. Appreciate y’all understanding.