International Cooperation in Space

For the latest on what is currently happening with NASA's current mission, STS-122, go to Space.com. In a nutshell, this mission will see the installation the European Space Agency's Columbus science module.

Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is upset that a science project will not fly. Nelson, a former astronaut* who flew in 1986, spoke out again about it on the Senate floor about it this past week. He originally got in the news December 8, 2007 - Florida Space Report from which I quote:

Lawmakers Push for Launch of Station Payload (Source: Space News)
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said he is ready to join Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) to introduce legislation that would require NASA to fly an additional space shuttle mission in order to keep a $1.5 billion space station science payload from being left on the ground. NASA dropped the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) from the launch manifest after the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident. Mike Griffin said the AMS payload could be modified to launch on an expendable rocket, but that, too, would cost more than NASA can afford.

Around the same time as Griffin's testimony before the Senate Commerce space and aeronautics subcommittee, 32 members of the Texas congressional delegation, led by Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson, wrote President George W. Bush asking him to direct NASA to launch the AMS to the international space station (ISS) even if that requires postponing the shuttle's planned retirement date.

With the reported outlay of $275 million per day for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it certainly looks like The United States could find a way to get this pricey, but potentially great, instrument finally mounted on the International Space Station. As I started this post the current projected cost of the war this minute was $492,928,728,964. I so value the peaceful internationally cooperative use of space. Senator Nelson is on the right track. If there is a possibility for one last flight to take this thing up, I vote for that.

*Senator Bill Nelson is a former astronaut, whose biography at NASA follows:

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-61C Columbia (January 12-18, 1986) launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and returned to a night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California. During the six-day flight the seven-man crew aboard Columbia deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. At mission conclusion Bill Nelson had traveled over 2.1 million miles in 96 earth orbits and logged over 146 hours in space.

Cross-posted at Southwest Blogger

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