Such very good news --

Two headlines from Space.com. bode well for NASA.

"Senator Barack Obama pledges space advocacy." Senator Obama may have modified his previous rather unfriendly stance toward the space program.

To quote:

Sen. Barack Obama promised not to cut NASA funding and said Saturday at a town hall meeting he will rely on Florida Sen. Bill Nelson and revered astronaut and former Sen. John Glenn to help form his space policy.

Under my watch, NASA will inspire the world once again and is going to help grow the economy right here in Brevard County," said the presumptive Democratic nominee, speaking to a crowd of 1,400 at Brevard Community College's Titusville campus.

Obama has changed an earlier position, in which he planned to delay the Constellation program five years and use up to $5 billion from the NASA budget for education.

And this is likely good news, but it depends on who hears it.

"New Gear to Boost Space Station Population" By Tariq Malik, August 6, 2008. To quote: Some new high-tech gear slated for launch this year will prepare the International Space Station (ISS) to permanently double its current three-astronaut population.

A new toilet, a pair of astronaut bedrooms and a handy new system that recycles urine into pure, drinkable water are on the docket for a fall shuttle flight to the space station, where they'll be tested before the outpost can scale up to six-person crews next year.

. . . The station's new Water Reclamation System, a refrigerator-sized filtration and recycler unit, is designed to ease that shuttle dependence and help make larger crews more self-sufficient. It is scheduled to launch alongside the new toilet and phone booth-sized sleeping chambers in November aboard NASA's shuttle Endeavour, which will also ferry NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus to the station to join its Expedition 18 crew.

Things are genuinely looking up, it seems.

My topical post today at South by Southwest and The Reaction is about politics.

Technorati tags: nasa obama iss