Free Republic

2015 ended and 2016 began with the space program on the cusp of tremendous and potentially very positive change. Congress gave NASA a great Christmas present in the form of a $1.3 billion budget increase. The perennial argument between advocates of commercial space and supporters of space exploration was settled. The commercial crew program, designed to build NASA-funded, commercially operated spacecraft that will return crewed space flight capability to the United States was fully funded for the first time. The heavy lift Space Launch System, the center of NASA’s plans to explore deep space, also received lavish amounts of money....

Recently Robert Bigelow, the Nevada real estate tycoon who has started a commercial space company, opened his Twitter account with a shout-out to Donald Trump, a New York real estate tycoon who has started his own campaign for the presidency of the United States. Bigelow took the tweet down, but then reposted it with some additional commentary. “What this country needs is an inspirational space program. I'll bet @realDonaldTrump could do it.”

The recent Wall Street Journal article that reported that the Obama administration is postponing imposing sanctions on Iran in response to the Islamic Republic’s missile tests in violation of United Nations resolutions encapsulates neatly the White House’s willingness to appease the Tehran regime at all costs. The Iranian governments has at once denied that firing of ballistic missiles violates anything and has vowed to accelerate building missiles in response to the Obama administration even considering sanctions.

The economic war being conducted by Russia against Turkey provides some opportunities for the United States if it chooses to take advantage of them. However, according to Al-Monitor, a website that covers all aspects of what is going on in the Middle East, Israel is already poised to make a diplomatic and trade breakthrough with Turkey. Israel has uncovered a great deal of proven natural gas reserves in its offshore Tamar and Leviathan fields. The Jewish state has enough gas to supply its own needs and have plenty left over for export, an astonishing turn of events, as Israel has...

A recent op-ed in the Observer notes the progress of Russia’s economic war against Turkey in the wake of the Turkish shoot-down of a Russia jet fighter. The short version is that Russia is inflicting significant pain on Turkey. Russia has slowed down the construction of nuclear power plants that Turkey is relying on to provide electricity. The Russians have also stopped importing Turkish fruits and vegetables, a $4 billion hit to Turkey’s export revenues. Russia has also curtailed travel to Turkey by its citizens. All this may just be the opening shot in an economic campaign that could cripple...

The second race to the moon went into high gear when the Google Lunar X Prize officially certified that Moon Express has contracted with a company called Rocket Lab to launch its lunar lander on board an Electron rocket sometime in late 2017 to land on the moon. Moon Express is the second team competing for the $30 million prize to land on the moon to have acquired a certified launch contract. SpaceIL, an Israeli team, has already acquired a contract to launch their lander on board the SpaceX Falcon 9.

If you listen carefullu, you can hear the muttering of concern and even panic in rooms that used to be smoke filled where the political elites gather to decide the future of nations. On one side of the Atlantic, a mercurial and bloviating businessman and media figure stalks the studios and political arenas of America, saying alarming things. Build a wall on the southern border and make the Mexicans pay for it. Deport all 11 million illegal aliens forthwith. Bar all Muslims from entering the country “temporarily.” On the other side of the Atlantic, a striking, blond woman in middle...

As diplomatic confabs go, the 2015 Paris Climate Conference does not have much of a potential to do a lot of damage. That is remarkable considering that the War on Terror-torn capital of France is playing host to thousands of politicians, diplomats, businessmen, activists, and troublemakers, all of whom want to gain some sort of advantage out of the concept of climate change. The idea that human-caused global warming is going to cause a catastrophe unless the things people are doing to cause it are stopped is well accepted in the media and in certain government circles

Forbes recently described neatly one of the great problems facing Obamacare, the wildly unpopular and increasingly dysfunctional health care reform law that has caused skyrocketing health insurance premiums and is in the process of a “death spiral.” While health insurance companies like United Health can bail from the exchanges when they find them unprofitable, ordinary Americans are trapped into buying worthless policies rather than face increasingly crippling fines. The Washington Examiner reported on Thursday that the Senate, for the first time, voted to gut Obamacare. When the bill is reconciled with the House version, it will go to President Obama’s...

The ever entertaining and mercurial Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida, threatened to file a lawsuit if the Republican Party picks Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas as its presidential nominee in 2016, according to a Friday story in the Washington Times. Grayson made this threat while appearing on Alan Colmes’ radio show. The stated reason for the threat is that, in Grayson’s view, Cruz is not a natural born American as required for being president in the United States Constitution, having been born in Canada, albeit to an American mother.

The Commercial Space Launch Act of 2015, recently passed by both the House and Senate, is unique because the legislation covers a subject that is not directly related to space launches and was once the stuff of science fiction. An entire title of the bill covers the subject of mining resources from asteroids and other celestial bodies.

The aerospace newspaper Space News recounted an exchange that took place at the International Astronautical Conference in Jerusalem, Israel recently that proved to be cringe-worthy for observers of space policy. During a panel discussion at the conference, European Space Agency’s new director-general, Johann-Dietrich Woerner presented an idea he has been touting for some time called a “moon village.” The idea is that various countries would come together to establish a lunar base, each bringing in “their special ideas, their special competence.” The moon village would be a center of science and commerce, developing techniques for resource management and testing technology...

If President Obama thought that the recent nuclear weapons deal with Iran would lead to a rapprochement with the Islamic Republic, he might need to think again. The New York Times reports that anti-American agitation, complete with mobs chanting “Death to America!” have been ramped up. Almost as important, the Iranian government has increased the repression of its own people, in effect sticking a thumb in the collective eye of the United States.

The most bemused man in America must be former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. In response to a question at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, former Florida governor and current presidential candidate Jeb Bush pronounced Gingrich’s idea of a moon base as “pretty cool.” The former speaker must be asking himself, where was that kind of support in 2012 when he first proposed building a moon base by 2020? Indeed, a number of recent developments have made the once ridiculed idea cool again.

The discovery of water on the surface of Mars, which just happened to coincide with the premiere of the hit film The Martian, starring Matt Damon as an astronaut marooned on the Red Planet, has caused some degree of excitement for space enthusiasts. NASA is particularly inspired because its central organizing project is “the journey to Mars” which is scheduled to put astronauts on the Martian surface by the 2030s. The discovery and the movie certainly would not hurt the effort to gin up support for the humans to Mars program.

The Astronaut Wives Club, the summer series from ABC that depicted the race to the moon as a kind of “Desperate Housewives of NASA” ended its run Thursday with the episode dealing with the Apollo moon landing and the epic adventure of Apollo 13. What began with soap opera triteness ended in a dash of ugliness. The episode sought to remind the viewer that not everyone regarded the moon landings with awe and wonder. Some reacted to the greatest technological feat in the history of humankind with rage.

Donald Trump, the mercurial real estate tycoon and media personality who, much to the surprise of one and all, has become the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president opened his mind just a little about his attitude toward space exploration, according to a Saturday story in Forbes. In an answer to a question put to him about sending humans to Mars, the current focus at NASA, Trump said, ““Honestly, I think it’s wonderful; I want to rebuild our infrastructure first, ok? I think it’s wonderful.” In other words, dreams of going to Mars must take a back seat to...

With Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent socialist from Vermont, packing in huge crowds during his early August west coast swing, the idea that he might have a shot at the Democratic nomination has gone from the realm of fantasy to that of distinct possibility. This fact is especially true since the presumptive Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, continues to slip in the polls and faces numerous ethical and legal woes. Sanders’ surge means that interest is merited about his views on particular issues. One case in point is his attitude toward the space program and NASA spending....

The Legal Cheek blog reported on Monday that a Staten Island lawyer named Richard Luthmann has invoked what he thinks is his right to a trial by combat to resolve a case in which he is accused of helping a client commit fraud. The case involved his advice to the client In question to transfer assets beyond the reach of a group of creditors who had won a previous judgement against said client. The creditors are seeking punitive damages against Luthmann for helping to facilitate the alleged fraud scheme.

Yahoo Travel reported on Wednesday that three women in Chechnya took ISIS for $3,300 before getting caught. They are now under investigation for Internet fraud, which seems to be illegal even when committed against the most fearsome terrorist army in modern times. The scam seems to be a combination of the Nigerian Prince con, in which a mark is fooled into giving the con artist large sums of money and catfishing, in which the mark strikes up an online romance with someone he thinks is an attractive woman (or man depending on the gender and preference of the mark.)