Res Communis

by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Source: U.S. Department of State as posted on Global Solutions.org

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by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Source: NY Daily News

BY CHRISTINA BOYLE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, June 3rd 2009, 12:10 PM

Taggart for News

Noah Fulmor and Erin Finnegan will be the first couple to be married in zero gravity.

Their love is simply out of this world.

A Brooklyn couple will become the first on the planet to say “I do” in zero gravity when they tie the knot later this month.

Self-confessed sci-fi addicts Noah Fulmore, 31, and Erin Finnegan, 30, will travel to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral,Fla., to exchange their vows while literally walking on air.

“We would really prefer to do it in space or on Mars but living in the time that we do, this was the closest we could get to zero gravity,” Fulmore said.

We were shocked to discover no one had done it yet.”

TheWilliamsburgresidents will be joined June 20 by a handful of friends in a plane owned by the Zero Gravity Corporation’s – the only federally approved provider of commercial weightless flights.

Space tourist and adventurer Richard Garriott, the son of an astronaut, will officiate at the ceremony during the 90-minute flight.

The newlyweds are sure to have butterflies in their stomachs because the trip includes 15 rollercoaster-type dives, known as parabolic arcs, which last up to 30 seconds.

The jet plummets from 36,000 feet to 24,000 feet and then climbs back up – allowing passengers on theBoeing 727to experience weightlessness.

“There’s going to be that moment of expectation right before we are lifted up and I feel like I’ve waited my whole life for that,” said Fulmore, a legal secretary.

“We will be one of the few humans who have experienced that.”

The lovebirds had their wedding wardrobe especially designed for the occasion.

Finnegan will wear a multilayered white gown and Fulmore will be in a tux with tapered tails to ensure their clothes don’t reveal too much.

The pair met at an NYU science fiction club in 2000 and began dating in 2002. They went to so many “conventional” weddings they decided to do something out of this world.

“Since this is the one time in our lives that we were going to do this [get married], we thought we should make it a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Fulmore said.

“My mom thinks I’m absolutely nuts.”

The honeymoon will be more low-key – a trip to Disney World- but you can bet they won’t miss Space Mountain.

“I never wanted to have a normal wedding,” said Finnegan, who works in animation production. “I couldn’t picture myself walking down an aisle.”

The flight costs $5,200 per person and Finnegan and Fulmore are footing the entire bill themselves.

“I think we will spend some of our married life simply paying off the expense, but I think that weightlessness is probably the best metaphor for love that one can experience,” Fulmore said.

cboyle@nydailynews.com

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From the Daily News Egypt (hat tip Ogle Earth):

Egypt lifts GPS ban

By Theodore May
First Published: April 6, 2009

CAIRO: Egypt announced this week that it would allow the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, ending a ban that had meant that certain mobile phones could not be sold in the country.

The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) lifted the ban, meaning that now only two countries on earth, Syria and North Korea, still forbid the use of GPS.

In addition to allowing Egyptians greater access to GPS technologies and the products (phones and cars) that provide them, the ruling is expected to spur business in the telecom and auto sectors. . . .[Full Story]

by Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz with the blog faculty

Source: SPACE.com

By SPACE.com staff

posted: 09 April 2009
02:39 pm ET

Hold on to your hats, or in this case, your helmets: Scientists have finally pinpointed the so-called edge of space — the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

 

With data from a new instrument developed by scientists at the University of Calgary, scientists confirmed that space begins 73 miles (118 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.

 

Astronauts of course don’t have to trek quite that far; they can saythey’ve been to space after passing the 62-mile (100-kilometer) mark. This boundary is somewhat arbitrarily defined.

 

NASA’s mission control uses 76 miles (122 kilometers) as their re-entry altitude because that’s where the shuttle switches from steering with thrusters to maneuvering with air surfaces, NASA says. Others point out that the “Now Entering Space” sign should be posted way out at 13 million miles (21 million kilometers) because that’s the boundary where Earth’s gravity is no longer dominant.

 

The instrument — called the Supra-Thermal Ion Imager — can detect this boundary by tracking the relatively gentle winds of Earth’s atmosphere and the more violent flows of charged particles in space, which can reach speeds well over 600 mph (1,000 kph).

 

The ability to gather data in that area is significant because it’s very difficult to make measurements in this region, which is too high for balloons and too low for satellites.

 

“It’s only the second time that direct measurements of charged particle flows have been made in this region, and the first time all the ingredients – such as the upper atmospheric winds – have been included,” says project scientist David Knudsen of the University of Calgary.

 

The instrument was carried by the JOULE-II rocket on Jan. 19, 2007. It traveled to an altitude of about 124 miles (200 kilometers) above sea level and collected data for the five minutes it was moving through the “edge of space.”

 

The finding, detailed in the Journal of Geophysical Research on April 7, could aid the study of space weather and itsimpacts on Earth.

 

The data “allows us to calculate energy flows into the Earth’s atmosphere that ultimately may be able to help us understand the interaction between space and our environment,” Knudsen said. “That could mean a greater understanding of the link between sunspots and the warming and cooling of the Earth’s climate as well as how space weather impacts satellites, communications, navigation, and power systems.”

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From The White House:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secrectary
(London, United Kingdom)
————————————————-
For Immediate Release April 2, 2009

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA BEFORE MEETING WITH PRESIDENT LEE MYUNG-BAK OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

ExCel Center
London, United Kingdom

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Hold on a second. Let’s make a brief statement. I just want to thank President Lee and his entire delegation. Korea is one of America’s closest allies and greatest friends. And under President Lee’s leadership, that friendship has only grown stronger. So we are very interested in discussing the economic crisis, which is the topic of the G20 meeting. But obviously we also have a great range of issues to discuss — on defense, on peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula, on the outstanding contributions that Korea has made with respect to the Afghanistan situation, and their global role and global leadership on issues like climate change.

So I just want to publicly say thank you to the Republic of Korea for their outstanding friendship and the close ties between our two countries.

Thank you.

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From the White House:

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release March 24, 2009

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
WITH THE CREW OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE

Via Satellite

9:52 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Commander, can you hear us?

COMMANDER FINCKE: Welcome aboard the International Space Station, where we’re joined with our international crew from the Space Shuttle Discovery. Welcome aboard. Glad to hear your voice. We hear you loud and clear, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us. We’ve got a crew of wonderful schoolchildren here who are all interested in space, and we’ve got some members of Congress who are like big kids when it comes to talking to astronauts.

I’m told that you’re cruising at about 17,000 miles per hour, so we’re glad that you are using the hands-free phone. (Laughter.)

COMMANDER FINCKE: Mr. President, we go around the planet once every 90 minutes. It’s quite a thrill, and it is very fast, and we see 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every day.

THE PRESIDENT: That is unbelievable. Well, the first thing we want to do is just let you know how proud we are of you. I’ve got to say especially, once I found out that you’re from Bellwood, Illinois -

MISSION SPECIALIST MAGNUS: Mr. President, it was a beautiful place to grow up, and I have a lot of roots that are still there.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s great. We are really excited about the project that you’re doing. My understanding is, is that you are installing some additional solar panels on the space station, and that’s actually going to increase the number of people that can work out of the space station, is that correct?

MISSION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Sir, that’s correct. We’ve roughly doubled the amount of solar power available for experimentation and for supporting a larger crew, and we hope to go to a crew of six and a more aggressive experimental program this year.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, this is really exciting, because we’re investing back here on the ground a whole array of solar and other renewable energy projects, and so to find out that you’re doing this up at the space station is particularly exciting.

Can I ask, how exactly do you end up installing these solar panels? What’s involved? Somebody want to give us a rundown on how you go about doing it?

MISSION SPECIALIST SWANSON: Yes, sir. First it comes up on a truss segment, about five feet long. We use a robotic arm to attach it to the — into another truss segment. And then once that’s attached and bolted on through spacewalks, then we’ll go ahead and unfurl or actually deploy the solar rays in a position so that we can unfurl from inside during the commanding with new software.

THE PRESIDENT: About how long does it take?

MISSION SPECIALIST SWANSON: It takes about, to put it all together, about six hours, but you actually do the commanding to actually deploy them out to their full length — it takes about two hours.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, obviously we’re really proud about the extraordinary work that our American astronauts are doing. You are representative of the dedication and sense of adventure and discovery that we’re so proud of. But one of the things that’s wonderful about this is that it is an international space station. And I know that we have our Japanese and Russian counterparts on board, as well. We’d love to say hello to them — and hope that this is an example of the kind of spirit of cooperation that we can apply not just in space but here on the ground, as well.

MISSION SPECIALIST WAKATA: It’s an honor to have a chance to talk with you, Mr. President. We have a Russian crew member, American crew members, and I’m from Japan. And we have 50 countries working together in this wonderful international space station, as well as on the ground, in space. And this really symbolizes the future of the scientific development of the world. And I’m just happy to be part of this.

THE PRESIDENT: That’s wonderful.

MISSION SPECIALIST LONCHKOV: Mr. President, we work together to do everything. It’s really, really important for us. And the American, Russian, Japanese, everybody, people, all people, work together.

THE PRESIDENT: Now, I notice you’re bouncing around quite a bit there, guys. Are you wearing something to strap you down, or are you about to float away?

COMMANDER FINCKE: Mr. President, we’re just holding on with our toes on to some handrails below us, and at any moment we could all just easily float up. And that’s one of the fun things about flying in space; we get a chance to talk to a lot of kids and show them all the adventures that we have, flying around. It’s also — it’s not just a lot of fun, it’s a little bit tough on our bodies; you have to exercise. And so we get a chance to talk to a lot of schools while we’re up here, schools all over the planet to help inspire the next generation.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I hear that you’re going to be talking to my alma mater, Punahou School, when you fly over Hawaii.

COMMANDER FINCKE: We’re looking forward to that, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: All right, well, you tell them aloha.

Listen, we’ve got a bunch of young people here. I want to see if any of them have some questions.

Anybody have a question over here? Okay, this — hold on, we’ve got a young lady right here who’s got a question.

Q As a astronaut, what do you eat?

THE PRESIDENT: Did you hear that question? They want to know what you guys are eating up there.

MISSION SPECIALIST ARNOLD: We’re eating really well. We eat a lot of — it’s prepared at NASA, but it’s kind of like the backpacking food. It’s dehydrated, re-rehydrated, and warm it up. We also use — have food similar to Meals Ready to Eat that they use for the military and that a few of us ate last year when the hurricane came through Houston.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you guys still drink Tang up there? (Laughter.) I’ve got Bill Nelson here, and he says that’s been taken off the menu. (Laughter.) That’s, by the way, before the time of you young people. We used to drink Tang. (Laughter.)

We’ve got a young man right here. Hold on one second.

Q Can you play videogames in space?

THE PRESIDENT: Can you play videogames in space?

MISSION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: We can, in fact. And in fact, a few years when I was up here for six months I had a videogame that I used to play in my spare time — although, fortunately, we don’t have much spare time. So we can; we have a lot of laptop computers. But for the most part we stay real busy doing our real work.

THE PRESIDENT: So the — tell us what kind of experiments are you doing? Once you got the panel up, what kinds of other activities are you doing? Is it mostly just maintaining the craft, or are there certain experiments or projects that you’re engaged in, as well?

MISSION SPECIALIST MAGNUS: Well, sir, we have experiments already up here that we’ve been doing for many years and we’ll be able to double that with the addition of the full array that our shuttle friends brought up.

We do a lot of experiments on combustion, understanding materials, understanding how — you know, we’re guinea pigs — so understanding how people’s bodies change in space, and all this is in preparation for long-duration missions to the moon and Mars.

And the exciting thing about doing science up here is we really don’t know what we don’t know, and that that gives you the greatest potential for learning. And we’ve had a lot of cases where people have set up experiments, and we’ve conducted them here on the space station, only to find out that we’ve learned something new, something more about the fundamentals of the processes and the science. So it’s a really great place to learn a lot.

THE PRESIDENT: Outstanding.

Any of the young people have another question? This young man right here? Hold on one second.

Q Have you found any life forms or any plants out in space?

THE PRESIDENT: That’s a good question. Any life forms out there other than you guys?

MISSION SPECIALIST MAGNUS: We’re actually doing an experiment on this mission to take a swab or a sample of the surface of the EVA, the spacewalker’s gloves both before and after the space walk. And that’s a — that was sort of a demonstration of the type of technology that we’ll be able to use on the moon and Mars for the same purpose, to try and see if we can determine what sort of bacteria or micro-organisms are living in the various environments we’re going to encounter.

We unfortunately haven’t really found anything here. I think we’ll have much more success at finding new types of life and different structures when we go to places like the moon and Mars and moons of Titan and these other types of environments.

THE PRESIDENT: Excellent question. All right, I’ve got a young man back here.

Q What things did you have to study to be a astronaut?

THE PRESIDENT: All right, that’s a good question. You guys are all extraordinarily trained. What — if we’ve got some budding astronauts over here, what should they be doing? I’m assuming they better hit the books on science and math.

PILOT ANTONELLI: You got it just right. The — one of the beautiful things about getting to work here is you can study just about anything that you’re really interested in — science and math being a big part of it. But we have medical doctors, geologists, engineers, and physicists in the group here with us. So it’s pretty much anything in the math and science field. We’ve got a couple of schoolteachers here with us studying education, as well as the math and science.

But there really is room up here for everybody. The important part, though, is to work really hard and do well in school. It will make a difference in your future.

THE PRESIDENT: And what about — what about fitness requirements these days? Some of us remember watching The Right Stuff, where — that’s pretty impressive. (Laughter.) Is there a particular requirement –

COMMANDER ARCHAMBAULT: Well, Mr. President, the fitness requirements are still –

THE PRESIDENT: Go ahead, I’m sorry.

COMMANDER ARCHAMBAULT: Mr. President, the fitness requirements are still there. As a matter of fact, the International Space Station just recently incorporated a new fitness machine. It’s a very, very fancy workout machine seen in a gym, but it’s called the ARED, and we can do a lot of good exercises on it, the leg — strength training for your legs, as well as your upper body. So, particularly for the long duration folks, it’s very important to maintain your muscles in good tone and to help you readapt when you get back on planet Earth.

THE PRESIDENT: Excellent. Okay, there’s — a young lady back here had a question.

Q When you say you “exercise,” what do you do?

MISSION SPECIALIST ACABA: Well, we have a couple of different exercise machines up here. On the space shuttle we brought up a — it looks like a — the bicycle that you would find in a gymnasium. So we can use that. And they have one here on the space station.

And the other machine, you can do all kinds of stuff. You can do squats, you can do curls. We have a lot we can do. We also have a treadmill, so you can go ahead and run up here in space.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, we’ve got another question from a young man. Hold on.

Q Do you know how many stars there are in space?

THE PRESIDENT: Asking how many stars in space. I’ll be interested in hearing the answer to this one. (Laughter.)

COMMANDER FINCKE: Aboard the International Space Station, we can look down and see our beautiful planet Earth, and we can also look up and see the rest of the cosmos. And we can see that there are so many stars out there that it’s very hard to count them all. And we can see that our Earth is a very small — very small planet in such a big universe. And it’s just really amazing, because it gives us a deep perspective of — we have to really take good care of our own planet — and that our own planet is just a — is a small place, and we have the whole rest of the universe to work together in an international sense and go explore this whole universe that’s in front of us, and all the discoveries that we’ll make together.

So maybe we’ll someday be able to count how many stars that we have, because we’re starting to go to — go to the stars as human beings together. And that’s what’s really exciting about serving aboard the International Space Station and flying up and down on space shuttles, is that we’re part of that great adventure.

And we need you kids to study hard, because we can’t do it all by ourselves. We really need you guys to work hard, and do whatever you’re supposed to do, and do it well, like Tony said, because there’s a whole universe in front of us.

THE PRESIDENT: I had a quick question. Does weightlessness have an impact in terms of your ability to sleep?

MISSION SPECIALIST ARNOLD: Sir, we just arrived here, just a few days ago, and it’s taken a while to get used to — for me, personally, missing a pillow. You’re used to laying down on a mattress and having a place to rest your head. So it’s taken a while to get used to that.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I know the kids got a chance to ask some questions. I want to make sure that if there are any members of Congress who’ve got some questions that they’re interested in, that they’ve got a chance, too.

Okay, hold on. This is Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas.

SENATOR HUTCHISON: I understand that you are doing experiments on salmonella, and watching those organisms, and how they react and grow. And we’ve had some salmonella problems here on Earth. What do you think you will be able to learn from the environment in space that maybe you couldn’t learn here on Earth?

MISSION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: I’m actually going to have a bit of a hard time answering that question. We do, indeed, have an experiment called the National Laboratory Program experiment, in which salmonella are — in which certain micro-organisms are exposed to salmonella. My job as an astronaut was basically to turn the crank and activate the experiment. Then after about four or five days, I turn the crank again and deactivate it.

I’m not exactly sure what the scientists are going to do with the data back at home or with the samples. We are returning, however, eight big vials of samples of these cultures of micro-organisms and salmonella, and let the scientists go to work.

THE PRESIDENT: Does Bill Nelson — he knows a little something about this stuff.

SENATOR NELSON: Hey, guys, I wish I were up there with you. You are just getting to the point where it’s really looking like a full-up national laboratory where we can really do the experimentation. When will you have it full-up, ready to go, where we can then reap the results of that $100 billion investment?

COMMANDER FINCKE: It’s nice to hear you again, sir. The International Space Station has already been delivering some of the science we’ve promised. Where are now is — and Expedition 18, our crew, is we’re making the turn from three people to six people. The next crew that comes after us, a few months after we get replaced will have six people onboard the International Space Station. So that’s why we needed the solar power, that’s why we needed the second toilet and other things, so that we’d have room and facilities for six people.

And once we have six people, we’ll have enough time and energy — solar power, I mean — to run all the experiments that we can. And then it’s just a matter of getting enough experiments up and down from the space station to really reap on that science. We’ve already been delivering and we’ve got a lot more to come. And like Sandy said, there’s a lot of things we don’t know, so there’s some really interesting discoveries out in front of us.

THE PRESIDENT: Do any of the young people have any more questions? Hold on one second, we’ve got one here.

Q Do you love doing your job?

THE PRESIDENT: They asked if you love doing your job.

MISSION SPECIALIST WAKATA: Yes, it’s wonderful to work in space. Ever since I saw Apollo VII, the lunar landing, when I was five years old, I always longed for going to space and work. And here the dream came true. I had to study hard and worked hard, but I’m so happy to be here and I’m loving living here and working with so many wonderful people here.

THE PRESIDENT: Just a couple of logistical questions. How long did it take — from the time of launch, how long does it take to get to the space station?

COMMANDER ARCHAMBAULT: Well, Mr. President, let me answer that in two ways. First of all, it takes up about eight and a half minutes to get to orbit, and at that time we’re going 17,500 miles an hour. But we’re in a bit of a tail chase with the space station, and it’s approximately about a day and a half to two days later that we actually rejoin with the space station.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, so eight minutes just to get into orbit, but then you’ve got to basically try to catch up with the space station and match up so that you can lock in.

COMMANDER ARCHAMBAULT: Sir, that’s exactly right.

THE PRESIDENT: Okay.

Anybody have any more questions? Hold on one second.

Q What’s your favorite or the most interesting experiment you’re working on up at the space station?

THE PRESIDENT: Okay, do you guys have a favorite experiment right now?

MISSION SPECIALIST MAGNUS: That’s a really tough question, because they’re all interesting in different ways. Mike and I were doing a flame experiment where we’re trying to help the scientists on the ground understand how fire behaves up here — there’s all kinds of reason for that. So that was interesting because it’s sort of an unusual environment to intentionally put a fire.

I think one of the ones I like the most is an experiment that we’re doing on ourselves to try and understand how our nutritional state changes and our biochemistry changes, and that will help us design food and understand a little bit more about the processes that the human body undergoes. That’s probably my favorite one. But there’s all kinds of interesting things in all of the experiments.

THE PRESIDENT: Now, can I ask you a question? Were you tempted to cut your hair shorter while you were up there, or do you — is it fun in weightlessness? (Laughter.)

MISSION SPECIALIST MAGNUS: Well, that’s a really good question, because it is a little bit of — to take care of long hair in here. I think ideally a short haircut is the way to go, but quite frankly, on me it wouldn’t be so nice, so I kept it long.

THE PRESIDENT: I think it’s a real fashion statement. (Laughter.)

Hold on one second, we’ve got another young man back here.

Q How much spare time do you have on the day — in the day?

THE PRESIDENT: How much spare time do you have? It sounds like you guys are pretty busy.

MISSION SPECIALIST ACABA: They do keep us pretty busy up here and we have a very tight schedule that starts from the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep. But they give us a little bit of time in the morning to get yourself ready, get yourself cleaned up, have some breakfast. And the same in the evening. So we can use that time to either call down to our family and friends, or maybe even check our email and see how things are going back on Earth.

THE PRESIDENT: Now, that’s interesting. Does email work pretty much the same between the space station and computers here on Earth?

COMMANDER FINCKE: Mr. President, as just about everybody on the planet knows, is that email is a pretty important way for us to keep in touch with each other. Even though we’re really far away and traveling really fast, we still use email also. Unfortunately, we only synchronize our email once or twice a day, sometimes three times a day. So it’s not as fast and instantaneous as we are used to on the ground, but even so, it’s a really useful way to get in touch with other people.

In addition, we have kind of an Internet — voice-over Internet protocol telephone, so it’s really nice that we can get the a chance to talk to our families — not 24/7, but when we do have good satellite coverage we do get the chance to call home. And that’s — for those of us who stay up for a long time, that’s really important to us.

THE PRESIDENT: Excellent. All right, well, I know that you guys probably have a whole bunch of stuff to do, but I think that we may have one more question from a member of Congress. Hold on one second.

REPRESENTATIVE KOSMAS: Thank you very much. My name is Suzanne Kosmas, and I actually represent central Florida, the area that includes the Kennedy Space Center. So I want to first thank you on behalf of all Americans for your service to us and for what you represent in terms of America and our supremacy in space exploration, along with our international partners, and for what you’re doing there at the International Space Station.

I had the honor of being at the Kennedy Space Center last week when you took off and it was a fabulous, absolutely fantastic launch. And we — so I wished you adieu from there, and now I’m wishing you hello from here.

I want to thank you again for your service, and tell you how excited I am to be representing the Kennedy Space Station and that area, but also for what you do that inspires people to be interested in the science and technology that has led us to this pioneering place where you are. And the things that we anticipate that we will be able to reap from your service I’m very thrilled about, particularly the idea, as the President has said, of alternative energy and the fact that you’re using solar panels in space — what we’re hoping in the long run that you will be able to, from space, use solar energy to come back to Earth.

And again, I’m thrilled to be here and very excited to have the opportunity to talk to you. And thank you so much for your service to our country.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that all of us echo –

COMMANDER ARCHAMBAULT: Thank you, ma’am, we appreciate that. And each one of us here is very lucky and honored to be right where we’re at here today, so the honor is all ours. We’re honored to be here doing this great work.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think all of us echo the sentiment. We are extraordinarily proud of you. We’re so grateful that you took the time to speak to all of us. I know these young people are pretty excited to be on a direct link with astronauts in space.

So does everybody want to say good-bye?

AUDIENCE: Good-bye –

THE PRESIDENT: All right. They’re all beaming. And we appreciate you guys — so look forward to seeing you when you’re back on the ground. God bless you.

COMMANDER ARCHAMBAULT: Thank you, Mr. President. And on behalf of the Space Shuttle Discovery crew here in the dark blue shirts, I want to say we’re very honored that you spent some time with us today. It meant a lot to us. We thank you very much.

And from one Chicago guy to another, I wish you well, sir. And for closing comments, I’ll pass the microphone off to Commander Mike Fincke, Commander of the International Space Station.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.

COMMANDER FINCKE: Mr. President, I’m not from Chicago — I’m sorry about that. But my crew and I are really happy to have a chance to talk to you and share our adventure with even more people. It’s pretty impressive what human beings can do when we work together constructively, and not destructively. And that’s the mission of the International Space Station.

So thanks for joining us. Thanks for flying with us at 17,500 miles an hour today. We’re glad to have a chance to share it with you and the distinguished members from Congress, as well as all the kids out there.

So, everybody, thanks again for joining us.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, guys. Bye-bye. (Applause.)

END
10:18 A.M. EDT

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

A new fact sheet from the White House:

FACT SHEET ON PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM ON SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY

“Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology.” – President Barack Obama

* Today, President Obama is signing a Presidential Memorandum on scientific integrity. This memorandum helps to implement one of the President’s key campaign commitments on science policy, which was to “restore scientific integrity in government decision making.”
* Science and technology are essential to achieving a broad range of national goals: driving economic growth and job creation; allowing Americans to live longer, healthier lives; developing clean sources of energy that reduce our dependence on foreign oil; protecting our environment for future generations of Americans; strengthening national and homeland security; and more.
* Realizing the potential of science and technology to help achieve all of these goals requires that the Administration’s decisions about public policy be guided by the most accurate and objective scientific advice available. The public must be able to trust that advice, as well, and to be confident that public officials will not conceal or distort the scientific findings that are relevant to policy choices.
* Accordingly, the President is assigning to the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) the responsibility of ensuring the highest level of integrity in all aspects of the executive branch’s involvement with scientific and technological issues.
* Within 120 days, the Director of OSTP must develop a strategy for ensuring that:

- The selection of scientists and technology professionals for science and technology positions in the executive branch is based on those individuals’ scientific and technological knowledge, credentials, and experience;

- Agencies make available to the public the scientific or technological findings or conclusions considered or relied upon in policy decisions;

- Agencies use scientific and technological information that has been subject to well-established scientific processes such as peer review; and

- Agencies have appropriate rules and procedures to ensure the integrity of the scientific process within the agency, including whistleblower protection.

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From the White House Blog:

Priorities — Not lining the pockets of contractors
Last week the President laid out the foundation of a new vision for our budget and the way government does business. It is a vision based not on ideology, but on the idea that we can and must invest boldly in our future while also making the hard choices and being vigilant to bring in a new era of fiscal responsibility.

Last week began with the fiscal responsibility summit, where the President and members of Congress came together to generate ideas to get the country on a sustainable long-term track. One of the exchanges that got the most attention was between the President and Senator John McCain, who discussed the idea of procurement overruns, in Defense Department contracts in particular.

Today Sen. McCain joined the President again to develop that idea further, along with Senators Carl Levin and Claire McCaskill and Representatives Edolphus Towns and Peter Welch. The President signed a Presidential Memorandum that will reform government contracting by strengthening oversight and management of taxpayer dollars, ending unnecessary no-bid and cost-plus contracts and maximizing the use of competitive procurement processes, and clarifying rules prescribing when outsourcing is and is not appropriate. The OMB will be tasked with giving guidance to every agency on making sure contracts serve the taxpayers, not the contractors.

In addition, the President endorsed the goals of the bipartisan effort on defense procurement reform led by Senators Carl Levin and McCain, and has asked Defense Secretary Gates to work with the Senators going ahead. President Obama made clear that while there are those who will try to protect contractor excesses behind cries of weakening our national defenses, there will be a bipartisan, firm stand to put those excesses to an end:

The American people’s money must be spent to advance their priorities — not to line the pockets of contractors or to maintain projects that don’t work.

Recently that public trust has not always been kept. Over the last eight years, government spending on contracts has doubled to over half a trillion dollars. Far too often, the spending is plagued by massive cost overruns, outright fraud, and the absence of oversight and accountability. In some cases, contracts are awarded without competition. In others, contractors actually oversee other contractors. We are spending money on things that we don’t need, and we’re paying more than we need to pay. And that’s completely unacceptable.

This problem cuts across the government, but I want to focus on one particular example, and that is the situation in defense contracting. Now, I want to be clear, as Commander-in-Chief, I will do whatever it takes to defend the American people, which is why we’ve increased funding for the best military in the history of the world. We’ll make new investments in 21st century capabilities to meet new strategic challenges. And we will always give our men and women the — in uniform, the equipment and the support that they need to get the job done.

But I reject the false choice between securing this nation and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. And in this time of great challenges, I recognize the real choice between investments that are designed to keep the American people safe and those that are designed to make a defense contractor rich.

Last year, the Government Accountability Office, GAO, looked into 95 major defense projects and found cost overruns that totaled $295 billion. Let me repeat: That’s $295 billion in wasteful spending. And this wasteful spending has many sources. It comes from investments and unproven technologies. It comes from a lack of oversight. It comes from influence peddling and indefensible no-bid contracts that have cost American taxpayers billions of dollars.

by P.J. Blount with the blog faculty

From the Orlando Sentinel:

FBI raids University of Florida nuclear power institute

Kevin Spear And Amy L. Edwards | Sentinel Staff Writer
7:54 PM EST, February 25, 2009

GAINESVILLE – The FBI searched the offices of a University of Florida scientist Wednesday in a case alleging the professor and his family took “hundreds of thousands of dollars of illegally obtained government funds” from the nation’s space agency.

Court documents filed by the United States Attorney in Tallahassee describe a criminal and civil investigation into “fraudulent” invoices that resulted in funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to Professor Samim Anghaie, 59, his wife, Sousan, 54, and their two adult sons.

Federal officials would not talk about the details of their investigation, which UF reacted to by placing Anghaie on leave with pay. He could not be reached for comment.

Also working the case are agents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Office of Inspector General.

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University officials said Anghaie is working at UF under two active NASA grants to study the use of nuclear power for space travel. The professor also directs the university’s Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute and has taken a prominent expert role in Florida’s efforts to secure new nuclear power plants. . . .[Full Story]