Update Monday 9/13/10

HR.5781 is not on the House calendar for this week at http://www.majorityleader.gov/links_and_resources/whip_resources/weeklyleader.cfm?pressreleaseID=4476. Our sources tell us that at least in part due to a significant number of constituent calls late last week, the House Leadership probably (no guarantees, of course) won't put HR.5781 on the calendar this session (at least not in its current form.) We hear that negotiations with Senate Authorizers continue, with the outcome (if any) now more likely to be based on the Senate bill. So, the battle is going well - to everyone who made a contact so far, thanks! But the battle over this NASA Authorization continues. We need to keep the pressure on, with the general message being, NASA Exploration R&D (including Commercial Crew and Cargo) is a good thing to fund, while NASA in-house booster developments (see numbers in the Generic reason below) are very likely to be massive wastes of scarce funds. Those of you who've already contacted your Representative might want to contact your Senators now too. Those of you who haven't yet made a contact, why not? More when we know more.

For much more background detail, see Space Access Update #117 (http://www.space-access.org/updates/sau117.html) and Space Access Update #118 (http://www.space-access.org/updates/sau118.html).

Henry Vanderbilt
for Space Access Society
http://www.space-access.org
"Reach low orbit and you're halfway to anywhere in the Solar System"
- Robert A Heinlein, as related by G Harry Stine