With the final flight of NASA's shuttle Atlantis due to take place later this week, it will bring with it an end to the capability of the USA to send its own astronauts into Space. I'm sure it is going to be a very sad day for many when Atlantis makes its final landing after a 12 day mission to the International Space Station (ISS), and many people I am sure will be left shaking their heads in disappointment. 
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The US will now be reliant on Russia for future astronaut transportation to the ISS until such time as privately developed commercial crew transport becomes available, hopefully in the next few years but with no guarantees as to time scale. Quite coincidentally today I came across this graphic which shows the yearly cost per seat the US will have to pay on board the Russian Soyuz capsules. According to Charlie Bolden, current Nasa Administrator, the price is going up due to inflation and not because the Russians are taking advantage of their monopoly. Perhaps true, but inflation would seem to be very high at the moment! 
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Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator
Don’t you just hate politics?!

Call me naïve by all means but wouldn’t you rather see the great name of NASA making good headlines, instead of being wrapped up in a tale of he said – she said?

In brief summary, Charles Bolden, NASA Admininstrator, in an interview for Al-Jazeera last month said that President Obama himself had charged NASA with the job of ‘reaching out to the muslim world’.

Subsequently, a spokesperson for the White House confirmed that indeed, President Obama wishes to see the U.S. space agency engaging with “the world's best scientists” and to "partner with countries around the world like Russia and Japan, as well as collaboration with Israel and with many Muslim-majority countries".

 However, by Monday this week the tune had changed somewhat with White House spokesman Robert Gibbs categorically stating that “reaching out to Muslims is not the task of NASA’ and that Mr Bolden’s statement was incorrect.

Who said what, to whom, and with whose permission really seems to be a secondary issue here don’t you think? Does it not in fact just paint a sad picture of a space policy in disarray?

 NASA, its scientists, researchers and workforce over the years have been responsible for many amazing breakthroughs in space technology and science, much of which benefits the ordinary person on the street in ways that are not even realized. I personally was inspired enough by Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon on 21st July 1969 to stay up all night to see it in Brazil, aged nearly 6!

There is so much more out there in space, and even greater things to yet be discovered – I can only hope that NASA will continue to be a part of it all and return to making world headlines for all the right reasons. 
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