Keith’s 15 Nov note: NASA used to be plague by awful financial audits. Then it cleaned up its act. You’d think that such good news would be worthy of some smart media placement i.e. so the story can get into the publication process well before the deadlines are reached and maximum eyeballs can see it. Or maybe on the following Monday when it would have a week to be seen. Guess again. NASA sent this media release out at 5:27 pm EST today “NASA Receives 14th Consecutive ‘Clean’ Financial Audit Opinion“. As I post this 4.5 hours later NASA has still made no mention of the stealth news at @NASA for its 83.7 million followers. @NASAOIG posted a tweet at 5:23 pm for its 7,000 or so followers to see. No mention on the main home page at NASA.gov unless you know to dig for it. Here is the actual report. Again, this is good news, right Marc Etkind? Or are y’all just phoning things in now – since who cares? 18 Nov update: well @NASA just tweeted a link at 5:00 pm EST – thus losing one media day.

Keith’s note: I am on hiatus for a week or three in the woods here and there. Even If I post something once in a while, I am still on hiatus. So …

Keith’s note: I was on Deutsche Welle TV today talking about Astrobiology Mars, Europa Clipper, JWST, international cooperation, space stations, and the year ahead in space. [Audio]. What is always frustrating to me (and by now I unfortunately understand why) is how rarely NASA sends anyone to talk on TV – especially non-American TV – about space exploration in general – and talk about everything – human and robotic, Earth and Astrophysics, commercial and civilian – everything – that all nations and all companies and so many individuals are doing – in and about space. When tired NASA spokesmouths like Bill Nelson do get on TV its to repeat pre-prepared, non-controversial, and non-committal talking points that brag about some things but gloss over other things that are best left unmentioned since the answer is embarrassing or uncertain. The NASA talking heads stick to the official Artemis II launch in 2024 even though no one at NASA believes that is even remotely possible – much less lunar landings in 2025, 2026, 2027 … I was probably the only person on global TV – here or internationally – talking about space to a zillion people today – and probably the only one who tried to be inclusive and enthusiastic about everyone’s success and opportunities – and I am certain that I was the only person on TV saying the word “astrobiology” today. Really pathetic, NASA. Someone please prove me wrong. (sigh) I’ll be on another global network in a few days. Update: here’s the DW segment with an intro – and then my banter.

Keith’s note: The Foreign Minister of Bhutan and his entourage made a “courtesy visit” to NASA HQ on Wednesday. NASA only posted a few pictures. Why was the Foreign Minister of Bhutan visiting NASA? Did Bill Nelson talk about Artemis Accords with him? Perhaps issues associated with Himalayan climate change? China? A personal interest in space by Bhutan? Of course NASA Public Affairs and the Office of International and Interagency Relations are silent on this. Oh yes: the fancy shiny new NASA.gov website search engine finds no mention of this visit even though pics are posted at NASA.gov

Keith’s note: According to NASA PAO: “NASA has selected PCI Productions LLC of Huntsville, Alabama, to manage communication services for all agency centers including headquarters, as well as its mission directorates, to enable the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of NASA information. … “This is one major step in our overall procurement strategy for communications that will allow us to more efficiently and effectively use the amazing capability of NASA communications organizations to connect the world with the agency’s missions,” said Johnny Stephenson, deputy associate administrator for Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington.” FYI Johnny Stephenson spent most of his career at NASA MSFC – also in Huntsville, Alabama. On his Twitter account @jfstephenson1 he lists his position as “Director/Strategic Analysis & Comm at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Real Estate investor, Sports fan”. He has 106 followers. This is the number two Comms guy for all of NASA – yet he can’t even make his social media account accurate. Oh yes, the new NASA PAO contractor @PciProductions only has 7 followers on Twitter. Let the world-class outreach goodness commence.

Keith’s note: The 2022 Global winners of the 2022 NASA International Space Apps Challenge were announced today. You can read about it but only outside of NASA at the Space Apps website. There was mention many days in advance by the NASA International Space Apps Challenge Twitter account @SpaceApps as well as by the various SpaceApps participants around the world. But that’s more or less all the visibility that was given for this event – an activity that is an impressive demonstration of the truly global soft power projection that NASA is capable of inspiring. There was no mention of this event at NASA.gov before or after the annoncement today. No NASA media advisory was sent out, nor was any press release posted by PAO anywhere within the NASA web universe. Take a look below at how pervasive the ambivalence about this amazing NASA activity was at NASA today:

As we continue to upgrade NASA Watch we’ve removed the Disqus commenting system. In its place we’re using the native WordPress commenting system. Here’s how you can login with your existing handle.

Keith’s note: I was on CGTN tonight to talk about World Space Week, Global Space activites, and international cooperation. Audio and video below:

Keith’s Note: NASA is increasingly engaged in understanding the threats posed by collision of human-made objects in Earth orbit as well as naturally occurring threats posed by asteroids – as is evidenced by news in last week. More on DART and orbital debris below.

NASA to Discuss New Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Study Today, NASA “NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT today – Thursday, June 9 – to discuss a new study team the agency is commissioning to examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). The purpose of the study is to examine UAPs – observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena – from […]

The Power Of Ten: Meet The 10 Winners Of NASA’s 10th Annual Space Apps Challenge “The level of global participation and team dynamics underscored NASA’s efforts to ensure that the Space Apps Challenge community reflected the level of diversity that exists globally. The challenges spanned a wide range of topics, talents, and interests creating an environment where anyone and everyone could participate and add value. Of the participating 4,534 teams, […]

Sometimes it seems that everyone on Earth is wearing a NASA T-shirt, Washington Post “Go to any college campus, Ulrich said, and there are “kids there with NASA shirts on. You see it on the subway. You see it on the street. It’s just proliferating.” It sure is. Last year, Ulrich said, the agency received 11,000 merchandising requests from companies that wanted to use the logo on some sort of […]

Keith Cowing · SpaceRef on CGTN: 2021 The Year In Space

Keith’s note: We’re going to mostly take the next week or so off. But I’ll be updating on the Webb mission on a daily basis and I will be on TV here and there as well talking about that. Or not. Hope y’all take some time to truly relax.

NASA to Dedicate, Rename Rocket Park for Former Director George Abbey “Media are invited to attend the dedication of Rocket Park at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for former director George W.S. Abbey in a ceremony at 10 a.m. CST Friday, Dec. 10. Home to one of only three Saturn V rockets on display in the world, the facility will now be known as George W.S. Abbey Rocket Park. […]

NASA Invites Media to Discuss Future of NASA “NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and other senior agency leaders will host an employee town hall for all civil servant and contractor employees at noon EDT, Tuesday, Sept. 21, to provide updates about the agency’s human spaceflight programs, projects, and activities to the workforce. The town hall will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, the agency’s website, and multiple agency social […]

Keith’s note: NASA PAO just sent me this statement on the NASA Kennedy and NASA HQ security events which were connected after all. FWIW sources inside NASA say that the false alarm happened when a mistake was made in a training exercise in advance of a formal training event next week at NASA HQ as we reported earlier. “A false alarm indicating an active shooter was set off at 11:05 […]

NASA Michoud Hurricane Ida Status Report Aug. 31, 2021 4:30 p.m. (with images) “Assessments continue at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility following Hurricane Ida. Damage to the roofs of several buildings have been confirmed and includes loose panels, panels removed during the storm, debris and water damage. Michoud remains on limited generator power for essential areas. Due to no power in the factory, assessments inside have been limited and by flashlight […]

Unfortunately @NASA PAO is now holding "virtual briefings" where news media can no longer ask the briefers questions directly. Instead reporters have to email their questions in. This allows #NASA to filter the questions before they are asked – should they so desire #transparency https://t.co/iI00WAH2KO — NASA Watch (@NASAWatch) August 31, 2021 While #NASA PAO has started to not allow news media to directly ask #NASA briefers questions at media […]