NASA Watch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NASA Watch is a website which provides daily insider information about the United States space program and about NASA. NASA Watch was created in March 1996 and is maintained by space biologist-turned-journalist Keith Cowing.
NASA Watch is a staunch supporter of human spaceflight. It was created when Daniel Goldin was administrator of NASA and at that time expressed harsh criticism of his policies. For several years NASA refused to consider Cowing to be a journalist and denied him access to NASA media events. Cowing was eventually granted full press accreditation.
Although a declared Democrat, Cowing was a firm supporter of the following administrator, Sean O'Keefe, appointed by George W. Bush, and even obtained exclusive first-hand information about the genesis of the Vision for Space Exploration, contained in the book New Moon Rising which Cowing wrote with Frank Sietzen.
With the appointment of Michael Griffin, the relationship between NASA Watch and the headquarters of NASA seem back to a defiant nature, since there seems to be a return to Daniel Goldin-time practices and major changes in personnel, dubbed Black Monday by NASA Watch because the reassignment letters were sent on Monday, June 13 2005.
NASA Watch is read by the whole astronautics industry, especially in the field of Human Spaceflight and space exploration. It is a valuable source of information which has significantly allowed to put some major issues relative to space flight at the forefront, which would have otherwise remained hidden.
[edit] References
- New Moon Rising Publisher: Collector's Guide Publishing Inc; Bk & DVD edition (July 1, 2004) ISBN 1-894959-12-4
