Space Policy, the Federal Register, and a Regulation of the Day

Space Policy

The presidential election probably won’t hinge on the candidates’ space policies, yet the candidates have still made waves with some of their statements on the future of American space exploration.

Adjunct Scholar Rand Simberg poses a a question to presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

“In 2009, when President Obama came out with a new space policy that emphasized competitive commercial services for crew delivery to orbit, and the development of new technologies that would make human spaceflight beyond earth orbit much more affordable, Newt Gingrich was one of the few Republicans to come out in support of it (Bob Walker and Dana Rohrabacher were others). Do you agree with Speaker Gingrich that this is a more promising and cost-effective direction for the program, or do you support the Congress in its demand that NASA spend billions on a giant rocket that won’t fly for many years, and for which no payloads are defined or funded? Or do you have some other proposal?”

Federal Register

The Federal Register of 2011 may set a new record for number of pages.

Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews comments.

“Tomorrow’s Federal Register stands to surpass last year’s all-time high of 81,405, as cataloged in the latest “Ten Thousand Commandments.” We were all hoping for federal budgetary control and economic recovery this year, but things aren’t getting better on the regulatory front either.”

Regulation of the Day

Fellow in Regulatory Studies Ryan Young talks about Coasian bargaining in the latest edition of “Regulation of the Day.”

Read here.