Dan pointed out a particularly absurd quote regarding our state’s constitution (click the link to read it), but I think I can top it.  From AL.com:

A freight train carrying segments of the solid rocket booster segments for the space shuttle derailed Wednesday after a bridge collapsed, authorities said. Six people were reported injured.

The solid rocket booster and its reusable motor are NASA projects managed by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville.

Marshall spokesman Dom Amatore said a team of investigators from NASA and the solid rocket booster contractor ATK Inc. were sent to the train accident site to inspect the booster segments for damage.

Eight booster segments for two different boosters were on the train, Amatore said.

“The pieces are inert. They don’t pose a danger because the igniter fuel is put in place” at Kennedy Space Center, in Florida, Amatore said.

First of all, unless they were shipping empty cases - which they wouldn’t because the solid propellant grain is loaded in Utah - the motors WERE NOT INERT.  Amatore’s assertion is patently false.  Each four segment motor contains roughly 1.1 million pounds of AP/PBAN/AL composite solid propellant.  The propellant can and will ignite when exposed to a sufficient heat source.  For the NASA spokesman at Marshall to make such a technically inaccurate statement is (biting my virtual tongue) unfortunate.

And while I have my rocket scientist hat on, “igniter fuel” is not put in at the Cape.  Yes, motors are typically shipped sans igniters (the components that “light” the motor).  But, the phrase “igniter fuel” is inaccurate.  The igniter material is a typical solid propellant that contains both fuel and an oxidizer.  To say “igniter fuel” betrays a fundamental lack of understanding about the motor and is a phrase I would expect to hear from a non-technical individual, but not a NASA spokesman.

According to NASA it is about $1 billion.  That is how much they say it will cost to catalog 90% of all asteroids and determine if any could strike our planet.

They have no idea!

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — It will be cheaper to build a permanent moon base and keep it running, than it will be to get to the moon. Just do not ask how much, NASA’s boss says.

The U.S. space agency’s newly unveiled grand plan for a continually staffed lunar outpost starting around 2024 does not come with a similarly grand price tag. It does not come with a price tag at all.

“You ask what things will cost, I don’t know yet,” said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, a detail-oriented engineer. “We just rolled out a very preliminary architecture.”

This is almost comical.  Without estimating the cost of the base there will be no way to hold feet to the fire down the line.  The project is not without critics.

From the Huntsville Times:

NASA has announced plans to build an international base camp on the moon and permanently staff it by 2024, and it’s counting on Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville to help develop the lunar lander that will double as a moon construction truck.

Marshall will be responsible for the descent, or landing, stage of the lunar lander, which will be used to place crews, supplies, living and work modules on the moon’s surface.

I didn’t see any mention of an estimated price tag in the article.