One more time...
The Transrationality Scientific Analysis Bureau
One of the Department of Defence's scientific divisions, the Transrationality Scientific Analysis Bureau is responsible for investigating the wonders of the 'wave; specifically, they obtain 'waved devices, take them apart, figure out how they work, duplicate them with hardtech, and design their own variations on them. Their success rate on the first two clauses is substantially higher than that of the rest of their remit, but one of their notable successes is the atmosphere recyclers installed by Rockhounds in all of their newer space habitats.
They are also responsible for maintaining an official United States presence in space, and (after substantial bureaucratic infighting between the US Air Force, the US Navy, and NASA) for operating the US space program.
In Fenspace, they're sometimes called NASFans by Fen who like them, and IPX by Fen that don't. Most Fendanes and a few oddballs in Rockhounds copy 'Daneside usage and call them the TSAB.
The TSAB own and operate station Benjamin Franklin, located in Earth-Luna L4 orbit. Colonel Stephen Caldwell (USAF), its commander, is the ranking United States military officer in Fenspace. The public face of the station is Major Amy O'Connell, a no-nonsense Irish-American redhead.
I think we're all agreed on this one. Maybe.
The NASA entry, on the other hand... We can't even agree on the dates in that entry, let alone the specifics.
Just so we're all on the same page, here's what I have at the moment. I'm not wedded to anything in this description, so kibitz away...
NASA
TSAB was the Air Force's (successful) petty little political maneuver to take control of space operations away from their greatest enemies - NASA and the Navy.
The final Shuttle flight, STS-132, took place in 2010. After that, NASA gave up on manned space flight altogether, since handwavium-modified vehicles were more economical than anything the Constellation project could possibly produce with hardtech alone.
The final nails in NASA's coffin were delivered in the early 2010s. First, the Space Camp Shuttle mockup Pegasus was handwaved and launched into space in March 2011, followed by NASA's own Pathfinder mockup and the actual decommissioned Shuttles Discovery, Endeavor, and Atlantis later that year. (The Enterprise was left in the Smithsonian, as a lasting reminder to Earth of what they had done to reach space.)
Second, there was the "April Fool's Purchase", where Stellvia Corp. offered to purchase the copyrights and trademarks associated with the NASA group on April 1, 2012. The purchase was accepted on April 20, and is considered to have happened "disturbingly quickly."
NASA was officially disbanded at the end of April 2012, its unclassified intellectual property going to Stellvia Corp. while its personnel, classified intellectual property, and physical assets were assigned to the TSAB. Some NASA scientists refused to work for the military even indirectly; many of them ended up in space on their own.
As to the disposition of the NASA trademarks, Stellvia Corp. commissioned Hephaestus to produce two new shuttles in 2013: Challenger II and Columbia II. These were assigned to Stellvia Corp.'s new Main Belt Research Stations McAuliffe and Chawla, respectively, as station launches.
(The Navy only managed to launch one ship into space - the Stingray, in March 2012 - before a change in leadership put their space program on long-term hiatus. The Stingray was left without logistical support, and by necessity transferred its flag to the nascent Space Patrol later that year.)
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
The Transrationality Scientific Analysis Bureau
One of the Department of Defence's scientific divisions, the Transrationality Scientific Analysis Bureau is responsible for investigating the wonders of the 'wave; specifically, they obtain 'waved devices, take them apart, figure out how they work, duplicate them with hardtech, and design their own variations on them. Their success rate on the first two clauses is substantially higher than that of the rest of their remit, but one of their notable successes is the atmosphere recyclers installed by Rockhounds in all of their newer space habitats.
They are also responsible for maintaining an official United States presence in space, and (after substantial bureaucratic infighting between the US Air Force, the US Navy, and NASA) for operating the US space program.
In Fenspace, they're sometimes called NASFans by Fen who like them, and IPX by Fen that don't. Most Fendanes and a few oddballs in Rockhounds copy 'Daneside usage and call them the TSAB.
The TSAB own and operate station Benjamin Franklin, located in Earth-Luna L4 orbit. Colonel Stephen Caldwell (USAF), its commander, is the ranking United States military officer in Fenspace. The public face of the station is Major Amy O'Connell, a no-nonsense Irish-American redhead.
I think we're all agreed on this one. Maybe.
The NASA entry, on the other hand... We can't even agree on the dates in that entry, let alone the specifics.
Just so we're all on the same page, here's what I have at the moment. I'm not wedded to anything in this description, so kibitz away...
NASA
TSAB was the Air Force's (successful) petty little political maneuver to take control of space operations away from their greatest enemies - NASA and the Navy.
The final Shuttle flight, STS-132, took place in 2010. After that, NASA gave up on manned space flight altogether, since handwavium-modified vehicles were more economical than anything the Constellation project could possibly produce with hardtech alone.
The final nails in NASA's coffin were delivered in the early 2010s. First, the Space Camp Shuttle mockup Pegasus was handwaved and launched into space in March 2011, followed by NASA's own Pathfinder mockup and the actual decommissioned Shuttles Discovery, Endeavor, and Atlantis later that year. (The Enterprise was left in the Smithsonian, as a lasting reminder to Earth of what they had done to reach space.)
Second, there was the "April Fool's Purchase", where Stellvia Corp. offered to purchase the copyrights and trademarks associated with the NASA group on April 1, 2012. The purchase was accepted on April 20, and is considered to have happened "disturbingly quickly."
NASA was officially disbanded at the end of April 2012, its unclassified intellectual property going to Stellvia Corp. while its personnel, classified intellectual property, and physical assets were assigned to the TSAB. Some NASA scientists refused to work for the military even indirectly; many of them ended up in space on their own.
As to the disposition of the NASA trademarks, Stellvia Corp. commissioned Hephaestus to produce two new shuttles in 2013: Challenger II and Columbia II. These were assigned to Stellvia Corp.'s new Main Belt Research Stations McAuliffe and Chawla, respectively, as station launches.
(The Navy only managed to launch one ship into space - the Stingray, in March 2012 - before a change in leadership put their space program on long-term hiatus. The Stingray was left without logistical support, and by necessity transferred its flag to the nascent Space Patrol later that year.)
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012