On the wake of the release today of President Obama’s massive $3.8 trillion budget spending plan one thing that has been completely cut from the line item is NASA’s Constellation Lunar endeavor, the next big step in space exploration which was to replace the 20-plus year old Space Shuttle program.
Not only is the White House nixing the project to advance space exploration and future lunar colonization, the President has made it quite clear that he and his staff will go bulldog to bulldog to fight Congress if they try and save it.
The United States, the one-time leader in space exploration, is quickly becoming a second rate player and from the looks of it, at least for the next 3 years (maybe 7), won’t be a player at all.
“…we are proposing a cancellation of the Constellation program at NASA even while making other investments in long range [research and development] there, which again is a significant step,” stated White House Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag.
This puts the Orion crew capsule (a.k.a. Ares 5) and the Altair Lunar Lander on hold and leaves the U.S. totally at the mercy of the Russian Space Agency to get astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
“We don’t expect that this is going to be easy,” added White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. “There was a lot of opposition to some of the cuts that we proposed last year. And we had I think a historically very successful rate about 60 percent of the cuts we proposed were actually enacted into the law.”
So did we just turn space travel from Trek to Firefly?
http://siliconchef.com/2010/02/01/the-new-vision-of-space-trek-or-firefly/
There had been calls to keep the Shuttle fleet in service for a few extra years to bridge the gap until Orion came online… perhaps it is time to revisit this idea and invest the much smaller amount it would take to keep them flying.
“This puts the Orion crew capsule (a.k.a. Ares 5) and the Altair Lunar Lander on hold and leaves the U.S. totally at the mercy of the Russian Space Agency to get astronauts to and from the International Space Station.”
heaven forbid we ever get in another cold (or not so cold) war… how long does oxygen last if they leave one of our guys up there???
Here’s to private spaceflight!
And there is no other Waste in Government to cut. bollocks
This is just payback for having his health bill crippled. NASA may end up better off when the para… sorry politicians get back to horse trading/ negotiations.
Well, this tears it. We’re going to have to privatize space exploration. I knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Before long former NASA engineers will be designing their own craft, and their own space stations and Lunar Landers and trying to convince Big Business that there’s a profit to be made in space. Which isn’t as far fetched as you might think: There could be a HUGE market for zero-g manufacturing, which would lead to more precision in things like micro circuitry and lenses, and all kinds of other things.
I think the only thing that’s going to encourage the government to start spending more on the Space Program is a major breakthrough in terraforming, and/or an Extinction Level Event. To bad that by that time it’ll be too late.
As we speak, I’m guessing the Russians are re-evaluating what they charge to haul our flightless asses up there.
But, it should be no surprise. During his campaign Obama’s website spelled out his view regarding space exploration not being a priority, and indeed a potential target for cuts . . . for about a week; then it was changed to reflect a more neutral (but still negative) position.
Sad . . . especially when contrasted to the amount of money that magically disappeared into untold bailouts and backroom deals. And him being pro-science and all . . . I guess he meant social sciences.
Seriously, 3.8 trillion, and they couldn’t include NASA?
No offense, but with the scientific certainty that Earth will be struck by large rocks from space, maybe figuring out how to get off this planet isn’t such a bad idea…
Well perhaps it time for a reality TV based version of the 70s classic “Salvage 1” 🙂 I hear NASA has rocket engines that can be had for the price of shipping.
Only an idiot would make a decision to depend on another country for human spaceflight. I expect my Senators & Congressmen to put up a fight. 99.5% of gov acquisition programs for Air & Space Development has always went over budget. It’s the unspoken law, “Make a proposition that is underfunded and hope you receive funds in the future. Just once I wish they would quit wasting billions of dollars and finish a program.
Orion was being developed as crew transport vehicle to any point on the moon & to dock with a future transplanetary vehicle designed to explore the solar system. Also, it was to be the ace in the hole for crew transport off planet. Atleast finish developing this vehicle. It can be launched on commercial launchers, too, once they are manrated. Obama was an idoit to propose x-ing everything. NASA had already developed polices to give LEO to commercial companies. Looks like it’s time for a Department of Space Exploration with it’s own budget so NASA can return to the NACA namesake and concentrate on aircraft development and safety. Obama is on a mission to personally destroy everything that the last administration did or tried to do regardless of cost.