Officials say Obama rules out NASA return to moon; budgets money for private space taxis

[concerned1]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/sns-ap-us-sci-nasa-future,0,2941410.story

Officials say Obama rules out NASA return to moon; budgets money for private space taxis
SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is essentially grounding efforts to return astronauts to the moon and instead is sending NASA in new directions with roughly $6 billion more, according to officials familiar with the plans.

A White House official confirmed Thursday that when next week's budget is proposed, NASA will get an additional $5.9 billion over five years, as first reported in Florida newspapers. Some of that money would extend the life of the International Space Station to 2020. It also would be used to entice companies to build private spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the space station after the space shuttle retires, said the official who was not authorized to speak by name.

The money in the president's budget is not enough to follow through with NASA's Constellation moon landing plan initiated by President George W. Bush. An aide to an elected official who was told of Obama's plans, but who asked that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said Obama is effectively ending the return-to-the-moon effort, something that has already cost $9.1 billion. It all comes down to money. The six-year-old Bush plan, which a former NASA chief called "Apollo on steroids," sputtered when promised budget increases didn't materialize. And now money is a big consideration in NASA's latest shift in focus.

A new direction for NASA has been on hold for several months while an independent commission studied options and the White House weighed them. Obama's choice will be made clear Monday, when he releases his 2011 budget proposal. "It certainly appears that the Bush moon mission not going to be included" in future funding, said a senior NASA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the plans...

[NoNothing]

1. Hope private companies step up

When the shuttle retires the U.S. will not have the ability to launch men into space at all. :(

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Well, no.

Not until development of the Orion finishes.

[ddeclue]

7. There is a company called Space-X in Los Angeles which is building two new boosters

"the Falcon" and "the Dragon". They are for re-supply to the ISS. I suppose a manned capsule could be designed for them relatively inexpensively. It's a shame to kill the working shuttle program and THEN kill the Ares replacement too.

[NoNothing]

9. My understanding is that the entire Constellation project was cancelled

That would include Orion. If you have a link that says otherwise, I would love to see it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. As far as I know, the Ares program is still on.

They're allegedly cutting the moon portion out of the Constellation program, but I've heard nothing about Ares or Orion.

[NoNothing]

12. The linked article from the OP

States "Constellation is dead"

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Let me know when Ares and Orion are cut.

kthnxbai

[NoNothing]

14. We should know for sure on Monday

Budget details then

[Warren DeMontague]

19. The word seems to be that they're going to ditch it all, which seems incredibly short-sighted to me.

As I understand it, the whole point of Ares and the Orion craft was to have a more open architecture that could go places like the moon. But all that architecture is now being lumped together (apparently) by the administration as part of a "failed moon mission". :eyes:

Of course, the perennial unnamed administration official said "we don't need to go back to the moon"- oh, really? 12 people have been there, and spent a grand total of maybe a week on its surface... so there's nothing left to learn there? Nothing left to do?

Tell it to the Chinese. I'm not even going to get into the potential for Helium 3 fusion or solar panels on the lunar surface, there are solid long-range reasons to establish a human presence there. And we will, no matter what Obama's bean counters think.

But even without the moon, there are damn good reasons to build a next-generation spacecraft that can go beyond LEO, along with a heavy lift rocket like the Ares V.

Also, the congress has a big say in this. It's not over, but the apparent intent on the part of the administration to ditch the constellation archictecture entirely- if that's really what they're thinking- is disheartening to say the least.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

26. Ares are the rockets. Orion is the capsule. I think the capsule is the furthest along.

One plan that sounds like a decent one is to use shuttle components, called Jupiter, nothing is reusable and you could use Orion on top. You can also use Jupiter as a heavy lifter. Another option is to man rate Delta or Atlas. Using spacex for crew transport and Jupiter, Atlas or Delta as heavy lift is probably how it will pan out.

IMO Ares is a waste. We already have tons of shuttle components that are man rated and pretty much ready to go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIRECT

[Xithras]

20. Orion & Ares are dead. The NASA manned spaceflight program is over.

http://www.space.com/news/obama-nasa-space-plan-reactions-100128.html

You seem to have missed the point here. NASA is getting out of the manned space launch business. The funding for the Orion is being cut.

The reports suggest the Obama administration intends to move toward relying on commercially-built spacecraft, rather than NASA's own vehicles, to carry humans to low-Earth orbit.

"For Florida it would be devastating in the short term," Roger Handberg, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida who has written extensively on space policy. "If NASA goes into relative decline or suspension of manned launches, we're going to be in a hole."

We will still have an astronaut program, but from here on out they'll be buying tickets like everyone else.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Yeah. How inspirational.

:eyes:

[elocs]

3. The moon will always be there: we need jobs and healthcare first

before letting NASA spend big money on a moon mission. I say, "Earth first".

[ddeclue]

5. Hey buddy we ARE talking about the BEST jobs in Florida getting killed.

Last time I checked Florida was part of "the Earth".

:eyes:

[elocs]

15. There's a whole lot more to the Earth and the U.S. than just Florida.

Other states have to suck it up, so take a number Florida.

[ddeclue]

22. On behalf of Florida, bite us then...

Our unemployment is 11.8%. Hardly like it's going well here and most of our jobs are crappy already.

[Warren DeMontague]

29. A lot of people all over the country support the Space Program enthusiastically.

If Obama is serious about ditching Constellation entirely, he's going to have a real fight on his hands.

[Xithras]

25. It's not just Florida.

Though you certainly have the bulk of them. Components for the spaceflight program are made all over the country, and this will eliminate tens of thousands of jobs from coast to coast.

[Warren DeMontague]

17. I say we cut the Military budget and drug war boondoggles before we go after the paltry amount

NASA gets on science and exploration.

The money we spent going to the moon the first time was paid back in spades through technological advances and scientific understanding.

Of course, people who can't be bothered to bat an eye at shit like A Billion for "Abstinence Only" education or $40 Billion a year to fight pot smoking somehow invariably transmogrify into Scrooge-like bean counters over ever single nickel in the budget, as soon as NASA is mentioned.

You can't even have a single AP article -ever- about the space program without the obligatory price tag accompaniment. Funny, when we blow shit up in another country, we aren't given continual status updates on how much to the dollar every missile and bullet cost.

[kentauros]

28. I wholeheartedly agree!

:thumbsup:

Another unfortunate aspect to all this is that you also can't get people (such as the media) to read the publication NASA Tech Briefs. It would give them all an idea of just how important and necessary it is to properly fund NASA. But, I can't even get people here to read it, so not much chance with the likes of AP and the rest of the media...

[ddeclue]

4. OH CRAP! There goes a butt load of engineering jobs in Florida.

Thanks for nothing Obama... you gave us high speed rail jobs yesterday but today you're gonna take away jobs at the Space Center so we end up net losing jobs in FL. Ares has already had a test flight. It's a bit stupid to cancel it NOW.

:eyes:

[agent46]

6. Could be a good thing

Private commercial spacecraft! Could be a new industry for our depressed economy. I like the idea. NASA has done some fantastic and unforgettable science in its day. This could unburden their programs in a lot of ways. I'll bet technology develops faster in the private sector too. Guess we'll see. Lots of possibilities.

[ddeclue]

8. It seems unlikely that corporations will invest in manned spaceflight in any big way.

[NoNothing]

10. More likely

Contracts will be given to Lockeed and Northrup to build the same thing as Orion at 10 times the cost.

[agent46]

16. of course they will n/t

[anonymous171]

18. Imagine: The F-22, IN SPACE!

[Xithras]

23. No, I'll tell you exactly what's going to happen.

The Chinese are building manned space capsules. So here's what will happen: NASA will hang it's six-odd billion out there to "buy" space on a commercial service, and some enterprising corporation will buy a bunch of the Chinese models at bargain-basement prices, make NASA a low-ball offer it can't refuse, and make a couple billion in profits. The money that formerly went into the American economy will instead go overseas to fund the Chinese aerospace and manufacturing sectors.

One of the greatest arguments for funding NASA has always been that it helps to advance American engineering and aerospace, and acts as a huge federal jobs program for the high tech fields. It appears that will no longer be the case.

[ddeclue]

24. DING! DING! DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!

[Edweird]

27. Ok, he needs to knock it off. Enough with the privatization. DEMS aren't supposed to be opposed

to SCIENCE! WTF?

[Razoor]

30. I really hope not

I been waiting to see america go back to the moon since I was not around for Apollo. dont see how he can cancel Ares after it had a test flight and several years of testing and money spent. I see the space program as inspirational .

[TheMightyFavog]

31. This is very bad.

We're going to leave all the heavy lifting regarding the ISS to the Russians once the Shuttle is taken out of service. I'll bet they're apprecaiting this news.


"I believe that our furture depends very powerfully on how well we understand this cosmos, which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky" -- Carl Sagan