Group asking for reconsideration of NASA human space flight elimination letter for Senators & Reps

[1776Forever]

For anyone who is concerned about the Administration's current backing of privatization of Low Earth Orbit flights and end our country's human exploration program beyond it and leaves the door open to China and others who have started to expand their human space flight exploration this site ask for support to encourage the continuation of the Constellation Program that will continue the USA human space flight program.

Stand Up and Tell Your Elected Representatives You Want a Strong and Vibrant Space Program

http://www.goboldlynasa.org/cffiles/formLetter/formLetter.cfm

About Us says this on the site:

We are a group of young professionals with a passion for space exploration. We hope you’ll join us in showing your support for NASA and human spaceflight by sharing this website with your friends and family, and by contacting your elected representatives. Together, we can help ensure a strong future for NASA.

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The letter read's in part:


Dear Senator or Representative,

Currently, the United States stands as the leader in human space exploration. However, the President's recently proposed NASA budget will forfeit that leadership. The proposed budget cancels the Constellation Program, the only current replacement for the Space Shuttle, in the very same year that the Space Shuttle will be retired. This cancellation effectively ends our country's human exploration program beyond Low Earth Orbit. It also places our ability to perform human spaceflight on the Russians as well as the shoulders of an immature and unproven commercial space market. The development of commercial spaceflight is good for our country, but not at the sacrifice of our human space exploration program....

It is critical to our country's success to remain the leader in human spaceflight; however, the President's proposed 2011 budget for NASA leads the United States into an uncertain future in space. Therefore, I urge you to grant NASA the charter to build on the current successes of our nation's human space program. The responsibility now lies with this Congress to provide the leadership and resources necessary to move beyond Low Earth Orbit and solidify America's leadership in space exploration.

Thank you for your consideration.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. I support the decision.

So does Buzz Aldrin.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/buzz-aldrin/president-obamas-jfk-mome_b_448667.html

The fears about Chinese exploring space just show how silly the whole thing is.

[1776Forever]

2. So be it - It is a free country.

For those that don't think this is silly the option is open to sign it.

nick eftimiades put this on the article as a comment:

There are those who say the space program is a waste of money. That there are problems; that money can be better spent at home. History shows this belief to be flawed. Nations ultimately perish without vision, hope, and the daring to look outward, expand and grow. Great nations do great things; plain and simple. For these reasons the Administration's space plan is flawed.

The plan says give low earth orbit to commercial competition. Fair enough; but in a globbal economy that means buying seats from Russian and Chinese firms because those will be the economical choice. In the end our space industry will falter.

The plan says throw money at technology with no goal orientation. Off in the distance Mars beckons but we're not setting a time to go. Does anyone believe those dollars will be expended wisely? Call me a cynic but I don't. Without commitment, the goal will get traded off time and time again. No my friends, the sad truth is that a decade from now we will be no further along in the quest to explore.

Napoleon once said to his generals "For God''s sake, if you are going to take Vienna, take Vienna." He spoke of the endless planning, preparing, and studying the problem until no action is taken. We see it all the time: health care, immigration reform, term limits, energy policy. The simple fact is that without human exploration we reduce America's space program to a science hobby shop.

[Historic NY]

3. We have been stuck on the shuttle program for 33 yrs...its time to look forward.

[NoNothing]

5. Agreed

The scrapped program was to replace the shuttle with something. The current plan is to replace the shuttle with nothing. Progress? You decide.

[evenso]

4. Manned space exploration should go private...

We have to face the inconvenient truth about our nation's financial situation. We can't afford going back to the moon, and on to Mars. Robot rovers are cheaper and are getting smarter and returning more data from around the solar system. That's the future of exploration, at least for the near term.

Why spend all this money returning to the moon? What's the incentive to be there. We'll just be subsidizing something for which there is now no commercial incentive. Let the private sector lead the way. The resources are there - the water, metals, when the global economy is ready, commercial interests will respond. In the meantime, public money should be invested in robot and remote exploration.

[Spike89]

6. I'm for the administration's plan

I agree that there comes a point where the money needs to be spent on the next set of hurdles in space rather than on maintaining a set of technologies that are no longer beyond the reach of commercial enterprise. I will be upset if NASA doesn't get the increase in funding the new plan calls for. I'll also be upset if the research isn't directed toward truly forward-looking problem solving.

I too would love to see us set up a base on the Moon, land on Mars, and perhaps truly build self-sustaining habitats off planet. However, I think spending tons of money just to get back to the moon is silly if we haven't invested in technologies needed to actually make a new series of moon landings actually scientifically useful. We need to find a way to refuel from the resources there, we need to learn how to build better, more independant habitats. We currently need some of these big things more than we need a new booster rocket.

I think we have very similar goals, I think we just disagree on how to get there. I will admit that the current plan has a potential flaw in that unmanned and research-oriented projects are more vulverable to political cut-backs than the more popular and easily sold manned missions. Still, I think it is worth fighting for the opportunity.

[anonymous171]

7. I would rather we use the excess funds to create a department that employed regular Americans