Obama’s NASA plan Loses Support of Ancient Astronauts

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President Obama’s cancellation of a key space program at NASA has angered not only space-enthusiasts and legendary astronauts, but leading the pack is also Lockheed Martin, a Republican party sponsor, lobbying and corporate buying partner.

Obama has increased NASA’s budget by $6 billion so that more funding can go to research and to improve operations of the International Space Station for the next 3 years. But the President ordered the cancellation of the Constellation Program — a human space-flight program revived by President George W. Bush with the goals of replacing the Space Shuttle and send astronauts to Mars. The program’s price tag is $97 billion for operations until 2020.

The announcement that the Constellation Program will cease operations early next year angered astronauts like Neil Armstrong, James Lovell and Eugene Cernan. These legendary space figures sent a letter to the White House urging Obama to not cancel the human space-flight program.

But the White House has tried to assure Americans that its intentions are not to put the USA behind space exploration efforts.

According to ABC News:

White House officials said on Tuesday that Obama wants NASA to begin work on building a new heavy lift rocket sooner than envisioned under the canceled Constellation program, with a commitment to decide in 2015 on the specific rocket that will take astronauts deeper into space.

“This is a rocket that is going to happen two years earlier than would’ve happened under the past program,” a senior White House official said.

Obama would restructure the Constellation program and allow NASA to develop the Orion crew capsule to provide stand-by emergency escape capabilities for the International Space Station.

His policy would also direct NASA to launch into space a steady stream of robotic exploration missions to scout locations and demonstrate technologies to increase the safety and capability of future human missions.

LOCKHEED MARTIN

The current public outrage over Obama’s cancellation of the Constellation Program is also being led by Lockheed Martin — the governments #1 defense and space contractor — which argues that cancellation of the project will result in job losses.

The White House has dismissed the claims that canceling the project will put Americans out of work. In fact, the White House has promised that $40 million that would have gone to the canceled program will now go to renew the economy around the space station in Florida. And there is also a plan to place dislocated workers into new jobs.

According to Reuters, Lockheed Martin is lobbying Congress to block Obama’s cancellation of the Constellation Program. Lockheed Martin made $8.7 billion in space sales last year through NASA’s Orion Space Program — a part of the Constellation Program.

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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11 years ago

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13 years ago

I went on a rant myself at my site and after hearing the president’s speech today I’m still pissed. Not to grovel in the verbal emissions of my own pomposity but:
1. After ten Billion has already spent on Constellation we are going to cancel it with metal being cut? Give the damn program to Burt Rutan and another billion and see what he can do. He created SpaceShip One and is now getting SpaceShip Two ready for flight for a lot less and far faster than NASA could ever hope to dream.

2. The president’s speech was a lot of nice and words but sounded an awful lot what the past four presidents had said. This is mean but I sort of enjoyed the cool reception they gave him.

3. We are still diddling around while the Russians have the simple but very reliable Soyuz spacecraft. Hell, copy theirs, the Chinese did it and will beat us back to the moon and I bet Mars.

tomasj
13 years ago

I think you’re missing the point here. Obama’s cancellation of both the Constellation and the space shuttle mean that the United States will have no way of getting astronauts, supplies, spare parts or upgrades to the intenational space station without the friendly cooperaton of Russia.

Face it, Soyuz and Russia’s robotic supply carrier just aren’t capable servicing or making major repairs to the space station. Will that be cut off too?

13 years ago

When China announced they would be attempting a moon shot by the 2020s, the GW Bush responded by breathing life back into NASAs program, not sure whether that was the right reason, just because China was upping the ante. The thought of a Chinese flag sitting on the moon’s surface was too much for some politicians to bear.

I visited the Kennedy Space Center 6 months ago and the tour was geared to push NASAs contribution to the International Space Station. Several of the guides even mentioned funding for it and how important it was to everyone at NASA

There is a fear that the USA is slipping behind in the “Space Race” I don’t see it. There is room for Russia and China, space is big. Down the road I see massive collaborations between nations because of cost, but only when the “national ego” can be taken out of the equation.

SJ
Reply to  Professor Mike
13 years ago

Exactly Mike.
How the hell are we supposed to work toward stable Warp drive with all these budget cuts?
I’m being serious here.
-SJ

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