More $$ for NASA but not for Moon
President Obama plans to increase NASA’s budget but will scrap plans to return to the moon. Expect the announcement next week. NASA will get an additional $5.9 billion over five years and some of the money will be used to extend the life of the International Space Station. A White House official tells AP the additional funding will also be used to entice companies to build private spacecraft to replace the shuttle program which retires later this year. An AP source says Mr. Obama’s decision will basically mean the end of the Constellation program, a directive of President George W. Bush. According to the report, NASA has already spent $9.1 billion dollars on the program.
Former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin issued a statement responding to this news. He said if Constellation is cancelled it “leaves NASA and the nation with no program, no plan and no commitment to any human spaceflight program beyond that of today.” He said this is basically recommending “that the nation abandon its leadership on the space frontier.”
There is some question about whether President Obama can just cancel the Constellation program. That is probably a decision that Congress will have to make which will likely mean a fight.
2 Responses to “More $$ for NASA but not for Moon”
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We’ve been to the moon more than once and don’t need to go back. We lost lives trying to get there and we could have lost even more lives (Apollo 13). I don’t see what we gained from previous missions to the moon. It’s ashame an additional 9.1 million dollars was wasted.
Such short-sightedness is unjustifiable. To leave us without any lunch vehicle except the Soviet-era Soyuz is irresponsible. Shall we go the way of the Dutch and Swedish colonies in the early U.S. Been-there, done that is not why it shouldn’t be done, but why it should. Who knows what discoveries will be made with an extended stay and the development of technologies to make that possible. Yes, we should encourage private development of launch capabilities, but we need a bridge to get there.