Shuttle Retired As US Heads Back To Moon

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-15-2004 | Alec Russell

[blam]

Shuttle retired as US heads back to Moon

By Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 15/01/2004)

The United States space shuttle programme is to be closed down. The cornerstone of America's space effort for three decades will be phased out by 2010.

President George W Bush called for the shuttle to be retired yesterday as he unveiled plans to send man back to the Moon by 2015.

Columbia : ill-fated space shuttle Speaking at Nasa headquarters outside Washington, Mr Bush proposed to develop a new spacecraft to take Americans to the Moon, which would be used as a "stepping stone" for a manned mission to Mars and across the solar system.

Mr Bush said the United States would build "new ships to carry America forward into the universe and prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own".

"It's time for America to take the next step," he said. "We need to see and examine and touch for ourselves, and only human beings are capable of adapting to the inevitable uncertainties posed by space flight."

With the retirement of the space shuttle, the United States will also withdraw from the international space station.

"The shuttle's chief purpose over the next several years will be to help finish assembly of the [international space] station, and the shuttle will be retired by the end of this decade," the White House said in a statement before Mr Bush's speech.

The shuttle will be replaced by a new "Crew Exploration Vehicle" to "ferry people first to the space station after the shuttles are retired and then to the Moon, no later than 2015". The aim is to have humans "living and working there for increasingly extended periods".

Unmanned spacecraft would explore the surface of the Moon from 2008 to pave the way for the return of a manned mission.

Members of Congress have been calling for a new vision for Nasa to reinspire the agency after last February's shuttle disaster. But critics have accused Mr Bush of an expensive extravagance that the United States cannot afford at a time of growing federal budget deficits.

The White House said yesterday that the project would not require a large increase of funding in the short term, proposing an increase of $1 billion (£540 million) over the next five years. Nasa would also move $11 billion in federal funds from other programmes, including the shuttle and the space station.

It also said the United States intended to work with Russia and other countries and hoped they would contribute to the costs.

[xrp]

the USA's next generation space travel vehicle captured in this photo on its shakedown cruise.

[swarthyguy]

One will always imagine what if
-- If Nixon had made this speech.

I know, politically unfeasible, but would've beaten the heck out of wage and price controls.

[Dog]

I would love to vacation on the moon..

[Mr. Jeeves]

I wonder if back in 1973, when Apollo 17 returned from the final lunar mission, anyone imagined that it would take forty-two years to get back to the moon again?

[Prodigal Son]

We build a golf course up there with a decent country club (and maybe Lunar hookers) and I bet you'd fill every shuttle flight back and forth.

[Dog]

I could see one of the major hotels wanting to build a place up there as soon as they allow the public to live up there.

[blam]

"but would've beaten the heck out of wage and price controls."

Promotions were one way around the price/wage controls. We just promoted everyone and gave them a raise with the promotion.

[templar]

Mr Bush said the United States would build "new ships to carry America forward into the universe and prepare for new journeys to the worlds beyond our own".

The word 'world' implies habitation. Does Bush know something we don't know? Is the Art Bell crowd right about Roswell?

[RightWhale]

They were each supposed to fly 100 times. They were supposed to fly cheap. It's an expensive way to go as it turned out. They need a man-rated launcher. A big cheap launcher they already have. Relatively cheap, where the payload is worth more than the rocket. Sometimes.

[Eala]

Members of Congress have been calling for a new vision for Nasa to reinspire the agency

NASA needs a weight-loss program. I remember sometime around 1973 or 1974 a scientist I worked with there gloomily remarking that NASA had just passed a milestone: "We now have more than one administrator for each scientist."

Don't get me wrong, I want us to go! But is today's NASA the right vehicle?

[Brett66]

I could see one of the major hotels wanting to build a place up there as soon as they allow the public to live up there.

There's no reason that someone couldn't go to the moon base as a tourist. That's exactly what has happened with the ISS. Of course a company would want to build it's own hotel eventually, but this could provide an early kickstart to Lunar tourism.

It's likely that in 15 years there will be multiple,inexpensive means of getting to space. This could cut the cost of a stay at a Lunar base to where it would be less than what Dennis Tito payed to go to the ISS.

[B-Chan]

Here's my initial guess...

[xrp]

Yeah, like we can read all the print there.

[leadpenny]

The Shuttle didn't fly for 3 1/2 years after the Challenger disaster. I think the ISS is going to go black and we have already seen the last Shuttle flight. We're certainly not going to see it fly before the November election. Neither NASA nor the President wants to take that chance.

[Brett66]

That's interesting, are they going to assemble that at the ISS? If they lift the whole thing, we'll need a HLV which we don't currently possess. If we assemble it in LEO, then that will require an assembly module for the ISS. It will be interesting to see the details on how we'll use the CEV to accomplish all of these tasks.

[KevinDavis]

Space Ping! This is the space ping list! Let me know if you want on or off this list!

[KevinDavis]

Please calm down!!!

[Eternal_Bear]

the funds allocated over the next 5 years are actually chickenfeed compared to what is going to be needed to go to Mars wich is perhaps a trillion dollars or more. I am not impressed. Another President can easily cancel the project.

[bvw]

I hope that is the case. It's an unsafe craft, impossible to make safe.