Posted on 02/25/2010 11:16:41 AM PST by Species8472
White House plans to axe NASA's return-to-the-Moon Constellation programme and ground the Space Shuttle have sparked unified opposition from Congress, which looks determined to preserve a full spectrum of US manned spaceflight activities.
A draft Congressional bill leaked to Flight International sets out the politicians' alternate plan. It involves possibly extending Shuttle life to 2015, running competitive commercial crew and cargo programmes and continuing development of Constellation's vehicles including a heavylift rocket designed to get astronauts to the Moon in the 2020s and then Mars.
senator Bill Nelson of Florida says of the opposition to the Obama plan: "I have never seen [Congress] as unified as we are now."
(Excerpt) Read more at flightglobal.com ...
like swinging in quicksand
amen!
No they're not, they're running for Mel's old seat. Nellie is still serving. We still have 2 more years of Nelson to go.
Weird to see Joss Whedon look like a bit of a prophet: who figured astronauts would be speaking Chinese, at least part of the time?
Of course you are right. We are broke.
I’m more interested in people unifying against Obama.
However - back to NASA.
Obama’s plan only cuts a program. However he still plans to increase spending on NASA.
“WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama would give NASA nearly $19 billion in a 2010 budget plan unrolled this morning — a small increase over the $18 billion that the Bush administration had planned for the space agency next year, according to budget documents.
The boost adds to the $1 billion that NASA already has received under Obama’s stimulus plan. Combined, these two increases represent slightly better days for NASA officials and space enthusiasts, who have complained for years that NASA doesn’t receive the funding it needs.”
Oops, you’re right, NonValueAdded. They are running for Martinez’s seat. I have heard that Nelson was going to retire, but perhaps he was only considering it. I recall the usual “spend more time with my family” reason.
Useful scientific equipment in space can fail or need maintenance. Building an elevator up to them is just not practical. Launching a MANNED ship to do such repairs is practical as it has been done. Hubble telescope is one example.
With our communications grid switching from land line to cellular and satellite technology the need is more so. Add to that the defense satellite grid and you have NEED.
Many federal programs should be cut. NASA does a legitimate function and is related to our defense. The cost vs benefits rendered from NASA has been a major part in the technology we use today as has our defense technologies as applied to our daily lives.
I don't believe so. Or, at least he hasn't made any public announce of that fact. He was just reelected in 2006. He's not up for reelection until '12.
I bet they took the 8-track tape player too.
Do you:
Watch cable TV?
Have a Blackberry?
Use GPS?
According to whom?
What can manned spaceflight accomplish that unmanned space flights cannot?
Houston talk radio is amazing on this. For 364 days a year, it’s “Cut all government spending!”
Yesterday, this was the discussion and the message was “We need this government spending, because I work there!”
Why do people always have to post something negative?
I really don’t care what you think of Nelson when he is doing something good here.
Hubble had to be repaired because the decision was made not to test the optics in order to save money.
Some government spending is more important than other government spending. We have gotten to the point where we have one shipyard that can build nuke carriers (Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding Newport News, Virginia), and one shipyard that can build nuke submarines (Electric Boat Groton, Connecticut). When NASA lays off 4000 or so engineers, we (The US) will reduce our engineering capabilities even further. The UK had to contract Electric Boat to get their Astute class nuke submarine finished, because they lacked the engineering/software skill in country.
We are heading for the same disaster, with no one to turn to for help. I'll happily pay my tax dollars to keep our industrial base number one.
Second is even NASA with all it's advanced camera technology sometimes if they can sends out a human to obtain a better understanding of a given situation.
Good for what? Unless you cut benefits to illegals and start cutting other things like space outreach to muslims then NASA just bankrupts the country faster.
I am amazed at the people here who say - oh you cannot cut this or that. The country is broke. We will feel the effects soon. You cannot have unlimited cake and ice cream.
Nelson is trying to get reelected.
You have a muslim running the country destroying yet we need to build more subs and carriers. To protect us from what? This is like Rome where the legions were off fighting but the country (city state/empire) was being destroyed from within.
Oddly even people here cannot comprehend that the country is broke.
Frantzie, the lead time for carriers, subs and rockets can be decades from draft to launching. You can't simply say "build this" and it falls out of a plant the next day.
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