Work Continues on New NASA Spaceships, Despite Uncertainties

FoxNews/Space.com ^ | August 20, 2010 | Clara Moskowitz

[The_Victor]

NASA is pushing ahead with work on its new Orion space capsule and Ares rockets despite their ambiguous status as lawmakers discuss the agency's 2011 budget request. 

Orion and Ares are part of Constellation, a NASA program designed to take astronauts back to the moon. Under his 2011 budget proposal, President Barack Obama called for canceling Constellation and urged NASA to work toward sending humans to an asteroid and then on to Mars.

The outlook for Constellation's fledgling rocket and capsule spacecraft is not clear. Obama did recommend continuing development of Orion -- but only as an escape ship that could carry astronauts home from the International Space Station in an emergency.

A NASA authorization bill recently passed by the Senate would direct the space agency to continue developing Orion and to fast-track plans for heavy-lift rockets and vehicles required for space exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. A different bill under consideration in the House also seeks to revive some Constellation plans, including Orion and the Ares rockets.

[The_Victor]

I kinda like the idea of NASA flipping off the POTUS after his directive to boost the self esteem of muslims.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

It to a casual observer it appears that “PC” is in the process of rendering NASA ineffectual.

[Slyfox]

In the summer of 1975, I visited Johnson Space Center. I saw all the manned mission exhibits, moon rocks and the rockets used to propel missions into space. However, in one little corner there was this little paper and cardboard display featuring plans for a thing called the space shuttle. And, it showed the thing on the back of a jet plane and artist renderings of what it would look like in the future.

No one really knows if they will be successful in getting to Mars, but the president of the United States did not get us to the moon nor keep us engaged in space flight all these years. It was NASA engineers and capitalism who got it off the ground.

[musicman]

"I kinda like the idea of NASA flipping off the POTUS after his directive to boost the self esteem of muslims.

[Diogenesis]

The Imam Obama:
"Yes, yes. Like the 911 Martyrs, none of us
soldiers of allah really need to know how to land anything."

[Flag_This]