White House to abandon NASA moon mission

[Phoonzang]

From http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/01/27/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry6146453.shtml:

"Instead of blasting off to the moon, NASA's hopes for a manned mission there have been blasted to pieces, sources in the White House, Congress and NASA tell the Orlando Sentinel.

They tell the paper that the president's budget, which will be released next week, will not allocate the money needed to fund the Constellation program that aimed to return humans to the moon by 2020.

"We certainly don't need to go back to the moon," one administration official told the paper.

Money instead will go toward NASA's development of a "heavy-lift" rocket that will allow humans and robots the chance to explore Earth's orbit, though the Sentinel reports that concept is still decades away from being a reality.

The sources add that the government will also invest money into private companies developing rockets and capsules that could serve as "space taxis" for astronauts headed to the International Space Station.

President Obama is likely to ask Congress for a spending freeze of up to three years on certain domestic programs during his State of the Union speech Wednesday. Administration officials say the freeze should not effect the 2010 NASA budget and may actually receive a boost of $200 to $300 million."

More at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-nasa-budget27-2010jan27,0,1252176.story

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6836923.html
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I'm really too tired and depressed to comment and length on this, but all I can say is...I'm done. I defended the White House's decision to shift responsibility for ferrying people to and from the ISS to private companies because I thought it would free up NASA's resources to do something BIGGER. I was wrong. This isn't only an abandonment of the Moon mission, it's the abandonment of manned spaceflight altogether. There were other options besides going back to the Moon that still allowed humans to go beyond Earth orbit. NASA was not created to be the Climate Change Police. There are other agencies (such as NOAA) to fill that role.

The Ares I was a disaster waiting to happen, but I hoped that with the Augustine Commission's recommendations and increased funding (a measly 1-3 billion dollars) we could create something truly revolutionary. I thought we had the opportunity to catapult the United States back into the forefront when it comes to technology and innovation, inspire a new generation, and begin a program that would create more jobs and spawn new (green) technologies. I thought we would finally stop piddling around in Earth's orbit and leave the cradle. I guess I was wrong.

[Astrad]

1. If only Al Queda was on the moon...

then it'd be a different story.

[1620rock]

3. Ah shit...I'm finished with him.

[elocs]

2. Good. n/t

[PavePusher]

27. Why? Expound, please... n/t

[RT Atlanta]

4. How very disappointing...

Sarcastically, is this something we can outsource to China?

Our only hope now seems to be riding on SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Bigelow Aerospace and the other billionaire venturers willing to fund space development.

[davepc]

5. Billions to kill people over seas, but not one penny for science and tecnology! YES WE CAN

Get your Hope and Change here, Hope and Change!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Obama's invested billions in science and technology.

Science and technology.

Not nationalistic publicity stunts.

[NoNothing]

15. Was the Hubble Telescope a publicity stunt?

Because without crew launch capability, it would have been a total fiasco.

The shuttle has ONE MISSION left. After that, to get people into space, the United States has...

...nothing. Nothing now, and nothing in the future. Sad.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. For the cost of the various shuttle missions over the last few years...

We could have launched several Hubbles and JWSTs.

[bananas]

17. We've launched several Hubble Telescopes without the Shuttle

but they were pointed down instead of up:

http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/imint/kh-12.htm

The IMPROVED CRYSTAL can be imagined as a Hubble Space Telescope, with a large rocket engine attached to provide maneuverability. Like the Space Telescope, the IMPROVED CRYSTAL is about 4.5 meters (15 feet) in diameter, and with addition of its maneuvering module, is over 15 meters (50 feet) long (compared to the 13 meter Space Telescope). Contractors on the IMPROVED CRYSTAL include TRW and Lockheed. The dry weight (minus fuel) of the IMPROVED CRYSTAL is about 10 metric tons, about the same as the total weight, including fuel, of the KH-11. The total weight of the IMPROVED CRYSTAL has grown significantly, from the original 14 tons, to the current 18 tons. The additional fuel-carrying capacity accounts for most of the increase, and the IMPROVED CRYSTAL now can carry up to 7 tons of fuel. The primary difference between the 28,000 pound KH-11 and the heavier KH-12 is that the additional amount of maneuvering propellant carried on the IMPROVED CRYSTAL. This additional propellant can be used to prolong the operating life of the IMPROVED CRYSTAL, to maneuver to improve coverage of areas on the Earth of particular interest, and to maneuver to evade Soviet anti-satellite interceptors. Although the KH-12 was originally designed to be place into orbit (and perhaps serviced and refueled in orbit) by the Shuttle, the Titan 4 is now the primary launch vehicle for the IMPROVED CRYSTAL.

<snip>

KH-12 /1 was launched on 28 November 1992 by a Titan-4 from Vandenberg.

KH-12 /2 was launched on 05 December 1995 by a Titan-4 from Vandenberg.

KH-12 /3 was launched on 20 December 1996 by a Titan-4 from Vandenberg.

[TZ]

19. I guess reserch into cancer and other diseases

is not one penny for science and technology? And large investments into stem cell research and enviromental research into alternative energy isn't either? Idiot.
Fuck ignorant people who don't realize what Obama has done for the sciences.

[phantom power]

6. I feel a need to drink heavily.

[Phoonzang]

9. I'm with you.

Me tonight = :beer: :beer: :beer: :puke: :beer: :beer:

[HeresyLives]

7. IF this is true, Obama has burned the fleet. n/t

[Phoonzang]

10. Who's our Zheng He? nt

[HeresyLives]

13. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins I guess.

But the first time this happened Zheng He at least didn't live to see it all fall apart.

[Posteritatis]

21. At this point he probably actually *is* Zheng He or something... (nt)

[here_is_to_hope]

11. "...sister killed her baby...couldn't afford to

feed her...but they are sending people to the Moon..."

I fail to see how 1-3 billion dollars is trifling.
We have priorities I would hope.

[n2doc]

12. Yep. Our priorities are to spend trillions killing people in the middle east

Sounds like you are ok with that, just so long as we don't spend money on space.

[here_is_to_hope]

14. That's a reach from what I posted...

A light year really.
I guess I could have listed what I think the priorities should be, no?
"Sounds like" I have recommended every post you have made on DU, not only for your science posts/pics but all of those damn toons too!

:hi:

[joshcryer]

18. Double-U Tea Eff.

[Orsino]

20. Wrong.

What you meant to post is that the president is ordering an end to our futile wars, and intends to redirect a bit of that funding to projects that might actually teach us something.

That's what you meant to post. Surely.

[Ter]

22. Change?

Horrible news. :(

[tinrobot]

23. So, basically the manned space program is over.

Well, at least for the foreseeable future.

Very sad to see how far we've fallen.

[wuushew]

24. great news

I always viewed the moon as a money siphon from other worthy science missions and or a manned mission to Mars. Remember the return to the moon was a Bush idea.

[eppur_se_muova]

25. Someone needs to introduce Obama to Robert Zubrin.

Zubrin has lots of arguments why going to the Moon doesn't gain us much, but going to Mars by an approach he calls 'Mars Direct' could be done for a fraction of the cost of an "Apollo Project to Mars".

http://www.nss.org/settlement/mars/zubrin-promise.html

[Johonny]

26. Yah but is he right?

Zubrin is very optimistic.