Seems it’s all over for another generation. So… how’s that Hope And Change workin’ out for ya?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7149543.ece
Nasa has begun to wind down construction of the rockets and spacecraft that were to have taken astronauts back to the Moon — effectively dismantling the US human spaceflight programme despite a congressional ban on its doing so.
Legislators have accused President Obama’s Administration of contriving to slip the termination of the Constellation programme through the back door to avoid a battle on Capitol Hill.
Constellation aimed to build upon what was arguably America’s greatest technological achievement, the first lunar landing of 1969, by launching new expeditions to the Moon and to Mars and worlds beyond. Mr Obama proposed in February that it should be scrapped because it was “over budget, behind schedule and lacking in innovation”, but he has met opposition in Congress, which has yet to approve his plan.The head of Nasa, Major-General Charlie Bolden — an Obama appointee — has now written to aerospace contractors telling them to cut back immediately on Constellation-related projects costing almost $1 billion (£690 million), to comply with regulations requiring them to budget for possible contract termination costs.
Things are so bad that British journalists can’t even afford the extra Capital Letter Surcharge for “NASA.”
“The effect will be to stop work on Constellation and lay off or transfer people to other jobs. If Congress then says it wants to continue going ahead with Constellation, those people will be difficult to re-hire. It’s already a difficult situation, but this will introduce more instability.”
A common problem in the stop/start world of aerospace. Well, at least from here on things should be more consistent… stop/stop all the time.
8 Responses to “Well, Maybe In Another 20 Years…”
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The whole Constellation program was, in the words of the then NASA admin, “Apollo on steroids”. The problem though was that he was trying to do it while on a a space shuttle budget. The tech problems could have been solved if they had gotten a lot of extra money but the money was never going to show up.
A smart admin would have recognized the problem and redesigned the program to fit the budget. Mike Griffin instead did a ‘If we build it the money will come’ approach. The games of chicken the congress critters from the districts involved and Obama didn’t help matters much either.
Blame can be spread far and wide and thick.
I could be convinced otherwise, but I cannot see how start/stop/ad nauseum is cheaper than keeping something going. That kind of expertise and experience doesn’t happen overnight and usually doesn’t come back, either.
Jim
Perhaps we won’t need Constellation because something better is in the wings? There’s always the chance that some black-tech project will emerge from the shadows to launch us back into space.
> something better is in the wings?
BWAAAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!
BWAAAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!
I assumed Boldin was signed on to do the bidding of the President, and not to run the agency. It could be suggested that anything that doesn’t help the foreigners, the Muslims or the ghetto rats is inherently evil to the current regime.
What does this leave us? Beer and babes; no more space, certainly. When I got my car, I considered the vanity plate ON2CERES, but it was too long. I wish I had thought of ON2EROS, which would have been appropriate without a space program.
Great cartoon, Scott.
Meh. NASA has been a roadblock on the path to space settlement for decades now. Get them out of the way and let the private sector take over. Now we just need to repudiate the Moon and Outer Space treaties.
> Get them out of the way and let the private sector take over.
I’m tempted to repeat the Bender image. Not because you’re necessarily wrong, exactly, but more because of the idea that this government, which will take over whole industries on a whim, will open up the spacelanes to emmigration and profit? Snerk.
Tangentally, I saw the Futurama box set in a plastic Bender head. 165 bucks, hmm.
Jim