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Calls For Funding NASA Commercial Crew Grow
MarkWhittington writes: As summer starts to give way to fall and the end of the current fiscal year draws nigh, demands that NASA's commercial crew program be fully funded are being heard with greater frequency and urgency. Astronaut Scott Kelly took time off from his year-long sojourn on the International Space Station to entreat Congress to pony up. IO9 was a little more caustic, stating "Dammit, Congress: Just Buy NASA its Own Space Taxi, Already." Monday, Slate became the latest media outlet to take up the cause
The situation is depressingly familiar to those who have followed the fortunes of the space program since the Apollo moon landings. When President Obama started the commercial crew program in 2010, NASA estimated that it would take a certain amount of money to get government funded and commercially operated spacecraft running by 2015. Then the space agency would no longer be dependent on Russia for rides to the International Space Station.
Congress has decided to allocate less money than NASA feels it needed for commercial crew. This situation is not unusual, as Congress often does this to space projects. However, the politics surrounding the creation of the commercial crew program, which featured the abrupt cancellation of the Constellation space exploration program, has exacerbated the conflict between NASA's will and Congress' won't. President Obama did not consult Congress when he cancelled President Bush's return to the moon program. Congress has displeased ever since.
The situation is depressingly familiar to those who have followed the fortunes of the space program since the Apollo moon landings. When President Obama started the commercial crew program in 2010, NASA estimated that it would take a certain amount of money to get government funded and commercially operated spacecraft running by 2015. Then the space agency would no longer be dependent on Russia for rides to the International Space Station.
Congress has decided to allocate less money than NASA feels it needed for commercial crew. This situation is not unusual, as Congress often does this to space projects. However, the politics surrounding the creation of the commercial crew program, which featured the abrupt cancellation of the Constellation space exploration program, has exacerbated the conflict between NASA's will and Congress' won't. President Obama did not consult Congress when he cancelled President Bush's return to the moon program. Congress has displeased ever since.
Just sell NASA to private investors and rename it Weyland-Yutani Corp.
President Obama did not consult Congress when he cancelled President Bush's return to the moon program. Congress has displeased ever since.
There are three things to observe about the above remark. First, there was no return to the moon program to cancel. Second, Congress cares far more about campaign contributions from Alliant Techsystems, the makers of the Shuttle Rocket Boosters or SRB, who collect considerable revenue from NASA for making an obsolete product. The whole funding cut for NASA's commercial crew program is just an attempt to eliminate competition to the Space Launch System (SLS), a costly boondoggle which is the latest incarnation of the big rocket program.
Third, the article submitter is finally coming around to supporting commercial space. I told you so.
Perhaps it might have been a bit too hasty to kill off the Shuttle & friends since it means we have to hitch a ride with the Russians.
At least it would make sense instead of waiting for a dressed up Apollo II craft.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
KICKSTARTER TIME!
C'mon, find another horn to toot. That Obama is just Bush with a new paint job is something everyone has noticed by now.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
You want a space taxi? Well, if it's going to be anything like the German version...
maybe the US version could be less embarrassing?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
How many times can you conduct the same study of how fast fingernails grow in space before the taxpayers tire of footing the bill? We haven't learned anything on the International Space Station that we couldn't have learned way cheaper some other way Sorry to be the dreamcrusher of five year olds everywhere but out here in the real world we adults have to pay the bills and frankly I see no compelling reason to fund low earth orbit manned space flight or even trips to other planets out of the public purse. If such things become necessary or profitable then the private sector will do them quickly and more cheaply than government ever could. Although, from all that I'm acquainted with the current understanding of physics, a "destiny in space" is not a likely future outcome for humanity unless and until we make some serious breakthroughs which for all we know might be impossible anyway. However, the current manned space program or any likely replacement doesn't offer any meaningful hope of such breakthroughs. NASA, like the rest of us, needs to learn to live within its means. If that means shutting down manned space flight for now and assigning the astronauts to other duties or giving them their walking papers then so be it. Come back with your manned space flight proposals when you have a viable interstellar drive and somewhere interesting to go.
http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/07/02/2212257/rocket-labs-picks-new-zealand-for-its-launch-site
http://www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=-43.533&lng=172.633&loc=Christchurch&alt=7&tz=NZST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26EicKfNYPg
http://www.aulis.com/stereoparallax.htm
Dinosaurs are a joke too. Stupid, gullible Heathendom...
Of all the space programs on Planet Earth today, India's space program is the cheapest. For example, India's MARS mission carries a price tag of $74 million
NASA should spend its money very wisely
In other words, by outsource everything to India NASA will get the loudest " BANG!! " for every single of its freaking buck
Me, I'm proud to be spherical. What about you?
Ezekiel 23:20
Obama killed Constellation because Sally Ride et al. told him it was a piece of shit. And a piece of shit it was indeed.
Ezekiel 23:20
Stop with the bullshit government spending. As much as I love space exploration, funding NASA isn't an imperative just because *I* care about it. Let private enterprise figure this shit out at their own expense.
I'm a potato. How are you?
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
As long as NASA is seen be some in Congress as a way to funnel pork to Utah and Alabama, we're talking nothing but wasted effort.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
These NASA programs are expensive, bloated drains on the economy. They attempt to accelerate technological development by brute force, slowing down wealth creation and making the nation as a whole poorer.
I've suggested a Citizen's Dividend which, as a secondary effect, causes the wealth cycle to speed up: the expansion of niche markets and the creation of new markets occurs more rapidly, speeding up the creation of new jobs. It also has secondary effects such as freeing up the application of wealth to more quickly reduce labor employment in a particular production line, which sits at odds with its effect of reducing labor costs and thus delaying the implementation of new management tools and techniques (such as automation) until they become less expensive.
The whole thing is complex, but it should have a tendency to actually speed up movement through the wealth cycle, particularly in the area of creating jobs to replace those lost each time we find a way to more efficiently provide a good or service.
The growth of wealth in our nation reduces the proportional cost of things like NASA. As we become more efficient, the total buying power increases: the full income (not GDP) of every business and individual, in total, can buy more shit. Since NASA is funded by a portion of the total income, it becomes able to buy more and better components and crew for the same taxes: if NASA is 1% of our income, doubling our wealth doubles NASA's effective funding, even if inflation doesn't keep up (i.e. even if there are only 1.2 times as many dollars) (although inflation lagging behind tends to be bad for those with debt; conversely, it would encourage lower-interest loans, which ... could also be bad, particularly for persons seeking mortgages, although those actually selling those houses are quite happy with a low-interest market).
It's not precisely a prerequisite; but deploying a Citizen's Dividend first would provide greater opportunities to run a program like NASA in the long run, that long run being a very short projection--less than ten years. The budgetary requirements of NASA would shrink, which would make the required budget easier to justify.
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Constellation was killed the day it had its first and successful test flight. Talk about waste of money.. Develop a program and kill it the hour it is shown viable. We could be flying now.
"Congress has displeased ever since." Yes, it certainly has, and not just on NASA funding.
The GOP, esp. the neo-con elements, are the ones working hard to kill off private space. IOW, it is a small faction of CONgress, and to be fair, it is a small CONTROLLING faction of the GOP that is really causing this.
What I find interesting is that the neo-cons like Shelby, coffman, etc would rather pay Putin MULTIPLE BILLIONS, than pay American private space, 1 Billion. It speaks volumes about the GOP.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
LOL.
They flew a 4 segment SRB, and found many many issues with it.
In addition, it was obvious that there were so many flaws on this that it was going to require massive changes, and the NEXT flight, would not occur until 2017 (and some said, 2018).
That is why it was killed.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.